Pauline Graham

1
European DimensionKey policy messages from Equal

• Pauline Graham
• Equal Team SCVO

2
EU Thematic Group

• Partnership Procurement
• Access to Finance
• Skills and Professionalism
• Support Structures
• Quality Impact Indicators - valuing the
  difference
• Making the results of EQUAL visible delivering
  key policy messages to EC

3
Partnership/Procurement

• Public social partnership should be promoted as a
  working model
• Ensure links with the Lisbon strategy and
  National Action Plans for social inclusion and
  employment
• EQUAL DPs have proven that SE is an innovative
  solution provider - rooted in communities and
  hence it should be further developed and
  strengthened
• Need for full recognition of social added value,
  that is accessible, realisable and evidenced

4
Skills

• Recognition of specific qualifications in social
  enterprise
• The social economy must have a key place of
  importance in the EES and National Action Plans
• Social economy enterprises should be mentioned
  explicitly whenever smes are mentioned
• Funding for a transnational network of social
  economy training providers
• Accreditation and recognition by acdemia

5
Social Franchising

• The Commission should
• Support the dissemination and sharing of best
  practice in social franchising
• Major National and European financial
  institutions should
• Open access to finance the development of SF for
  enterprises in social economy
• All existing facilities, legal frameworks and
  funding available to commercial franchisees
  should be made available to social enterprises
• EU institutions dealing with entrepreneurship and
  franchising should
• In defining franchising, consider/ introduce
  social franchising
• Franchising for the social sector demands a lot
  of work and can
• efficiently work under certain conditions you
  need to have the whole kit distilled know
  how, handbook, successful branding, training
  tools, marketing etc )

6
Support Structures

• Need to recognise braided provision involving
  specialist and mainstream support reflect
  diversity of se
• Quality control, training and accreditation of
  support structures are necessary
• Support structures could be a tool to highlight
  the impact of the social economy
• Enhance coordination of the support a seamless
  service

7
Demonstrating Impact

• SE helps to meet essential social, economic, and
  environmental aims. EU must recognise the added
  value of the social economy
• Encourage member states to collect better data on
  indicators of deprivation at local community
  level so se can use it as baseline for measuring
  and showing its progress
• Strengthen se support organisations/funders
  ability to use appropriate indicators and quality
  and impact frameworks
• Public authorities must work together with social
  enterprises to co-create tendering procedures
  that integrate TBL impact indicators
• Incorporate a way to measure social added value
  for all pillars of the national action plans

8
Finance

• To finance working capital is difficult
• New financial instruments/approaches required
• Access to Loans and esp equity type finance
• Weaknesses in financial management
• Ethical funds set by public bodies needed
• Local independent financing (e.g. Community
  foundations, cdfi, micro-credit)
• Build make better use of asset base to increase
  investment
• Encourage gov. to review funding by highlighting
  how SEs can deliver

9
Influencing EU agenda

• Equal DPs in round 2
• Transnational partnerships
• Provide a demonstration element
• Continued participation in ETG
• Thematic approach to influence
• http//www.equal.ecotec.co.uk/transnational/etg/