Global Social Economy Forum 3rd European Policy Dialogue
The 2019 Global Social Economy Forum (GSEF) 3rd European Policy Dialogue was held at the Women’s Organisation, Liverpool on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th November 2019.
This year’s event was supported by the GSEF Secretariat, the University of Liverpool Management School and the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place. The theme for this year is centred on building diversity and inclusion in our economies and the experiences of SSE organizations.
The event opened with a welcome from the Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor – Steve Rotherham, the Secretary General, Ms. Laurence Kwark, Global Social Economy Forum and Prof. Mark Boyle, Director of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy Practice and Place, University of Liverpool.
Ms. Ulla Engelmann, Head of Unit for Advanced Technologies, Clusters and Social Economy, DG GROW, European Commission led a Presentation on the European Commission’s work on diversity and inclusion in the field of social economy, while other Discussions on the day included;
- Local Governments Advancing Approaches for Genuine Inclusion
- Moving beyond inclusion through innovative work-integration practices and policies
- Social and Solidarity Economy: A Driving Force in Enabling Diverse Future Leaders
On the second day of the event, attendees undertook site visits to the south of Liverpool to visit social organisations in communities, such as the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, and others working with their community to support inclusion and diversity.
Alan Southern, Principal Investigator for the Heseltine Institute, said “The event was an opportunity to demonstrate that the social economy in the Liverpool City Region is a substantive part of the whole economy.
The work undertaken in the university has become central to establishing a voice for social organisations and had already led to change, such as the social investment pot recently announced by the Metro Mayor.
Our research is impacting on the way the local economy is being planned and shaped and colleagues from Europe and from the GSEF have begun to recognise this."
The Liverpool City Region has a dynamic social economy, made up of community businesses, cooperatives, charities, educational institutions and social enterprises. The SSE sector here supports communities in response to severe austerity measures and the impending challenges facing local economies because of the UK decision to leave the EU.
The theme of this year’s European Policy Dialogue builds on the previous European Policy Dialogue held in Madrid in 2018 that looked at peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development through the SSE. The focus this year takes on added importance as the rise in wealth inequalities within nations has intensified. Many existing problems, such as economic insecurity, homelessness, care for the elderly and general wellbeing have a common cause. With a huge rise in population shifts and war, hunger and drought, has contributed to people losing their home. As a result of such global problems diversity and inclusion have become more important to local economies.