Start Small, Grow Together: Seven National Cases of the Social and Solidarity Economy from the EYES Virtual Exchange

Seven national cases of the Social and Solidarity Economy presented by the partner countries at EYES Session 12 (14 August 2026) — Gabon (COOPAM stone carvers, Mbigou geographical indication), Cameroon (Mboppi women's njangi, Douala), Nigeria (N-Power), Greece (Agricultural Cooperative of Zagora-Pilio), Spain (GraoAnimals), Italy (Amici di Tommi, an initiative that stopped — with a November 2026 update) and Ghana (Dambai Lakeside Hairdressers & Beauticians Association). Each case is verified against public sources; discrepancies are stated openly. Includes a verification annex.

The record contains the English and the French edition (two PDFs).

Produced within EYES – Empowering Youth: Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange for Active Citizenship and Social Inclusion (grant agreement 101193489, ERASMUS-EDU-2024-VIRT-EXCH), coordinated by ABARKA ONGD (Spain), with WEBDEV FOUNDATION (Cameroon) leading the Quarter 3 thematic block on the Social and Solidarity Economy. Partners: Associazione Stella Marina (Italy), EKO (Greece), Karaman Youth Club (Türkiye), ONG SIFOS (Gabon), ITO (Nigeria), AIESEC Alumni Ghana. Platform: www.eyesnetwork.org.

Use of artificial intelligence. Drafting, translation and source checking were assisted by Claude (Anthropic), based on the project's primary data (session transcripts, attendance registers, surveys, quiz exports) and on the authors' direction; the authors reviewed the text and are responsible for its publication.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.