GOEL
Locride is a land of philosophy, epic poetry, religion and art.
Locride is also a land of the mafia — or rather, of the 'Ndrangheta.
Locride is a land that needs ethical alternatives in order to be reborn.
In 2003, the GOEL Cooperative Group was founded in Locride: a community of people, businesses and social cooperatives working for the redemption of Calabria through a strategy aimed at real change, recognising social enterprise as the primary instrument for producing that change.
Confronting the 'Ndrangheta is difficult.
The 'Ndrangheta controls the territory not only through fear and violence, but by responding to the concrete needs of citizens, families and businesses.
GOEL's challenge is to make the "ethical" alternative strong and authoritative, demonstrating that ethics is not only "right" but above all "effective" and "winning".
To delegitimise the 'Ndrangheta, GOEL positions itself not merely as a body engaged in social assistance, but also as an active entrepreneur capable of driving economic activity and offering new jobs to the local area.
Among the most significant examples of entrepreneurial activities launched in the territory:
CANGIARI: the first ethical brand in high fashion, using the precious organic fabrics of traditional Calabrian hand-weaving.
GOEL BIO: the first social cooperative made up of organic farms that stand in opposition to the 'Ndrangheta.
I VIAGGI DEL GOEL: a tour operator specialising in responsible tourism that fosters connection and involvement between tourists and local Calabrian communities.
GOEL ETHICAL CONSULTING & COMMUNICATION: offers consultancy services to businesses for the development of ethical products, through a product-oriented CSR approach aimed at developing competitive market strategies.
CAMPUS GOEL: an incubator of ethical and innovative ideas in Calabria. It supports ideas that — at its sole discretion — are considered strongly ethical, decidedly innovative, and put forward by determined individuals or groups willing to see them through.
The GOEL Consortium has grown and become increasingly structured over the years. Today it brings together organisations spanning the healthcare and social sector, social development, and various ethical entrepreneurial initiatives across the territory.
Today the community of the GOEL Cooperative Group is made up of:
- 10 social enterprises;
- 2 (non-social) cooperatives;
- 2 voluntary associations;
- 1 local Foundation;
- 28 profit-making and agricultural businesses;
- many individually involved professionals and volunteers.
GOEL is a stronghold of legality and hope in the Calabrian territory and beyond.
The growing trust surrounding GOEL's activities continues to attract new people and businesses seeking concrete alternatives to mafia-run systems, generating a long-term social impact multiplier.
The Charlemagne Foundation's involvement
The Charlemagne Foundation's journey with GOEL began in 2014 and continues to this day. The first project we supported was GOEL BIO — in particular, activities aimed at recruiting new members and providing them with administrative and commercial support.
In 2016 we took on a new challenge, actively supporting another cooperative within the Group, Made in Goel, established in 2009, which manages the Cangiari brand — Italy's first high-end eco-ethical fashion label — and the social cooperatives involved in the production and marketing of Cangiari-branded products. The project brought back unemployed workers in the clothing supply chain and revitalised businesses in the sector that were in serious difficulty. Through this objective, the project created a production system for third-party orders paid at fair rates, capable of offering sound employment prospects for women — in particular by upskilling the competencies and productive capacities of 10 identified workshops.
Subsequently, the Group's needs evolved in some ways. Efforts that were initially directed towards the development of individual projects shifted towards further goals, namely the introduction of new managerial figures. This is a very significant step that, once again, we chose to take together, in order to ensure increasingly high-quality entrepreneurial developments in the territory.
We believe in this community of people and organisations — the driving force and engine of change for an entire region.
If someone asked us "what led you to support the GOEL project?", we would be certain of our answer: the strength and courage to change that we saw in the eyes of the people of Locride was undoubtedly an essential factor for us. We believe first and foremost in people, and then in projects.
Concetta Campi (Fondazione Charlemagne)
