Development of a Social Economy Policy in South Africa (Government of Flanders & National Economic Development Department of South Africa)

This project seeks to take advantage of the favourable conditions for developing a social economy policy for South Africa, following the implementation of a range of projects that have enhanced existing knowledge and built a community of actors and agencies committed to growing and developing this sector.

The social economy policy is expected to provide a consistent and coherent framework for support to social economy enterprises and organizations including cooperatives, mutual societies, voluntary and community organizations which are involved in economic activities and direct their surpluses in pursuit of social, environmental and community goals at the course of their existence. The development objective is to promote access to decent jobs in a sustainable and inclusive social economy. The specific project objective is to formulate a social economy policy for South Africa that enables the development of a social economy that contributes to decent job creation, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. The outcome expected from this is an enabling policy framework that promotes the creation of decent jobs, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.