Social Economy Missions for Community Resilience
The European Commission has published a new call for proposals “European Social Economy Missions” under the Single Market Programme (SMP).
The call follows up two "Social Economy Missions" calls for proposals launched in 2020 and 2021 aiming at developing inter-regional cooperation to scale up social economy business models in regional context. The Commission adopted the Social Economy Action Plan in December 2021. With this plan, the Commission put forward concrete measures to help mobilise the full potential of the social economy sector, building on the results of the 2011 Social Business Initiative and the 2016 Start-up and Scale-up Initiative.
This action will implement point 3.4 of the Social Economy Action Plan and will contribute to the Commission's engagement to support the social economy in the implementation of the transition pathway for the Proximity and Social Economy ecosystem. In particular, it will enable social economy actors relevant for the ecosystem to develop innovative and sustainable business practices to boost rural growth and competitiveness and help to drive the twin transition. It will foster the exchange of good practices, success stories in the various policy domains contributing to reaching the goals of the Long Term Vision for Rural Areas.
The action will in particular boost the scale up of social economy businesses in rural areas focusing on the following topics (non-exhaustive list):
- Clusters of social and ecological innovation
- Green and digital transition
- Sustainable and circular agriculture and food systems
- Education, training and skills activities for unemployed people
- New European Bauhaus and quality of life
Available budget: EUR 1 000 000
Project duration: 18 or 24 months
Number of projects to be funded: maximum of 4
Opening date: 5 October 2023
Deadline for applications: 7 December 2023 17:00:00 (CET)