Visegrad project nr 1 - Social Economy without Borders
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2018-2019
Visegrad project ne 1 – Social Economy without Borders – was our first international project on social entrepreneurship funded by the Visegrad Fund. The main applicant was the Barka Foundation for Mutual Help from Poland, implementing the project in partnership with ARNO from North Macedonia, Salvation Army from Chez Republic, Commune Revfulop from Hungary and Municipality of Krobia from Poland. The Association “Solem”, NGO “Ljubeznost”, “Misla”, “Social Integration Empowerment Centre – SIEC”, and “AHP” Prilep (N.Macedonia) also joined the consortia as Macedonian support partners.
The project contributed to increasing knowledge on Social Entrepreneurship, legal forms of Social Enterprises, financing of Social Enterprises, supporting structures, social clauses in public procurement and building an informal international exchange platform of good practices.
The welfare systems in Macedonia, Czech Republic, Hungary and in Poland is still passive. Social Economy as a tool for social and professional reintegration has not been fully recognized nor fully developed in some of the partner countries.
Main aim of the project was to present solutions provided by social entrepreneurship, which where implemented in Poland which showe-cased to the participants a holistic and complementary legal system consisting of Law on Social Cooperatives, Law on Centers of Social Integration, Law on Social Enterprices and Law on Public Prucurement with social clauses. Barka from Poland was the project lead and an inspirational, good practice case for coleagues from Macedonia, Czech Republic and Hungary.
More specifically with this project, we wanted to educate the staff of civic society associations, local municipalities, and social enterprises for developing an active policy system which can job opportunities for people in need, using a more active approach instead of offering social benefits.
In the participating countries there is a need for the implementation of social entrepreneurship eco-system and empowering its future development. As it provides an answer to social exclusion, combating poverty and social isolation, through social and professional reintegration of the homeless, disabled, addicted, unemployed, minorities such as Roma communities.
The participants have benefited from the 1st Visegrad Fund supported project by:
- mutual learning on different Social Economy models and eco-systems for the development of partnerships,
- public procurement,
- financing tools,
- funding capital for selection of existing Social Economy places and Centres of Social Integration.
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EMPOWERING LOCAL COMMUNITIES
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