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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

Family Link Workers Training The aim of this programme is to train local community members to support health and social care professionals and to help community members gain appropriate skills and qualifications to support entry into work.

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.

Good Moves into the social economy This pilot has been developing an infrastructure to encourage individuals with higher level skills, i.e graduates from Higher Education and Further Education institutions, that are required to enable the social economy to increase its role in the delivery of high quality services – such as management, IT, marketing, finance skills.

Growing the Social Economy with Graduates This pilot has been using the skills of recent graduates to create a peripatetic graduate team providing support to targeted social economy organisations which have indicated a need for business support in areas such as marketing, IT development etc.

Guides for Social Enterprises: Key messages A series of guides for Social Enterprises about how to sell to the public sector.

Hidden Harm A UK Government Report 'Hidden Harm' has identified a range of issues for families where parents are abusing drugs.

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.

HISEZ CIC (Highlands and Islands Enterprise Zone Community Interest Company) The HISEZ project is the development of a new company limited by guarantee known as HISEZ Ltd.

Improving EQuality The transnational work has been focused on a number of activities such as conducting joint research, making input to European policy development, hosting symposia and conferences and participating in study tours and exchange visits.

Independent Photography Independent Photography enables people to engage with digital lens based media arts through a range of creative programmes and activities.

Institute of place managementAssist individuals in the management development and marketing of places.

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.

Lanarkshire Social Economy This pilot focuses on two areas of development – cluster development and the design of “The Lanarkshire Quality Standard”.

LSEP Development Fund A fund of £100,000 has been approved for Local Social Economy Partnerships (LSEPs) to submit bids of up to £15,000.

Mainstreaming work Social Economy Scotland has been tackling its mainstreaming work within five themes: Partnership and procurement New approaches to finance Quality and impact Business support Rainsing the profile Within each themes are a nuber of activities and publications.

ObservatoryThe Observatory will be a research and policy unit that measures and evaluates the role of social entrepreneurship-based models of town centre management in terms of their impact on various stakeholders such as local residents, disadvantaged groups and small/medium-sized enterprises.

P2 + S2 Enterprise through Equality P2 + S2 is a transnational project creating opportunities for individuals to overcome disadvantages and play a fuller role in the community by development through experience.

Pathways to self employment for people with disabilities This programme has been working with people who have disabilities or health problems and offers an individually led support system around business start up (as a company registered with Companies House or via self employment), developing the idea, identifying start up funding, offering desk space and resources for business start up, or benefit advice on the best way to trade.

Performance Improvement Suite The DP has developed and pilotted a complete toolkit to assist organisations within the social economy to become better at what they do.

Practical Craft and Design This programme has been engaging with members of hard to reach communities in education and training activities, developing confidence, skills levels and an understanding of the practical benefits of training and personal development.