WHAT WE DO:
Social Economy Research Centre
Based on the situation in the World today and current trends with sometimes mistaken concepts about Social Economy issues the PRIMSS Institute decided to establish within its legal framework its Social Economy Research Centre.
Main aims of Social Economy Research Centre are:
- to promote Social Economy;
- to research situation on Social Economy issues in Europe and worldwide;
- to establish online database with gathered and regularly updated knowledge and data on issues such as decent work, fair trade, cooperatives, social protection etc.;
- to develop online self-guided learning tools on workers self-protection;
- to develop online self-guided education tools for workers representatives to maximize their efficiency at their work defending workers rights;
- other.
Social economy (SE) has its roots (as related to production and consumption) in the end of 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century. It started with the development of different forms of organising business activities such as cooperatives and mutual-benefit corporations or as an alternative to various needs of individuals as well as communities.
Its community-oriented character, solidarity, reciprocity, opened functioning and different goals are the biggest differences compared to other structures and forms of organization.
Basic values that significantly mark social economy:
- Human being and community are more important than capital;
- Solidarity and responsibility of individual person;
- Democratic structure in organization;
- Consideration of individual and community interest;
- Independence and autonomy;
- Sustainable development.
Its specific characteristic is also the attitude towards property. In social economy oriented organizations property is treated differently. Mostly it has various options of community ownership.
PRIMSS ensures different expertise on functioning of such organizations, as well as trainings for all that are considering this type of employment. We prepare workshops, round tables and debates on this topic. You can check out our more detailed offer here.
Thematic scopes are:
Definition of basic concepts
- Social economy
- Social capital
- Key actors in social economy
Experiences with practices in EU
- Italy, Spain, labour society (Spain), experimental cooperatives (France)
- Other states (old member states)
- Czech republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania
- Countries deriving from former Yugoslavian republics
Civil Society Organizations
- Foundations (social banking)
- Associations and their umbrella organizations
- Cooperatives-various concepts and development
- Mutual-benefit corporations
- Social enterprises
Slovenia
- General situation (overview of SE)
- Weaknesses and strengths
- Comparative studies and development of SE
Potentials
- Crisis as opportunity (initiatives and development opportunities)
- Development of experimental forms - comparative review
- Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) also known as LET Systems
Workshops that complement each other:
- How to design your own work placement
- Work placement in third sector
- My employment
