Also in 2021 REVES continued its work on a conducive (legal) eco-system for the social and solidarity economy. Legal frameworks stood at the centre of an internal REVES working group composed of several REVES member regions and cities. The working group met several times in-between October 2020 and January 2021 to exchange on existing legal frameworks and current developments with specific focus on topics such as the definition of the social economy; statistics; methods and instruments for dialogue and cooperation between public authorities and the social economy; financial support; etc.

This work found continuation in a series of moments of international exchange realized in the framework of the “Legal Ecosystems for Social Economy- Peer Learning Partnership” (PL4SE – PLP), co-led by the Spanish Federation of Cooperatives CEPES and REVES aisbl, with partners representing amongst others governments and/or social economy platforms from Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, U.S.A. and India, but also DIESIS, Social Economy Europe and CIRIEC international.

The PL4SE project aimed to support the development of favourable legal ecosystems by:

1. improving mutual learning concerning the legal frameworks to the Social Economy as a whole;
2. identifying the common principles of the legal frameworks of Social Economy entities (cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, social enterprises, etc);
3. exchanging practices on the mainstreaming of social economy in key socioeconomic policies at national, subnational and international levels.

The initiative was realized in the context of the OECD Global Action on “Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems” financed by the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument whose main objective is to share knowledge and promote learning to support the social economy.

Papers will be published shortly. Links will be available on the REVES website and here: https://www.cepes.es/web/SECCION-1-LegalEcosystems-InternationalConsortium

Legal framework-related questions, but also other aspects fostering a favourable eco-system and support for the development of the social economy were also discussed in the context of the RESET (Regions for Social Economy Business Development) project, which ran from February to November 2021. Several webinars and virtual study visits brought together lead partner Accio, the business support agency of Catalonia region, REVES, Region Östergötland (SE) and Pobal (IR) to analyse policies and practices from Catalonia, Sweden and Ireland, but also other EU Member States together with social economy organisations, policy-makers and academics. The initiative was supported by the Social Economy Missions initiative of the European Commission and the COSME programme. The European Commission will publish main results shortly.