Pioneers in building resilient local ecosystems for social enterprises are sharing best practices
APRIL 14, 2021
After being approved by the European Commission, The Municipality of the Hague and a consortium of partners have launched the ‘Resilient Regional Ecosystems for Social Impact” (R.R.E.S.I.). The R.R.E.S.I is a network that consists of pioneers in building resilient local ecosystems for social enterprises and was created to set up a collaboration of regions in Europe to exchange best practices. Among these best practices are the Social Innovation Center of Hannover and ImpactCity, the impact ecosystem of The Hague.
The reason behind starting the R.R.E.S.I project is because of the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis: higher levels of individuals at risk of social exclusion, unemployment, and threats to environmental political commitments. In these difficult times, social enterprises are contributing directly to cushion the impact of the crisis in numerous ways. Such as by collaborating with- and complementing the actions of public authorities. Through this, social enterprises provide a wide range of social services, especially for the most vulnerable in society.
The Municipality of The Hague (The Netherlands) and their consortium partners Euclid Network, the province of Antwerp (Belgium), Region of Hannover (Germany), Social Enterprise NL, city of Aalst (Belgium), and Efeler District (Turkey) proposed the R.R.E.S.I. project to the European Commission. Collectively they bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the table, as to how local and regional governments play crucial roles in creating a favourable ecosystem for social impact. They have experienced and shown the direct benefit from social entrepreneurs’ actions and how these can be supported by taking concrete measures such as opening a dedicated hub, offer special training services, and connect social enterprises to other players in the ecosystem.
This international project and collaboration aim to focus on local approaches and policies, as well as disseminate best practices amongst other cities and regions. The Hague, Hannover, Aalst, province of Antwerp, and Efeler District (Turkey) are the leaders among the participants.
R.R.E.S.I. will organise 3 social economy missions to The Hague, the province of Antwerp (Belgium), and the Efeler District in Turkey engaging over 200 participants from 10+ countries. The network will also collect and disseminate 15 good practices on how to build a resilient local ecosystem for social impact that fosters innovation. The project fits perfectly within the goals of the EU to better stimulate social entrepreneurship.
Online workshop and masterclass
To kick-off, an online workshop and masterclass will be organised by the R.R.E.S.I on May 20th. For both events, international policymakers, ecosystem builders, and social entrepreneurs are invited. The topic of the workshop is ‘building a successful ecosystem’. The masterclass will be all about ‘going international with your impact company’. R.R.E.S.I is organising two other workshops later this year, probably to be held in September and November 2021. If you are interested in joining the workshop or masterclass, please go to our event page.
R.R.E.S.I. is part of the European Commission’s call for projects «Social Economy Missions» in 2020. The project is funded by the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises COSME which aims to support networking and exchange of experience between local authorities in the field of social economy.
The content of this press release represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency (EISMEA) or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
