Article by Françoise Wautiez

Public Policies in the field of SSE touch different areas: on the one hand, legal recognition is a sine qua non condition for actors to be able to act at different levels by relying on competent institutions and their elected representatives. The territorial aspect is intrinsically linked to the heart of the functioning of the SSE, hence the importance of the scales of these policies, in urban areas where cities, as places of decision and participation, have an increasingly important role, but of course local authorities in rural areas are also able to respond as closely as possible to the needs of the populations; public policies can target sectors of the economy or parts of the population that do not have access to the labour market, for example; responsible public procurement can play a role in promoting SSE enterprises by using criteria that favour them. Finally, citizen participation and advocacy are a challenge for the co-construction of public policies.

In view of the work on advocacy within RIPESS Intercontinental, you will find below the contents of the documentation on public policies and advocacy in socioeco.org.

 

  1. First, an axis “Public policies and the solidarity economy?” and its different files and keywords: for example, responsible public procurement, territorial innovations, cities as actors of change, etc.

 

  1. Among these files, the one, for example: Co-producing and co-constructing public policies: the role of the SSE, analyses, videos, a pedagogical tool, proposals and 14 case studies (in French) from Barcelona, through the city of Saintes (France) to cities in Portugal or in the United Kingdom, Quebec or Mexico, 10 in Spanish, 10 in English. The article, written by us for RIPESS Intercontinental: Co-construction of SSE public policies: what does the literature tell us? includes elements that you may find interesting.

 

  1. The examples of public policies in general can be found on both maps, Public policies for SSE and the one on Public Policies and SDGs. They are the same Public Policies but classified differently, one by needs (housing, health, etc.), the other by SDGs.

 

  1. The Legislation page illustrates a particular aspect of the public policies that has to do with the legal recognition of SSE, you will find all continents and international bodies. This page is maintained by socioeco.org and RIPESS with the help of the UN Task Force for SSE.

 

  1. You will also find the UNRISD case studies published by them in 2021, on their page: with examples from Durban, South Africa, Montreal, Seoul, etc. As well as their cross-cutting document called “Guidelines for Local Governments” explaining the key elements constituting an enabling policy and institutional environment, or “ecosystem”, for SSE. They offer a toolbox that can be used in the development of policies and institutions for SSE at the subnational level.

 

  1. Finally, it should be noted that for the moment, the keyword “advocacy” only gathers three case studies, one in each language and contributions, notably from RIPESS EU.

 

As you may have noticed, it is quite difficult to document public policies. If you come across some illustrations of them in your research, please send them to me; fwautiez@socioeco.org.

Have a good reading!