Română Dorotea Daniele: How Diesis Network is supporting social enterprises in Europe and globally
Dorotea Daniele, Head of EU Partnerships at Diesis Network spoke at Enterprising for Tomorrow 2024 conference about the organization’s mission, strategic goals, and activities to support and promote social economy enterprises in Europe and globally.
Key discussion insights
Role and Mission of Diesis
Diesis has been dedicated to the development of the social economy since its foundation in 1997, now encompassing over 60 organizations across more than 30 countries, including Europe, Africa, Canada, and India.
Strategic Goals and Activities
Diesis emphasizes participation, knowledge, and visibility as core components of its strategy to amplify the impact of the social economy.
They support events both at national and European levels, organize communication campaigns, and raise awareness on social economy topics, such as socially responsible public procurement.
Knowledge and Visibility
The organization focuses on increasing the visibility of the social economy and sharing best practices and research. It collaborates on projects related to digital and green transitions, emphasizing the importance of staying competitive and addressing economic, societal, and environmental challenges.
Support for Social Enterprises
Diesis works on facilitating access for social enterprises to markets and public procurement opportunities.
The organization also emphasizes capacity building, improving management and technical skills, particularly in new sectors like digital and green economies.
Recommendations for Romania
The speaker highlighted the need for an enabling ecosystem with supportive legislation and policies, coordination between different ministries, financial tools beyond grants, and increased visibility for social enterprises.
Emphasis was also placed on sharing good practices, participating in socially responsible public procurement, and building the capacity of social enterprises.
“Knowledge is important for the social economy because it’s really crucial for social enterprises to remain competitive and to address economic, societal, and environmental challenges.”
Dorotea Daniele, Head of EU Partnerships at Diesis Network
- Published in Conference
Fabiana Pompermaier, DIESIS Network: How the BuySocial project empowers social enterprises across EU
Fabiana Pompermaier, DIESIS Network, Project Manager of the Buy Social Project – BFSE B2B Project, spoke at Enterprising for Tomorrow 2024 conference about the contributions of the Buy Social project, particularly in developing social enterprises within the European Union, including Romania.
Fabiana highlighted the project’s comprehensive approach to supporting social enterprises through policy advocacy, capacity building, and fostering B2B partnerships, aiming for a sustainable and inclusive economic impact.
Key points
Framework and Objectives of the By Social Project
The project aims to enhance the capacity of the social economy to contribute to sustainable and circular value chains. It aligns with the broader EU agenda to promote sustainable business practices.
Identified Needs and Actions
The project addresses three main needs identified across various countries: lack of knowledge and mutual understanding between traditional and social enterprises, lack of networking opportunities, and lack of training and capacity building.
Actions include collecting and presenting good practices from across Europe, creating and promoting B2B partnerships, and developing EU policy recommendations.
Capacity Building and Networking
The consortium focuses on capacity building through training and workshops on legal forms for social enterprises and matchmaking events to promote mutual understanding.
Efforts are made to prevent misconceptions about social enterprises’ economic capacity and avoid issues like greenwashing.
Awareness and Promotion
An awareness-raising campaign aims to promote access to a wider public for social economy products and services. This includes partnerships with retail companies to sustain and scale the impact of social enterprises.
“We are trying to actively and concretely promote the access to a wider public for social economy products and services.”
More about the Buy Social project here.