Study on Promoting the Role of SEs in CEE and the CIS Ewa Leś Warsaw University Institute of Social Policy Regional Workshop on Social Enterprise in CEE and the CIS Brussels, December 11th and 12 th, 2006

Presentation plan Part I Key Challenges Part II Recommendations for the Governments

Fundamental Challenges Facing the Region Democratization, citizens’ empowerment, economic growth combined with the growing polarisation in living standards: high poverty rates social exclusion uneven access to the social safety net

Issues of Significant Concern to the Region Human right violations Wide variations in the enabling environment for civic society expansion Weak civic participation Public apathy and lack of trust in civic initiatives

Relevance of TS/Social Enterprises in CEE and CIS TS/SEs added value: Contribute to create trust and networks Allow access to basic social protection Contribute to social and territorial inclusion Create employment at local level Provide goods and services benefiting also the local community Exploit local resources

Social Enterprises in the Region To sum up: Se organizations acknowledged mainly as advocacy organizations Still far from being legitimized as actors of new welfare systems Social Entrepreneurship= rare practice

What strategies should national governments adopt to exploit SEs’ social and economic contribution? (1) Promoting welfare pluralism, welfare partnerships, co-production of services; Supporting policies enhancing worker/group/cooperative ownership Fostering the development of social enterprises in the work integration sphere, as well as in the provision of social and community services Fostering local development partnerships with SE actors; Ensuring that TS/SEs are part of relevant policy documents and measures related to the above socio-economic activities; Fiscal system acknowledging the social commitment taken on by social enterprises

What strategies should national governments adopt to exploit SEs’ social and economic contribution? (2) Legal context allowing the carrying out of economic activities similar to SMEs Ensuring access for the same financial, products and service markets as SMEs, especially public procurement markets Creating an enabling environment for SEs, especially financial and business support bodies Supporting the development of self-regulatory federal bodies Advocating for the European policies allowing social and environmental criteria for the award of public contracts

What strategies should national governments adopt to exploit SEs’ social and economic contribution? (3) Making possible state and local authorities’ fair compensation for the production and delivery of goods and services by SEs; Supporting, both organizationally and financially, grass-root TS organizations; Strengthening endogenous potential in the field of socio-economic self-help Building training capacity for TS/SEs organizations; Developing new research in the social enterprise sphere;

How can Western EU TS organizations support effectively the development of SEs in CEE and the CIS? Building bridges between EU-15 national co-operative movements and target countries’ co-operative movements; Promoting valuable examples of fruitful cooperation projects promoted by the Raiffesen movement; the Desjardains movement and the Italian Consorzio of Social Co-operatives CGM in Poland; Starting new research in this field allowing to map the most valuable cooperation projects and replicate them; Creating learning networks for sharing best practices.

Italian Consorzio CGM and Polish ZLSP CGM is a national consorzio (consortium) joined by 73 local consorzia and about 1,200 social cooperatives. Its strategic role is to promote social cooperation and support the action of local networks through qualified services. CGM also acts as an actor of active social policy at a national level. The goal of the project Work without borders was twofold: firstly, facilitate the matching between labour demand of specialized nurses in Italian northern regions and job supply of Polish nurses and, secondly, promote exchanges between Italian and Polish cooperative organizations through the transfer of good practices from Italian to Polish partners that join ZLSP: training, consultancy, tutorship activities have been addressed to Polish cooperative managers. The selected managers were provided with new tools apt to: analyze the local market and plan a supply strategy for the consorzio and individual cooperatives at a local level; develop and consolidate managerial systems (marketing; planning etc.) capable of supporting the growth and consolidation of single entrepreneurial units and support network.

Italian Consorzio CGM and Polish ZLSP In addition, the project aimed at bringing near Polish cooperative experiences and Italian social enterprises, by improving: the specificities of social enterprises, the capacity of organizing and managing services for disadvantaged people in an entrepreneurial way, the systemic vision of social enterprises (internal and external factors) the capacity of positioning the local entrepreneurial action in the frame of public policies for the TS and the evolution of local welfare systems. The methodology adopted has been that of the twin-practice, according to which an Italian consorzio or cooperative “adopts” a Polish cooperative or cooperative group.