The Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Task Force (SEETF) was
established in 2009 to promote social enterprise and social entrepreneurship as
a viable and vibrant part of the Irish economy and society.
Among its principal areas of work are:
·
developing
and refining policy on the general area of social enterprise and social
entrepreneurship
·
building
closer contacts with government on relevant policy issues
·
making a
detailed submission to the 2012 Forfás Report to government on the sector.
In particular SEETF has been working to have social enterprise
and social entrepreneurship firmly included within both national and
local enterprise support strategies of Government, and to secure
inclusion of ‘social clauses’ in public tendering so as to increase the impact
of the sector in enterprise and employment growth.
A
major achievement was the inclusion in the Fine Gael-Labour Programme for
Government of a commitment by
government to:
“…promote the development of
a vibrant and effective social enterprise sector. We will instruct agencies to
view social enterprises as important stakeholders in rejuvenating local
economies.”
- ‘Towards Recovery’, page 13
SEETF sees
significant potential for policy and funding support from the EU and is
following two initiatives in particular in this regard: The Social Business Initiative and EU Expert
Group on the Single Market 2.
SEETF also established SocialEnterprise.ie to
facilitate a more informal network of social enterprises.
SEETF has produced two
policy reports
The SEETF 2012 Annual
Report can be read here (Available Wednesday 14th November 2012)
SEETF Annual
Meeting: November 14th
We are pleased to invite you to the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Social
Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Task Force. It will take place in the European
Parliament Information Office, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 from 2.00pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday, 14 November, 2012.
Guest speaker is Seán Sherlock, TD, Minister for Research and Innovation at
the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation.
He will be presented with a copy of the 2012 Annual Report of the SEETF.
Please register
here where you will find full details of the programme. Places are limited
due to space considerations so please register early.
Social Enterprises are businesses set up to tackle social, economic or environmental issues. Driven primarily by social and/or environmental motives, they engage in activities of a commercial nature in order to produce social and community gain. Social enterprises are committed to social inclusion and social justice.
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SocialEnterprise.ie Update
What a fantastic evening in the Glenroyal Hotel on Tuesday 6 March. John Bennett from the Welsh Social Enterprise Coalition gave an inspiring insight of his work with networks in Wales and his experience of being a social entrepreneur..24 years on! For those of you who wish to watch the interview with John Bennett and Jerr Boschee on You Tube Clip again, this time with volume! Just click on the link below.
We have come a long way in a short space of time but we are excited to announce some incredible SocialEnterprise.ie progress. The energy is palpable and the network is strong and growing. We are working on our network. We have listed to the members and we think there has never been more of a need to make a network a reality.
Networks - Niall Morris. The sub group have been discussing network and hubs, strategic planning and regional groups.
Support and Training - Rhona O'Connor. Supports have been set up and courses are being run. We listened to what was needed on the ground and support was made available.
Communications - Michael Quilligan mquilligan@gmail.com. Decisions were made on social media, websites and messaging. You will see the results very soon!
Policy - The group have met and looked at international best practice and have elected Stuart Frasier to be our contact point and voice. SocialEnterprise.ie has a real voice that can help change public policy.
Work has been done. But we are most excited about the future of the network, the connections we are yet to make and the open approach to social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Ireland.
Please share this information with your networks who you think may be interested in what is happening on the ground in SocialEnterprise.ie. Keep up with what is happening by joining the conversations on our links below and SIGN UP today by emailing your name, organisation and contact details to info@socialenterprise.ie for our next event. - Chris Gordon