PROMETEUS, Promoting social economy in Romania

Project status: concluded

Description

The project aimed to promote the social economy (cooperatives and social enterprises) as a tool for generating jobs, economic development and social inclusion in Romania.

Objectives

The project’s main objectives were:

  • developing scientific research and university teaching in the social economy field in Romania;
  • raising the visibility of Romanian social enterprises in order to increase the public support for their development;
  • promoting public policies that favour the development of social enterprises in Romania;
  • developing and improving the performance of 120 Romanian social enterprises through programmes and consultancy.

Main Results

The project’s main results are:

  • realization of eight national case studies, including surveys on representative samples to develop data comparable at EU level on social economy’s various organization types and fields of action: cooperatives, mutuals and credit unions, social service providers, work integration, employment and training, rural organizations (cooperatives, farmers’ association and commons), religious organizations. The case studies were published together with an overall report, in “Social Economy in Romania”;
  • development of specialized higher education at the Faculty of Sociology, University of Bucharest, and dedicated course materials based on the European experience and adapted to the national context;
  • preparation of public policy documents on the social economy and the organization of debates involving social economy leaders, specialists and policy makers at the local and central levels;
  • a training programme for 20 specialized consultants for social enterprises and cooperatives;
  • a capacity building programme for 120 managers of social enterprises in Romania including training and consultancy in management of social enterprises and publication of a guide on social enterprise management;
  • organization of 10 regional and national fairs for Romanian social enterprises;
  • annual National Conference on the Social Economy in Romania;
  • establishment of the Social Economy Institute in Romania, a national research and training centre with a web-based information clearing house on social economy issues in Romania (including a database of social enterprises and cooperatives).

The activities carried out by Euricse included two training programmes focused on the spread, development and performance of social enterprises and cooperatives, followed by one week of study visits to innovative social enterprises operating in Northern Italy (Trentino, Veneto and Lombardy). Euricse provided technical support for the development of research activities in Romania. Two Euricse staff members participated in two events in Romania and four research interns were hosted in Trento.

European program: European Social Fund

Project duration: September 2010 – September 2013

Coordinator: Civil Society Development Foundation, Romania, FDSC

Partners: FDSC (Romania), Euricse (Italia), Institul de Cercetare a Calitatii Vietii – ICCV, University of Bucharest, Faculty of Sociology, National Centre of Training in Statistics (Romania).

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