EVPA at the European Social Economy Summit
Strengthening collaboration between Investors for Impact and public stakeholders in the social investment ecosystem to create more sustainable business models.
On 26th and 27th May the EVPA community took an active part in the European Social Economy Summit (#EUSES), organised by the City of Mannheim in partnership with the European Commission and with the support of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
The event brought together more than 3,000 participants representing the rich diversity of the social economy in Europe and resulted in a concrete output: the Mannheim Declaration on Social Economy. EVPA and many of its members participated as hosts or as speakers, showcasing the EVPA network’s important role in strengthening collaboration between public and private stakeholders in the social investment ecosystem. In particular, during the entire event investors for impact were highlighted as key actors to shape the future of the social economy and to better develop the social investment ecosystem.
Two concrete examples
- During the session hosted by EVPA, Maze Decoding Impact, Ship2B and ERSTE Social Banking AG showcased the importance of EU funding and collaboration with the EU Institutions (e.g. European Commission, European Investment Fund) in boosting their project and developing the social ecosystem in their countries and beyond.
- The session “Partnering and Investing for Impact: Achieving better outcomes in Social Inclusion in Europe” underlined the need to continue working on social outcome contracting, such as social impact bonds (SIBs), leveraging social investors’ expertise in this field.
The EUSES was one more step towards the European Action Plan for Social Economy which the European Commission aims to launch by the end of this year.
EVPA recently contributed to the European Commission Roadmap for the EU Action Plan for Social Economy and is working on a Policy Position Paper to be published at the end of June. We are organising a webinar on this topic on 24th June, and speakers will include two policy makers from the European Commission and practitioners from different EU countries. Register HERE
Read the blog article by Bianca Polidoro, EVPA Senior Policy and EU Partnerships Manager: Social investors are key for the EU’s resilience and recovery