Ucoopia

Ucoopia is the NGO of French-speaking universities in Belgium. Ucoopia resulted from the merger of Eclosio and other university NGOs. Eclosio itself was created in 2018 through a merger between ADG and another Belgian university NGO. ADG was one of the founding NGOs of the ALiSEA platform in 2015 and a key player in Cambodia in promoting agroecology transition and value chains and committed to developing the cooperative movement of family farming.
Together with its many partners, Ucoopia contributes to building strong civil societies, functional public services, a responsible private sector for sustainable development, societies that respect fundamental rights, and equitable international relations.
Ucoopia’s main areas of intervention are:

• Accessible and quality healthcare through the construction and rehabilitation of healthcare facilities, training of healthcare personnel, community participation, strengthening of local authorities, and the production and dissemination of knowledge.
• Sustainable food systems that respect natural resources and the communities that depend on them.
• The socio-economic integration of young people and women by supporting small-scale, sustainable, and profitable businesses for families, such as beekeeping, fruit and vegetable processing, seed production and sales, supply chain development, etc.
• Support for global and responsible citizenship on our campuses in Belgium and in the areas of operation. Every year, hundreds of students participate in information and awareness-raising events on global issues and hone their critical thinking skills.

Currently in Cambodia, Ucoopia is implementing three projects: a small research project that is part of the ASSET Project and two large-scale projects: the “Agroecology Alliance to Promote Sustainable Cashew Nut in Cambodia” project, mainly funded by the European Union, and the “Sustainable Food System” project, funded primarily by Belgian Cooperation. These latter two projects include support activities from ALiSEA, notably the provision of small grants for innovative agroecological practices and support for events organized by ‘Learning and Sharing Communities’ on agroecology.