Social Solidarity Economy and Commons

"Προς μια κοινωνικά, οικονομικά και περιβαλλοντικά δίκαιη χρήση των Ανανεώσιμων Πηγών Ενέργειας (ΑΠΕ)", άρθρο στο Περιοδικό για την Περιβαλλοντική Εκπαίδευση, 23-24(68-69), 2023 Από τα περιεχόμενα:  Γιατί ενεργειακή φτώχεια και ακρίβεια;  Το μεγάλο λάθος στον λογαριασμό και το πραγματικό κόστος των διαφόρων μορφών ενέργειας.  Το δρομολογούμενο «αντίο» στα ορυκτά καύσιμα και η άναρχη ανάδυση των ΑΠΕ με φόντο την κερδοσκοπία.  Δέκα χρόνια ερευνών για τη χωροθέτηση ΑΠΕ (αιολικών και φωτοβολταϊκών) με κοινωνικά, οικονομικά και περιβαλλοντικά κριτήρια στις περιοχές της Θράκης, Μακεδονίας, Ηπείρου, Θεσσαλίας, Κυκλάδων και Κρήτης. Διαπιστώθηκε ότι:  η εγκατάσταση αιολικών και φωτοβολταϊκών συστημάτων στις προτεινόμενες περιοχές χωροθέτησης μπορεί να καλύψει από 3,5 έως 13 φορές τις υπάρχουσες τοπικές ανάγκες  είναι εφικτή η χωροθέτηση των ΑΠΕ χωρίς επιπτώσεις κοινωνικές, οικονομικές και περιβαλλοντικές  είναι εφικτή η ενεργειακή αυτονομία των περιοχών σε επίπεδο περιφέρειας  είναι εφικτή η αποκεντρωμένη παραγωγή και κατανάλωση της ενέργειας, δηλαδή, εκεί που παράγεται η ενέργεια, εκεί να καταναλώνεται  με δεδομένο ότι υπάρχει δυνατότητα υπερκάλυψης των αναγκών μιας περιφέρειας προκύπτει ότι δεν χρειάζονται μεγάλης κλίμακας Α/Γ και Φ/Β. Είναι ικανοποιητικά επαρκής η χρήση ΑΠΕ σε μικρή κλίμακα και με ήπιους τρόπους. Υπογραμμίζονται :  Ανάκτηση της ενέργειας ως κοινό αγαθό στα χέρια των πολιτών – Δεν μπορεί να είναι εμπόρευμα που οδηγεί σε ενεργειακή φτώχεια  Κοινωνική ιδιοκτησία και διαχείριση από τους ίδιους τους πολίτες, κυρίως δια μέσου ενεργειακών συνεταιρισμών  Λειτουργία έξω από το χρηματιστήριο ενέργειας και από διακυμάνσεις τιμών  Δεν κερδοσκοπούμε με την ενέργεια - Καλύπτουμε μόνον τις ανάγκες μας. www.peekpemagazine.gr/article/Προς-μια-κοινωνικά-οικονομικά-και-περιβαλλοντικά-δίκαιη-χρήση-των-Ανανεώσιμων-Πηγών

Κοινωνική Επιχειρηματικότητα. Παραδείγματα από την Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό: - Η Κλιματική αλλαγή - Κοινωνική καινοτομία και κυκλική οικονομία - Πράσινη κοινωνική καινοτομία - Δίκαιη ενεργειακή μετάβαση – καταπολέμηση της ενεργειακής φτώχειας

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all is among the UN 17 SDGs. According to ICA World Cooperative Monitor, 19 world’s largest cooperatives (out of the Top 300) manage educational services. Social impact is a factor of success for a cooperative and social solidarity economy (SSE) organization. There are a lot of proposals regarding social impact measurement and simultaneously, there is a need for methodology and indicators that are easily used and understood. There is a widespread dissatisfaction among cooperatives and SSE organizations, private funders and public decision-makers concerning the current systems of social impact assessment. A European Commission and OECD report depicts impact scaling through four dimensions: Expansion, Replication, Partnerships and Knowledge Sharing. An innovative assessment tool called SAVE (Social Added Value Evaluation) model on the basis of which it is possible to define a set of indicators for the evaluation of the social impact has been applied successfully to various cooperatives. Various aspects of the social impact are proposed by SAVE, such as: the ability to develop networks; to generate other collectives; to promote initiatives addressed to the citizens; to influence the actions of other organizations; to be involved in the planning processes of local policies. Based on the above mentioned, a preliminary approach with social impact indicator measurements was applied to the social non-profit cooperative People's University of Social Solidarity Economy “UnivSSE Coop" (Thessaloniki, Greece). Metrics of a set of ten social impact indicators for the period 2013-2021 are presented: 1) People reached by all actions, 2) Participants in events, 3) Partners and networks, 4) Presentations at events, 5) Ongoing European programs, 6) Audiovisual material hearings, 7) Website visits, 8) International geographic distribution of website visits, 9) National geographic distribution of website visits, 10) Followers on social media.

Drawing on the case of YOUTHShare, an EEA Grants-funded project that seeks to actively analyze and tackle youth disengagement in the EU South, this presentation will focus on the educational material developed in order to advance youth’s cooperative skills and knowledge. The presentation brings to front the challenges faced during the development of the educational material on Skills in Social Economy, which included an Educators Manual and four Trainees’ Handbooks (in English, Greek, Spanish and Italian). The material was integrated in an e-learning platform and publicly available and free of any charge. The Manual and Handbooks developed are organized in ten sessions and divided into three modules: Module A: Fundamentals of social solidarity economy (SSE). Session 1: Introducing social and solidarity economy (SSE); Session 2: Working with cooperative principles; Session 3: SSE legislation and rules Module B: Establishment and operation of an SSE entity. Session 4: Choosing legal and economic field; Session 5: Establishment procedures and strategic planning; Session 6: The founding team; Session 7: SSE management and governance Module C: Economic and social aspects. Session 8: SSE Funding; Session 9: Social business plan and social impact; Session 10: Social franchising. Overall, the aim of the educational material and the project is to reduce youth unemployment in coastal and island regions of the Mediterranean EEA by advancing young NEETs skills in trans-locally resilient agri-food production and the pertinent circular economies. By boosting the potential of those sectors, through social entrepreneurship and sharing economy platforms, it aims to reduce economic disparities in the target area.

Young Entrepreneurs Succeed (YES!) is a trust-based partnership engaging eight institutions from Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and United Kingdom with wide experience promoting entrepreneurship among underserved youth. “YES!” funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA (European Economic Area) and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment. The aim of the project “The Scaling trust-based partnership models to recharge youth entrepreneurship: Supporting underserved communities with innovative entrepreneurship support instruments (TPM-RYE)” is to activate unemployed youth to access the labor market and promote entrepreneurship. “YES!” provides youth not in education, employment or training (NEETs) from Greece, Poland, Italy and Spain with various services to start and grow business or to find a job: training, coaching, access to finance, mentoring. Ultimately, the aim is to support NEETs in becoming self-employed or entering/returning to education/employment and, consequently, have a positive social impact by bringing economic benefits to society and by building social capital. In order to meet this objective, the project has set to establish trust based partnerships at the appropriate (local/regional) level, engaging and aligning a diverse group of stakeholders to serve the target groups in different ways. This is expected to improve the sustainability of both outcomes and impact, but also secure the sustainability and scalability of the project’s approach beyond the lifetime of the current funding. One of the areas of the program was the implementation of training seminars for NEETs in order to create a cooperative enterprise - a social solidarity economy organization (SSE). Attendance was free for the trainees and there was counseling and mentoring in addition to the seminars. The training, apart from the professional subject of the seminar, included techniques for employment by creating a cooperative enterprise - a SSE organization with emphasis on the social expediency and the comparative advantages of SSE, the governance and management, the creation and operation of the team, the transfer of know-how and SSE good practices.

Πώς συνδέονται η κλιματική κρίση με το νερό; Τι γνωρίζουμε για την πορεία και την ποιότητα του νερού πριν φτάσει σε εμάς; Υπάρχουν δημόσιες βρύσες στη Θεσσαλονίκη; Και τι συμβαίνει με το νερό σε αυτή την πόλη τελικά;

“Skills in Social Economy - Educator’s Manual” Alexopoulos Y., Angelou L., Barbopoulou V., Bellis V., Devetzidis A., Douvitsa I., Kavoulakos K.I., Marava N., Nikolaou K., Oikonomou A., Papafilippou A., Maria Pina Triunfo M.P. http://www.youthshare-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Skills%20in%20Social%20Economy%20-%20Educator's%20Manual.pdf

“Δεξιότητες στην Κοινωνική Οικονομία - Εγχειρίδιο Εκπαιδευόμενου” Αλεξόπουλος Γ., Αγγέλου Λ., Δεβετζίδης Α., Δουβίτσα Ι., Καβουλάκος Κ.Ι., Μπαρμποπούλου Β., Μπέλλης Β., Νικολάου Κ., Οικονόμου Α., Παπαφιλίππου Α. https://www.youthshare-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Skills%20in%20Social%20Economy%20-%20Trainee's%20Handbook%20(GR).pdf

“Skills in Social Economy – Trainees’ Handbook” Alexopoulos Y., Angelou L., Barbopoulou V., Bellis V., Devetzidis A., Douvitsa I., Kavoulakos K.I., Nikolaou K., Oikonomou A., Papafilippou A. https://www.youthshare-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Skills%20in%20Social%20Economy%20-%20Trainee's%20Handbook%20(EN).pdf

Η ολοκληρωμένη, αποκεντρωμένη και κοινωνική διαχείριση των απορριμμάτων με ενεργό συμμετοχή των πολιτών μέσω φορέων Κοινωνικής Αλληλέγγυας Οικονομίας (Κ.ΑΛ.Ο.) εξετάζεται στο πλαίσιο του σχεδιασμού δημιουργίας Πράσινου Σημείου – Κέντρου Ανακύκλωσης, Εκπαίδευσης Διαλογής Στην Πηγή (ΚΑΕΔΙΣΠ) - Κέντρου Επανάχρησης στην περιοχή της Θεσσαλονίκης. Ο σχεδιασμός και η λειτουργία του ΚΑΕΔΙΣΠ υλοποιείται με τη συνεργασία ΟΤΑ και της Κοινοπραξίας Φορέων Κ.ΑΛ.Ο. “Τα Πάντα RE”, μέλη της οποίας είναι: ο Συνεταιρισμός Κοινωνικής Διαχείρισης Αποβλήτων “αναβίωσις”, η ΚοινΣΕπ Eco-Greece, το Λαϊκό Πανεπιστήμιο Κοινωνικής Αλληλέγγυας Οικονομίας “UnivSSE Coop”, η ΚοινΣΕπ “Υποστήριξη ΚΑΛΟ Coop”, η ΚοινΣΕπ “Αργώ”, η ΚοινΣΕπ “Σπείρα Γης”, η ΚοινΣΕπ "Οικοδιαδρομές" και συνδεδεμένα μέλη: η Οικολογική Κίνηση Θεσσαλονίκης και η ΑΜΚΕ “Επανάχρηση Τώρα!

Cooperatively Recovering Water as an Urban Common", Nikolaou K., Urbanet, https://www.urbanet.info/cooperatively-recovering-water-as-an-urban-common/

The nature of labor in a cooperative is one of the key features of its social identity. As a cooperative has a dual nature, economic and social, cooperative labor is not just an economic feature but also a social one. Here the social is understood by the integrated meaning of the term, which includes the economic, political and ideological level and the interactions between them. An important basis for understanding the nature of labor in a cooperative is the relevant standards and the principles of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). According to them, for a cooperative member who works in a cooperative , this is neither a salaried job nor a self-employment. There can be neither bosses nor salaried workers, so there can be no "bosses-salaried" relationship in a cooperative. The legislation of each country defining the form of social security usually creates confusion about the labor nature in a cooperative. Under the laws of some countries, the working members of a cooperative are free to choose social insurance as salaried or self-employed. But, the type of insurance coverage (imposed by state law) of the cooperative working members is independent of the cooperative labor nature and does not determine it. The necessity for insurance cover of the cooperative working members does not mean the acceptance and establishment by the cooperative of the concept of salary and hence of the term "salaried worker", that is the existence of dependent wage labor and thus the existence of bosses and salaried workers. The capitalist mode of production is inextricably linked to the system of wage labor. Capital implies wage labor, wage labor presupposes capital. A fundamental characteristic of the capitalist mode of production is the hierarchical and undemocratic organization of both private and state-owned enterprises. On the other hand, cooperatives abolish wage labor. They hire capital rather than labor. This is a fundamental characteristic. Employment is based on the purchase of a cooperative membership share, not the sale of workers' labor power. Any net surplus is distributed to labor, not capital. The cooperative democratic organization on the economic level affects the political and ideological superstructure by training workers and citizens in democracy, active participation and decision-making and choices, and ultimately, bottom-up governance. Cooperative workers convert the means of wealth generation into cooperative ownership and thus abolish themselves as salaried workers and become at the economic level free cooperative producers. However, working in a cooperative is not just an economic activity. This changes the superstructure (political and ideological level). Work in a cooperative is creation. And the participants in it are not simply free cooperative producers. They are free cooperative creators. There is an urgent need for legislation to recognize that cooperative labor is another form of labor that is neither wage labor or self-employed.