As a non-profit cooperative, Suara reinvests our surpluses in social initiatives such as the projects of transformation of the environment
Therapeutic care for young people with mental health disorders, an art and artists area in a center for people experiencing homelessness, labor literacy training or artistic workshops for the elderly to connect with their memory. These are some of the initiatives that Suara Cooperativa has financed this 2025 within the framework of the projects of transformation of the environment.
Suara Cooperativa, which has been serving people of all life stages for more than 40 years, has as its mission the social transformation of the environment to improve the reality of people through services rooted in the territory, which promote their well-being and growth. To achieve this objective, it has as one of its primary values the social responsibility to promote ethical, transparent and sustainable management to generate positive impacts on the environment and for the common benefit. This, undoubtedly, also means that it is a non-profit cooperative that reinvests its surpluses in society.
Due to all these characteristics inherent to Suara Cooperativa, in 2022 the organization gave life to the projects of transformation of the environment, of which it finances a maximum of 10: six in the category of Suara in services, which are aimed at improving the reality of its resources; three in Suara a prób, to develop projects in communities of localities where the cooperative already works; and one in Suara al món to carry out an initiative on a global scale where the organization does not have a presence.
Intercooperation as a pillar
At Suara Cooperativa we are aware of the importance of intercooperating with other entities, the community or the public administration in order to be able to co-create more robust projects that help us achieve our mission of transforming the social environment.
In fact, this intercooperation is already in the very DNA of Suara Cooperativa, which was born in 2008 from the merger of three cooperatives, since we understand that when we join forces with other agents we not only add, but we multiply.
Therefore, intercooperation is one of the driving forces of our action and this also emanates from projects to transform the environment. Therefore, in the service category, different resources of the cooperative are urged to work together on the project and show synergies between them. In the case of projects with a nearby community, it is necessary to forge alliances with the social economy and the environment where it is intended to be developed. Finally, with regard to international initiatives, intercooperation with entities from the global sphere or the community itself is also necessary.
The value of participation
As a cooperative, at Suara we have a horizontal and democratic model where members are the ones who make the decisions that affect the present and future of the organization, mainly through the General Assemblies, where all members participate with equal rights, voice and vote.
However, these are not the only spaces for participation that members have in decision-making. One of these are the environmental transformation projects themselves, which are always aligned with a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), and it is the members themselves who decide which ones will be worked on in that edition. For example, in the case of the initiatives that have been developed this 2025, they have revolved around the following SDGs: end of poverty, health and well-being, as well as decent work and economic growth.
Once the SDGs that will be worked on have been determined, it is the members and workers who present the environmental transformation projects that they would like to develop, which are then submitted to the vote of the members. In the case of the 2025 projects, the members opted for 9 to be materialized.
Projects developed in 2025
In the Suara category in services, the six projects chosen were to: accompany and care for the well-being of workers in CRAEs; offer therapeutic support to young people with mental health disorders; attend to the emancipation of young people under guardianship or former guardianship who experience episodes of crisis when they leave the protection system; promote training that improves the work skills of young people at risk of social exclusion to promote their integration; carry out artistic workshops for the elderly through which to work on memory and recollections; and, finally, one to ensure the oral health of unaccompanied foreign minors.
Regarding the projects of Suara a prob, the members chose to develop two: one to finance the processing of documentation for people living in a situation of homelessness in the Girona region; and another to enable a trades and artists area in a service for people living in a situation of homelessness that serves as a point of union and training for diverse people living in the neighborhood and generate community.
In the case of Suara al món, the subsidized project was for the creation of a well in a dry area from Senegal. The arrival of water has not only allowed 1,800 people to have access to this resource; but also to develop community gardens in an area where agriculture was non-existent and, therefore, has generated prosperity.
This 2026, members have chosen, once again, to work on the SDGs of ending poverty and decent work and economic growth. Now, members and workers have until January 31 to present their projects.
Learn more about the projects developed this 2025 in this interactive (in Catalan).
