Read in this article what GESTE has planned for 2023 and which new projects have been initiated, along with first exciting details about the pilot projects with the four Volksbanks represented on the foundation's boards. That we can do anything with GESTE—even speak standard German—we want to prove by developing the foundation into the national partner of all cooperatives in Germany for sustainable projects worldwide. Stay with us, get involved—it remains exciting and will become even more so.

Workshops on Strategy and Products

After the founders' decision to develop GESTE – Baden-Württemberg into a national foundation, the past year 2022 was particularly marked by realignment. In a joint strategy workshop of the foundation's boards, the course was set in April at the GENO-Haus. Sebastian Gomolka from BWGV and Steffen Müller from DGRV were appointed as the new co-CEOs to work together on implementing the previously defined measures. The focus is on better communicating the great and sustainable impacts as well as the added value of the worldwide projects with cooperative partners to donors, and making them usable.

Employees and board members of the four cooperative banks—Volksbank am Württemberg eG, Volksbank Bruchsal-Bretten eG, Volksbank Main-Tauber eG, and Volksbank Rottweil eG—developed product ideas in two joint workshops that will go into prototype development in 2023. The product ideas are intended, for example, to increase the employer attractiveness of cooperatives through partnerships and deployment opportunities in international projects. Especially for young employees, these are very attractive perspectives and opportunities to engage in social and ecological projects in over 30 countries of the Global South. Members and customers of cooperatives should also be given the opportunity to participate financially in GESTE's activities through their cooperative, thereby making a local contribution to solving global challenges.

For corporate customers, concrete support services for sustainability reporting are also planned. In any case, we can only achieve the sustainability goals together, following cooperative principles: what one person cannot achieve, many can. And we are many: nearly four million in Baden-Württemberg and over 20 million in Germany alone, and even over a billion people worldwide are members of a cooperative. If that's not a lever we can apply in these challenging times of change.

Together with the BWGV team and Tilmann Fabig from VR-Bank Main-Tauber eG, a communications strategy for reporting on GESTE and the numerous project activities was developed. The website was updated and regular posts were published on BWGV's social media channels. In Geno Graph and on the website, you will also find a blog with exciting information about the projects and the well over 100 cooperative partners around the world. For example, about the two new projects in Kenya with young cooperative members of DGRV's partner KYSC, the Kipkelion Youth Service Cooperative, to combat youth unemployment by building a Coffee Tuk Tuk and a Coffee House, and in Argentina to promote student cooperatives with the cooperative insurance company Sancor in the capital of cooperatives, Sunchales in Santa Fé province. Also stay tuned for the development of the recently opened first Raiffeisen market in India, made possible through GESTE, where organic products are sold at affordable prices to the small farmers of the partner organization Apmas.

Nationwide Orientation

Participation in GESTE will also be possible for interested and engaged individuals from cooperative companies outside Baden-Württemberg in the future. The legal prerequisites are being created through an amendment to the statutes. Even more important, however, will be the future usability of the foundation by all cooperatives in Germany. This is especially relevant in the context of the sustainability strategies of the cooperative group and the pooling of cooperatives' contributions to social and ecological sustainability. In the regions, in Germany, and through GESTE, worldwide. Join us, support GESTE, and let's create perspectives for a better future together.

Ceremony in May

For GESTE's tenth anniversary in May 2023, there will be a ceremony presenting the milestones achieved and much content from the projects. You will be informed of the exact date in due time through BWGV's communication channels. The founding by BWGV in 2013 was preceded by the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives in 2012. The central core values of cooperatives—such as regionality, participation, community, responsibility, diversity, and sustainable economic management—were highlighted as important characteristics of cooperatives and remain of utmost importance for all of us. Here in Baden-Württemberg, in Europe, but above all worldwide! We want to continue contributing to this with GESTE in the future and promote shared values through lived cooperation beyond our regional borders.