• A3S - Association for Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability in the Third Sector (PT) - Promoter
• BDV - Austria - Federal Umbrella Organization for Social Enterprises (AT)
• SCF - Middle School Education (IT)
• SEE - Social Enterprise Europe Ltd (UK)
• ENSIE – European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (BE)

The project aims at increasing professional competences of social enterprises and rising their ability to meet the new challenges for labor inclusion of disadvantaged groups and define useful training tools for the implementation of Job Coaching and Social Marketing WISEs activites.

Project term: November 2014 - October 2016

Expected Results:

• enhance training programmes
• negotiate and advocate for the recognition of new emergent professional profiles in WISEs
• support human resources qualification in the sector of social inclusion
• have increased networking activities with other peer organisations, VET system, private sector companies
• mainstreaming of good practices in the field of social and professional integration of disadvantaged groups

ENSIE participated in the first multiplier event of the EPP project which was organized by the Italian partner SCF- Scuola Formazione Centrale on March 2-3 in Bologna, in cooperation with the EVT- Enterprise Vocation Transition, an Italian network that provides vocational training, transitional employment in specific enterprises as well as permanent employment in the social enterprise sector.

After a very warm welcome by Giovanni Zonin, director of SCF, and Rebecca Minghetti, the first day of the multiplier event started with a study visit at the CIM cooperative - Cooperativa di Solidarietà Sociale Onlus Bologna. CIM works with different target groups, such as long-term unemployed persons, migrants and also people with disabilities, promoting work integration through assembling and packating work, creative work (seewing, carpentry, creative painting) and also runs its own cantine and restaurant. Thanks to CIM's wide range of activities, beneficiaries can circulate between different work places according to their capacities and needs. Furthermore, CIM offers different social services to migrants and other groups vulnerable to social exclusion.

After the lunch at CIM's cantine, Social Seed, a Bologna-based organization supporting start-up WISEs, gave a brief overview of the European WISE landscape and current challenges to start the discussion among participants, WISE representatives from all over Europe (Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, UK, and notably Italy), two European WISE networks - CEC and ENSIE - participated too.

Rebecca Minghetti from SCF then presented the EPP's training packages for job coach and social marketing reponsable in order to collect feedback and comments from the participants. A lively discussion and exchange on training needs succeeded which also reflected the very different conditions and frameworks for WISEs' activities throughout Europe.

The first day of the multiplier event ended with a dinner at the CIM cooperative's restaurant "La Taverna del Castoro".

Gianfranco Marzocchi, president of AICCON (Associazione Italiana per la Promozione della Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit), provided an very interesting and useful introduction on the development of the Italian social economy during the last decades. Later on in the morning, Federica Bandini, professor at the University of Bologna, gave a talk on how to improve HR management in WISEs; followed by Andrea Romboli from the "The Fundraising School" who shared his knowledge and experiences on social marketing strategies and tools for WISEs.

After a short lunch break, Marco Conti, director of the "Cooperativa sociale Paolo Babini", presented the cooperative's inspiring work, taking the park of its home town Forli as starting point for a whole set of economic and cultural acitivites, foremostly the selling of the famous Forli food "Piadina" in the park's cantine (which currently employs 16 persons).

Rebecca Minghetti from SCF presented the EPP's training packages for job coach and social marketing reponsable to the local operators. The participants made use of a detailed questionnaire to comment on both training packages. The questionnaires will provide important feedback for the final version of each training package (together with the feedback from the other multiplier events which will still take place in all partner countries during the next two months).

4th TRANSNATIONAL MEETING, JANUARY, 25-26, 2016, LUDLOW, UK

The project partners A3S, BDV, SCF, SEE and ENSIE started the forth transnational meeting of the EPP project with a discussion on theoretical underpinnings, in order to conclude the set-up of an appropriate conceptual framework for the project's empirical material. The case studies, investigating the diversity of national contexts, have been so far concluded. It was also discussed whether social enterprises (WISEs) should be presented as a whole different way of doing business which could enspire mainstream economies to become more "social". Or, whether the project should rather stick to a more "traditional" definition of WISEs as enterprises that promote labour market and thus social integration, fighting social exclusion and poverty.

On the second meeting day, the partners got back to the in-depth analysis of the national case studies, drawing on the empirical material to conclude content and structure of the training material for the identified "emerging professional profiles", namely coach and marketing responsible (in WISEs).   

The afternoon was dedicated to the planning of the multiplier events which will take place in each partner country within the next months. The objective of these events is to present and valorise the four "intellectual outcomes" which are the core of the EPP project and contain its full results. Furthermore, stakeholders (such as adult education and lifelong learning institutions) will have the opportunity to discuss the outputs and contribute to the final project recommendations.