12th Academy on Social and Solidarity Economy - Plenary Session 2: SSE main trends in the different regions and recent development on SSE policies

The second plenary session of the Academy took place on November 18th. It focused on the analysis of the main trends and recent developments of SSE policies in select regions of the world. The panel discussants were Mr. José Luis Coraggio (Latin America), Ms. Estelle Bacconier (EC, Europe) and Mr. Ben Quinones (ASEC-RIPESS, Asia). The participation of Mr. Sabelo Mbokazi (AUC, Africa) was cancelled shortly before the panel. TMs. Deolinda Maria Moreira Aparício Meira (CIRIEC-Portugal delegate in the International Scientific Council of CIRIEC) moderated the panel. Mr. Martin Gasser (ITC-ILO) facilitated and Mr. Roberto Di Meglio (ILO) closed the panel.

News | 29 November 2021
The first presenter was an Argentinian economist Mr. José Luis Coraggio, who described the evolution of SSE in Latin America from a historical perspective. He noted that the region has historically suffered from structurally high levels of unemployment, precariousness, informality and working poverty. In the last decades, the governments of the region often resorted to policies based on assistentialism and focusing on extreme poverty, and this in turn led peoples and communities to explore solutions in the informal economy, indicated Mr Coraggio. These informal jobs were gradually organised collectively, for example through the creation of cooperatives and the establishment of alternative consumption networks, and then structured into alternative economies under the frameworks of solidarity economy (Brazil, Uruguay), popular solidarity economy (Ecuador), community economy (Bolivia), and popular economy (Venezuela, Argentina). Mr. Coraggio suggested that the shared horizon of these alternative economies was not only to mainstream an alternative socio-economic system that is intrinsically based on solidarity, but also to develop democratic and participatory public policies that are able to redistribute capitals and resources, to regulate the market and to put a limit on capital companies.

Mr. Coraggio noted that the SSE experiences in Latin America in the 20th century presented themselves as the result of “societies trying to defend themselves from aggressive neoliberal policies”. He further detailed the main trends of development of SSE policy frameworks in Latin American countries, with a particular focus on Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. The final picture is a region where SSE experiences are increasingly institutionalised through national policies and legal frameworks. They are still lacking strategic vision and often focusing only on poor and vulnerable populations, therefore not fully exploring the full potential of the SSE, he observed. In conclusion, Mr. Coraggio stressed that realising SSE systemically in the region requires a continuous and coordinated popular economy to democratise state power and to overcome the neoliberal economy.

In her presentation Ms. Estelle Bacconier from the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission shared data on the scope of the SSE in the EU28. It provides 13.6 million paid jobs with 18.8 million volunteers in 2.8 million organisations across the region. Ms. Bacconier noted that the SSE reaches 10 percent of the total national paid employment in some countries.

The region has wide diversity in terms of SSE experiences, she noted. In Eastern Europe SSE organisations, in particular cooperatives, have a bad connotation for historical reasons that can be traced back to the Communist times. Germany and the Scandinavian countries rely on well structured social dialogue. Therefore the role of SSE is less recognised in those contexts she suggested. The different ways in which SSE is named in different contexts of the region is also an indication of the variety and diversity of these experiences: social economy, social enterprises, non-profit sector, third sector, economy of the common good, civil society and voluntary sector. Ms. Bacconier underlined that the European Commission has been strongly committed to boost and support the SSE at the European level by synthesizing this diversity without losing its richness. Despite this great diversity, the SSE experiences in Europe share two common characteristics: the primacy of the people and the environment over profit and the democratic and participatory governance.

Based on these premises, the European Commission has developed a policy strategy to support the political recognition of the SSE in the different member states, based on five pillars: 1) boosting access to finance; 2) improving access to markets, also through reform of public procurement; 3) supporting the development of national legal frameworks (to date, 21 member states have developed a national framework); 4) supporting social innovation, digitalisation and development of new business models for the SSE; and 5) supporting the internationalisation of the SSE. Ms. Bacconier concluded by highlighting that there is a growing momentum for the SSE in Europe in the last decade, supported by the systemic political commitment of the EU to mainstreaming it.

The presentation by Ms. Bacconier is available here.

An outlook on the Asian region was then provided by Mr. Ben Quinones, founder of the Asian Solidarity Economy Council (ASEC-RIPESS). Mr. Quinones pointed out that in Asia there is limited recognition of the SSE, even though SSE organisations are widespread, especially in the form of social enterprises. This is demonstrated by Bangladesh, home of the Grameen Bank and of the biggest social enterprise in the world, BRAC. Mr. Quinones’ research shows most of the Asian countries are going through an initial phase of “agenda setting”, characterised by ongoing discussions and debates on concepts and definitions around the SSE. A few countries are in the “formation” stage - where SSE policies and legislations are drafted and formulated - and a few in the “start up” stage, where SSE laws, rules and regulations are being implemented. Finally, only one country (Korea) in the region is currently in the so-called “growth” stage where the SSE outreach is established and SSE support programs are enhanced. No country has yet reached the last stage of “maturity”, where framework laws on SSE and SSE ecosystems are enacted. In conclusion, Mr. Quinones noted that the most compelling necessity to develop SSE policy in the region is to understand the dynamics between public, private and social sectors in the different socio-economic systems, to develop tailor-made policy solutions that take into account national and regional specificities and are able to fully exploit the potential of SSE experiences in the territories.

Mr. Quinones’ presentation is available here: eng - fr - es - pt.

The question and answer session following the presentations focused on what are the most important steps that should be implemented in the future in the different regions to foster SSE policy development. Mr. Coraggio highlighted the importance of developing counter-hegemonic conceptual frameworks that are able to challenge the hegemony of capitalism and globalisation in the region, to overcome the stigmatisation of the poor and to foster decent work for all. Ms. Bacconier stressed the importance of developing coherent and well-connected networks and structures among SSE stakeholders, the necessity to have strong political commitment at every level and to mainstream the SSE in all relevant policy areas. Mr. Quinones reflected on the necessity for SSE productive forces to organise collectively and for the policymakers to support SSE organisations not only as individual enterprises but also as networks.

Mr. Roberto Di Meglio (ILO) concluded the session by reminding how, during the 1st edition of the Social and Solidarity Economy Academy, the participants agreed on the impossibility to define SSE, due to its high heterogeneity both at the global and at the regional level. The interventions from three regions of the world demonstrates once again that SSE experiences stem from different problems in different contexts, and therefore the answers and the evolutionary paths are very diverse. In these times of change, the SSE can provide valuable answers to emerging needs of our societies.

Click here to watch the recording of the session in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

For more information on the 12th edition of the SSE Academy, click here.