scholarly journals NEW POLICY AND LEGISLATION FOR SOCIAL ECONOMY IN BULGARIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Maria Ilcheva

In 2018 the Bulgarian Government has launched a new legislation on the enterprises of social and solidarity economy as a political sign for the recognition of the role of social economy sector in the country. This was an expected result from the recent trend of development of the social economy in Bulgaria and the growing visibility of the sector and its consolidation with the policies of the European Union. At European policy level social economy and social enterprises are identified as a key instrument for employment and innovations which have a major role in overcoming the poverty and social exclusion. The aim of the law is to regulate the public relations related with the social and solidarity economy, the types of social enterprises and the measures for their support as well as the conditions and the requirements for the activities of social enterprises. As this is the first Bulgarian law on social economy it provides the bases for a public policy which stimulates the development of sector and establishes clear rules for a registry of social enterprises and a methodology for measuring the social added value. Тhe purpose of the current report is to provide an overview of the new policy and legislation in Bulgaria and to analyze the expected effects on the development of the social economy sector.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Mariela Bogdanova

The current topic focuses on the new social vision and challenges after the adoption of legislation on the social and solidarity economy in Bulgaria, as well as on the opportunities for access to financing and institutional support for social enterprises. The progress made is seen in a broader perspective, including not only statistics on the number of social enterprises self-identified, but also proven social added value and entered in the Register of social enterprises. Tracking the challenges is in the context of the process and the employment and human resources options and the provision of a supportive environment for the sustainable development of social enterprises. Although 2019 has emerged as a strong startup community, we still don’t have startups for social entrepreneurship. This, of course, does not mean that Bulgaria lacks successful models of social enterprises that provide employment for persons from different vulnerable groups and answer questions related to the social impact and benefits of applying the principles of the social economy. The European Union today, more than ever, emphasizes its new social vision, based on opportunity and solidarity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (Suppl.1) ◽  
pp. 176-180
Author(s):  
K. Stoyanov ◽  
G. Zhelyazkov

The social economy is a phenomenon that is gaining ever more significant dimensions, mainly because of its added value, which goes beyond measurable economic indicators. The role of enterprises operating in the social economy is also highly appreciated by the European Commission, which calculates their contribution to the European economy by more than 10% of its total. Because of the specificity and lack of specific legal rules, businesses use different business models to carry out their activities. The purpose of this study is to identify, define and evaluate the most commonly used business models of enterprises operating in the social economy, the so called third sector, analysing successful business practices. Using appropriate examples, including from Bulgaria, will be highlighted problematic issues for the functioning of social enterprises and some basic guidelines will be proposed to facilitate business operations in the social economy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Zdenko Babić ◽  
Danijel Baturina

The social economy sector in Croatia has been neglected for a long time and has not been recognized as a space for sustainable jobs and the development of a more inclusive and cohesive society, as is the case in many Eastern and Central European countries. On the other hand, social entrepreneurship is a relatively new phenomenon established in this century. The aim of this paper is to assess the trends and challenges of social economy development in Croatia as the newest, last EU member state. On the basis of a secondary data analysis, the paper scrutinizes trends in social economy development. Social entrepreneurship is analysed as a part of the social economy that is strengthening, as well as the economic activity of associations that tends to turn into a social economy or a solidarity economy. The paper will also give an overview of the instances of the institutional context of the development of cooperatives and social enterprises, such as the recent legislative and policy changes, as well as the institutional framework with some insights into recommendations how to promote the development of the social economy sector in Croatia. Keywords: social economy; cooperative sector; social enterprises; Croatia.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Lyakh

The potential contribution of social enterprises to work integration, job creation, and service delivery remains largely unrealized both in Poland and Ukraine. This paper focuses on the analysis of the role of social economy and social enterprises sector in providing employment opportunities and wide range of services for group of interest. One of the major obstacles to the discussion and study of the topic is the lack of a clear and concise definition. It is requiring investigating evolution of social enterprise as a concept and as a sector of the Polish and Ukrainian economies. Institutional aspects and legal frameworks are considered in order to define the appropriate eco-system for social enterprises sector support and fostering. Attention was also paid to frame of the policy for social enterprises support and ongoing decentralization of public authority that is allowing to clarify what level of authority should be responsible for concrete policy measures elaborating.


Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle le Roux

South Africa is plagued by high unemployment, extreme poverty and a worrying skills deficit. Job creation strategies focus on the formal economy, but some argue that the focus should shift to policies that would help with the expansion and development of the social (or solidarity) economy that exists alongside the public and private sectors. This sector is driven mainly by a concern to better the interests of their members, or to fulfil a public benefit, rather than to maximize profits. It has been argued that cooperatives provide a suitable vehicle for organizing workers in this sphere. Jackson (Prosperity Without Growth, 2011), in advancing the idea of a sustainable economy, calls for macro-economic interventions that, inter alia, include a structural transition to service-based activities and working-time policies aimed at thefacilitation of shared work. The former strategy (structural transition to service-based activities), although developed in a completely different context, shares many synergies with the underlying notions associated with the development of a social economy. It evolves around business models providing services which are resource-light, but which are not the same as the service sector development which,worldwide, is associated with a concomitant decline in the primary and secondary sectors.The article explores, first, the potential of the social economy as a site for the creation of decent jobs and the possible role in this regard of structures such as cooperatives and, second, whether any meaningful lessons can be drawn in this regard from the research that has be done on the “greening” of economic growth.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Urra

In the main areas of the welfare regimes, as education, health, housing, employ or social prevision, we can find teorical points of view about the public (sinonimous of State), the private (sinonimous of tradicional capitalism model) and the third sector (sinonimous of voluntary action). In this important areas, the social economy is able to articulate a proposal that understand the public as the comunitary, the private as a market who is able to empoderate the people and the third sector as a social participation area by the economical activity. In this way, we can notice that the social economy offer specific solutions and efficient models in each social area: education cooperatives, health cooperatives, housing cooperatives, mutualism movement, social enterprises... etc. All of them can play an important role lessening the crisis impact and proposing alternative solutions.


2019 ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Rodica Gherghina ◽  
Ioana Duca

In their scientific endeavour, the authors aim at analysing the concepts of social entrepreneurship and social economy, as well as emphasising the role these concepts play in sustainable business development and in the economic development of society as a whole. At the same time, several aspects of social enterprises are presented and their importance in the Romanian economic environment is emphasised. As these are two relatively new concepts in the social economy in Romania, the authors refer to the specialised literature throughout their research. The authors present several of the opportunities and challenges raised by social economy. The importance of financing is emphasised by means of presenting the organisations' financing sources which are specific to social economy. The conclusions to this research include some of the authors' own viewpoints, with reference to the aspects of social entrepreneurship – social enterprises – social economy and their role in overall economic development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Mendoza Jiménez ◽  
Montserrat Hernández López ◽  
Susana Eva Franco Escobar

This study aims to propose actions to improve the implementation of sustainable public procurement by identifying the problems perceived by public servants and social economy entities. Two types of questionnaires were sent to organizations in Spain and Europe and 217 complete answers were received (152 from the public sector and 65 from the social entities). In addition, 20 semi-structured personal interviews were conducted by phone with managers of social enterprises and four interviews, also by phone, were carried out with relevant people from the public sector. The results of the surveys and the interviews were structured using the analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), which was considered consistent with the strategic nature of public procurement. The perceived opportunities for the public sector focus on more efficient use of public resources and improvement of reputation and social equality. For the social entities, more participation in procurement could lead to less dependency on public funds and more visibility. The obstacles for the public sector are related to lack of training and internal resistance to change, as well as, in the case of social entities, to their small size and the tensions with their social object that might derive from bigger competition. The proposed activities focus on two objectives, more training to increase knowledge from the public sector and the readiness of social entities. It is concluded that it is necessary to establish channels of communications between the two groups to avoid possible inefficiencies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 4324-4335
Author(s):  
Sheila Janet Rangel Gómez ◽  
Fernando Fredi Rea García ◽  
Yonaiker del Mar Navas-Montes

RESUMEN A lo largo de la historia, sobre todo en el ámbito local, el papel que llevaron a cabo las mujeres fue el de ser amas de casa, madres y esposas, además de proveer de alimentos. Sin embargo, en los últimos años se ha discutido y estudiado sobre si estas actividades son parte de lo privado y reproductivo o realmente pertenecen a lo público y productivo. Es así como, desde la perspectiva de género y de la economía feminista se pueden analizar estas proposiciones y visualizar los papeles que se designan a los hombres y a las mujeres en una sociedad, para de esta manera determinar las formas de comportamiento en lo social, jurídico, económico, cultural o en la vida cotidiana y rastrear el origen de tales condiciones. La presente investigación utiliza la metodología del análisis bibliográfico, mediante el cual se recopila el concepto y teória de la Economía Social y Solidaria y su conexión con la Economía Feminista, que, en conclusión, logran complementar y apuestan por una reorganización del trabajo en el que se valorice el trabajo de las mujeres en particular reconociendo la construcción de una nueva economía.   ABSTRACT Throughout history, especially at the local level, the role of women was to be housewives, mothers and wives, as well as providing food. However, in recent years there has been discussion and study of whether these activities are part of the private and reproductive or actually belong to the public and productive. This is how, from the perspective of gender and the feminist economy, these proposals can be analyzed and the roles that men and women are appointed in a society, in order to determine the forms of behavior in the social, legal, economic, cultural or daily life and trace the origin of such conditions. This research uses the methodology of bibliographic analysis, which collects the concept and theory of the Social and Solidarity Economy and its connection with the Feminist Economy, which, in conclusion, succeed in complementing and committed to a reorganization of work in which the work of women in particular is valued recognizing the construction of a new economy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-45
Author(s):  
Claudia Petrescu ◽  
Mihaela Lambru

Social enterprises are embedded in the local context, their organizational characteristics and operational strategies being influenced by the institutional settings, political culture and historical traditions and events. Similar to other European countries, Romania has included the modernization of the welfare systems in the development agenda of the last decade. One of the areas of interest was to better understand and promote the dynamics of the social enterprises as economic, social development actors and facilitators. From a neo-institutionalist perspective, this paper aims to explore the role of social enterprises as a component of Romanian welfare system. It starts with an overview of the history of the Romanian social enterprise, its roots and drivers; it continues with the identification of the roles, challenges and development processes of the social enterprises as welfare services. Keywords: social economy; social enterprise; welfare system.


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