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School of Social Economy

A - DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE

A1 - Title in original language
Escuela de Economía Social

A2 - Title in English
School of Social Economy

A3 - Location of GP (national)
Spain

A4 - Location of GP (regional)
Sevilla

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

A6 - Ultimate purpose of GP
To improve policy environment for social enterprise
To provide educational opportunities
To enable cross sectoral working

A7 - Spatial scale
Regional (large scale)

A8a - Start date
October 2002

A8b - Anticipated end date (if applicable)
Ongoing (no end foreseen)

A9 - Short description of the GP
Created jointly by the Confederation of entities for the social economy in Andalusia and the Andalusian Confederation of Work Cooperatives, it is an entity in charge of the training and research on social economy as well as of its development. The II Pact for the Social Economy meant its consolidation as permanent training centre. It favours the exchange and cooperation among social entities and enterprises and it has become a natural link to foreign social companies. Its activities comprehends the areas of

  1. projects and consultancy in social economy;
  2. international cooperation to promote social economy in other territories and transfer of experiences namely in Latin America and other Spanish regions such as Cantabria; and
  3. research and innovation (coaching, teaching resources). It is a reference in promotion and disemination of the values implied in the social economy and it publishes a periodical sustainability report. Moreover, it counts on a training itinerary focus on acquisition of new competences that may strength the commitment and impact of social economy. The School is set up in a building that belongs to the cultural heritage. The building was restored by the trainees of a couple of schools, which meant a previous training and experience for them, having an impact on the local development in Osuna, the municipality where this good practice is located.

It could be said that the School innovates because it does not simply stick to training and lessons:

  • it supports the cooperation among social economy companies;
  • it makes innovative learning resources in new fields (i.e. culture and creation-based industries in Andalusia)
  • it has been one of the members of the consortium for the development of the project "Emprende + Innova"

A10 - Key words relating to the GP
training
co-operation
cross-sectoral communication and coordination
inclusive entrepreneurship
transference of experiences

A11 - Objectives of the GP
It aims at evaluating the social economy in the region, detecting its needs and intervening in concrete areas through projects, promotion and training. It serves as a "gatherer" of different actors, boosting the inter-sectorial work.

A12 - Activities that have taken place
training, cooperation to development, disemination activities (including CSR)

A13 - Achievements of the GP
direct impact on 6,864 persons (2010-2011) with a great multiplying effect. (extensive information in Spanish: http://escueladeeconomiasocial.es/sites/default/files/Memoria%20Sostenibilidad%202010-2011.pdf


B - IMPACT ON SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

B1 - How has the GP impacted on the following?

B1a - Legal/financial exclusion
Neutral impacts
Any other comments?

B1b - Creation or conservation of local employment
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
Whenever the school celebrates an external contract, it takes into account the local scope and favours social enterprises. Throughout the last decade, the School has trained 5,000 people in a way very connected to entrepreneurship and social economy. 1,900 out of them has been focussed on entrepreneurial competences for women, youth leadership and community entrepreneurship in Latin America.

B1c - Adaptation to new realities
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
The School is a dynamic reference of adaptation to social and economic changes. Consacrated to training in the beginning, it has included CSR, research and consultancy among its services.

B1d - Cross sectoral working
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
The School is conceived as a meeting space to boost cross-sectoral work. The organisation of the Iberoamerican Forum of Social Economy is an example. This video shows information on the Forum: http://www.economiasocial.tv/ver_video.php?id=37cd65d4df09ffac1049
Apart from the training as a main activity, the School facilitates the creation ot cross-sectoral networks, namely the Network of Cooperatives of Credit. One more indicator of the financial approach might be the inclusion of the debate axis "Financial answers" during the Iberoamerican Forum of Social Economy.

B1e - Enablement of social enterpreneurship
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
Since 2010, the School organises programms of social entrepreneurship, with special focus on socially deprived areas in the region. The School is a companion to social entrepreneurs.

B1f - Amenities for local people
Neutral impacts
Any other comments?

B1g - Educational opportunities
Very positive impacts
Any other comments?
It is its main aim.

B1h - Crisis response
Positive impacts
Any other comments?
Taking into account the current economic context, the School has organised seminars and experts' fora on how to address the economic situation from the social economy perspective.

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?
As said before, it has been raised to a policy category from the signature of the II Andalusian Pact on Social Economy.

B1k - National financial environment for social enterpreneurs
Impacts not known
Any other comments?

B1l - National policy environment for social enterpreneurs
Impacts not known
Any other comments?


C - PARTNERSHIPS & GOVERNANCE

C1 - Is the governance of this GP fully inclusive?
Beneficiaries are highly involved in governance
Comments and learning points

C2 - How influential has this GP been on local or national decision makers?
Not known
Comments and learning points

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
The website is the most frequent communication tool. Moreover, the School counts on a reserved space in the on-line magazine ES-informa ( http://www.esinforma.es ) and welcomes any kind of invitation to masters, workshops, study visits, etc. For example, "Master in supportive economy", "Master in Territorial Employment Policies", Seminar "Equality and Opportunities" organised by the University of Huelva, Seminar "Icaro Think Tank", and so on. A compilation of videos taken during our activities serves us for dissemination purposes.

D2 - Please describe how the GP communicated with local or national decision makers?
Taking into account that CAPES and FAECTA are the organisations boosting the project, the communication /lobby with local and national decisión-makers is theirs. However, in local terms, the School is committed with Osuna. The City Major chairs the most important events organised by the School and an agreement has been signed so that certain spaces of the School could be used for the celebration of events, seminars and exhibitions organisez by either the Municipality or the local associations.

D3 - Are there any elements of this project that you think would transfer particularly well to other contexts?
Anything could be transferred and adapted to different realities by just shaping its scope to the context, especially the different training programmes.


E - RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABILITY

E1a - Total annual income of GP 2011/12
1,826,598.50 € (2011 budget)

E1b - How is this made up?
76% public funds
23% incomes from activities
1% financial return

E1c - Details of human resources
9 workers (4 out of them, women)

E1d - Details of technology
It counts on an e-learning platform. Every classroom is adaptedfor the use of new technologies (computers, wifi, filming, video-conferences, etc.) Workers use Skype for communication and a environmental policy has been applied in all administrative documents, already digitalised and paper-free. The initiative interacts in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and counts on a stream-based channel: Economía Social TV ( www.economiasocial.tv )

E1e - Details of financial investment for start-up/early stage

E1f - Details of external support

E2 - If public funding were withdrawn, could the GP continue to exist?
Public funding does not mean in the case of this good practice that it is recipient of a global amount coming directly from the public budget, but simply that the organisation is quite active in attracting public funds. In case this contribution would be eventually shortened, the School, which is not over-dimensioned at all (only 9 workers) could fix less ambitious objectives and reduce its cooperation activities while keeping its main training activity.


F - EXECUTIVE BODY AND CONTACT INFORMATION

F1 - Who set up the GP? Partnership (please give details)

F2 - Who runs the GP? Partnership (please give details)

F3 - Short description/comments
0

F4 - Contact
PEDRO CAMPANO DEL RIO
Fundación ESCUELA ANDALUZA DE ECONOMIA SOCIAL
PZ DE LA MERCED S/N
OSUNA- SEVILLA
Telephone 954812115
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://escueladeeconomiasocial.es/


G - SUPPORTING INFORMATION

G1 - Photos (between 1 & 3)

School of Social Economy

More pictures can be seen here:
http://escueladeeconomiasocial.es/contenido/sala-regina-de-lamo-sala-1
http://escueladeeconomiasocial.es/contenido/sala-joaquin-abreu-sala-4
http://escueladeeconomiasocial.es/contenido/residencia

G2 - E documents

G3 - Any other useful information
The School belongs to the European Pole of Foundations and the Association of Andalusian Foundations; it takes part to their executive commitees. Moreover, it has sign the Charter of Diversity and the Global Compact. Its labour has been awarded American organisations (Conacoop, Cohdese, Alhcomujer, Coacehl) as well as Spanish ones (Prize Ones 2012 to Cooperation and Solidarity)

 

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