Second meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Group

The second meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Group of the project entitled "Regional Policies for the Support of the Social Economy" (acronym SECON) was held on June 16.

During the meeting, the activities that have been implemented so far in the first semester of the project were presented and examples of good practices identified by the Project Leader from the Peloponnese region were discussed. Among the most important tasks, we can highlight the identification of organizations and individuals that can support the implementation of the project, and the development of a mapping document that identified and analyzed policy instruments related to the social economy. At the same time, interviews with experts were also conducted, during which factors that favor and obstacles to the development of the social economy at the regional/local level were identified.

In turn, during the meeting with the Project Leader and the other Partners, the principles of project management, the project budget, the project work plan, by semester, were discussed, and the project Steering Committee was formed. Examples of good practices were also presented in the form of the Maganiako Cultural Association, the Nostos group of producers of agricultural products, and the Messinis Gaia olive growers' initiative.

In addition, during the meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Group, we pointed out the new regulations on the social economy adopted at the European Union level in the form of the Council Recommendations on the Development of Framework Conditions for the Social Economy of June 13, 2023, and the creation of the Social Economy Portal - a one-stop shop website that provides social economy organizations with information on EU funding, training opportunities and more.

The second semester of the project will begin on September 1 of this year and end on February 29, 2024. During this period, the most important task will be to identify and analyze good practices from the Mazovia region based on the methodology provided by the Project Leader, participate in inter-regional workshops and a meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Group.

We cordially invite you to cooperate with the SECON project and encourage those interested in the development of social economy in Mazovia to participate in future meetings!