Confederação Cooperativa Portuguesa (CONFECOOP)

The Confederação Cooperativa Portuguesa (CONFECOOP) is Portugal's national representative organisation for the cooperative sector, founded in 1988 and headquartered in Lisbon. It brings together numerous national cooperative unions and individual cooperatives, spanning more than a dozen sectors including social solidarity, housing and consumption, and represents members' interests in maintaining the cooperative model. CONFECOOP advocates organising economic activity according to cooperative principles — equality, freedom and democracy — regarding the cooperative model as a factor for socially responsible development. It is the body through which the Portuguese cooperative movement speaks externally, and participates in European and international cooperative networks such as CECOP.