Tree · Parkwood, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
COPAC · Co-operative and Policy Alternative Centre
Johannesburg centre helping grassroots co-ops and communities build a solidarity economy from below.
Shine Sunlight to follow their work and see how it grows.
Since 1999Works nationallyHighveld
COPAC is a small not-for-profit that has worked with grassroots movements in South Africa since 1999. It runs solidarity economy learning exchanges, activist schools and mapping tools, and backs a Food Sovereignty Campaign and a Worker Cooperative Campaign with a core team of three to four people and volunteers.
Formed in 1999 as a grassroots development organisation and registered as a section 21 company in the early 2000s. Its programmes cover the Solidarity Economy Movement (assembly reports, training guides, learning exchanges), campaigns and advocacy, and research publications. Recent work includes a Food Sovereignty Hub (launched 2025), a COPAC Activist School and the 'Facing the Heat in South Africa' photography exhibition.