Canadian CED Network

At the last meeting of CCEDNet’s Board of Directors, Laurie Cook was selected as the new President of the Board.  She takes over from Ryan Gibson, who had been President since 2015. 

Laurie is Director of Strategic Development and Custom Learning at the Community Sector Council of Nova Scotia. Her passion is community development, and has been active professionally in the field for a number of years as a facilitator and community developer. She was first elected to the CCEDNet Board in 2016.  Read Laurie’s full bio. 

The Board extends its warm appreciation to Ryan Gibson for his leadership over the last three years.

CCEDNet’s new Board Officers are:

  • Laurie Cook, President
  • Carol Madsen, Vice-President
  • Diana Jedig, Treasurer
  • Yvon Poirier, Secretary

Learn more about CCEDNet’s Board >>

Share

EconoUs2018Can I just say that I am thrilled to be co-hosting EconoUs2018 with CCEDNet?  The thrill is for two reasons…

The first reason is that, in my world, which is the environmental non-profit world, there is often an underlying feeling that we need to fundamentally change how our society views and values the natural environment, and that there is an intrinsic link between social justice and the environment.  Imagine my delight and surprise when I discovered a whole bunch of CED people who think the same way!  In my experience, environment-y folks don’t talk much to CED-y folks, but I have learned over the last year that these two sets of people share a similar vision for a better world.  I am very excited that this conference is focussed specifically on PEOPLE, PLANET, and ECONOMY – to help us all make the links and work better together!

Eco-Confluence 2017

New Brunswick Environmental NetworkThe other reason is that the New Brunswick Environmental Network, as the name suggests, is a provincial organization.  While I occasionally travel to other provinces to talk about our work, it is rare that I get to show off our beautiful province to travellers from away.  I am very excited to share some of New Brunswick’s great people and places with my fellow Canadians and others from around the world.  With that in mind, our team has put together some great local tours that explore both of New Brunswick’s coasts (the rocky Bay of Fundy and the sandy beaches of the Northumberland Straight), Acadian and Mi’Kmaq cultures, the local art scene, and much more.  I can’t wait to see you here!

Raissa MarksRaissa Marks has been with the NBEN since 2006. She grew up in Albert County, New Brunswick. After high school, she was away from the province for about 10 years, living, learning, and working in Montreal, Toronto, and Virginia. Raissa now lives in  Riverview with her husband, Chris, and their two daughters. Little-known fact: Raissa also worked for the NBEN as a summer student in 1998 and 1999!

 
 
 

Share

The Civil Society Strategy (People, Place, Social Sector, Public Sector, Private Sector)The Government of the United Kingdom has launched their first Civil Society Strategy in 15 years. The Strategy will build stronger communities by bringing together businesses, charities and the public sector, the Government has vowed today.

Civil society refers to organisations and individuals working to create social value, enriching lives and building a fairer society for all.

The new vision places communities at the centre of decision-making and focuses on five key foundations of social value: people, places and the public, private and social sectors.

The work follows the Government’s Industrial Strategy, published last year. The strategy complements plans to grow Britain’s economy and boost productivity by building a more connected society, where everyone can play their part in a fairer, healthier and more prosperous country.

It creates more opportunities for people to actively take part in community decisions, as well as highlighting ways to harness the power of digital and technology for public good.

The Civil Society Strategy will:

  • Unlock £20 million from inactive charitable trusts (those which spend less than 30% of their annual income) to support community organisations over the next two years. The work will be carried out in conjunction with the Charity Commission and UK Community Foundations.
  • Launch an ‘Innovation in Democracy’ pilot scheme in six regions across the country. This will trial creative ways for people to take a more direct role in decisions that affect their local area. This could include Citizens’ Juries or mass participation in decision-making on community issues via an online poll or app.
  • Establish an independent organisation that will distribute £90 million from dormant bank accounts to get disadvantaged young people into employment. This new organisation will harness the experience of grassroots youth workers, businesses, and other local services, to help young people achieve their full potential.
  • Create an independent organisation to use £55 million from dormant bank accounts to tackle financial exclusion and the problem of access to affordable credit.
  • Support charities to make their voices heard on issues that matter to them and ensuring that charitable trustees reflect the diversity of the society they serve.
  • Strengthen Britain’s values of corporate responsibility, through the launch of a major new Leadership Group, formed of senior figures from the business, investment and social sectors, to put social and environmental responsibility at the heart of company decisions.
  • Use digital technology for good to improve the work charities can provide to support healthy ageing, bolster online safety and better connect people in an effort to tackle loneliness.
  • Improve the use of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 to ensure that organisations can generate more social value for communities when spending public money on government contracts.

Source: The Government of the United Kingdom

Reactions

Share

The Canadian CED Network’s Policy Council submitted a response to the federal government’s invitation for pre-budget submissions for the 2019 Federal Budget.  This year, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance called for submissions that addressed Economic Growth: Ensuring Canada’s Competitiveness.

Read the full pre-budget submission

Our Recommendations for the 2019 Federal Budget

1. Advance Social Innovation and Social Finance
       a. Invest $375M to support the community priorities of the Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy
b. Adopt framework legislation to embed a commitment to social innovation and social finance across the federal government, and create a multi-sectoral Social Innovation Council
c. Create an Office of Social Innovation to promote interdepartmental collaboration in the implementation of the Strategy and coordinate reporting on progress
d. Establish a National Social Innovation Knowledge Sharing Network
2. Make Canadian Businesses More Productive and Competitive
a. Invest $5M over 2 years to expand the capacity and access of Canada Business Network services to social enterprise and co-operative sectors.
b. Provide a supportive regulatory framework giving charities and non-profits more flexibility to pursue business models.
c. Invest $75M over five years to support innovation networks and communities of practice
d. Contribute to the capitalization of existing and emerging community-based social finance investment funds.
3. Help Canadians Be More Productive
a. Invest $15M over three years for training, deployment and measurement to utilize social procurement policies.
b. Engage stakeholders across sectors, including community leaders, to co-create a strong national strategy for Community Employment Benefits, with clear targets and common measures.
c. Study the feasibility of a portable account, financed by contributions from workers, employers and the federal government, for Canadians to draw upon to pay for lifetime learning and job retraining.

Read the full pre-budget submission

Share

Community Support Small Grant Program: At a GlanceThe Manitoba Government has launched a Community Support Small Grant Program to provide funds for Manitoba’s non-profit and community-led organizations around the following key program objectives:

  • Build capacity within community organizations.
  • Support community driven goals that have a public benefit.
  • Prioritize innovative projects.
  • Increase the reach or effectiveness of successful projects.

Grants: Non-profit and community-led organizations can apply for one-time funding of up to a maximum of $20,000.00. Applicants must provide a minimum of 10% matching cash funding and only one application per organization per year will be considered. Projects must be completed by March 31, 2019.

Consultation Services: Recreation and Regional Services staff can assist community organizations with the application and the application process.

Eligibility Criteria: Non-profit and community-led organizations throughout Manitoba are eligible to apply for the Community Support Small Grant Program. Organizations must have been in existence for at least one year. Ineligible organizations include schools, hospitals, local governments and for profit organizations.

Eligible Costs:

  • Project labour and materials
  • Project supplies
  • Operational cost for equipment
  • Equipment and/or machinery lease costs
  • Promotional materials
  • Training
  • Rental/lease of project facilities for approved project
  • Equipment
  • Furniture / Appliances/Technology
 Ineligible Costs:

  • Ongoing core operation costs
  • Vehicles
  • Music festivals
  • Competitions and tournaments
  • Centennials and homecomings
  • Travel costs
  • Projects that do not have public benefit

Grant Payment Process: Grants to successful applicants will receive an initial payment of up to 60% of grant upon receipt of signed agreement. A final payment of 40% of the grant will be made on submission of a final report. Grants of under $3,000 will receive full payment upon approval.

Application Process: Applications will be accepted on a continuous basis with notification made quarterly. If your community organization is planning a project, please contact your Recreation and Regional Services office to discuss how we can help.

Review the full program guidelines

Source: The Government of Manitoba

Share

So a friend just shared an article with me about something called Localism. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about these days. It’s a huge part of an organization I’ve mentioned before that continues to inspire me out of the UK called Locality.

But the paragraph my friend sent hits the nail right on the head of WHY this movement is so important:

It is a sleeper revolution. It flips the power structure. Under localism, the crucial power centre is at the tip of the shovel, where the actual work is being done. Expertise is not in the think tanks, but among those who have local knowledge, those with a feel for how things work in a specific place and an awareness of who gets stuff done. Success is not measured by how big you can scale, but by how deeply you can connect.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is the SDG’s…

Has anyone even heard of the SDG’s? Not exactly top of mind these days. Should be. Every government in the United Nations is supposed to be promoting them, supporting them…

The idea is to create a better world for all by 2030. That’s not far off – and we’re really just starting to hear about the SDG’s now.

17 Goals. Yipes! That’s a lot. And seems very overwhelming. Where does one start? At the local level, of course.

Many communities are starting to do just that. Some great examples of how various municipalities are working to raise awareness of the SDG’s around the world are here.

In simpler terms though – the agenda for the SDG’s is about leaving no one behind. #leavenoonebehind

This is not new. An organization I’m on the board of called CCEDNet (Canadian Community Economic Development Network) and many other organizations have been working on this for AGES. BIG national conference on all this coming up in Moncton, NB in September too. Called EconoUs.

Whether we’re talking localism or the SDG’s – the point is to find ways to build strong, powerful and INCLUSIVE communities where everyone benefits from living in those communities.

What can we do? What role do the SDG’s have to play in all this? 

It’s about the ‘sleeper revolution’. This is about each of us doing our bit. Connecting with each other on a human level – looking out for each other, our neighbours.

To me, this is what Localism, the SDG’s and all other rallying cries are really all about. Not that action at various other levels is not important – but we also need to realize we do have some power to make a difference AT. A. LOCAL. LEVEL. 

So, what are you going to do? What can you do with your neighbours? What can you do at any level where you feel you have some power? Because we all do. It’s just a question of feeling it, and acting on it. We need to be the change we want to see happen in our communities – and we need to be it NOW.

Originally published as an article on Laurie Cook’s LinkedIn Profile

Laurie CookLaurie Cook is a Convenor with the Community Sector Council of Nova Scotia and project lead for the United Way Halifax‘s Hub Convening Project. She was also this past year a volunteer Member Liaison for the Atlantic Region of CCEDNet. Her passion is community development, and besides being active professionally in the field for a number of years as a facilitator and community developer, Laurie also lives in Musquodoboit Harbour which is a rural area of the city. In 2006, as a volunteer, she chaired a community visioning process which led to several community initiatives that she was also involved in co-founding. These included:  redevelopment of an old school, design of a co-operative rural transportation service, development of a new women,s organization focused on economic empowerment for women and co-creation of a volunteer peer support group called Eastern Shore Mental Health. 

*The opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of CCEDNet

Share

The government needs to ‘do different,’ by rethinking the way they partner with social purpose organizations and empowering community-level responses to the challenges that matter to them. Let’s unleash the potential of social innovation and social finance to address Canada’s most intractable social and environmental challenges.

What is social innovation and social finance?

Many social purpose organizations are committed to finding transformative solutions, but we face barriers in our efforts.

That’s why the federal Government created a Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy Co-Creation Steering Group. The Steering Group members – from across sectors and regions – led a nationwide engagement over the past year.

It’s time for a Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy for CanadaFind out what they heard in this brochure

Why is this important?

Social purpose organizations form a rich ecosystem as important contributors to both the economy and our collective-wellbeing. Our goal is to have a Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy included in the 2019 federal budget, but we need your help!

So, how can you help?

Make your voice heard. Connect with your MP.

Inform them of your support for a Strategy.

Do you know who your MP is? Use your postal code to find out HERE

Participate in iMPact Day: Invite your MP to visit your organization

From August 15 to September 16, Imagine Canada is challenging MPs to visit social purpose organizations in their regions.

Sometimes the most convincing case is the one seen first hand. Use this opportunity to inform your MP about the real impact a government-supported Strategy could have for the challenges faced by their constituents. Learn more

Not able to participate in iMPact Day? There are other ways to get involved!

Send an email or mail a letter to your MP

To write an impactful letter, try to personalize it! Include relevant barriers you face, with examples of how social innovation and social finance improve outcomes.

For general tips to help you write a more effective letter, send an email to innovate4impact at sisfs.ca

Use Social Media

  • Tweet your MP using hashtags #innovate4impact #sisfs
  • Post in your riding’s Facebook Group
  • Share the video to spread the word about social innovation and social finance
Share

benefits for workers and communitiesA new, landmark agreement for key public-sector infrastructure projects in B.C. will deliver good-paying jobs, better training and apprenticeships, and more trades opportunities for Indigenous peoples, women and youth around the province.

“With this agreement, we’re not just investing in roads, bridges and other infrastructure, we’re investing in good jobs and new opportunities for people who live in B.C.  And with our focus on expanding apprenticeships for young British Columbians, we’re helping build B.C.’s next generation of construction workers.” Premier John Horgan​

Highlights of the agreement include:

  • A targeted approach to maximizing apprenticeship opportunities on major public-infrastructure projects.
  • Focus on priority hiring and training of Indigenous peoples, and women.
  • Co-ordinated access to existing training programs, while identifying and addressing skills gaps.
  • Priority hiring for qualified individuals who live within close proximity of the projects.
  • Hiring flexibility for contractors, who can request named hires.
  • Wage alignment to prevailing industry rates to promote good wages for all employees.

The first projects to be delivered under the new community benefits framework are the new Pattullo Bridge, and the four-laning projects on the Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops and Alberta. The request for qualifications (RFQ) for the Pattullo Bridge Replacement Project has been released.

Under government’s new Community Benefits Agreement, a diverse and qualified workforce will be supplied for select major public infrastructure projects through a newly created Crown corporation, BC Infrastructure Benefits Inc. (BCIB). BCIB will hire the project’s construction workers, and will work with unions and contractors to dispatch labour, as well as manage payroll and benefits.

Signatories to the Community Benefits Agreement are BCIB, and the Allied Infrastructure and Related Construction Council (AIRCC), which represents many of B.C.’s building trades. Contractors representing B.C.’s construction industry played an important advisory role as the agreement was developed.

Key benefits of labour agreement

The Community Benefits Agreement allows government to make sure that local people and communities get long-lasting benefits from public investments into major infrastructure projects, while maximizing the number of contractors that can bid on major infrastructure projects.

Key benefits of the negotiated labour agreement include:

Apprenticeships:

  • Increased apprenticeships in the skilled trades is essential to the development of British Columbia’s workforce. 
  • Targets will be aligned with the Government Apprenticeship Policy to maximize work-based training and opportunities to grow the skilled workforce.

Training:

  • The development of construction skills for persons other than the Red Seal apprentices is essential to the development of British Columbia’s workforce.
  • Wherever possible, existing government training programs and services will be leveraged. Training needs will be assessed for each project, and a process will be established to co-ordinate the development of new training where gaps exist, in collaboration with training partners and building trades councils, as required.

Indigenous and under-represented groups:

  • This agreement provides incremental and prioritized opportunities for the participation of Indigenous peoples and other traditionally under-represented groups on government infrastructure projects, in a safe environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.
  • Government has an existing consultation and accommodation process to address impacted Indigenous groups on projects. This process will continue and not be affected by the implementation of a labour agreement.
  • In addition, Indigenous peoples, women, and other traditionally under-represented groups will now have priority access to employment and training opportunities.

Local people and businesses:

  • When local workers have greater access to work opportunities in their communities, local people can, in turn, build, invest and stay in their communities.

Wages:

  • Wages have been negotiated to align with industry wages, based on prevailing construction rates.
  • This provides good-paying jobs to workers on these projects, and provides cost certainty to government.

Source: BC Government News – Office of the Premier

Share

CCEDNet's 2018 Annual General MeetingOn June 14, CCEDNet members gathered online to participate in the 2018 annual general meeting (AGM).

CCEDNet has held an entirely virtual AGM for 4 years running. Our online platform allows for moving, seconding and voting on resolutions, a chat room for written comments and questions, integration with an English teleconference line and a French teleconference line and simultaneous translation between the two lines.

Watch the AGM Recording

Board Chair, Ryan Gibson, helped the meeting run smoothly and within the hour timeframe. Feedback following the AGM has been very positive again this year. Here are a few things our members had to say about the AGM:

  • The use of the various features available online enhanced the meeting experience. A wonderful and accessible way to include everyone. Well done and congratulations.
  • Excellent chairing by the president! A very efficiently run meeting. Very impressive. Job well done!
  • Wonderful job! Truly enjoyed the fact that the virtual AGM eliminates geographical barriers to participating.
  • I appreciated Mike Toye’s update and report. This overview of the past year demonstrates some of the incredible work being pursued by CCEDNET.
  • I love it! At times it seems more interactive than an in-person meeting. It’s great to see who all is attending – a good reminder of who members are.
  • I find this way of working for the AGM very pertinent given that the organization is pan-Canadian: no travel costs, only one hour, etc. Continue the billingual platform.

CCEDNet’s Executive Director, Mike Toye, presented highlights from 2017 and CCEDNet’s Treasurer, Diana Jedig, presented the audited financial statements.

Check out the Highlights from 2017

Members congratulated Emmanuel Bertrand-Gauvin, Ryan Gibson, Carol Anne Hilton, and Luc Morin on renewed Board mandates. Members alse expressed gratitude to outgoing Board members Christine Landry and Élodie Grunerud.   

Many thanks to the members who participated, the staff who organized the logistics, and to CCEDNet’s Board members who guide the Network throughout the year.

Share

@HonAhmedHussenThe Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, have announced a new measure aimed at ensuring that when building new infrastructure projects, proponents take into consideration the social and economic impact their project will have on the community and how they can encourage inclusive participation.

As part of the Investing in Canada plan, recipients of federal funding for new major public infrastructure projects will now be asked to consider how their projects can create training and job opportunities for under-represented groups and procurement opportunities for small-to-medium sized and social enterprises.

The Community Employment Benefits requirement will see targets set for major projects to provide training, job opportunities and/or procurement opportunities to a broader array of Canadians. A General Guidance document has been prepared to explain the requirements of the initiative.

Applicants for major projects will now set and pursue targets for training and employment opportunities for groups that are identified as under-represented in the workforce or that face challenges entering the workforce, including:

  • Indigenous peoples
  • women
  • persons with disabilities
  • veterans
  • youth
  • apprentices
  • recent immigrants

The new requirement will also see projects providing procurement opportunities for small-to-medium sized and social enterprises. These are businesses operated by a charity or non-profit organization or that are designed around the delivery of social value.

For each project over a $10 million threshold (for most jurisdictions), provinces and territories will identify at least three of these target groups to benefit through training, employment or procurement opportunities. Projects are posted on the Investing in Canada Plan Project Map on the Infrastructure Canada website and will indicate when the Community Employment Benefits requirement has been applied. In cases where the requirement cannot be applied, a rationale will be provided.

Along with the Investing in Canada plan bilateral agreements being signed between Infrastructure Canada and the provinces and territories, this new requirement also applies to all projects under the recently launched Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund and to all final proposals submitted for consideration to Smart Cities Challenge.

Source: Infrastructure Canada

Share

RIPESS Over the last 30 years or so, Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) organizations and businesses have grown all over the world. Sometimes they are classified as local development, community development, solidarity economy or social economy but they all have similar approaches; they are all led by community or civil society. In many cases, SSE projects have developed in disadvantaged sectors of society, where the actors of market driven neoliberal globalisation have no interest; but not only. Today the SSE exists in all sectors of the economy: production, finance, distribution, exchange, consumption and governance. A partial history of SSE initiatives can be found in “Social Solidarity Economy and related concepts Origins and Definitions: An International Perspective” published in 2014 by socioeco.org, and other definition elements are included in RIPESS’ “Global Vision for a Social Solidarity Economy“.

As the sector has developed and structured into networks, interaction with public authorities at all levels has increased. An increasing number of governments and local authorities have signed contracts to deliver products or services produced by SSE initiatives. In many countries, this has evolved into full scale public policies supporting programs such as day-care, waste management, cooperative housing, etc. Legislation on cooperatives already existed in many countries, however, in most cases, the focus was strictly on cooperatives and did not include non-profits. New laws are embracing a much wider perspective, while including cooperatives.

Over time, this has evolved into the notion of co-constructing public policies, including legislation. By co-constructing, we mean working hand in hand with ministries and other public authorities to build policies and programs. Over time, many governments and local authorities have come to realise that this participatory approach is the best way to build effective policies that will have a much better chance of success. A lot of advocacy work by SSE actors was, and still is, necessary to achieve this result. Public institutions generally do engage in consultation, although often in a very formal manner and not always within a participatory co-construction mindset.

RIPESS has adopted and promoted this participatory approach ever since it was first founded over 20 years ago. The concept of co-constructing public policies was widely discussed in the 3rd Globalisation of Solidary forum organised by RIPESS in Dakar (Senegal) in November 2005. After the 2008 global crises, many countries adopted policies and legislation that recognized the SSE. Since then, RIPESS, among others, has been working to increase the visibility of the progress made in different continents, at the local, national or global level:

In 2016 RIPESS established an alliance with GSEF (the Global Social Economy Forum) to strengthen its approach to promoting the SSE. GSEF is an international association uniting local governments (mainly cities) and civil society stakeholders, who recognize the Social Economy as a key factor in local economic development, to promote SSE public policies. This partnership insures that both the local government perspective (GSEF) and the SSE actors’ perspective (RIPESS) are taken into account. RIPESS has also formed a formal partnership with the FMDV (World Fund for the Development of Cities). These partnerships are important for promoting public policies at local and regional levels of governments. It is also key for localizing the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The next important partner meeting will be held in October for the GSEF2018 Forum in Bilbao.

In the coming months and year RIPESS and its members plan to deepen the understanding of the process for the co-construction of public policies in order to ensure SSE networks learn from existing experiences and contribute to the promotion of its expansion. We hope to document case studies and, over time, describe in detail how SSE actors are advocating and collaborating with public actors for the successfull design and implementation of public policies. The national SSE public policy adopted in Mali in 2014 and the Framework Law adopted by Quebec in 2012 are a good starting point. We will also be organizing webinars in order to present and discuss different examples in detail.

Originally published by RIPESS 

Yvon PoirierYvon Poirier has a long history of involvement in the labour and social movements in Québec and Canada. He was founding President of the Corporation de développement économique communautaire de Québec in 1994, and member of the organizing committee of the Global Meetings on Community Economic Development in Sherbrooke, Québec in 1998. From November 2003 to July 2013, he co-edited a monthly international e-newsletter on sustainable local development published in four languages. He has been a CCEDNet member since 2003 at first as an individual and since 2012 he represents the CDÉC de Québec. He has been involved in  tnternational representation for CCEDNet since 2004. His most significant international involvement has been in the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS). He has participated in many RIPESS conferences in different continents and since October 2o13 is a member of the RIPESS Board of directors. He has also participated in different World Social Forums and he represents RIPESS in the UN Inter-Agency Taskforce om SSE.

*The opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of CCEDNet

Share

It’s our pleasure to release our newest report, Connected and Ready: The Impact of the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy. This report is an impact analysis of the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy (MSES), a 3-year partnership between the Government of Manitoba and the Canadian CED Network – Manitoba which sought to develop and nurture an ecosystem that facilitates the strengthening and growth of social enterprises creating job and training opportunities for individuals facing barriers to employment. 

Read the MSES Impact Evaluation ReportConnected and Ready: The Impact of the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy

Summary of Findings

The feedback from the stakeholders involved in the impact evaluation suggests that:

  • Social Enterprise Manitoba as the project manager of the MSES played a critical “backbone” function much in the way that an industry association supports the work and members of any sector through information dissemination, professional development, bridge-building, advocacy and sector innovation.
  • The MSES was seen as vital to “ecosystem development” in that significant preparatory work was needed in the sector to allow the true potential of the sector and its member organizations to emerge and be realized. This involved bringing diverse stakeholders together, developing a shared understanding and language, identifying barriers to implementation, defining new market opportunities and beginning to work on possible solutions to problems all while expanding capacity in both the supply-side and the demand-side of the sector. Based on feedback from stakeholders and the frequency of certain responses, this development work seemed to be following the typical AIDA path of creating awareness, interest, desire and then action. There was a strong sense that the MSES had accelerated awareness, interest and desire for further business development opportunities in the social enterprise sector, but that so much more was possible.
  • Based on all feedback, the most significant impacts of the MSES were in the areas of:
    • Formal and informal learning for organizations
    • Networking between organizations and between stakeholder groups
    • Awareness-raising and advocacy with the public and with decision-makers
    • Supply chain engagement and market development for social purchasing
    • Sector Readiness

Summary of Recommendations:

Based on a review of impact, activities, and a final community consultation, these recommendations begin to form the basis for a new phase of sector development.

#1: Sector development requires investment

The Province of Manitoba should tap into the potential and momentum built by the MSES by investing $200,000 per year for at least 5 years in a second phase of the MSES.

#2: Co-create with Social Enterprise Manitoba as a sector backbone

The proposed investment should be a partnership with Social Enterprise Manitoba, acting as a sector “backbone” to support work integration social enterprise through information dissemination, professional development opportunities, bridge-building, advocacy and sector innovation.

#3: Build a second phase of activities from what we learned

a. Organizational Development in business development, evaluation, accessing capital and financial management, scaling and replication of proven models/activities and marketing.

b. Market Development through Social Procurement:

  • Social Enterprise Manitoba should continue to incubate a social procurement intermediary while also supporting the developing Buy Social Prairies1 model.
  • The Province of Manitoba should develop and implement a social procurement strategy using co-creation principles.

c. Networking and Relationship Building

d. Investments in Strategic, Time-limited Opportunities

#4: Make sure a second MSES phase also considers unanswered questions

a. How the social enterprise model can best support problem solving in rural and northern Manitoba.

b. How to ensure social enterprise opportunities better serve women.

c. How to strengthen connections with Manitoba’s Indigenous communities.

d. What are the gaps in wrap-around supports, and what are the limitations of the WISE model?

e. How to offer a wider range of career options and open up untapped markets by developing new social enterprises in new industries.

f. How to capture the monetary and non-monetary outcomes and results of social enterpise.

1 Buy Social Prairies (affiliate of Buy Social Canada) is a newly established initiative to certify social enterprises and promote social purchasing by individuals, governments and companies.

Share