GOOD PRACTICE
The Bergamo Solidarity Purchasing Network (RGB) represents a decentralized model of critical consumption, linking over 60 Solidarity Purchasing Groups (GAS) within a horizontal, value-based framework. Operating since 2009, the network prioritizes ethical supply chains, price transparency, and co-production initiatives such as La buona terra, offering a robust alternative to large-scale retail distribution. Integrated into the wider Social and Solidarity Economy District (DESS BG) since 2019, RGB employs Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) to ensure social and environmental standards through community-led oversight. Despite its success in fostering active citizenship and shortening food chains, the network faces structural hurdles, including inconsistent participation and the logistical complexity of managing a non-commercial, service-oriented infrastructure. The establishment of a temporary Service Group highlights the ongoing challenge of creating a formalized representation model capable of institutional engagement while maintaining its grassroots, democratic essence.
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The Bergamo GAS Network (RGB), established in 2009, is a voluntary, horizontal network connecting over 60 Solidarity Purchasing Groups (GAS) across the province. It serves as a living laboratory for critical consumption and food system transformation, promoting ethical supply chains, co-production, and active citizenship based on shared values: social justice, transparency, direct relationships with producers, and environmental respect. The network evolved from a single large group, branching out into dozens of local groups and developing a service-oriented structure that facilitates collaboration, logistics, and collective order coordination among its members.
Since 2019, the RGB has become a core component of the wider Distretto di Economia Sociale e Solidale della Bergamasca (DESS BG). This district acts as a political and cultural platform to strengthen cooperation and promote a fair, sustainable, and participatory economy, engaging RGB in innovative processes like Participatory Guarantee Systems to enhance the ethical quality of food chains. The RGB has achieved significant results through co-production initiatives such as La buona terra and Buoni come il pane. These projects are built on a non-commercial, relational model that prioritises price transparency and respect for agricultural labour. The network has successfully created a coordinated, province-wide alternative to large-scale distribution. However, the RGB faces structural and operational challenges. A major difficulty is establishing a fully functioning and widely accepted model of representation capable of engaging with institutions, leading to the creation of a temporary Service Group for operational tasks.
Active participation also remains inconsistent, with core planning often limited to a small number of groups. Operationally, coordinating complex co-production projects, managing logistics across a decentralised system, and negotiating transparent pricing with new producers require continuous effort and skilled interpersonal management. Despite these challenges, the Bergamo GAS Network stands as a recognised model for integrating ethical, political, educational, and territorial dimensions into the construction of a solidarity economy.
