Microfinance institutions are in a key position to help mitigate the effects of human capital flight that manifests between East and West Europe. We want to propose public-private partnership initiatives that would combine the social mission of microfinance with the solidarity mechanisms within Europe, to renew investment in local entrepreneurship and innovation. This Policy Note was prepared by the European ...

The Social Innovation Tournament recognises and supports the best European social entrepreneurs. It promotes innovative ideas and rewards initiatives that contribute to creating social, ethical or environmental impact. Typically, it covers projects in the areas of education, healthcare, the environment, circular economy, inclusion, job creation, ageing and many more. Awards To mark the tenth anniversary of the SIT, winning projects ...

  In 2011, the European Commission presented the Social Business Initiative (SBI) which established an EU level action plan with concrete measures to establish a favourable environment for social enterprises (SE). This study analyses the impact of the SBI on the development of social enterprises/social economy and their operating environments at national and EU levels. The study also includes an ...

The European Commission and the City of Mannheim will jointly hold a European Summit on Social Economy on 26 -27 November 2020.  The aim is to strengthen the social economy in Europe, and harness its contribution to economic development, social inclusion as well as green and digital transitions. This will be discussed from three perspectives: Digitalisation of the Social Economy, ...

European Commission publiished the second edition of the Recipe book for social finance. This is a practical guide for developing financial instruments and finance markets for social enterprise. It is designed to serve primarily social enterprise finance practitioners (investors, intermediaries and support organisations), but it could also be of interest to social enterprises and to policy makers that wish to ...

Social enterprises contribute to the European policy in the area of employment and social inclusion and are particularly relevant for the implementation of the rights and principles expressed in the European Pillar for Social Rights. The European Commission recognised the potential of social enterprises for innovation and their positive impact on the economy and society at large in its Social Business Initiative and Start-up and ...

In February 2018, the European Commission launched the European Social Economy Regions (ESER) pilot, in order to raise awareness and foster networking among social economy stakeholders at regional and local levels. This successful initiative has attracted more than 80 regions and cities to the 2018 and 2019 editions of ESER. The Social Economy Missions Call for Proposals follows up on the ESER 2018 pilot and reflects ...

Social enterprise finance providers can now apply for technical assistance services under the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme! To build the emerging European social enterprise finance sector and to facilitate access to EaSI financial instruments, the European Commission is extending the scope for the provision of EaSI technical assistance – which previously focused only on microcredit providers – to cover also ...