COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale

About Business Network

COOPI was founded by Father Barbieri on 15 April 1965. This is when it all started – a journey spanning more than fifty years during which COOPI and Italian international cooperation have expanded and evolved in very different aspects. 

In recent years, COOPI has undergone significant organizational change, which sees the decentralization approved in 2019 as a key step. Now COOPI has a Regional Coordination for each area of intervention (West Africa, Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean), whose purpose is to bring decision-making closer to the area of intervention, as well as to give COOPI local accreditation and to better involve the beneficiaries in the choices.

The headquarters in Milan is reconfirmed in its role of general direction, support and control of the overall work. Today it is divided into two units: the “General Activities” and the “International Activities” ones.

The “General Activities” staff includes the functions of General Secretariat, Administration and Finance, Institutional Representation, Institutional Communication, Human Resources, Monitoring and Evaluation, Security Advisor and Fundraising.

The “International Activities” Unit includes two areas: 1) “Knowledge”, whose objectives are the nurturing and enhancement of COOPI’s know-how; 2) “Management”, whose tasks relate to the qualitative monitoring of projects, the maintenance of control systems and the administrative compliance of projects to be submitted.

The HQs staffs, in this logic, become on the one hand centers of competence and monitoring in support of the operational areas and on the other hand centers of high control, to guarantee the international donors and their processes.