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TÁMOP-2.4.3/B/1-09/1 CoopeRation Project

- professioanl services of Network of Hungarian Employment Non-profit Ltd. (OFA) for long-term sustainability of social cooperatives

A - DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE

A1 - Title in original language
TÁMOP-2.4.3/B/1-09/1 KoopeRáció Projekt – OFA Hálózat szakmai szolgáltató tevékenysége a szociális szövetkezetek hosszú távú fenntarthatósága érdekében

A2 - Title in English
TÁMOP-2.4.3/B/1-09/1 CoopeRation Project - professioanl services of Network of Hungarian Employment Non-profit Ltd. (OFA) for long-term sustainability of social cooperatives

A3 - Location of GP (national)
Hungary

A4 - Location of GP (regional)
West-Transdanubian region and whole Hungary

A5 - Economic field of activity
N Administrative and support service activities

A6 - Ultimate purpose of GP
To enable adaptation to new realities
To practically facilitate or enable social enterpreneurship

A7 - Spatial scale
National

A8a - Start date
02.2010

A8b - Anticipated end date (if applicable)
December 2011

A9 - Short description of the GP
The network provides professional supporting services, professional consultancy, professional customer service, professional events in topic legal, financing, business plan, business development and marketing as well as adult training for social cooperatives and for those people who are interested to establish a social cooperative. It encourages the creation of partnerships and organises events which generate network cooperation. It offers advisory for market extension and common media appearances, website and newsletters. It published information and methodology handbooks.

A10 - Key words relating to the GP
supporting services
consultancy
partnership
network creation
PR

A11 - Objectives of the GP
The main objective of OFA is to support the social cooperatives in order to facilitate the economic and labour market activity of the disadvantaged unemployed people. It encourages establishing social cooperatives through strengthening the employment which is based on local needs and demands as well as solidarity. Furthermore it aims to develop the professional knowledge of the social cooperative's operator or actors who contribute in it and on other hand it offers an extension of their management knowledge. It focuses to generate and develop cooperation between social cooperatives. Finally the experiences of the practices could be integrated by OFA into the employment policy.

A12 - Activities that have taken place

  • consultancy network creation and maintenance
  • organisation of info days
  • broad public information (marketing, PR)
  • network building
  • local consultancy
  • exchange and extension of experiences
  • provide information
  • integration of the experiences into the employment policy decisions

A13 - Achievements of the GP

  • approx. 300 registered social cooperatives were born nationwide
  • professional events with cc. 1000 participants
  • cc. 1000 consultancies
  • Handbook for social cooperatives
  • Training and informational videos on the OFA's website
  • PR films which were broadcasted in national TV during prime time
  • study about the social cooperatives
  • cooperation agreement between the 7 regions
  • recommendations, legislation modification suggestions were provided for policy makers

B - IMPACT ON SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

B1 - How has the GP impacted on the following?

B1a - Legal/financial exclusion Impacts
not known
Any other comments?

B1b - Creation or conservation of local employment
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
Social cooperatives were born and the chance to be sustainable was increased

B1c - Adaptation to new realities
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
The social cooperative became the employment place of the unemployed and disadvantaged people.

B1d - Cross sectoral working
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
Social cooperatives were establish in various branches

B1e - Enablement of social enterpreneurship
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
The consultancy and network creation supported the establishment of the social cooperatives and the creation of their maintenance

B1f - Amenities for local people
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
The majority of the social cooperatives responded to the local needs and provides services for local people

B1g - Educational opportunities
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
The consultancy and providing information extended the management knowledge of the social cooperatives

B1h - Crisis response Impacts
not known
Any other comments?

B1i - Local financial environment for social enterpreneurs Impacts
not known
Any other comments?

B1j - Local policy environment for social enterpreneurs
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
Some of the proposals were built into the legislation modification and also into the new calls for tenders

B1k - National financial environment for social enterpreneurs
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
In the new calls for tenders more positive financial environment is expected.

B1l - National policy environment for social enterpreneurs
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
There is a positive change: establishing a social cooperative is free of charge


C - PARTNERSHIPS & GOVERNANCE

C1 - Is the governance of this GP fully inclusive?
Beneficiaries are highly involved in governance
Comments and learning points
The activities were implemented on the base of the beneficiaries' needs and the proposals were built into the input documents which were elaborated for the policy makers.

C2 - How influential has this GP been on local or national decision makers?
A little influence achieved
Comments and learning points
Despite the positive results any breakthrough changes weren't achieved neither regarding the law on cooperative nor in terms of funding.

C3 - How much partnership work has been involved?
A great deal of cross sectoral partnership working
Comments and learning points


D - PR & TRANSFERABILITY

D1 - Please describe how the GP communicated its experience and success to the public
press releases, PR films, publications

D2 - Please describe how the GP communicated with local or national decision makers?
information days, research document, proposals for policy makers

D3 - Are there any elements of this project that you think would transfer particularly well to other contexts?
methods and practices of the induvidual counseling


E - RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABILITY

E1a - Total annual income of GP
2011/12 345 000 000 HUF(1,125 million EUR)/22 months

E1b - How is this made up?

E1c - Details of human resources
3 persons for project management (project manager, project assistant, financial manager)
8 persons for implementation (professional coordinator, regional leader)
5 experts (legal, financial, business plan, marketing and business development, adult training)

E1d - Details of technology
consultancy model

E1e - Details of financial investment for start-up/early stage
office infrastructure: equipments, PCs, printer, copy machine

E1f - Details of external support

E2 - If public funding were withdrawn, could the GP continue to exist?
Unfortunately this form of good practice has ceased. Without public funding it couldn't operate in Hungary yet.


F - EXECUTIVE BODY AND CONTACT INFORMATION

F1 - Who set up the GP?
Not-for-profit organisation

F2 - Who runs the GP?
Not-for-profit organisation

F3 - Short description/comments
From 2012 it continue to operate in other form.

F4 - Contact
Anikó Királyné Kerék
National Employment Public Non-profit Ltd. (short name: OFA Network) - West-Transdanubian Office
9700 Szombathely, Kőszegi str. 2.
Hungary
Telephone +36/94/887003
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.szocialisgazdasag.hu/cimoldal
Any other contact people
Dr. Gyopár Csáky


G - SUPPORTING INFORMATION

G1 - Photos
(between 1 & 3)

G2 - E documents
http://www.szocialisgazdasag.hu/kiadvanyok
http://www.szocialisgazdasag.hu/jogyakorlatok
http://www.szocialisgazdasag.hu/videok

G3 - Any other useful information
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw2mhhcsaoM

 

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