COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale is an humanitarian, non confessional and independent organization that fights against all kinds of poverty to make the world a better place. Founded in 1965 by Vincenzo Barbieri (Italian "father" of international volunteering), COOPI is based in Milan and it has 24 headquarters in the South of the World. It works to assist populations struck by emergencies (disasters and conflicts) and to facilitate their civil, economic and social development. The association intervenes in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East in collaboration with local actors (civil society, public administration and so on). In 2012 it has implemented 176 projects.
COOPI works in different sectors: agriculture, water and sanitation, health care, humanitarian assistance, human rights, education, socio-economic services, migration. All sectors are related to one another in the programs launched by COOPI all of them interrelated.
COOPI is also committed to the Child Sponsorship programme in 8 countries (Perù, Haiti, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Uganda and DR Congo), and provides food, education, health and protection to 2.692 children.
COOPI also operates in Italy, through awareness and fund-raising campaigns, volunteering activities (almost 350 volunteers), the promotion of the Cooperation and Development Master course at the Institute for Advanced Study of Pavia, and finally the participation to several NGOs associations, among which Link 2007 and AGIRE (Italian Humanitarian Emergency Response Agency) are the most important. The organization is supported by important institutional donors, local institutions, foundations, companies and citizens – among the main donors, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) recognizes COOPI as an important partner.
In 2012, COOPI managed about 48 millions euro; 94% of the funds was employed for the field projects and 6% for administrative costs. COOPI relies on the expertise of 32 employees and 47 consultants in Italy, 121 expatriates and 4.500 local operator. In 2012, COOPI reached 3,6 millions beneficiaries. COOPI is known as the “We do it NGO”