The OECD Toolkit for the Social Economy provides an instrument for policy makers and social economy actors to implement the nine building blocks of the OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation.
OECD Toolkit for the Social Economy
The social economy pioneers new business models, provides essential services, contributes to job creation and a fairer, green and digital transition, engages youth and builds communities. National, regional and local governments can use this toolkit to implement the OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation.
About OECD Toolkit for the Social Economy
Our mission
Designed to support policy makers in the development of effective and impactful policy frameworks, the Toolkit will help policy makers and stakeholders translate the OECD Recommendation into practice.
How it works
The toolkit is structured around the nine building blocks of the Recommendation. The building blocks correspond to an analytical framework and tool for policy makers to identify and address challenges that affect, to a greater or lesser extent, all countries regardless of the scale of their social economy. Each country, region or city will determine where, on this spectrum, the policy push might be needed at a given moment in time.
9 pillars for action
Encourage and promote the emergence and expansion of civil society initiatives and the strengthening of local social capital in general Create supportive institutional frameworks by clarifying who does what across ministries, public agencies, and levels of government.
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Proposing social economy initiatives without considering local communities’ culture and traditions.
- Developing awareness-raising campaigns that are too technical to be understood by the general public.
- Having in place complex and bureaucratic red tape processes that hinder the emergence of civil society initiatives.
- Duplicating initiatives across different levels of government that could lead to inefficient coordination and wasted resources.
Clarify who does what across ministries, public agencies, and levels of government Support access to finance by encouraging knowledge and expertise of the social economy field in financial intermediaries and public financial support.
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Designing an institutional framework for the social economy without consulting stakeholders and taking into account strategies of the sector itself.
- Not considering the existing ecosystem, including various stakeholders, norms and procedures that might have an impact (direct or indirect) on the development of social economy entities.
- Overlooking/allowing overlaps or inconsistencies with other policies and actions that may have an impact on social economy entities.
- Allocating responsibilities for the social economy across multiple government agencies and levels, leading to ambiguity, confusion, and inefficiency in policy implementation.
Design clear, simple and easy to use legal frameworks that allow social economy organisations to effectively operate
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Designing legislation before mapping and understanding national legislation and regulations relative to the social economy, as well as readiness of social economy entities.
- Considering that a “social economy law” is the silver bullet that will solve all issues.
- Designing legal forms or statuses that are unduly restrictive and unattractive to social economy entities and their members.
- Creating social economy laws without adequate enforcement and compliance mechanisms.
Encourage knowledge and expertise of the social economy field in financial intermediaries and public financial support.
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Focusing on increasing supply of finance without taking into account the demand side i.e., investment readiness of social economy entities.
- Replicating in less mature markets the latest innovations from mature markets without having a similar ecosystem in place.
- Offering generic financial solutions (i.e., one-size-fits-all approach) that may not suit all types of social economy entities.
Include social and/or environmental considerations to help the social economy access procurement markets
Pitfalls to avoid:
Using exclusively the “lowest-price only” option in public procurement.
Lacking control on bidding offers relative to green/social 'washing' (i.e. offers without a real integration project or social and/or environmental considerations).
Not offering training for procurement officials and assuming private actors and the general public are aware of the benefits of procuring goods and services from social economy entities.
Mobilise adequate resources to develop skills and business development support for the social economy
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Focusing support services predominantly in urban areas and not enough in rural regions.
- Failing to involve key stakeholders in the design and implementation of education and training programmes.
- Offering fragmented or isolated support.
- Introducing red tape and processes that might hinder social economy entities from accessing support.
Encourage impact measurement and monitoring by disseminating successful practices and knowledge.
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Imposing a uniform approach to impact measurement.
- Seeing improved measurement and reporting as an end in itself rather than a means to an end - stakeholders should act on the insights made visible by impact measurement and reporting, not just publish them.
- Waiting until a perfect solution has come, instead of moving ahead, while learning by doing and from others.
Produce reliable data and evidence to support policy making and programmes.
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Implementing data collection and statistical initiatives without involving social economy stakeholders.
- Focusing solely on quantitative data collection, which can lead to an incomplete understanding of the market and non-market impact of the social economy.
- Creating definitions and classifications that are rigid or that do not evolve with the changing nature of the social economy.
- Not sufficiently considering the long-term impact of the social economy by excessively concentrating on the short-term outcomes and the immediately quantifiable aspects of various policies and programmes.
Promote new and cost-effective solutions to unleash the full potential of the social economy
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Overlooking the importance of involving a wide range of stakeholders in the pursuit of driving social change.
- Assuming that a single economic development model or social innovation strategy will work universally across all regions.
- Thinking short-term, which can undermine the potential benefits of social innovation.
More resources
OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation
The Recommendation promotes the social economy’s potential to pioneer new business models, provide essential services, contribute to a fairer, green and digital transition, engage youth, and build communities. It recognises the diversity of practice and the need for policy tools applicable to a range of country contexts and varying degrees of development of the social economy. The social economy is typically made up of organisations such as associations, cooperatives, foundations, mutual societies and social enterprises.
The Social Economy Informal Expert Group (IEG)
The community of practice, also known as the "informal expert group" (IEG) is a multi-stakeholder network by nominated experts, policy makers and practitioners from public, private and civil society sectors gathering twice a year. It is an international forum that provides a consultation mechanism and stakeholder platform to address questions around the social and solidarity economy, social enterprises and social innovation. It is a space where mutual learning and experience-sharing can take place and where useful practices can be identified and scaled up.
Get facts and figures on the social economy in OECD countries
The OECD compiled the country fact sheets to provide a snapshot of the SSE space in covered countries, fully or partially. Information on the SSE ecosystems is presented by country and includes the existence of an official definition of the SSE, the size of the SSE, employment patterns, economic contribution (when available), legal and institutional frameworks surrounding the SSE, and existing social impact measurement initiatives. Given the diversity in how the SSE is recognised (or not) across countries, the country fact sheets provide a peek into what the SSE looks like in each country.