Blueprint for advanced skills & trainings in the social economy : SYNTHESIS REPORT

We are living in an exceptional time for humanity, in which population, organisations, institutions and politicians need to rise up against global warming, massive biodiversity loss, peak oil, social crises, etc. The way we endlessly consume our planet's resources, treating them as a bottomless pit, is destroying our environment and damaging our societal organisation. Our ways of living and consuming must change. The imperative for a green transition is evident and pressing. It is crucial to guarantee that this shift occurs in an equitable and inclusive manner, taking into account the welfare of workers and communities that may face adverse effects due to these changes. At the same time, digitalisation is advancing and taking more and more space in our daily lives, be it at professional or private level. Digital tools can provide an opportunity at multiple levels, such as new ways of working and even new jobs, new methods of including vulnerable groups, or provision of necessary data to face societal challenges. The digital transition is occurring, and needs to be carried out in a responsible way, without leaving people aside or over-consuming rare resources. In this context, the social economy can be a driving force in the accomplishment of the twin transitions. Social economy organisations are organisations that pursue a social and/or an environmental goal, that respect principles of democratic governance, and that reinvest any profit they make in their social mission. These specificities give them the power to establish alternative, non-threatening and sustainable business models that address today's challenges, in a wide range of activity sectors including agri-food, care, energy, construction, textiles, home services, retail and finance. In the past, the social economy has already played an important role in answering societal needs and developing new activities and ways of organising enterprises. It has evolved according to the context of each region or country. Although adaptability to context is an advantage of the social economy, it has also led to very different legal frameworks in the member states of the European Union – when a legal framework for social economy organisations exists. One of the implications of the non-uniformity in legislation among EU member states is the complexity that arises when calculating and comparing statistics across these states. Nevertheless, based on available data, it is noteworthy that the contribution of the social economy to a state's economy is substantial. In the European Union, the employment share ranges from approximately 0.6% at the lowest to exceeding 10% of the national workforce at the highest. While this report highlights the pivotal role that social economy organisations can play in inclusive ecological and digital transitions, yet they face challenges for which they require support. In the baSE project we have specifically examined the competences challenge. The baSE project (Blueprint for Social Economy and Proximity Competences & Advanced Training Schemes Adaptable to Diverse Social Economy Ecosystem in Europe) aims to support the development of social economy training and education. To do so, baSE involves 25 partners (SE federations, umbrella organisations and support structures, higher education and vocational education and training providers, research institutions and sector experts) from 10 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain). baSE will permit the upskilling and reskilling of social economy practitioners, managers and supporters, in the fields of inclusiveness, the green transition, the digital transition, as well as the day-to-day management of social economy organisations.