Within the project “RoadMap of Social Enterprises“, a three-day workshop was held in Krusevo (North Macedonia) with the aim of building the capacity of young activists in the field of social entrepreneurship from Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Albania and Serbia. The topic of the workshop was the continuation of work on the development of a digital map of social enterprises, while experienced facilitator Biljana Dukovska (Anti-poverty Platform) led the process of comparative analysis of the experience and needs for the development of the social enterprise sector in the countries of the Western Balkans and the Visegrad Group.
Young people had the opportunity to better understand the roles of different actors from the business sector, the civil sector, academic and media circles, the donor and sponsor community, and the role of public institutions in the process of creating a suitable framework for the development of social entrepreneurship. Along with getting to know the ecosystem, young people exchanged information and learned about trends in defining social entrepreneurship in different systems of the Western Balkans and the Visegrad Group.
Along with the workshop, the 20th International Youth Conference was organized in Krusevo (Northern Macedonia), entitled “European Values for the Future of Southeast Europe“, which brought together a large number of young people and experts from the Western Balkan region. As part of the conference, a public panel “The art of collaborative future making through transformative relations in the region” was held, which represented a unique opportunity to present a digital map of social enterprises created within the project “RoadMap of Social Enterprises”. In the role of a panelist, the representative of CoSED, Zorana Milovanovic, pointed out that social entrepreneurship is a practice that helps the transformation of the socio-economic system in each of the countries in the direction of greater inclusivity, solidarity and cooperation, and that social enterprises are aimed at solving social challenges and problems, which although most visible at the local level, they have a universal character and affect all countries to a greater or lesser extent.
Milovanovic emphasized that “the countries of the Visegrad Group have more developed ecosystems for social enterprises, which enables actors from the Western Balkan countries to observe and learn from examples of good practice.” On the other side of the country, WB6, in the process of building a support system for social entrepreneurship, integrates new trends, which represents the potential for innovation and development practices that can also serve the countries of the Visegrad Group. In the end, the most important thing is that the values of social entrepreneurship in practice promote solidarity, equality and cooperation, which is an excellent basis for strengthening cooperation within the Western Balkans region, but also with the countries of the Visegrad Group, which are characterized by similar systems and experience in this area.”
The project “RoadMap of Social Entreprises” is led by the Youth Alliance – Krusevo from Macedonia in a consortium of partners: European Foundation for Human Development (Poland), Coalition for the Development of Solidarity Economy (Serbia), ADEL Slovakia (Slovakia), NGO Prima (Montenegro), Association MEOUT (Hungary), Network Young Professionals (Albania) and Mission: Reconnect z.s (Czech Republic). The realization of the project was supported by the Erasmus + Fund and the Visegrad Fund.
