The 13th OECD Rural Development Conference was held in Cavan, Ireland on 28-30 September 2022 under the theme "Building Sustainable, Resilient and Thriving Rural Places". These are the presentations from the Pre-conference session "The Role of Social Economy and Social Innovation in Rural Communities". For more information visit https://www.oecd.org/rural/rural-development-conference/.

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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL INNOVATION
IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
Amal CHEVREAU, Policy Analyst , Social Economy and Innovation Unit
27 September 2022

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What is the social economy?

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Weight of the social economy in some countries?
3
MEXICO
• Social economy organisations
contribute 1.2% of GDP
• 62,000 social economy
organisations
• 1.2 million jobs representing 3.2%
of overall employment
(INAES 2013)
COLOMBIA
• Social economy organisations
contribue 4% of GDP
• 70,000 employees
(Supersolidaria 2019)
EUROPEAN UNION
• 6-8% of GDP of most EU countries
• 2 million social economy enterprises representing 10% of all businesses in the EU
• >11 million employees representing >6% of the labour force in the EU
(EC 2021)
JAPAN
• Social enterprises generate profits
of USD 104 billion
• 205,000 social enterprises
• 5,776,000 employees
(IADB 2016)
SOUTH AFRICA
• 485,000 registered social economy
organisations
(UNRISD 2020]
KOREA
• 19,000 social economy
organisations
• 111,000 employees
(KoSEA 2019)

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What is social innovation?
Social innovation can refer to conceptual, process, product or organisational
change. It seeks new answers to social problems by:
❑ identifying and delivering innovative services that improve the quality of life of
individuals and communities;
❑ identifying and implementing new labour market integration processes, new
competencies, new jobs, and new forms of participation that contribute to
improving the position of individuals in the workforce both as producers
and consumers. (OECD, 2000).

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Why is social innovation relevant to rural development?
❑ Brings different stakeholders together to find solutions to address government
or market failures
❑ Develops resilient solutions
❑ Makes locations more competitive
❑ Improves the impact and value for money
❑ Makes practices more social and sustainable

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Examples of social innovations in rural areas
❑ Belgium, the cooperative Inero, founded by fifty farmers to irrigate farmland, treats and uses wastewater from a
neighbouring potato processing.
❑ Ireland, the National Policy for Social Enterprises promotes the role of social enterprises in rural areas
❑ Romania, “Career Bus” was the winner of the 2018 European Social Innovation Competition. The project addressed
the issue of career choice of teenagers in remote areas of Romania.
❑ Poland, Regions are required to integrate the social economy in their socio-economic development strategies by 2027
to support the development of rural areas and marginalised districts. More specifically to provide social and
professional reintegration services to vulnerable groups and support social economy organisations in becoming public
welfare providers (e.g. Śląskie and Wielkopolskie voivodships), including through partnerships with the public sector
(e.g. Świętokrzyskie voivodship)

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1- Foster a social
economy culture
2- Create supportive
institutional
frameworks
3- Design enabling
legal and regulatory
frameworks
4- Support access to
finance
5- Enable access to public
and private markets
6- Strengthen skills
and business
development support
7- Encourage
impact
measurement
and monitoring
8- Support the
production of
data
9- Encourage social
innovation
The Recommendation on the Social Economy and Social Innovation
25+ years
of work
Nine building blocks built on:
▪ The OECD’s “ecosystem” approach that
help to identify and address challenges
that affect the social economy
▪ The OECD/EU Better Entrepreneurship
Policy Tool, which is now being used to
review social economy frameworks in all
OECD Member countries, EU Member
states, and beyond
A ground-breaking internationally agreed framework that can be applied across levels of government to help:
❑ Motivate greater uptake of the social economy in OECD countries and globally
❑ Remove uneven playing fields to unleash the full potential of social economy organisations and entities
❑ Help the social economy accelerate transitions, in particular the green transition

8. 
Twitter: @OECD_local
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/oecd-local
Website: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/social-economy/
Thank you!
Amal.chevreau@oecd.org