MedRISSE – Social innovation and Social and Solidarity Economy policies in the Mediterranean

Location

Spain, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Italy

Duration

2021- 2023 (24 months)

Project leader

Assembly of Cooperation for Peace – ACPP (Spain)

Partners

An-Najah National University (Palestine), Oxfam Italia Onlus (Italy), Agricultural Development Association – PARC (Palestine), Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development -JOHUD (Jordan), Tunisian Centre For Social Entrepreneurship -TCSE (Tunisia), ARCO-PIN S.c.r.l. Didactic and Scientific Services for the University of Florence (Italy), Innovation and Social Economy in the Mediterranean-SCEL (Spain)

Funding

European Union under the ENI CBC Med Programme

Context

MedRiSSE is a social innovation initiative which aims to develop a Mediterranean scalability pathway for social innovations that enable the co-production of municipal services with local agents of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) that have emerged from interactions between the government and the SSE involved in the ENI-funded projects. These innovations represent successful and efficient practices for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in general, and for the protection of the most vulnerable groups in post- Covid19 economies in the Mediterranean Basin.
The project is built on the experienced gained through 5 cooperation Projects funded by the European Neighbourhood Instrument through the programs of ENI CBC Med 2014- 2020 (MedTOWN & MoreThanAJob), ENPI MED 2007-2013 (RUWOMED), EuropeAid (MedUP!) and IESS (CitESS, LINGARE ).

General objective

The project envisions to widen the Community of Practice (CoP) launched by the MedTOWN project, involving policy makers, SSE actors, researchers and practitioners and lead to the co-creation of a Mediterranean Co-Production Lab that will function under the principles of Social Solidarity Economy. In addition, the project will lead a policy work to positively influence changes in the institutional frameworks regulating social innovation as well as promoting public private dialogue between institutional actors of the Social Economy ecosystems in Europe and in the Middle East and North Africa region to share policy experiences and practices and foster mutual learning.

Our contribution

Oxfam Italia will lead a policy work consisting in three main steps:
• conduction of an in-depth cross-country analysis of national studies on social innovation run within the 5 programs included in MedRisse to highlight transversal topics and issues and get a comprehensive understanding/analysis of the social innovation sector in its different declinations;
• developing 5 thematic policy briefs to positively influence changes in the institutional frameworks regulating social innovation in its different forms;
• promoting public private dialogue (i.e. 5 national events) between institutional actors of the SE ecosystems in Europe and in the MENA region to share policy experiences and practices and foster mutual learning.