The History of COOPERATIONS S.Coop

From an Art Project to a Dynamic Inclusive Social Enterprise

Today, COOPERATIONS S.Coop is a socio-economic enterprise and a Société d’Impact Sociétal (SIS) based in Wiltz. Through a range of inclusive workshops and businesses, COOPERATIONS creates jobs and opportunities for development, combining professional inclusion with economic activity, sustainability, culture and regional development.

The formal history of the Société Coopérative begins in 1991. Its roots, however, reach back to the early 1980s.

It all began with the Jardin de Wiltz. From 1983 onwards, artists from the group “Der Blaue Kompressor – Floating & Stomping Company” worked together with people with disabilities to develop an exceptional artistic and social project above the former Gruber brewery. People with disabilities were not simply participants in a social programme, but active co-creators of a public work of art. The Jardin de Wiltz was inaugurated in 1985.

From what was initially a temporary project, new opportunities for work and personal development gradually emerged, notably under the guidance of the artist Herbert Maly. The central idea behind this approach continues to shape COOPERATIONS today: people should not be defined by their limitations, but by their abilities, resources and potential for development.

On 4 July 1990, COOPERATIONS asbl was established as a permanent organisational structure for the growing range of social, cultural and educational activities. Just one year later, in 1991, COOPERATIONS Société Coopérative was founded as a legally independent structure. One important starting point was the takeover of a former candle factory in Esch-sur-Sûre, with the aim of creating employment and development opportunities for people with disabilities and for people facing barriers to accessing the labour market.

In the years that followed, the asbl and the S.Coop developed in close cooperation. For a long time, their areas of activity overlapped considerably. During the 1990s, employment opportunities were created in areas such as landscaping and the maintenance of green spaces. At the same time, the Gruberbeerig increasingly became the geographical centre of the organisation.

A major milestone followed in 2003 with the opening of the Centre Culturel Prabbeli. The Société Coopérative took over the catering operation. The former Restaurant Prabbeli later developed into Eis Kichen. Gastronomy thus became a permanent field of activity within COOPERATIONS.

In 2008, the protected workshop was transferred from the asbl to the Société Coopérative. As a result, the S.Coop grew to around 35 employees and increasingly brought together COOPERATIONS’ economic and employment-related activities. At the time, its areas of work included landscaping, art and gastronomy.

During this period, the S.Coop also began to develop more of its own products, brands and business ideas. Projects such as Sea-Biscuit and Ben & Dave’s Cookies reflected an approach that combined a social mission with entrepreneurial thinking. Professional products and services were not intended to exist outside the regular economy, but to stand out through quality, creativity and social responsibility.

In 2015, COOPERATIONS asbl and S.Coop adopted a shared vision:

“Where people and places unfold their qualities.”

Developing people’s potential, personal responsibility, collaboration and a positive approach to mistakes became important guiding principles for the organisation’s continued development.

From 2017 onwards, the Projet OPAL also marked the beginning of a shift away from traditional hierarchical structures towards a more network-based organisation. Individual workshops and businesses were to gain greater autonomy while remaining connected through a shared mission.

On 11 December 2017, COOPERATIONS S.C. received ministerial approval as a Société d’Impact Sociétal (SIS). This provided an appropriate legal framework for the connection between economic activity and social impact that COOPERATIONS had already been practising for decades.

The same year also saw the creation of the DONO workshop.

Further areas of activity were added in the years that followed. Vegetable production in the municipality of Kiischpelt strengthened regional production cycles and today connects cultivation, processing, gastronomy and sales.

Over more than three decades, the first workshops have developed into a diverse socio-economic network. Today, COOPERATIONS S.Coop includes Eis Kichen, Gruberbäckerei, Camping Kaul, landscaping, regional food production, as well as retail and community meeting places.

One particularly successful example is Ale Moart in Wiltz. This inclusive business combines retail, gastronomy, regional and in-house products, and direct customer contact, and has developed into a lively meeting place.

The latest addition builds on this experience: the Kiischpelter Duerftreff in Wilwerwiltz. It brings together a café, a village meeting place and the sale of regional products with inclusive employment, while at the same time creating a new service for people living in the municipality.

COOPERATIONS S.Coop has therefore continuously evolved and opened up new fields of activity. One fundamental idea, however, has remained unchanged: people should have the opportunity to discover their abilities, take responsibility, develop professionally and, through their work, become a visible part of social and economic life.

What began as an art project in the Jardin de Wiltz has today become a network of inclusive businesses and workshops, supported by a strong partner organisation in the cultural field and driven by a shared conviction:

“Where people and places unfold their qualities.”

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