The experiences of the social cooperatives in Italy began during the
second half of the eighties, refl ecting the decision of a group of persons to
cooperate for the creation of work opportunities for the disadvantaged.
There are three types of cooperatives: A type for services to well defi ned
excluded collectives, B type for labour inclusion of excluded collectives
being them, at 30% minimum, the human resources for the cooperative,
type C as a group of cooperatives. Market and inclusion, the business
aim and the service focused on the person need a special competences
mix that is diffi cult to achieve in a traditional enterprise. Nowadays, the
social cooperatives develop a determinant role in the return of ex drug
dependent persons to the labour market and, also, verify and check the
treatment effects and goals acquired.