Social and Solidarity Economy: Our common road towards Decent ...

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SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY ACADEMY of Understanding, defining, among other things, ILO-ICA Americas joint activities in 2012, the International Year of Cooperatives. Europe The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the social economy in 2009, 10 which recognizes SSEOs in the European Union (EU). These are represented at the EESC 11 with the “Social Economy Category” (i.e. cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations, foundations and social NGOs). The Council of the EU, the Committee of the Region and the European Commission conducted an initiative aiming to recognize the potential of SSEOs for economic growth, employment and citizen participation. 12 As a result, the European Commission recognized the importance of the “Social Economy in the European Union”. 13 The ILO has collaborated with the EESC in many instances. The Plan of Action adopted in Johannesburg was presented at the EESC hearing on the SSE. In July 2010, the EESC adopted an opinion 14 which outlines several measures for promoting the African SSE in development cooperation, including ensuring the EU’s recognition of the SSE’s role and contribution in Africa’s development; involving SSEOs in Cotonou Agreements 15 ; integrating the SSE into the EU-Africa Partnership; recognizing the contribution of the SSE to the creation of decent jobs in Africa; including the SSE in the 2010 European Report on Development; encouraging an enabling environment for the SSE; and including the SSE in existing Commission-ILO strategic partnerships. Following the adoption of this opinion, the ILO presented its concept of the SSE and the Plan of Action adopted in Johannesburg at the African Union (AU) – EU workshop on employment and decent work (Dakar, Senegal – July 2010). The SSE concept was integrated into this AU-EU action plan. 10 European Parliament (2009), Report on Social Economy (www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A6-2009-0015+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN - August 2011). 11 The EESC is a consultative body that gives representatives of Europe’s socio-occupational interest groups, and others, a formal platform to express their points of views on EU issues. Its opinions are forwarded to the larger institutions - the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. Members of the EESC are drawn from economic and social interest groups in Europe (e.g. employers, employees and various interests). The presence of the various interests group, alongside the employees and employers, ensures that the Committee is able to give full voice to the concerns of the various social, occupational, economic and cultural organizations that make up civil society. This third group is constituted by farmers’ organizations, small businesses, the crafts sector, professions, cooperatives and non-profit associations, consumer organizations, environmental organizations, associations representing the family, persons with disabilities, the scientific and academic community and non-governmental organizations. 12 www.socialeconomy.eu.org/spip.php?rubrique181 13 "The set of private, formally-organized enterprises, with autonomy of decision and freedom of membership, created to meet their members’ needs through the market by producing goods and providing services, insurance and finance, where decision-making and any distribution of profits or surpluses among the members are not directly linked to the capital or fees contributed by each member, each of whom has one vote. The Social Economy also includes private, formally-organized organizations with autonomy of decision and freedom of membership that produce non-market services for households and whose surpluses, if any, cannot be appropriated by the economic agents that create, control or finance them.” EESC (2006). 14 Cf. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2011:044:0129:0135:EN:PDF (August 2011). 15 The Cotonou Agreement is a comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the European Union. Since 2000, it has been the framework for the EU's relations with 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. For information, please refer to http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/acp/overview/cotonou-agreement/index_en.htm xii READER
SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY ACADEMY Activities of ILO partners Regional networks Many African networks specific to a certain type of SSEO exist, or have existed, in Africa. For example, the ILO built a partnership with the African Social Entrepreneurs Network (ASEN). The goal of this platform is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, intellectual capital and other relevant information that will further the development of the social entrepreneurial space in Africa. As a direct follow-up to the Johannesburg Conference, 14 African social economy networks (from Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Republic Democratic of Congo, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia) met in Mehdia (Morocco, October 2010) to create a regional network on the SSE (i.e. Réseau Africain de l’Économie Sociale et Solidaire). This meeting, with the support of the ILO Regional Office for Africa, can be considered as an outcome of the commitment expressed by participants in the Plan of Action adopted in Johannesburg. As a matter of fact, the constitutive declaration of this regional network (i.e. Déclaration Africaine de Kénitra sur l’Économie Sociale et Solidaire) calls for the implementation of ILO R.193 (2002) and the Plan of Action adopted in Johannesburg (2009). The next meeting of the RAESS will take place in Tunis (Tunisia), on 15–16 December 2011. Lessons from previous experiences on the continent should be taken into account when building networks to promote SSEOs. In the past, building such networks appeared to not be sustainable and remained as a declaration of intent because of the lack of long-term human and financial resources and the capacity needed to run such national or subregional networks. At the regional and global levels, the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy (Réseau Intercontinental de Promotion de l'Économie Social Solidaire – RIPESS) connects SSE networks throughout the world. RIPESS is a network of networks bringing together continental networks that in turn bring together national and sectoral networks. 16 RIPESS is composed of five regional networks on each continent (i.e. Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America). 17 The New Growth Path in South Africa Among other countries in Africa and in other regions of the world, the Republic of South Africa recently endorsed a new growth path that places employment at the centre of the Government’s economic policy. In cooperation with social partners, this new economic growth path sets a target of creating 5 million jobs in the coming ten years or, in other words, reducing unemployment from 25 to 15 per cent. To reach this target, five “job drivers” were identified as “areas that have the potential for creating employment on a large scale and securing strong and sustainable growth in the next decade”. Supporting the SSE and its enterprises and organizations was among them, by “leveraging social capital in the social economy and the public services” for more employment-intensive growth. New employment opportunities are targeted at 260,000 in the SSE. Government support for SSE initiatives will be implemented through: (1) assistance (i.e. marketing, bookkeeping, technological and financial services); (2) training activities; (3) development and reinforcement within the SSE to encourage learning and mutual support; (4) cooperation with unions and community investment companies to develop a charter with commitments to job creation; and (5) increased state procurement from and service delivery through SSE organizations. 16 www.ripess.org/intercontinental.html (July 2011). 17 More information on RIPESS continental networks can be found at www.ripesslac.net/home.php (July 2011). READER xiii
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