Stepping up organisational and entrepreneurial capacity of SMEs in social economy

Qualitative and quantitative indicators:

• Number of SMEs supported,
• Number of social economy ‘enabling organisations’ supported, including the support services offered to their members
• Geographical coverage of SMEs supported,
• Diversity of stakeholders involved in the project,
• Diversity of partners working in different ecosystems/sectors of activity.

This call for proposals aims to deliver on several elements of the transition pathway and the Social Economy Action Plan linked to the need to improve the professionalisation and organisational capacity of SMEs in the social economy as well as social economy ‘enabling organisations’ across several areas:

• Organisational and management capacity,
• (Place-based) innovation capacity,
• Sectoral research and development of market knowledge,
• Creation or strengthening (local) value chains,
• Product and service development,
• Assessment of social economy business model potential in (local) markets,
• Start-up and incubation for social entrepreneurs,
• Strengthening skills (e.g. management, employees, volunteers, target groups),
• Networking and linking to mainstream sector organisations.