The Better Entrepreneurship Policy Tool

Social entrepreneurship

Putting people and the planet first

 

Social entrepreneurship includes social enterprises, which are entities that have social or environmental objectives as the reason for their commercial activities. These enterprises can support local development and social cohesion, but they might need specific support measures and other enabling conditions to thrive. 

This part of the Tool allows to assess whether current policies and programmes enable and support social enterprises to start up and scale. The assessment includes seven modules with thought-provoking question statements, covering different action areas within the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will be asked to assess your context against these statements.

Social enterprises are a part of the social economy. To learn more about the social economy, watch this video and consult the links at the bottom of this page.

 

Assess your social entrepreneurship (or social economy) ecosystem

 

  • You can carry out the assessment in your own language by selecting it from the drop-down menu at the top right.
  • Each self-assessment includes a collection of good practice statements against which you are asked to assess your city, region or country. 
  • The assessment includes seven modules covering different action areas. Each module takes approximately ten minutes to complete, depending on the information you have at hand. The full assessment therefore takes approximately one hour to complete.
  • You can complete the assessment in whichever order you like, and in various stages. 
  • You do not need to sign up to carry out the assessment, but to save your results at the end you will need to create an account. An account will also allow you to create groups and invite other stakeholders to take the assessment together. 
  • There are NO wrong answers. Please answer your questions as honestly as possible. This will ensure that you get a true reflection. 
  • Please note that you can also use this assessment to assess your current social economy ecosystem by simply filling it out with a broader focus on social economy organisations in mind.

We hope that you will find the self-assessment useful to stimulate reflection.

 

Social entrepreneurs working
Social entrepreneurship
Here you can assess to what extent current policies and initiatives help social enterprises to start-up and scale.
Start assessment
social economy action plan cover
EU Social Economy Action Plan
In December 2021 the European Commission adopted the Social Economy Action Plan in order to support the social economy and to improve the framework conditions for the social economy. The action plan has a time horizon until 2030.
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EU Social Economy Gateway Screenshot
EU Social Economy Gateway
Launched in June 2023, the EU Social Economy Gateway aims to provide relevant information and guidance for and about the social economy.
Learn more about the EU Social Economy Action Plan, EU funding opportunities for the social economy and social economy ecosystems in all EU Member States.
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Cover of the OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation
OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation
The Recommendation promotes the social economy’s potential to pioneer new business models, provide essential services, contribute to a fairer, green and digital transition, engage youth, and build communities. It recognises the diversity of practice and the need for policy tools applicable to a range of country contexts and varying degrees of development of the social economy. The social economy is typically made up of organisations such as associations, cooperatives, foundations, mutual societies and social enterprises.

The Recommendation on Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation was adopted by the OECD Council at Ministerial level on 10 June 2022 on the proposal of the Local Employment and Economic Development Committee (LEED).
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Banner Toolkit
Toolkit to implement the OECD Recommendation
The online toolkit will assist OECD policy makers and beyond in implementing the Recommendation. After the adoption of the Recommendation, many countries have called for the creation of a tool to support them in the implementation process and share best practices and pitfalls to avoid. During the 2nd Global Action Summit, some countries highlighted that the toolkit is a key element in the dissemination and implementation of the Recommendation.
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Council of the European Union logo
EU: Council recommendation on social economy framework conditions
The Council of the European Union formally adopted a recommendation on social economy framework conditions on 27 November 2023. It calls on EU Member States to develop or update strategies for the social economy within two years.
The social entrepreneurship assessment above can be a useful tool to support the development of national, regional and local strategies.
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