Social economy experiences shared at transnational conference
Howard Lake | 1 April 2004 | News
A week-long study tour held across the East of England region has helped social enterprises from Europe share experiences and best practice.
The sessions covered a range of topics including a regional and project overview, business support, finance, plus various presentations and tours. It was a two-centre event starting in Cambridge and ending in Norwich.
Miguel Pires of the IES Project in Portugal attended one of the tour’s events. He said: “What we saw in terms of social entrepreneurship is, in many ways, very similar to our own experiences. We will be presenting this understanding of social enterprises in the UK to our partners on our return to Portugal.”
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Social enterprises include co-operatives, mutual societies, associations and foundations and most are based on voluntary participation or membership.
Elaine McCorriston, EQUAL project manager at Business Link Hertfordshire, which organised the tour, said: “The study visit has been a strong follow up to the Innovations in the Social Economy study visit to Portugal in December last year.”
The conference, part of an EQUAL funded project entitled Supporting the Social Economy in the Eastern Region (SSEER), is part of a programme which has been set up to encourage collaboration between a series of transnational partners, including Business Link Hertfordshire, two partnerships from Italy and one from Portugal.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.