Under the umbrella of the OECD’s Global Action to promote Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, supported by funding from the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument, this high-level virtual conference will bring together hundreds of policymakers, practitioners, and experts in the social and solidarity economy to:

>> Discuss new OECD evidence and raise awareness on the important role social and solidarity economy organisations can play in rebuilding better 

>> Learn more about policies, tools and legal frameworks, and new OECD research, that can help support social and solidarity economy organisations in driving the recovery as well as achieving and measuring social impact

>> Network with other international practitioners, experts and policymakers, during interactive roundtables, breakout sessions and by using our digital app networking features.

Monday, 13 September, 13:00 – 14:00 CET 

The OECD Secretary-General, Mathias Cormann, and European Commissioner, Nicolas Schmit, will kick off this high-level meeting with a discussion to raise awareness of the social and solidarity economy’s value and take it mainstream.  

This session will present the strategies that some governments are adopting to support the social and solidarity economy, the actions that international organisations are undertaking to raise visibility, and how tapping into the expertise of the social economy can help policymakers improve people’s lives, stimulate innovation, and help drive sustainable, inclusive and resilient growth.

Monday, 13 September, 14:00 – 15:30 CET

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant global economic and social disruption. As our economies recover, the time is right to reflect on the lessons of the crisis and the important role the social and solidarity economy can play in building back better.

This session will bring together international social and solidarity networks to envision what policy actions are needed to ensure the social and solidarity economy contributes to recovery.  

Tuesday, 14 September, 13:00 – 14:30 CET

Countries around the world are increasingly developing legal frameworks for the social and solidarity economy in response to its growing profile and impact. It is important to identify the challenges, trends, opportunities and innovative approaches that are emerging.

This session will showcase new OECD work on how to leverage the potential of the social and solidarity economy through legal frameworks. Leading experts, policymakers and practitioners in the field will also share their experiences, including on strategies when explicit legal frameworks do not exist.

Tuesday, 14 September, 14:45 – 15:45 CET

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, many social and solidarity economy actors emerged as important drivers of resilience and inclusiveness. Building on their success, there is an opportunity for policymakers to raise the visibility of the social and solidarity economy and mainstream the good practices it promotes. 

During this session, policymakers and inspiring practitioners from around the world will discuss the lessons learnt from the crisis and provide suggestions on how to raise visibility going forward.

Wednesday, 15 September, 13:00 – 14:30 CET

Peer learning is a powerful way to stimulate collective thinking and develop innovative solutions to the social and environmental challenges we now face. As part of the OECD Global Action, Peer-learning Partnerships have been set up to promote knowledge exchange and experience sharing on policies and practices for social and solidarity economy development. 

During this session, the six Global Action Peer-learning Partnerships will present the work they have conducted so far and share lessons learnt, challenges and success factors to support and stimulate social and solidarity economy development.

Wednesday, 15 September, 14:45 – 15:45 CET

The drive for gender equality in social and solidarity economy organisations is strong, and in some countries, women make up more than 60% of the workforce in the field. While women play many leadership roles, more could be done for gender parity. 

How can policymakers help remove the barriers preventing women from accessing social and solidarity economy leadership roles? What measures can be taken to give women social entrepreneurs greater access to finance and resources? How can better data help policy-making unleash the full potential of social economy women leaders?

Inspiring international practitioners will lead a session on how to ensure equal opportunity for women in the social and solidarity economy.

Wednesday, 15 September, 14:45 – 15:45 CET

Internationalisation is a common strategy for social and solidarity economy organisations to scale and therefore increase their social impact. However, while internationalisation strategies differ, there are some common challenges preventing those who want to internationalise from doing so. Barriers include insufficient financing, a need for more management skills, and a lack of knowledge about internationalisation strategies, among others. 

During this session, practitioners will discuss challenges and key success factors to promote the internationalisation of social and solidarity economy organisations.

Thursday, 16 September, 13:00 – 14:30 CET

Social and solidarity economy organisations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their social and wellbeing outcomes. Still, the lack of a clear and agreed definition of social value creation makes it difficult to translate social value into meaningful practices for measuring, managing and reporting impact. 

This session will showcase new OECD work in the field and discuss with leading experts and practitioners how to ensure effective social impact measurement for the social and solidarity economy.  

Thursday, 16 September, 14:30 – 15:15 CET

Mainstreaming the social economy means both recognising its role as a full economic agent of systemic change and innovation, and expanding and multiplying its social impact for the benefit of the whole society. Building back better implies injecting more social responsibility into the economic sphere. Social economy organisations can inspire new business models to include more responsible practices and behaviours. 

This session will chart the way forward for sustained support of social and solidarity economy development by looking at what countries can do to bring it to the next level, and how the OECD can support this shift.