An important aspect of setting up mutual health insurance schemes in the South is taking into account the financial means of future members. For this system to be effective, each member of the target communities must have sufficient financial means to pay the membership fee. In order to achieve this objective, Louvain Coopération gives mutual members a significant say in decisions relating to the mutual health insurance scheme. The General Assembly, made up solely of members, sets the annual membership fee. The range of healthcare services covered by the scheme depends on this fee.

In Atacora, a particularly poor region in northern Benin, Louvain Coopération has developed an integrated project combining food security and access to healthcare. For families with low and irregular incomes, even a minor health problem can turn into a disaster. To treat one of their own, families have to make significant sacrifices, even selling their entire year's harvest and going without food themselves.

Louvain Coopération supports the development of mutual health organisations in West Africa. In this way, it provides disadvantaged populations with access to healthcare, while combating hunger and poverty.

The link between mutual health organisations and food security may seem unclear to most of us. However, in Benin and Togo, it is a daily reality for thousands of people. In these West African countries, 80% of the population works in the informal economy. These people are particularly vulnerable and are not covered by any health insurance scheme.

As the successor to associations founded by UCL academics, Louvain Coopération has always maintained close ties with the university on several levels. Here is an overview.

Every year, UCL commits to doubling its members' donations to Louvain Coopération. In 2015, this initiative raised more than €70,000 for the NGO's projects.

Every year, Louvain Coopération enables around 50 science students, architects and engineers to put their skills to use in a concrete project in collaboration with students from universities in the South.

Identity is not limited to the nationality written on a passport, skin colour or gender. It is more elusive than that, and difficult to sum up in a few words. Beyond national identity, a vague and widely exploited concept, personal, cultural and social identities offer many more opportunities to meet others... (S. Merle)

Louvain Coopération is not just about projects in the Global South.

Today, the dispensary, maternity ward and surgery departments are already operational at Belo Hospital, as are the laundry and laboratory. However encouraging these developments may be, they do not represent the end of the story. In fact, the ‘Belo adventure’ is far from over. In reality, it is only just beginning...

In October 2016, we are celebrating the anniversary of the inauguration of the Belo Hospital in Madagascar. This is an opportunity to take stock of the hospital's activities and look back on the eventful journey that led to this achievement, which was so eagerly awaited by the local population.

Ecofeminism: for whom, for what?

While this movement takes many different forms – sometimes even diametrically opposed to one another – all ecofeminists are united by one certainty: that current society significantly compromises the fulfilment of women and nature.

Being an ecofeminist means committing to an alternative worldview, to the advent of a new paradigm open to so-called feminine values. It means advocating the replacement of the power relations characteristic of patriarchy with a relational ethic that values empathy and harmony among living beings.

Today, Louvain Coopération has withdrawn from all projects supporting microfinance institutions. However, there is one exception: UCMECS, or Union des Caisses Mutuelles d'Epargne et de Crédit des Savanes (Union of Mutual Savings and Credit Institutions of the Savanes). Based in Togo, in the Savanes region, this savings and credit structure was initially part of a larger organisation combining credit, savings, mutual health insurance, literacy and advice for farmers.

In the South, Louvain Coopération is implementing numerous initiatives to combat poverty and debt. These include strategies to provide access to savings and credit. Starting out with traditional microfinance projects, Louvain Coopération has now moved more towards community microfinance. Here we take a closer look at these initiatives, which are helping to restore economic security to families.