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Azalea

A - DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE

A1 - Title in original language
AZALEA

A2 - Title in English
AZALEA

A3 - Location of GP (national)
Italy

A4 - Location of GP (regional)
Veneto

A5 - Economic field of activity
Q Human health and social work activities

A6 - Ultimate purpose of GP
To enable adaptation to new realities
To improve social cohesion/inclusion
To provide educational opportunities

A7 - Spatial scale
Local

A8a - Start date
November 1992

A8b - Anticipated end date (if applicable)
ongoing

A9 - Short description of the GP
The Cooperative Azalea is a "type A" social cooperative that manages health, social and educational services and inclusion of disadvantaged people and operates in various activities of prevention, education, rehabilitation and personal care both at home and in day and residential structures. The cooperative is structured in product areas (developmental age, multi-culture, disability, mental health, health related to elderly people, "nel cuore dell'ospitalità" (in the heart of hospitality)) and process areas (administrative, human resource management and development & communication).

A10 - Key words relating to the GP
Multiculturalism
Disabilities
Developmental Age
Mental Health
Health and elderly people area

A11 - Objectives of the GP
A strong point which has stimulated the development of the cooperative have been the advanced relational skills and the professional skills of its members. Despite operating in a very complex political/institutional context, the cooperative has been able to communicate and interact with the various politicians over the years thanks to the quality of services offered. The cooperative representatives have discussed with them about the development of services basing on personal trust relationships outside of the logics of other kind
Another strength of the cooperative is the mode of involvement of the associated operators even at a lower level through periodic meetings and working groups, where problems are discussed and solutions found to the various needs expressed by the context in which the cooperative operates.

A12 - Activities that have taken place
The cooperative catalogued the services offered in 82 different types. The most important and significant projects are:

  1. Autism (working groups between cooperatives and private social organizations that deal with autism to talk, discuss and solve common problems related to this pathology);
  2. SAD (home care services);
  3. Klinicos Project, "territorial service of prevention and care" (it's a service created to promote and spread the culture of health and prevention in a "holistic" view of well-being of all the people of the territory);
  4. Nel cuore dell'ospitalità Project (Creating Hospitality) (It's a hotel reception and food service project directed to various kinds of customers -tourists, citizens, traders, professionals ..- in which 38 beds are for psychiatric patients -25 in the Grancan Hotel and 13 at the Le Salette Inn. It 's an experimental, born from considering the hotel as a rehabilitation instrument);
  5. Azalea Home Project (It's a project in which a laboratory has been created with the aim of producing household items -pillows with fine wools, or lamps covered with buttons or other- under the supervision of an architect. Each item produced is unique)

A13 - Achievements of the GP
The GP, with the innovative projects described above, has an unique approach on the welafare services and this allow to the Azalea Cooperative to work primarily with the Local Health and Social-care Unit (ULSS) n. 20 for most services. This ULSS has been recently awarded the Ministry of the Social Policies thanks to the way in which the Azalea cooperative has managed the mediation services in the ULSS.


B - IMPACT ON SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

B1 - How has the GP impacted on the following?

B1a - Legal/financial exclusion
Neutral impacts
Any other comments?

B1b - Creation or conservation of local employment
Neutral impacts
Any other comments?

B1c - Adaptation to new realities
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
The activities of the GP expecially providing home services to disadvantaged people target meant working with their families at home to encourage integration and improve their quality of life. This meant excluding the segregation and confinement in hospitals and/or facilities dedicated to these types of targets.

B1d - Cross sectoral working
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
The GP offers many kind of services and operates in various activities of prevention, education, rehabilitation and personal care both at home and in day and residential structures.

B1e - Enablement of social enterpreneurship
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
With its acivities the GP links the solving of social needs and the business footprint using particular and innovative projects.

B1f - Amenities for local people
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
The acivities of Azalea are very important for the territory because they solve many problems of the new society like health prevention, education, care for the elderly etc..

B1g - Educational opportunities
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
Many activities of Azalea are directed in the educational topics. Also It works with the schools to discuss about autism pathology

B1h - Crisis response
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
The services offered by Azalea are very important to response the crises because the spendng review of public authorithies cut many benefits for disadvantaged people so the cooperative is a needful resource for the disoriented citizens.

B1i - Local financial environment for social enterpreneurs
Neutral impacts
Any other comments?

B1j - Local policy environment for social enterpreneurs
Neutral impacts
Any other comments?

B1k - National financial environment for social enterpreneurs
Impacts not known
Any other comments?

B1l - National policy environment for social enterpreneurs
Impacts not known
Any other comments?


C - PARTNERSHIPS & GOVERNANCE

C1 - Is the governance of this GP fully inclusive?
Beneficiaries have no/almost no involvement in government
Comments and learning points
The GP has a lot of members but the beneficiaries are the families on the territory

C2 - How influential has this GP been on local or national decision makers?
Reasonable degree of influence achieved
Comments and learning points
Even if the GP works overall at local level it communicates a lot with Local Health Units but also with the Italian Ministry of the Social Policies thanks to the way in which the Azalea cooperative has managed the mediation services in the ULSS.

C3 - How much partnership work has been involved?
Not known
Comments and learning points


D - PR & TRANSFERABILITY

D1 - Please describe how the GP communicated its experience and success to the public
A strength of Azalea cooperative is the mode of involvement of the associated operators even at a lower level through periodic meetings and working groups, where problems are discussed and solutions found to the various needs expressed by the context in which the cooperative operates. Also the activity linked with the territory allows to the GP a big promotion of its projects.

D2 - Please describe how the GP communicated with local or national decision makers?
The GP works with Local Health Unit that obviously has public influence and also with th Italian Ministry of Social Politics who appreciates its acivity thanks to the quality of the services offered. Also the relationship with the families allows a strict contact with the municipalities of the territory.

D3 - Are there any elements of this project that you think would transfer particularly well to other contexts?
The GP offer a great example of innovative rehabilitation and education project and its involvement with the structures of public health is surely transferrable. Also some specific projects are importante resources: for example Klinicos Project, "territorial service of prevention and care" , Azalea Home Project or Nel cuore dell'ospitalità Project (Creating Hospitality) described above.


E - RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABILITY

E1a - Total annual income of GP 2011/12
€ 13.000.000

E1b - How is this made up?
The activity is carried out by 70% with the public sector and by 30% with the private sector.

E1c - Details of human resources
Of the 30 members at the beginning, 10 members are still in the social structure.
The Cooperative Azalea has 651 members divided into: 456 ordinary members, 84 with a VAT number, 111 volunteer members. Among the partners there are 140 coming from different countries, everyone maintaining good relationships with the others.

E1d - Details of technology
None to date

E1e - Details of financial investment for start-up/early stage
None to date

E1f - Details of external support
None to date

E2 - If public funding were withdrawn, could the GP continue to exist?
The liquidity for the cooperative has never been a problem; still, in 2012 a part of the allowance has been used to cover some losses and it is expected that in 2013, if the public authority does not pay regularly, the cooperative may have difficulties in liquidity. In effect the important relationship with the public sector could be a problem if public funding were withdrawn.


F - EXECUTIVE BODY AND CONTACT INFORMATION

F1 - Who set up the GP?
Individual or group of individuals

F2 - Who runs the GP?
Not-for-profit organisation

F3 - Short description/comments
There has always been a service of step-by-step training to fulfill adequately the role of associate within the cooperative. All the associates are natural persons and there are no employees.
The meetings are convened twice a year with the participation of a good percentage of associates (more than 250).
The Board of Directors is composed of seven people, all associated. In the past they also had external members (teachers of economics and business, municipal officers, etc..). For the period 2012-2014 they have decided not to include external people in the social structure.
The cooperative is structured in product areas (developmental age, multi-culture, disability, mental health, health related to elderly people, "nel cuore dell'ospitalità" (in the heart of hospitality)) and process areas (administrative, human resource management and development & communication). The management team is composed of all the six Product Area Directors and the 3 Process Area Directors.

F4 - Contact 
Giuseppe Turrini
Cooperativa Sociale Azalea
Via Walter Fleming, 13
37026 Settimo di Pescantina - Verona
Italy
Telephone 045 575388
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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www.azaleacooperativa.org


G - SUPPORTING INFORMATION

G1 - Photos (between 1 & 3)
Picture of the cooperative organogram
Picture of the cooperative organogram

G2 - E documents
Detailed GP presentation_eng

G3 - Any other useful information
To take part in some tenders, the cooperative associates itself to a Temporary Temporary Business Association with cooperatives of the same local area with which it has some affinity. (e.g. the "Farsi Prossimo" cooperative).
The cooperative is among the founding members of "Le Mat" http://www.lemat.coop/ , an international network of social entrepreneurs who provide services of social tourism. In Verona, they have created the "Local Routes" system ( http://www.rottelocali.it ) which is a network of themed tourist itineraries which are based on the principles of responsible and sustainable tourism. With the "Le Mat" circuit they hosted groups from Poland, Sweden and other European states in their hosting facilities.