This Guide was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work of the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme. It was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union, in the framework of the OECD Global Action “Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems” and builds on the OECD LEED Paper “Legal Frameworks for the Social and Solidarity Economy” published in June 2022. It also builds on a recent report focusing specifically on legal frameworks for social enterprises. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
The content of this guide was drafted by Amal Chevreau, James Hermanson and Viktoria Chernetska, Policy Analysts, with guidance from Antonella Noya, Head of the Social Economy and Innovation Unit. Marleen Denef and Bram Van Baelen, lawyers at Impact Advocaten, as well as Deborah Burand, Professor of Clinical Law at New York University, provided background research and contributed to drafting this guide. Additional research and comments were provided respectively by Daniel Bayram and Julie Rijpens, Policy Analysts. Nadim Ahmad, Deputy Director of CFE and Karen Maguire, Head of the Local Employment, Skills and Social Innovation Division (CFE) provided guidance, comments and suggestions.
This guide provides step-by-step guidance complemented by best practice examples that can inspire policy makers. The guidance builds on learnings, information, data and findings from different reports, studies, and grey literature as well as stakeholder consultations, surveys, and the global social economy community. The authors thank the numerous participants around the world that have contributed to:
Learnings and outcome papers of the Peer-learning Partnership on legal frameworks produced as part of the Global Action.
Survey data from 33 countries, expert consultation meetings, focus groups and interviews with relevant actors in the SSE ecosystems of participating countries.
Stakeholder consultation discussions, gathering national and local policy makers, SSE representatives, and academic and research experts in Brazil (16 February 2021), Mexico (18 February 2021), United States (4 March 2021), India (11 March 2021), Canada (16 April 2021), and Korea (23 April 2021).
A survey disseminated to the Expert Group on Social Economy and Social Enterprises (GECES) of the European Commission, in particular its members with an expertise on the countries targeted by the Action.
Learnings from the session on legal frameworks as part of the high-level virtual conference "The Social and Solidarity Economy: From the Margins to the Mainstream”, held in September 2021.
The document benefitted from valuable comments from Giulia Galera, Johanna Mair, Roberto Randazzo, and Alex Nicholls as members of the Scientific Board of the Global Action.
Authors are also grateful to Erica Weathers for the infographics and cover design, Alexandra Campbell for proofreading and to Pilar Philip and Katrina Baker for preparing the final publication.