The following thematic groups will take place during the General Assembly meeting:

Online economic cooperative platforms and Smarket Place

Initiated in Geneva by Après-Ge and Monnaie Léman, with the collaboration of RIPESS Europe (validated during our last General Assembly), the SmartketPlace project was conceived during Hack-Covid19. It had become obvious that the economic crisis caused by the confinement would strengthen the GAFAM*, the mass distribution and online supermarkets, to the detriment of local producers, small distribution, social and solidarity economy. An immediate and concrete response, technologically efficient and easily “replicable”, was needed to respond to the current crisis and lay the foundations for a local economy that could be resilient to the announced crises. It is a question of survival for many of us!

SmartketPlace platform is a generalist, sustainable, social and solidarity market, aimed at local communities and reproducible “everywhere on the planet”. It is centered on the person and the respect of their data. It allows short circuits for our goods, our services, and creates a “commons” with the personal data that everyone wants to make available, in a careful and conscious way!

Scientific Committee and Manifesto for Solidarity Economy

Ripess Eu recently endorsed The International Manifesto for the Solidarity Economy carried by the world of academic research for the World Forum on Transformative Economies. It now seems important to use the Manifesto as a tool to reach out for and gather other academics, students, etc. that RIPESS Eu members are already working with or identify as such, in order to launch a more active and open scientific life,  share some common ground with new people from the scientific field at large. This workshop will open a space to present and discuss propositions in that perspective : every member is welcome to share its experience with the academic world, the bridges already existing or missing, the expectations regarding the development of such academic bonds, etc. READ THE MANIFESTO

Social impact, social audit, social utility

The issue of social impact assessment has taken on an incredible scale in recent years, throughout Europe and particularly with the development of impact funding. But it is important to realise that this is a very political issue and that the way of understanding it is not without consequences for SSE as a whole. RIPESS Europe therefore wanted to start working on this subject in order to forge a common culture among its members. The approach is based on the exchange of practices, the understanding of the different approaches and approaches initiated in Europe and the construction of a political advocacy.

This workshop is part of RIPESS Europe’s global strategy, which aims to collectively build an action plan for the network for the coming months. It will be an opportunity to initiate a first debate on the different notions (social utility, social impact, social audit…), the first step towards the construction of a shared vision.

Transformative Economies agenda

RIPESS Europe has been one of the main promoters of the World Social Forum of Transformative economies (WSFTE/FSMET), which took place online between the 25th of June and 1st of July. After a brief summary of the latest news, we will discuss how, as RIPESS members, we can and should participate in the next steps of convergence (territorial, inter-sectoral and among movements) to bring together initiatives for the transformation of the mainstream market economy and the alliance around an agenda of the Transformative Economies.

Organisations, networks and entities participating in the WSFTE process can promote their transformative initiatives: struggles, campaigns, projects, policies, and practices that reflect the search for transformative economies in the broadest sense. The aim is to make visible initiatives that respond to major global challenges based on concrete and localised practices. See the process and the themes here.

Youth and SSE

In the last years, the need to have a focus on younger generations and to address their issues is becoming more and more necessary to promote the culture and practices of SSE. Our proposal is to build a process that leads to the creation of an international network of young people (RIPESS and beyond), involved in initiatives of Social Solidarity Economy. Steps of this process could be:

  • – the intercontinental RIPESS activity of 28/6 during the WSFTE about Youth and SSE (see the summary in attachment);
  • – the Webinar of 18/10 about Youth and SSE (focused on challenges) in the framework of the GSEF and organised by RIPESS;
  • – other webinars, working meetings, and other enriching/connecting opportunities to be organised;
  • – the promotion of an intercontinental project of Erasmus+ Capacity Building (to reinforce individual competences and to strengthen international links);
  • – the creation (possibly with the support of another Erasmus+ project) of an informal but structured network of young people involved in initiatives of Social Solidarity Economy.

Territorial cooperation

In a world that is changing and reinventing social involvement, personal development, and ways of working, being able to cooperate is a key skill that everyone can assimilate, all throughout life. The context of the health crisis fosters the need to reinvest the territories and the young generations.

Many people and structures cooperate at a territorial scale in urban and rural areas, through the mutualization of means, collective events, shared-places, collaborative cultural projects, or territorial networks regrouping social & solidarity economy organizations. We experiment cooperative approaches for local development, that are creative, evolving, and innovative.

How is territorial cooperation carried out? What skills, tools, or methodologies are necessary to implement or improve practices?

We offer to reflect together on these themes collectively, based on previous findings from the AJITeR project and in the context of the launching of the COOPTERR project. This Erasmus+ project regroups six organizations, including RIPESS Europe and several members of the network (Fekete Sereg, Solidarius Italia, CRIES…) and aims at fashioning tools and methods for training people on territorial cooperation, key issue for local development, diversity, and living together in harmony.