Cooperatives present a viable alternative to traditional entrepreneurship for young people and women, offering a more resilient form of enterprise with a proven ability to adapt to changing circumstances and address the challenges of our time, including climate change, depopulation and inequalities. They also provide innovative solutions and increase business and employment opportunities in sectors or areas that have been left behind by the pace of change in recent years.

For all these reasons, the Social Economy Special Commission has signed a contract for the development of a methodological guide for creating cooperatives, with particular emphasis on youth and female entrepreneurship in rural or depopulated areas. As a result, this guide has addressed and developed the following issues:

• Social enterprise entrepreneurship benefits.
•  Analysis of the different types of existing cooperatives, as well as how they are set up.
•  An analysis of the instruments of entrepreneurship and the corporate world is required, including financing instruments, access to public financing and management tools.
• The importance of considering social and environmental factors in the development of cooperatives.
• This is a compendium of case studies detailing the various success stories in cooperatives.
• The details of the One-Stop-Shops and other links of interest for entrepreneurship and cooperative development.

This guide aims to promote the creation and maintenance of cooperatives as a new but consolidated formula for facing current challenges and improving work and business opportunities, especially for young people, women and rural or depopulated areas.

The CICs represent a fundamental means of enhancing the quality of life of young people, women, and individuals in a situation or at risk of social exclusion, who encounter greater difficulties in securing employment and developing their professional careers. Furthermore, they have been identified as a means of stimulating population growth in demographically challenged areas, thereby generating employment opportunities in rural regions.

Considering this, the Social Economy Special Commission has devised a methodology with the objective of facilitating the establishment of these social enterprises, with a particular focus on the most demographically disadvantaged regions. As a result, this guide has addressed and developed the following issues:

• Social enterprise entrepreneurship benefits.
• The legal bodies that form part of the CICs.
• The analysis outlines the steps involved in the creation of new CICs. The aim of this analysis is to identify possible formulas for setting up new CICs. To this end, it defines parameters that identify successful models that can be replicated by agents that are already present or wish to enter the social economy.
• The different financing channels that can be used to set up and promote CICs.
• The steps are recommended for those wishing to establish an emerging company in a start-up environment. These steps are designed for entities that have a project and wish to pursue a new business venture, as well as those who are starting up completely.
• The compilation of different success stories
• The policy and regulatory framework for implementation.
• The contact information for the One-Stop Shops in each Autonomous Community where CICs must register, depending on the location of their work centre, is available for consultation. This allows individuals to familiarise themselves with the registration procedures and necessary documentation for their CIC.

The objective of this guide is to provide public administration with a practical tool with which to contribute to the eradication of poverty and social exclusion. This approach offers visibility to insertion companies and facilitates access to the knowledge necessary for the creation of these companies.