SOCIAL INCLUSION IN THE TIME OF CRISIS
STRUMENTI DI SVILUPPO LOCALE E
DELL’IMPRENDITORIALITA’
Dr Emma Clarence
OECD LEED Trento Centre
Today considering…
 Growing social exclusion
 Role of the social economy
 Support strategies for the social economy
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THE LEED PROGRAMME
Local Economic and Employment Development
Established in
1982 by 13
Countries, the
LEED
Programme
offers
innovative
tools for an
integrated
approach to
local
development
in the fields of:
Employment and Skills
Explores the ways to promote employment and skills
development at local and regional levels. Analyses the
contribution of both labour market policies and local
initiatives, with a focus on governance.
Entrepreneurship
Assess best practice and disseminate information on the
policies and programmes implemented at local level to
foster entrepreneurship, enterprise promotion, and
economic development.
Globalisation and Local Authorities
Studies how local authorities respond to the challenges of
globalisation. Examines the initiatives taken by cities and
regions to promote and finance economic development, the
role of development agencies, and other instruments of
economic development.
Established in
1982 by 13
Countries, the
LEED
Programme
offers
innovative
tools for an
integrated
approach to
local
development
in the fields of:
Local Governance and Partnerships
Examines the ways to improve governance through
better co-ordination of policies, better adaptation to
local needs, and effective participation of civil society
and business in their orientation, in order to promote
an integrated approach to local development.
Social Innovation
Analyses the role of social enterprises, social
entreprensurship and the social economy in generating
new economic activity and creating mechanisms of
social inclusion. Examines corporate social responsibility,
as well as community capacity building, as instruments
of social cohesion.
LEED…OUR OBJECTIVES
 To promote the exchange of experience and
information and the diffusion of innovation
concerning the development of local employment
and entrepreneurship and the renewal of local
economies.
 To design the methods for and to undertake the
social and economic evaluation of new
employment and enterprise initiatives and local
economic and social policies.
 To provide support and assistance for in the
design, implementation and assessment of local
development strategies, with particular attention
to the functioning of local partnerships.
WHAT WE DO
 Peer reviews and reports
 International conferences
 Capacity building (seminars and workshops)
 Evaluation of the implementation of policy
recommendations
 Research, analysis, manuals
 Forums – including Partnership and Local
Governance and on Social Innovation
The LEED
Programme and
the OECD LEED
Trento Centre for
Local Development
TRENTO CENTRE OBJECTIVES
Established
in 2003, its
work is
mainly
focused on
CEE and SEE
countries,
with the aim
of:
 Contributing to local development capacity building
 Facilitating the exchange of experience between
OECD member and non-member countries
 Strengthening the relationship between policy
makers, local development practitioners and the
scientific community in OECD member and nonmember countries
 Reinforcing representative democracy at subnational level by initiating and supporting a dialogue
between national and sub-national legislatures on
local development issues
THE STRATEGIC APPROACH
To bring together policy-makers, researchers and practitioners
from national and sub-national levels
To exchange experience on the most appropriate tools for
supporting local development policies and strategies
To build institutional capacities to support and disseminate
innovate practices
To design activities aimed at meeting the training needs of
national and sub-national local development institutions
To foster networking activities to promote national and
international co-operation
Social Inclusion in
the Time of Crisis
Social Inclusion in the Time of Crisis:
 Growing unemployment
 Increasing poverty
 Numbers of vulnerable people and groups
expanding
 Communities still rebuilding hit hard
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Social Economy:
 Social economy ‘label’ used in (some) countries for the
space between the State and the market – and the
organisations that operate in that space
 Broadly, the organisations include:
 Foundations
 Associations
 Co-operatives
 Social Enterprises
 Not for profit organisations
 What unites these organisations is their emphasis on
co-operation and a common purpose.
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Social Economy:
 Not a small player…in 2007 the social
economy employed around 11 million people
in Europe (6% of the working population)
 In the US more than 30 co-operatives have
annual revenue in excess of USD 1 billion
 Significant, untapped potential…no single way
forward, but broad strategies can be identified
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Support Strategies:
 An enabling environment with supportive
policies
 Legal framework which recognises social
economy organisations
 Recognition of intangible added value of social
economy organisations (participation, creation
of social capital, inclusion, etc.)
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Support Strategies:
 Provision of “business” support specifically
tailored for social economy organisations
 Necessary to nurture a culture of inclusive
entrepreneurship by encouraging diverse role
models of what constitutes a successful
business
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Support Strategies:
 Development of mechanisms for financial
sustainability
 Ensuring social economy organisations can
exploit full range of potential resources (selling
goods and services)
 Fiscal exemptions – tax reductions, social
security reductions for employed
disadvantaged workers
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Support Strategies:
 Inclusion in the decision making process
 Knowledge of local communities crucial to the
development of more effective policies and
programmes
 Andalusian Pact – first signed in 2002,
renewed in 2006
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Social Inclusion:
 Effective local development requires positive
relationships between all actors AND across
various dimensions (economic, social and
environmental).
 Partnerships are crucial.
 Strength of social economy is not only
innovativeness and capacity to adapt BUT also its
ability to make bridges between actors and
between different dimensions.
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Contribution of the Social Economy:
 The potential contribution of the social economy
should not be underestimated.
 Tendency by policy makers to see social economy
organisations as an instrumental device for
addressing problems and to overlook the ability of
the social economy to increase participation.
 BUT social economy organisations are not a
‘panacea for all ills’, there are limits to what they
can do.
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Contribution of the Social Economy:
 With the right support strategies…
 With recognition of their contribution from all
actors…
 Working in partnership with the public and private
sectors…
 …the social economy will be able to contribute to
fostering social inclusion
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Improving Social Inclusion through the Social Economy:
 Providing guidance to national, local and regional
governments on how to support the social
economy
 Countries involved include Poland, Korea, France
Belgium and Slovenia.
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For more information contact:
Emma Clarence – Emma.Clarence@oecd.org
STRUMENTI
DI SVILUPPO LOCALE E
Antonella Noya – Antonella.Noya@oecd.org
DELL’IMPRENDITORIALITA’