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Strengthening the Scottish Social Economy

Logo for Strengthening the Scottish Social Economy www.socialeconomyscotland.info 

Partnership information

Description

Aim

The aim of the Strengthening the Social Economy in Scotland DP was to improve the social economy in the three thematic areas of Funding and Finance, E-business, and Careers and Leadership.

Objectives

The objectives of the DP were to:
  • Set up a framework to foster developing an ‘entrepreneurial and enterprise’ culture within the social economy sector.

  • Provide the capacity for growth and sustainability, leading to improvements in job quality in the sector.

  • Significantly strengthen the cohesion, visibility and credibility of the social economy.

  • Promote networking and collaboration between social economy organisations across Scotland to grow social economy activity.
Three Scotland-wide thematic pilots and four social economy zones were developed to test new ways of combating all forms of inequalities in the labour market. The social economy zones were:
  • West Dunbartonshire;
  • Lanarkshire;
  • Highlands and Islands; and
  • South of Scotland (Twin track of Roxburgh and Dumfries and Galloway)
Target beneficiary groups

The SEZ’s brought together local stakeholders in the social economy, including local social enterprises, Communities Scotland local representatives, local enterprise companies, Council for Voluntary Services, Local Authorities, housing groups and health trusts. These then drew up Local Action Plans to work together to strengthen the social economy.

Main outcomes

The proposed outcomes of the programme were “increased confidence and competence within the sector; greater understanding and breaking down of barriers within procuring agencies; and ultimately a more entrepreneurial and sustainable social economy”. This was achieved by holding events, sounding boards, training programmes and other means of sharing and disseminating best practice..

The steering group remained the hub of the DP, to ensure that the pilots did not simply operate autonomously, but remained committed to the partnership. There was also a development officer who worked to ensure the transfer of best practice information between the pilot projects.

Round

1

Lead partner

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)
www.scvo.org.uk

Core partners

Community Enterprise in Strathclyde, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise (Glasgow, Atlantic Quay), Scottish Homes

Transnational partnerships

Information for Transnational partnerships

Contact

Pauline Graham, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO),

End-dates

Action 2: 14 May 2005
Action 3: 14 November 2005

Equal theme

Social economy

Beneficiaries

Jobseekers with low basic skills, Unemployed

Achievements

Mainstreaming Procurement advice (to support the social economy to deliver excellent public services).
  • Wide dissemination of “Tendering for public sector contracts – a practical guide for social economy organisations in Scotland” (This was produced after the DTI’s Procurement Guide and involves case studies from Scotland and the Scottish policy context).
  • Maintaining & developing an online database of procurement contacts and opportunities
  • Development and delivery of training in procurement for both purchasers and providers of public services.

Mainstreaming lessons from the local Social Economy Zones (to further disseminate the lessons learned from local partnerships).
  • Action research project – good practice from the four Social Economy Zone pilots
  • Rolling out of and support to Local Social Economy Partnerships (LSEPs) (based on Equal Zones experience)
    initiated as part of the Futurebuilders Scotland support programme, but envisaged to become an integrated part of local planning structures.

Making the case for the social economy (informing and influencing policy makers, practitioners and the sector itself about the wider benefits of investing in Scotland’s social economy)
  • Regional good practice seminars on themes/issues affecting the sector
  • Regional seminars for business advisers to the social economy,
  • Website development: www.socialeconomyscotland.info
  • National conference “More than profit – making the case for the social economy”
  • Policy briefing @ the Scottish parliament for MSP’s & policy influencers

Shaping careers & leaders (to counter the poor image of the sector as a recruitment choice and improve the workforce development prospects of staff currently employed)
  • Former Thematic sounding board overseeing the pilot project development and implementation is turned into a self-sustaining network exploring further project opportunities.


European Thematic Group (ETG) on Partnership & Procurement involvement – wide dissemination of Scottish good practice especially in the area of opening up procurement markets to the social economy

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Connections

Connections

Main outputs

Print
Action research projectAction research project of the social economy zones pilots of the Equal Strengthening the Social Economy Mainstreaming partnership.

Activities and products

Website
E-BusinessThrough a project match-funded by the Scottish Enterprise e-Business Group, the Equal Strengthening the Social Economy Partnership has produced a friendly, web-based guide to encourage uptake of ICT within social economy organisations.
Activity
Funding and financeAs part of the successful pilot “New approaches to Funding & Finance” led by CEiS, Forth Sector & HIE a range of tools have been developed which test out new ways of strengthening the growth and sustainability of the sector.
Activity
Highlands and IslandsThe partnership in the social economy zone worked well together building on systems to support Social Economy Organisations (SEOs) that were already in place.
Activity
LanarkshireThe Lanarkshire pilot supported organisations through developing their capacity; helping them exploit their potential; and supporting the sector by raising awareness, developing opportunities and supporting structures.
Activity
Shaping Careers and LeadersThe Shaping Careers & Leaders pilot was designed to focus on careers and leaders within the social economy and to identify, develop and test actions that would have a positive impact on job quality in the voluntary sector by: • Supporting the recruitment and career progression of staff within the social economy, and • Supporting the potential/ existing social economy leaders/entrepreneurs.
Activity
South of ScotlandThe South of Scotland zone was split into two areas. The Roxburgh pilot project successfully provided advice and guidance in relation to securing service level agreements or contracts for the provision of services in the social economy zone.
Activity
West DunbartonshireThis pilot focused on helping social care organisations move into contracting with Joint Futures agencies.
Print
Case Studies highlighting the social economy’s contribution to regenerationCase Studies highlighting the social economy’s contribution to regeneration.
Website
E Business GuideGuide for Social Enterprises.
Print
Ensuring start ups stay in business. Policy briefing paperOver half of business start-ups in the EU fail within five years.
Print
Finance for social enterprises. Policy brieifing paperThe very nature of the social economy (non-profit aims, returns and control unrelated to capital ownership, different public/private revenue mixes) produces a new set of financial challenges.
Print
Financial ladders out of social exclusion equal micro-finance paperThere is a recognised shortage in the supply of finance from banks to support small-scale income generating activities by under-represented groups.
Print
High quality business support systems for allLower rates of self-employment and business creation among certain areas and groups of the population not only contribute to inequality, they also lead to fewer jobs and a loss of output for Europe as a whole.
Print
How to ensure effective partnershipsGuide for Social Enterprises on pronciples of partnership working.
Print
How to make procurement real for the Social EconomyGuide for Social Enterprises.
Print
Management skills for social enterprises.Social enterprises play an important role in society, by providing care services to those in need, and by providing work to people who are unable to compete in the mainstream labour market.
Print
Research SummaryA summary series of recent research from Communities Scotland.
Print
Scoping study for the assessment of the asset base of the community business sector in the HighlandsScoping study for the assessment of the asset base of the community business sector in the Highlands and Islands.
Print
Social enterprises – building jobs, services and inclusion paperSociety is caught in a pincer movement.
Print
Taking business support closer to hard to reach communities paperCertain groups of the population in certain areas of Europe find it far harder to enter self-employment or create a business than others.
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