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His background

Jorge is an economist. He holds a PhD in economics from the Technical University of Berlin (2010-2013), a Master in Development Economics (HTW Berlin, 2008-2009), and a degree in Economics from the New University of Lisbon (2001-2005). 

He is one of the founders of the Cooperativa Integral Minga in 2015 in Montemor-o-Novo. 

His participations to Minga

Jorge was the treasurer of Minga (2015-2017) and president (2018-2021).

• Consultancy for cooperative, associative and business projects and the creation of local currencies.

• Support for the development of business strategy, cost analysis, prices, investments.

And now ? (03/2023)

He is still a member of Minga but no longer on the board. He does a research project on circular economy at Minga. He tries at the same time to diffuse his experience at Minga.

He is a member of WindEmpowerment wich is a group of engineers from all over the world searching on small scales wind turbines (low-tech). The aim is to teach the local population (especially rural comunities) how to use and maintain them.

Jorge is also a researcher associated with JUST2CE project, that researches on a inclusive transition to a circular economy.

Minga's mission is fully in line with the efficient development of Montemor-o-Novo. It can be said that Minga participates, in cooperation with other actors, in meeting the needs of the territory. Below, Minga's purpose:

"We emerged to promote the development of Montemor-o-Novo, in the logic of local consumption and environmental and social responsibility. We provide citizens with quality products and services and promote self-employment opportunities.

As Cooperativa Integral, we want to act in all areas necessary for living and we have emerged as a platform for convergence and transition towards a cleaner, fairer economy, connected to people."

One important intangible ressource that the cooperative tried to develop (unintentionaly) is knwoledge. The key place is the shop Minga created. The shop is more than a place where you buy products. It is a "convivial" place where people from different generations meet and share experiences. There are exchanges between customers themselves and the farmers that come to the shop to deliver their products. They are exchanging knowlege like seasonal cooking recipe, way of farming, ... They even organize meetings sometimes with the citizens, the local businesses and the farmers to talk about a topic (health, farming, management...).

Another intangible ressource that has been developped through the years is confidence. Especially between the citizens of Montemor and the cooperative and for example between the shcool canteens of the town and the cooperative. In the first years confidence of the consumers was hard to get. Indeed, they were a bit scared to enter this new shop in the town. To improve this confidence, Minga put local people working in the shop in order to connect people more easily. Then the confidence grew year after year and the place became known in the town. 

Concerning the canteens, the municipality feared an insufficient supply of food by the farmer of the cooperative. It took some time to create new relationships and explain how the cooperative works. Time after time the confidence grew and the canteens increased their supplies with Minga. The relation between the cooperative and the canteens being good, Minga has now an influence on proposing seasonal menus. This is a win-win situation because the cooperative can say to the farmers 3 month in advance the needs and the school canteens are supplied with good quality seasonal fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the confidence between the farmers became more and more important. That creates a better organisation of the work (who produces what, at what time...) and helps the cooperative to be more resilient.

At the beginning, Minga was created to solve the issues caused in large part by the financial crisis (unemployment, rural exodus, limited access to entrepreneurship, etc.). 

The creation of a local cooperative based on a circular economy model and the creation of a local currency (Mor) generate many positive externalities on the lives of the population. These include:

• cheaper, good quality local products that allow the population to eat locally and healthily (without resorting to the low prices of hypermarkets).

• as the fruits and vegetables are only seasonal, it avoids the importations and bad effects that it has on the environment.

• solving unemployment issues by creating new local businesses, which revitalizes the territory. 

• circular way of doing, as example: food surplus are transformed into other products, waste reducing, waste as a resource (vegetable surplus go to the compost or feed chickens), ...

Cooperation at Minga seems to be the most important concept that can match with FCE. We can identify two types of cooperation : a cooperation between the members of the cooperative and a cooperation between the members and some other actors of the territory. 

First of all there is a cooperation between the farmers. Minga tried to organise a network where farmers can meet, talk in order to help themselves. For example to do a business plan, to try to predict the quantity they need to produce or even giving help on the field. Moreover, the shop is a place where the farmers can exchange seeds. At the begining, managers of the cooperative gathered the farmers and discuss the selling prices of their products. Everyone could give his opinion considering his needs and constraints and so they put a price collectively. The confidence growing between the farmers time after time, the cooperation became natural and easier (who produces what and when). 

Then we identified a cooperation between the cooperative and other actors of the territory. For example, at the begining they cooperated with another cooperative in Lisbon that sold basket of food. The Minga's farmers would sold there products to this cooperative in order to complete their baskets. Also, Minga installed good relationships with the school canteens of Montemor and are now co-constructing seasonal menus with them. So the cooperative knows the needs of the canteens for the month and the farmers can produce the right amount of fruits and vegetables. So they know how much they can earn in advance. Furthermore, Minga created a network of integral cooperatives where they exchange knowledge, material, experiences, ...

Circular report of Minga

Minga: a multi-solution cooperative in Portugal

• Difficulties to cooperate with the municipality of Montemor.

• The lack of culture/education on cooperation in Portugal, and many decades (since late 80s) with little cooperative experience, so people have to relearn the practices of cooperation, and it is the beginning of the learning curve. 

We found Minga to be an interesting development in terms of cooperation. Indeed, cooperation (internal or external) is central to Minga's model. It allows the ecosystem to function efficiently by meeting the needs of the Montemor-o-Novo territory (particularly the feeding area).

We found the exchange of intangible resources particularly interesting. The shop is a key place for these exchanges and offers much more than just the sale of products (exchange of knowledge/skills, creation of social links, etc.). Through Jorge's speech, we perceived the importance of trusting relationships between the stakeholders (farmers, citizens, municipality). 

The positive externalities of Minga on the territory are numerous but do not seem to be valued in any offer.

The concept of performance of use does not seem to be sufficiently developed at Minga to dig deeper into the subject.

We would like to make it clear here that there is no question of negative criticism of this project. The aim is to imagine a fictional story about he development of a similar company through the FCE concepts. It is also a way to inspire people in a concrete way.

We are in 2030, Minga has continued its efforts. These efforts have become more productive, more relevant and more visible to more and more local actors thanks to the framework provided by the FCE...

Some of the elected representatives, local government officials, and then the entire municipality, understood the value of Minga's work in Montemor-o-Novo after the success of the canteen food supply.  Minga and the municipality in particular have initiated a "Food wellbeing" hub whose objective is to ensure the continuity of the supply of good quality food in order to allow the good health of the local people. The municipality, the inhabitants and the local actors now pay and finance part of Minga's activity. A close relationship is now maintained between the representatives of the cooperative, the inhabitants, the local business and the municipality. Regular meetings allow the sharing of needs, resources and short term issues.

New cooperatives have been created in the Alentejo region as a result of the awareness-raising efforts of Minga members. The region has provided funding and has committed itself to Minga's governance by recognising the service value produced by Minga. This allows for the relevant development of cooperatives on its territory. New food cooperatives has been created. Their collaboration is based on a growing trust between the different cooperatives as well as with other territorial actors. Cooperation, through a resilient, sustainable and responsible economic mechanism, has revealed the value of what used to be called "mutual aid". Cooperation has become the key word, whether in sharing expertise, seeds or materials. This now ensures food resilience in the region to handle the consequences of global warming. Producers have found meaning in their work and recognition since they know who their products are intended for and how their work is fully integrated into the response to the needs of the territory.

The municipality of Montemor-o-Novo and Minga have agreed to organise regular workshops bringing together producers, restaurant owners, nutritionists and consumers. In a friendly place provided by the municipality, consumers learn how to grow their own food and cook dishes using local and seasonal ingredients. With confidence now established, the workshop participants no longer hesitate to leave by making a donation to the various trainers.

The Montemor-o-Novo school received this year's award for the healthiest school in the Alentejo region. Following a collaboration started in 2023 with one nutritionist and one farmer, both members of the cooperative, the school created a new subject "Food and Health" which aims to make students aware of these issues. The results are there and studies show that the population of Montemor-o-Novo have less doctors appointments. The nutritionist's and farmer's interventions are partly financed by the school, partly by the municipality and by the local health insurance, which see an interest in reducing the workload of doctors and health expenses.

Finally, Minga has set up a training course on the detection of "weak signals" (overwork, burnout, etc.) for producers and volunteer actors. This allows everyone to look out for each other and to find solutions together when faced with difficulties. In addition, Minga organises a meeting once a month with all the producers to discuss the various issues of the moment. This simple management system allows Minga's coordinators to get feedback on the health of the producers and the evolution of trust between them.

To ensure the relevance of Minga's transition, two experts from the EFC followed its development. To this end, Minga's governance organised feedback sessions with them every three months. 

French similar initiatives 

• The PTCE of Audruicq and the Anges Gardins: a territory and actors that have become resilient thanks to the cooperation integrating the different local actors (Social Economy, private, public and citizens) and aiming at a collectively desired performance, called territorial performance.

Remarkable point: the territorial performance that could be established after many years of commitment in the first place of the Social Economy actors in Audruicq and the City Council in Loos-en-Gohelle.

To find out more: Réseau Cocagne & IEEFC.

• Vent d'Est: collection and production of French cheeses in Moldavia, in a local distribution network, paying attention to sharing the income of each of the actors.

Remarkable point: to create local, sustainable and responsible economic activity in order to slow down the departure of young people and graduates to Russia and Europe.

• Polopolo : a local currency to give back purchasing power and strongly boost the local economy! The Agora du Ternois, which initiated this currency, brings together Social Economy actors, companies (CJD) and the City Council of St Pol sur Ternoise.

Remarkable point: this Agora, by generating confidence and relevance thanks to the commitment and diversity of actors, was able, thanks to these absolutely strategic intangible resources, to successfully launch this local currency.