Social Economy: European Perspectives for Development of Contexts and Communities

Employees of the Caritas network in Bulgaria took part in a conference on the topic: “Social Economy: European Perspectives for Development of Contexts and Communities”, which was held in Pristina, Kosovo on June 22-23, 2016. Among the participants there were more than 40 representatives from more than 12 Caritas organizations from the European continent. All of then shared best practices and ideas for social entrepreneurship and the challenges which social entrepreneurship faces. Among the discussed topics were: “Development of the Social Enterprise”, “The Rules of Social Economy and the Importance of Legal Regulation of the Social Enterprise”, “Social Cooperatives: Business Model, International Aspect and Good Practices”, “Social Entrepreneurship in South-Eastern Europe”.

For one year Caritas organizations from the Balkan Region have created 26 social enterprises which support elderly people, people with disabilities, children at risk, single mothers and other vulnerable groups. During the event representatives of 7 of these Caritas organizations shared their experience in the creation and development of social enterprises, an assessment was made of the work done for the last year and subsequent activities at the European level were planned.

Caritas Bulgaria will actively participate in future activities related to the topic “Social Economy and Social Entrepreneurship”. Among the plans of the Federation is organizing a forum in Bulgaria for those who are interested in the topic aimed at planning concrete steps along these lines taking into account the Bulgaria context.