In the last two months, 125 organizations from the region signed the “Western Balkans Civil Society Declaration on the Social Economy”, which calls on decision-makers to take concrete steps that will contribute to the further development of the social economy as a relevant economic model that is centered on the protection of society and the planet.
Gathering more than 120 CSO actors to support the themes and goals of the Declaration is a success that shows the strength of the sector. Now we want to announce the second phase of the campaign promoting the declaration. Thriving on the received support, in the following period we want to focus on two things:
- Directly address national and EU institutions in meetings to highlight barriers and needs of the social economy actors of the WB region
- Promote best practices of social entrepreneurship from the WB region and Europe to show the social impact potential of the social enterprises
The declaration was launched on June 15 at the Social Innovations Forum in Belgrade when it was signed by representatives of Yunus Social Business Balkans (ALB), Youth Alliance Krusevo (MKD), CDP Globus (BIH), Center for Youth Education (MNE), Forum for Civic initiatives (KOS) and the Coalition for the Development of the Solidarity Economy (SRB), which also initiated the Declaration.
Considering that the time has come for the social economy to become part of the official and visible policy of the Western Balkans government and regional bodies, representatives of civil society organizations signed and launched a Declaration calling on and encouraging decision makers in the EU, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia to take certain steps that would accelerate its development. These steps include further cooperation in creating a favorable policy environment for the development of the social economy, adequate financial support that recognizes its specificity, association and cross-sectoral partnerships, as well as the dissemination of knowledge on the social economy.
You can read and sign the Declaration on the KoRSE website.
The Coalition for the Development of the Solidarity Economy (KoRSe) was founded in 2010 as an informal network of organizations that support the development of solidarity entrepreneurship, consisting of the Trag Foundation, the European Movement in Serbia (EMS), the Initiative for Development and Cooperation (IDC) and Smart Kolektiv.
