Research

January - September 2001

• Getting the framework right - Public support frameworks and strategies for local and micro-finance
  

INAISE has contribute to a project launched by New Economics Foundation.

This project was co-financed by the European Commission Directorate General Employment and Social Affairs

The project addressed the issue of "support from regional and national authorities" specifically for the new sector of local and micro-finance that has emerged to serve people, sectors and regions that mainstream banks are no more willing or able to finance. The project identified good practice of government support measures for local and micro-finance to create local employment – many national and EU programmes, though well intended, are poorly designed to support the sector, mainly due to fundamentally different "money cultures". Case studies and a handbook, illustrate good practices and provide tools for officials and practitioners to assess the potential of different measures.
In September 2001, a conference has concluded the project.
The conference was especially tailored for public officials and policy-makers that wanted to discover new and efficient ways to support local development in their communities.

The Handbook is in English and Italian. The case studies and country reports are available in English, ask Inaise secretariat if you want to get them.
The website dedicated to the project doesn' t exist anymore....

More information on the project : Case studies, Issue, challenge and partners

2000

•  Banking on Culture
  

Banking on Culture is an innovative action research project set up to investigate and stimulate new sources of financial investment for the cultural sector in Europe. The project has worked with partners in Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, Portugal and the UK, testing a range of new financial mechanisms with the aim of embedding these within local and regional economic policies and in future investment strategies. North West Art Board was the leader of this project. Banking on Culture was part financed by the European Commission's Third System and Employment Pilot Action Programme.
The final report is available in English,  Greek; Italian and Portuguese. The banking on culture website doesn't exist anymore. Copies of the English version of the report can still be asked to Inaise secretariat.
The following reports are available in a pdf file format.:

• English

• Greek

• Italian

• Portuguese

• French - the final report is not available in French but you can access two reports who are the basis reports from which the final report has been made: BOC1 and BOC2

As the documents date from 2000, contact details etc   are likely to be out of date. The data contained in these documents has been provided by the individuals and organisations listed for the purposes of reference, referral and information. It should not be used for any purposes other than those specified  

1998 - 2000

• Social Banking Challenge 2000
  

With the support of DGV 3rd System and Employment Pilot Action.

The core objective of this project was to accomplish a significant step in the development of social investment in Europe : to go over from a first pioneering period which has lasted 10 to 20 years to a phase of "mainstreaming" by building scale into the movement. New financial instruments and services that had shown their technical usefulness and significance at a small level were to be grown and multiplied to increase their impact throughout Europe. From a pioneering phase, the time was felt ripe to see and test how to mainstream the movement.
The project did succeed in the overall goal of identifying practice across the EU, of identifying barriers to growth and to tackling them at least by creating a process of change. There is greater awareness of social investment and its role in job creation as a result of this project. However, the project did not succeed in developing concrete links with mainstream banks.

Outputs of the projects:
Conferences / roundtable / meetings in several countries including the first European Forum on Social Investment in Roubaix (report available in French and English : see "INAISE publications" section)
Publications :
- 4 newsletters in En and Fr,
- 50 case studies written by experts in the different aspects of social finance in En and Fr,
- Book on Banking 2000, alternative ways to globalisation "Banking and Social Cohesion". 42 experts, consultants and bankers contributed to the writing of this book. It has been published by Editions Charles Leopold Mayer for the French edition and by Jon Carpenter Publishing for the English edition.

To order these publications go to the "Inaise publications" section.

The EC has updated the web site on the "Third System and Employment"pilot action with the final results of the pilot action.

INAISE Social Banking 2000 project was one of the 81 projects supported by this pilot action. The web site contains: a directory of the projects supported by the Pilot Action and their main outcomes, documents relating to joint seminars organised by the European Parliament ant the European Commission in 1998 and 2000, capitalisation reports and external evaluation reports. Access the EC web site, click here.

1997 - 1998

• Financial Instruments of the Social Economy in Europe and their impact on job creation.
  

This research, co-financed by the DGV of the EC, has shown the employment creation capacity of the new Financial Instruments in the Social Economy (FISE) in Europe. The study was based on 50 case studies representing the large spectrum of new financial instruments that have come up these last 10-20 years throughout Europe. Its main findings were (1) that these FISE created jobs with very little money, (2) that the created jobs would not have existed otherwise (i.e. very low displacement effect), and (3) that the created jobs were to a large extent in those sectors recognised as "unmet needs" (e.g. neighbourhood services, environment, etc).

Download Word 97 report and case studies in the "INAISE publications" section, this report is also available in French.