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On 27 October 2023, at the Città Dell’Altra Economia, ENTE PRO LOCO ITALIANE, the Association for Social Promotion member of the Italian Ecosystem convened the STATI GENERALI DEL SOCIALE (the General States of Social Affairs) with the aim of building a resilient and collaborative context, leading to a permanent cooperation of the Organisations involved in theSocial Sector in Italy. The General States highlighted that: for a Sustainable Development of Communities, it is indispensable to sum up different competences in the field of research, cultural and social sustainability assessment, dissemination and knowledge of social issues In numerous communities, marginalisation and discriminatory actions persist, giving rise to unjustifiable inequalities on a daily basis, affecting both the capacity and access to opportunities, all in consideration of human dignity Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989; the Conventions of the International Labour Organization, 1973, 1999; the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015; and the Istanbul Convention against Violence against Women, 2011, Ente Pro Loco Italiane intends to initiate a network process that fosters the sharing of common objectives and the exchange of experiences among Third Sector Bodies through the Charter of Principles of the General States of Social Affairs. The signatory organisations of this Charter will commit themselves to support: – GENERATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: Ensuring the protection of the environment, cultural heritage, and human rights. – SOCIAL EQUITY: Promoting equal opportunities between men and women. – CIVIL COOPERATION: Engaging citizens in community development. – DIVERSITY AND WELCOME: Fostering spiritual and material enrichment as engines for social development. – FIGHT AGAINST VIOLENCE: Implementing concrete actions against all forms of violence. – EQUALITY BETWEEN PEOPLES: Advocating for non-discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The signatories of this Charter also concurrently establish the “Permanent States of the Social Sector,” which will convene annually to define new policy lines and share the outlined paths. The organisation responsible for coordinating the annual initiatives will be Ente Pro Loco Italiane APS.

We have interviewed Concha Maza of La Cultora member of the Spanish Ecosystem. Read through the highlights of the interview below.   1. Why did you join the Spanish ecosystem? What is the added value for your organisation to be involved? Our interest in joining OBCD and the Spanish ecosystem is related to the incorporation of social sustainability into different ecosystems in order to create synergies and connections. This kind of project represents an opportunity for a transversal collaboration. 2. What are the main takeaways from these meetings?  The main takeaways that came out from the meetings are the need for a sustainable environment for knowledge, competencies, skills and the cooperation between enterprises. 3. How can the OBCD ecosystems contribute to making the social economy mainstream and support social enterprises in the project countries (and beyond) in their mission, according to you? The ecosystem can contribute to support social enterprises through an exchange of best practices, and to create an environment in which social enterprises to fulfill their mission of addressing social and environmental challenges while generating economic value. 4. How can the OBCD project support you? One of the OBCD missions highlighted during the meetings is to preserve local culture and heritage through the promotion of the local development plan and the contribution to local communities growth. For us, it is very important to give visibility to the positive impacts that creative and cultural tools have on other fields. 5. What do you look forward to?  In Cultora, we are looking forward to the possibility of recognizing intermediate figures between the company and foundation models. Also, to increase inclusivity of vulnerable groups,such as women victims of gender based violence, or people with discapacities.

The OBCD project develops an ecosystem of social enterprises and Lapinlahden Lähde Ltd. is one of the members of Finnish network. Ville Pellinen, CEO of the social enterprise, welcomed Helena Miettinen from Helsinki Business College Ltd. in Lapinlahti’s stunning and unique setting near the centre of Helsinki. Children have taken over the nearby park and are screaming with the joy of running around outside while the sun gilds the leaves of the old trees in the park with its autumn rays. The building, over 180 years old, welcomes the passerby like an open embrace. Everyone is welcome here. Ville Pellinen and Lapinlahden Lähde Ltd. joined the newly established OBCD project’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem because they want to learn, network and make a difference. They also want to get the latest information on social enterprises and their development.   You can read the full interview at https://en.bc.fi/blog/news/at-the-lapinlahden-lahde/

Last week the Italian partners of the OBCD project – Base3, AGCI Umbria and Università Tor Vergata – together with Euclid Network implemented the workshop “European best practices in the field of inclusion and digital competence”. The workshop, organized in collaboration with the Department of Economics at University of Rome Tor Vergata, aimed to introduce the project activities to Italian high school students. During the first part of the morning, the concepts of social economy, open business, sustainable innovation and social communication, among others, were presented. Later during the day, students had the opportunity to put theory into practice and work together during the case study workshop session facilitated by the expert trainers from AGCI Umbria, Base3 and University of Rome Tor Vergata. With the OBCD project, we want to show that a new entrepreneurship paradigm, integrating economic, social and environmental dimensions, is needed to promote the sustainable and inclusive development of our society and economy.

On 27-28 March 2023, the OBCD partners gathered in Barcelona, Spain for their second transnational project meeting. These two days were about presenting an overview of the first months of the project implementation, discussing and sharing the main achievements and next steps within each working package and connecting with each other. During their visit, the OBCD partners also had the opportunity to learn more about the development of the social and solidarity economy in the city of Barcelona by meeting different local foundations and non-profit organisations, including Aura Foundation, Mescladís Foundation and Grup ECOS.        The Aura Foundation shared its experience as a social enterprise helping to improve the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities through social and labour inclusion. After the first day of presentations, the OBCD partners had the pleasure to have a multicultural dining experience at Mescladís Foundation, a non-profit organisation contributing to fast track integration of migrants in the labor market, in the HORECA value chain, and in its own restaurant. Here, the food was an explosion of colors and flavors and the hospitality was impeccable. On the second day, they visited Grup ECOS, a social economy hub consisting of companies that aim to be an alternative to the current socio-economic model. While having different organisational structures, strategies and goals, all these organisations shared common needs for a bottom up approach to foster community development, inclusion of disadvantaged categories in the local economy, access to more funding opportunities, recognition and support from local, regional and national authorities. With this field trip, the OBCD partners could also answer these timely questions: how can the OBCD project respond to the needs of these organisations? How can the Open Business Model foster community development? Learning more about different local realities, but also their challenges and short-term and long-term objectives was extremely useful to fine tune and tailor the OBCD (present and future) research activities and outputs to the growing needs of the social enterprise sector. The main takeaway from this two-day trip is that the social and solidarity economy should be the norm and not the exception. A special thanks goes to all the OBCD partners who constantly work together to make this possible.  Thank you to La Cámara de Comercio Italiana-Barcelona for organising and hosting the second OBCD transnational meeting.    

In EntreComp, The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework, produced by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service, it is pointed out that the development of the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens and organizations has been one of the key policy objectives for the EU and Member States for many years. Globally, EntreComp was born in 2016 with the aim of being a tool to improve the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens and organizations. The model is very well known, consisting of 3 competence areas, 15 competences, an 8-level progression model and a comprehensive list of 442 learning outcomes. It was elaborated by a high-level research team developing a methodology structured in 12 steps. This commitment of the European Commission is generic, trying to integrate all the contexts in which entrepreneurial competence is important, from the commercial to the non-profit sphere. This versatility, which is EntreComp’s main strength, has as a possible negative consequence the impossibility of responding to the singularities of each sector, with key competences in certain sectors that are excluded from the EntreComp framework. For this reason, the Open Business for Community Development (OBCD) project team has conducted research that looks into the competences needed specifically in social enterprises and open business processes, in line with the project main objectives. Social enterprises do work in a special environment. For example, if compared to traditional for-profit enterprises, social enterprises rely more often on several separate funding sources. Social enterprises also vary in their business model: there are non-profit associations, foundations, co-operatives as well as corporations. Sometimes consortiums of social enterprises mix these different types of business models, making it more challenging for leaders of social enterprises to understand different types of taxation, legalities and business strategies.  Most importantly, social enterprises are driven by social and/or environmental missions. Strategic thinking in social enterprises requires understanding complex societal and environmental issues and how they are handled in the public policies. It is also important to understand how a social enterprise can effectively participate in that policy work. The ethics of social enterprises require participation and openness at all levels, unlike most traditional for-profit enterprises. These complexities and many others are hard to see in the EntreComp, which is widely used across Europe in schools, universities and career coaching services. Should social enterprises have their own SEntreComp? Which competencies and skills should include? The OBCD team values your feedback! Please share your thoughts with us at info@obcdproject.eu or on LinkedIn.

The social enterprise sector occupies a significant portion of the European economy and is increasing year on year. In the EU, over 13.6 million jobs were generated in 2020 and this continues to grow. Because of this increasing employment need, the Open Business for Community Development (OBCD) project has been created by the EU Commission and launched in June 2022. Led by the University of Patras (Greece) and supported by 12 other organizations throughout Europe, the project aims to foster innovation and interest in Social Enterprise among Higher Education, Continuous Vocational Education and Training (c-VET) and the broader socio-economic environment. As it alludes to in the name, Open Business (OB) is an approach to enterprise built on the concept of ‘openness’ movements such as free software, open source, open content and open tools and standards. The OB approach seeks to facilitate collaboration among businesses and other stakeholders, enabling the co-creation of knowledge and market innovations beyond the boundaries of individual organisations. Already, new open businesses are making use of this school of thought and are witnessing an acceleration in global culture to a more inclusive and sustainable economy. The collective goal of the Open Business model is to reduce inequality, lower levels of poverty, build a healthier environment and stronger communities with the creation of more high-quality jobs with dignity and purpose. With all of this in mind and to help facilitate implementation of the project, the OBCD consortium has created a “knowledge triangle” format for each of the pilot countries involved – Finland, Greece, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands, which includes Higher Education and Research Institutions, Vocational and Education Training providers, as well as social enterprises and their representatives. The idea is for these three entities to work together for the development of innovative education content and tools, as well as open and collaborative business ecosystems in the field of Social Enterprise. OBCD has already recruited many participant organizations including VET providers, higher education institutions and social enterprises for the knowledge triangles, but we are looking for more. Are you a Vocational Education Training Institute and interested in being part of this co-creation? Do you want to be a part of creating an innovative education and training program to ultimately help students enter the Social Enterprise sector and be part of the change economy? Then you still have time to sign up. If you would like more information, please contact us.