At the UN, the Tassano Consortium sets itself as an example of a public-private partnership model in the fight against poverty
24 May 2017 – United Nations, New York
Side event at the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development
At the event on “New models of interaction between the public and private actors, successes and challenges and their meaning for development finance and the eradication of poverty”, New Humanity presents the Tassano Consortium, inspired to the Economy of Communion.
New Humanity’s presentation took place at a side-event dedicated to Public Private Interfaces, during a four-day long Forum organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The focus of the Forum was to reflect on Financial instruments for development and to explore ways for governments to raise the funds necessary for development, in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Although several previous speakers expressed grave concerns about the privatization of public services such as healthcare and education, the story of the experience of public-private partnership promoted by the Tassano Consortium in collaboration with the public administration in Genoa, Italy, was met with enthusiasm by the expert speakers and audience, which included about forty people representing government officials, UN representatives and private citizens.
Speaking on behalf of New Humanity, Mr. Joseph Klock noted that “the example of the Tassano Cooperative and of numerous other initiatives that take inspiration from the principles of the Economy of Communion, show that public private partnerships can serve the public well if the people in both the public and private entities have the common good of the people they serve at heart.”
Achieving common good is definitely at the center of the “Economy of Communion” economic model. It applies the fundamental principles of New Humanity to the economic field, and it is based on the concept of economic activity intended not only as a profit-based way of operating, but also as a way to pursue the general interest of the community in the human promotion and social integration of citizens.
With its twenty-year long experience, the Tassano Group’s primary mission is to take inspiration from and to promote that economic model. It’s not by a chance that 156 of its employees (48%) belong to vulnerable categories.
At the same time, the Roberto Tassano Consortium does not shy from the responsibility of a strongly market-oriented business group. In fact it includes 22 cooperatives that are active in social services in the territory, employment services, new synergies, homes for the elderly and the disadvantaged. The Consortium had revenues of 25 million € ($30 million) in 2016.
For what concerns the interface with the public sector, Mr. Klock’s presentation highlighted how the Tassano Consortium’s management was able to set up a wide partnership network with local and state-run government institutions, as their work at the service of the territory and in a particular way of the most vulnerable groups was recognized and supported through adequate policies
This aspect was particularly welcomed by the audience to the point that the chairperson of the NGO Committee on Financing for Development requested a repeat of the presentation of the Consortium and of the model of the Italian social Coops at a future full committee meeting so that more people could hear this positive example of how public-private partnerships can work to serve humanity together.