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Social economy

Definition: Strengthening the social economy (the third sector), in particular the services of interest to the community, with a focus on improving the quality of jobs

Theme D partnerships concentrate on creating opportunities in the social economy and span work in both urban and rural areas, and with groups and organisations resourcing many social sectors. This has involved work on local sourcing, research into social enterprise success factors, community work training and the development of social accounting tools. Products include website directories, waste and recycling relating to community enterprises, learning materials on children and play, a guide on how to make access to public procurement real for social firms, toolkits, websites, research, case studies, training courses and occupational standards and good-practice models.

Further Information:

• ECOTEC Thematic update paper: Theme D
• Theme D mainstreaming strategy

ACME - Agora, Comurbano, Mercurio EqualThree DPs from 2 different Equal Themes form the ACME transnational partnership: Agora from the UK (Theme D - social economy), and Comurbano and Mercurio both from Spain working under Theme F - adaptability.

AGORA pilot townsTo develop alternative social enterprise models for 8 local AGORA communities to run their locations as social enterprises (i.e.

BCMA This is a new community media association offering media training, and will soon be broadcasting its own radio station across the Thames Gateway!.

Black Country Small Business support This programme has been working across a number of organisations providing business advice and support to BME and other disadvantaged groups.

Butterfly – Creating chances The aim of the transnational partnership is to promote and develop new business ideas and solutions in the social economy to strengthen the integration chances of disadvantaged target groups in and through work in local communities.

C3 Perform Toolkit The DP has developed and piloted a complete toolkit to assist organisations within the social economy to become better at what they do.

C3 Research and Strategy The activities of the C3 developmental partnership are underpinned by detailed local research into the position of the social economy in Bristol and the South West.

C3 Research and Strategy The activities of the C3 developmental partnership are underpinned by detailed local research into the position of the social economy in Bristol and the South West.

Community Approach to Social Enterprise Within Powys there are a number of excellent examples of social enterprise that also provide services.

Consultants registerSEP-EQUAL developed a national register of consultants for the social enterprise sector.

Creative Developments The Creative Development Black Country team has been working with partners to provide participatory arts projects according to partners' needs.

DAGEDAGE (Deptford Action Group for the Elderly) is a pro-active organisation, working to improve the quality of life for local pensioner.

Demand Side The areas of work which the demand side partners have been undertaking include: Analysis of expenditure and opportunities to purchase outcomes relevant to public benefit and/or sustainable development Research into the wider impacts of procurement decision making, including economic, social and environmental Targeted work to include consideration of social impact within commissioning Building internal bridges between departments and other parts of the public sector to enable a strategic approach to meeting more than one objective Developing social enterprise and sustainable procurement-friendly policies and assessment toolkits Supplier-facing initiatives with social enterprises giving them fair opportunity to access contracts Demand side partners include: Nottingham City Council, Northamptonshire County Council, North West Leicestershire District Council, and the Coalfield Regeneration Trust.

DESE - Developing Excellent Social Enterprises The key concerns of the DESE partnership are sustainability, credibility and competitiveness of the social economy sector and Social Enterprises.

Disincentives ResearchWith King’s College London, SEP-EQUAL examined disincentives in the UK benefits systems (with comparative European research) for potential social enterprise employees.

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.

Enterprise AcceleratorDevelopment Trusts are growing across Scotland and making a real difference in regenerating the communities in which they are based.

Environmental Inclusion Programme The Environmental Inclusion Programme is a land based programme that seeks to involve whole communities in aspirational activity around gardens that may lead towards social enterprises.

European Enterprise Plus (EE+) This transnational strand is producing a practical guide for managing social enterprises / social enterprise manual.

e-VOLUTION The second TCA, e-VOLUTION, is a partnership between Italy and once again, e-learn2work.