Boosting Social Enterprise Development
Good Practice Compendium
Social enterprises are long-standing agents of inclusive growth and democratisation of the economic and social spheres, and they have proved resilient to economic adversity all the while addressing socio-economic challenges in innovative ways, re-integrating people back to the labour market, and contributing to overall social cohesion. This compendium derives policy lessons for boosting social enterprises from the analysis of 20 initiatives in several EU member-countries, covering a range of policy areas from legal frameworks, finance, market access, and support structures, to education and skills.
The Partnership for Supporting the Social Enterprise Strategy, United Kingdom, Scotland
The Partnership for Supporting the Social Enterprise Strategy is a multi-level framework, designed and supported by the Scottish Government. It aims to develop the capacity of social enterprise intermediaries to provide a holistic “peer support” network, and enhance the sector’s collective influence and contribution to policy development. This chapter describes the Partnership’s objectives, rationale and activities, as well as the challenges faced in implementing the scheme and the impact achieved so far. It concludes with the lessons learnt and the conditions for transferring this practice to another context.