EU working group GECES published report on Social Entrepreneurship
The working group of the European Commission in charge of social entrepreneurship (GECES) recently published it’s report.
Great support for every aspect of running your Social Enterprise in our free online toolkit by UNLTD UK: http://ow.ly/UQGw306TqCD
Why be separated if we can network?
The Social entrepreneurship (SE) phenomenon is developing and receiving attention on a global scale. However, what is very often missing is close cooperation across borders, neighbourhoods, and communities. While taking care of social challenges in a specific geographical place, lack of proper cooperation and information between regions may lead to undiscovered solutions and methods in another place. As a result, the wheel has to be unnecessarily re-invented several times and extra human capacity wasted on things which have already been resolved in other areas. How to solve issues like this? Firstly, let’s imagine that Janis from Latvia has found some kind of solution regarding helping vulnerable groups in his community, he must have a tool, a method of spreading this solution. Of course, social media is a good tool, but what kind of target group should he choose to spread the message more effectively? In the 2014 Social Entrepreneurship Support Institutions around the Baltic Sea Region decided to come with some solutions, which might be reasonable to stimulate SE development in the region. In September 2014, the project under Erasmus+ program called “Social entrepreneurship development in the Baltic Sea region” was granted to come with inventive solutions, not only networking and sharing functions. The first meeting of the partners took place in Riga, November 10-12, merging with the Social Entrepreneurship Forum. Partners presented current status of social entrepreneurship in respective countries and participated in a discussion with national stakeholders.
At the first stage partners (duringthe end of 2014) made a survey, a short snapshot what is really going on around the Baltic Sea region in the SE sector. Participating partners from Denmark, Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland and Latvia gave updates on the different aspect of legal status, education and impact analysis.
The next meeting took place in March, 2015 in Tallinn. During the meeting partners discussed the current status of the project, as well as what can be done better and the next project results to be delivered. One of the important elements is an open education resource or platform, which is to combine different functions and help social enterprises and support institutions around the Baltic Sea to network more actively. The second day continued with a meeting with Estonian stakeholders.
At the next stage of the project, partners concentrated on the delivery of educational materials. As it is well known, a proper business model selection plays a crucial role in any business, including a social role. For that reason one of the aims was to deliver educational material about business models. Besides that, an important yet less researched topic is impact assessment; educational materials on this were also delivered. Finally, a national educational video has been delivered in the national language, to educate and motivate engagement in social entrepreneurship.
At the end of summer, partners are involved in the research and focus group task preparations. The main focus will be the delivery of special guidelines for public institutions, how to support and help social enterprises, based on solid examples, experts views and content analysis findings.
Last, but not least, the current stage (summer2015) for project partners is the process of drafting an open education resource, its services and content. Hence, any support or suggestions are welcome, to make networking alive, to foster self-education and allow social entrepreneurship to grow around the Baltic Sea region.
Our next gathering is planned to take place in Copenhagen, 12-13 of August, 2015. You are welcome to join our discussion session on the 13thof August from 10 am to 1 pm.
Place: VerdensKulturCentret, Sankt Hans Torv, Nørre Alle 7, København N
Theme: Status for Social Enterprises in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Denmark.
P.S. Just in case you want to know more about our project objectives:
For more information contact the project coordinator Renate Lukjanska at renate.lukjanska@zinis.lv
For two years consortium of Erasmus+ VISION project have been working on useful outcomes, and the project concluded in the last December. Proudly they are presenting an outcome of the project – a book that has just been released for broader audiences. ‘Envisioning the Future of Learning for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship will be available in e-Book format free of charge from March 7th, and in paperback format from March 21, 2022.
Download eBook here || Buy paperback version here
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Envisioning the Future of Learning for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship outlines the work and findings of the Erasmus+ VISION research project. The book is focused on the increasing importance of immersive learning and includes the findings of more than 130 detailed interviews and 9 workshops.
Education is changing and teachers and students around the world are reshaping it. This book is designed to help educators, policy makers and stakeholders from industry and society at large navigate the changing landscape of education for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship (CIE). Built on insights from more than 250 experts, the book presents a learning landscape that captures today’s shifts within CIE education and proposes guidance and potential pathways for those involved in the field.
It shows that the landscape of education for CIE is influenced by:
If you are interested in finding out about the project research process and the findings’ report, visit the website of the project HERE.
Download eBook here || Buy paperback version here
ABOUT THE PROJECT
VISION was implemented by a consortium of 13 partner organizations from Europe and concluded in December 2021. Within this project, more than 120 international experts were asked to reflect on the future of CIE teaching and learning. Transversal skills and the Growth Mindset was the focus of discussions, considering CIE skills as keys to foster positive social impact. Take a look at the other outcomes to get to know the background and scope of the topic!
This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Based on the initiative from the Euclid Network, The European Commission is putting the social economy (including social enterprises) high on the agenda.
Last Friday (24 of April, 2020), the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit has written a letter to all the European Ministers of Labour calling on them to support the social economy (including social enterprises) during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We are pleased to see that our Commissioner has taken over most of the recommendations that Euclid Network and other European networks have put forward.
In this turbulent times, hopefully that social economy will be properly supported and will provide important insight as a role model in challenging situations.
European Commission has just announced interesting call for proposals that focuses on the issue that is also critical in Baltic Sea Region: youth unemployment.
The novel aspect – at least for three Baltic countries – is the focus on legal form of cooperative. The call for proposals requires the solutions to enable young people to create and work in co-operatives. Does this call promote social innovation… or sets too strict limits for creativity of social entrepreneurs who might want to choose another ways to organize their work to empower the same target group? The answer is yours to debate and reflect upon.
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The overall objective of this call aims at establishing best practices in tackling youth unemployment by helping young people create and work in co-operatives and at creating dedicated programmes, schemes and training modules for young people to set up and manage co-operative enterprises.
Eligible applicants
Applicants must be established in one of the 28 EU countries (EU Member states).
Budget and project duration
The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at €450.000.
The maximum duration of projects is 12 months.
Maximum EU financing rate of eligible costs: The contribution will be up to 70% of the total cost of the action.
The deadline: 30 June 2016 at 17.00.
Further information about the call can be found on this link.
DALBA is an award-winning craft beer brewery in Puck, Poland that employs people with intellectual disabilities. It is the first in Poland and sixth in the world of its kind. The business addresses one of the most serious social problems in Poland: labour exclusion and social marginalization of people with intellectual disabilities. Today, only 10% of people with disabilities participate in the labor market.
The production process of DALBA’s craft beer counts on a group of 30 young men with disabilities who are also shareholders of the cooperative. Some prepare malts with a recipe and boil it, while others are involved in bottling or labeling. They do so without supervision, having received training from management to work with precision.
DALBA was co-founded by Agnieszka Dejna, a mother of children with disabilities, and Janusz Golisowicz, an occupational therapist of patients with disabilities. Agnieszka and Janusz often heard these young people seeking greater independence in their lives, but unable to achieve it as a result of their parents fear of discrimination and harassment in the workforce. Today, DALBA’s craft beers are rated Top 50 out of 270+ brands in Poland.
Browar Spółdzielczy (Cooperative Brewery) originated from the passion for beer, sea and the need for change. We brew our beer in a traditional manner, in small brewery in Puck, Poland. The brewery is owned by Spółdzielnia Socjalna DALBA (Social Cooperative DALBA).
This is not just an ordinary workplace, this is passion. Most employees of the cooperative are the people who have not had a chance on the open job market due to their disabilities. Their engagement and determination results in our beer being something exceptional, dreams coming true and a chance.
That’s why DALBA slogan reads “Piwo, które warzy więcej” – it’s a word play on the Polish words “warzyć” (to brew) and “ważyć” (here: to mean).
DALBA and NESsT partnered to increase the production capacity of the enterprise, positioning it to generate higher revenues and to increase its employment of people with disabilities. With a grant from NESsT, DALBA upgraded its equipment, generating a production growth of 15%. The next phase of investment is the expansion of its production hall.
DALBA’s tailored business mentoring focuses on consolidating its rapid growth, leveraging co-investments, and strengthening its impact measurement. As it prepares to launch five locations in the next two years, NESsT and DALBA have also been collaborating on managing the enterprise’s product portfolio, by identifying and developing products with higher margins, and on ramping up its sales efforts.
NESsT is excited to support DALBA as the enterprise has proven to be equally committed to empowering youth with disabilities and developing award-winning craft beer.
Answering the global Covid-19 crisis, NESsT has developed a special support plan for its portfolio. To support Dalba, we are working together to remodel communication and marketing strategy in order to generate additional revenues to sustain Dalba’s operational costs and revenues that decreased due to Covid crisis.
Source and more information: https://www.nesst.org/dalba; https://en.browarspoldzielczy.com/strona-glowna
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
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