Koinè is a social cooperative that works in the field of social research, planning, management and development of social services since 1994. It also intervenes on the local level and promotes development projects that foster employment.
Such activities are coherent with the cooperative’s mission: promoting the development of social cohesion, integration, and the wellbeing of local communities. It fosters the development of open and participative elaboration processes, which include new approaches and methods of managing socialsanitary services and educational activities. It also works to create new job opportunities by engaging citizens and recipients, and encouraging them to be self-managing.

Beginning with the rejection of market-based logics that reduce citizenship rights to merchandise, Koinè seeks to protect and expand “common goods” through direct action and the active involvement of families, beneficiaries, and stakeholders. It acts within a cultural perspective, which considers the protection of the regulatory function of Public Institutions as fundamental, along with and perhaps more importantly, the growth of active civil engagement towards social development. The cooperative – located in Arezzo, Italy – manages more than 60 organizations throughout Tuscany, which offer several different types of services with approximately 2,000 individuals who make use of its services daily; furthermore, it functions as technical consultant and partner of several local Public Administrations in order to organize initiatives that foster local development.

Our organizations offer early childhood education, home and residential care for the elderly, social-therapy services for individuals with mental illnesses, rehabilitation and social activities for the disabled, and also socio-educational services for minors and youth.

We run 7 RSA aimed towards the elderly who are no longer self-sufficient, 3 small innovative structures for non self-sufficient and frail elderly individuals, 4 daytime centres for the elderly, 3 daytime centres for the disabled, several residential aide programs, residential and semi-residential facilities, socio-rehabilitation programs for individuals with mental illnesses, and also 35 educational services for children under the age of 3. All of the aforementioned services and programs are a source of stable employment for more than 550 people , the majority of which are women (92%), along with youth under the age of 35 (42%), and high-school or university graduates (79%).
The yearly gross production value in Euros is superior to euro 14.8 million and the total assets saved during the past years of activity amounts to more than 7 million euro.
This data, listed merely because it was possible to measure it (we are aware that it is not possible to assess a community’s value numerically…), is the result of the meticulous attention given to the management of the processes that led Koinè to become the first social enterprise to obtain SAI’s (2001) SA8000 certification. It also allowed for the implementation of systems that meet ISO standards and for the creation of a system of accountability geared towards social responsibility and gender equality, which has become the most quoted in the literature on this subject.
Within the geographic area in which we operate (the province of Arezzo, Valdichiana Senese, the Valdarno Fiorentino, and the VII municipality of Rome), Koinè demonstrates the practicality and the efficiency of entrepreneurial formulas based on the ideas of self-management and common ownership with the main aim of giving value to labour and contrasting the logic of financialisation of the economy.
This vision allows Koinè to promote the creation and the development of a network of socially minded and fair trade oriented organizations, which constitutes today one of the most relevant entrepreneurial structures within Arezzo and the neighbouring towns. The Rete Koinè includes the following social cooperatives: Betadue, Albero del Pane, Centro Nascita Montessori and Cinpa Srl. Together they produce a yearly volume of business larger than 22.5 million euro. They also permanently employ more than 1,000 people and collaborate with approximately 100 volunteers.