study visit social business Pisoita FIrenze imprese sociali Slovenia
Italy

Social business

Context

A delegation from the organisation RARS – Savinja Region Development Agency will visit Prato, Pistoia and Florence to learn more about the local social entrepreneurship support ecosystem.

The visit is part of the BODI SOC project, co-funded by the Republic of Slovenia, the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, and the European Union’s Regional Development Fund (RDF), which aims to establish effective and efficient support for social enterprises, create the conditions for new social enterprises to take root, create space for new jobs that can generate a positive impact on the community, and offer better conditions for market access.

RARS is a Slovenian regional development agency bringing together 31 municipalities in the Savinja Region, one of the largest in the Republic of Slovenia. The organisation coordinates cooperation between different municipalities, development actors and decision makers in regional development, local planning, economy, tourism, human resources, environmental protection and natural habitats.

All these actors are also involved in numerous national and international projects, within which they establish partnerships with colleagues from other nationalities.

Most of  RARS projects aim to promote the sustainable development of the region, ensure a better quality of life for all and promote, enhance and preserve the local natural and cultural heritage.

General Objective

The BODI SOC project aims to create an effective and stimulating support ecosystem for social enterprises, which contributes to strengthening the capacities and competences of social enterprises, increasing opportunities for the creation of new social enterprises, promoting the growth of existing social enterprises, strengthening the information of social enterprises for the development and promotion of social entrepreneurship, contributing to the creation of new jobs, and linking social enterprises with the local environment, research and educational organisations and the economy with the aim of creating conditions for better market access.

Our contribution

Thursday 13 April

Prato
Visit to the Rifò shop and showroom.
Rifò is a benefit company that combines circular economy, craftsmanship and sustainable fashion. The company produces high quality garments and accessories, using recycled and recyclable textile fibres, through a production chain involving artisans and workshops located throughout the territory.
https://rifo-lab.com/

Visit at Better Social located at the Officine Giovani Prato
Better Social promotes training in digital professions for disadvantaged people.
Better Social is a type B social cooperative, it is Italy’s first inclusive digital agency offering digital marketing and open innovation services and where most of the workforce is represented by people with disabilities.
Social enterprise established within the ‘Grow your own business!‘ programme promoted by the Yunus Social Business Centre.
https://bettersocial.agency/

 

Pistoia
Visit to Giardineria Italiana
Giardineria Italiana is a social cooperative in the nursery sector , it has been set up in 1999 from a project by Andrea Mati, which develops projects for the rehabilitation of people in marginal situations through training.
http://www.giardineriaitaliana.it/

Meeting with the newly established social enterprise 4Passi.one.
The social enterprise organises hiking activities to promote the social inclusion of people with cognitive and physical disabilities. By exploiting the therapeutic potential of outdoor activities, the enterprise aims to involve school children in environmental education activities and to promote the psychophysical well-being of people with disabilities who cannot independently and autonomously tackle activities of this kind.
A social enterprise created as part of the ‘Grow your own business’ programme promoted by the Yunus Social Business Centre.
www.4passi.one

Visit to the San Domenico Complex and its social inclusion hub managed by the Cooperativa Intrecci.
The complex in the heart of Pistoia’s city centre is home to reception and social inclusion activities aimed at migrants, unaccompanied foreign minors and people with disabilities involved in paths of autonomy.
Inside the complex, the Manusa Cooperative runs tailoring workshops and a vegetable garden to accompany people on their path to autonomy and labour inclusion.
The Manusa Cooperative also manages the guesthouse, an experiment in responsible tourism, which welcomes pilgrims, groups on study holidays, and tourists.
https://www.manusa.eu/

 

Friday 14 April

Florence
Visit to Consorzio CO&SO Florence
CO&SO is a consortium of local cooperatives that will provide an overview of social entrepreneurship in Italy, with a focus on the world of cooperation.
https://coeso.org/

Meeting with Cooperativa Sociale Gaetano Barberi
Visit to the Orti Dipinti, Community garden and didactic garden managed in a participatory manner.
Within the garden, the cooperative carries out workshop and work inclusion activities for disadvantaged people.
http://www.centrobarberi.it/COOPbarbericonta.html | http://www.ortidipinti.it/it/

Visit to the Bistrot I ragazzi di Sipario at the Spazio Alfieri cinema
The mission of “I ragazzi di Sipario Onlus”, a social cooperative, is to offer work opportunities to people with intellectual disabilities or in a situation of fragility, and to promote their integration and social inclusion through work and management in an associated form of enterprise.
http://prova.iragazzidisipario.it/

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