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African NGO in Senegal, Asacase was created in 1992.
They are an active member of the World Social Movement and the Social and Solidarity Economy movement and have developed a large set of activities aiming at long term inclusion of marginalised people.

Asacase is made of 7 regional offices, more than 40 agencies spread over all regions of the country and 100 permanent staff members. They have offices in Guinea Bissau and in Karang, region between Senegal and Gambia boarders.

Their mission is to struggle against unemployment and poverty and to contribute to a better social justice and economic emancipation of vulnerable and marginalised people.
They strongly believe that working with all stakeholders, public, private or civil society, is the best way to do and allow synergies.
Asacase is involved in all activities linked to the reinsertion of marginalised people. They work in Casamance and other regions in Senegal where they develop innovative initiatives and, in Guinea Bissau where they work on the rehabilitation of ex-soldiers and the promotion of food security.

 

Coalition of Socially Responsible SMEs in Asia (CSR SME) Mr Ben Quiñones 57 Diamond St. Northview 1 Batasan Hills Quezon City Philippines Tel. + 632-932-7690 or or 932-5429 Fax + 632-928.7076  Email:benqjr117@yahoo.com Website: http://www.aa4se.com

Our vision

An alternative, compassionate economy built up through solidarity and cooperation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are motivated by the social responsibility of achieving the common goal of sustainable development rather than by perverse competition for self-gain and aggrandizement.

Our mission

To offer a multi-stakeholder process that will increase the benefits of socially responsible consumption and promote market uptake of the products and services of socially responsible SMEs.

Our core values

We are committed to the following values/principles:

• Good Governance and Stewardship: seeking effective means of fulfilling the social responsibility of meeting the basic requirements for life of all the present inhabitants of the earth while ensuring environmental conservation for the benefit of future generations.
• Economic diversity and resilience: increasing the capacity of SMEs to provide a broad constituency for democratic governance, ensure the economy’s diversity and resilience, and promote equitable distribution of growth and development.
• Socially responsible consumption and investment: fostering a compassionate economy where socially responsible SMEs mutually seek solutions with socially responsible investors, consumers, distributors, and various business service providers.
• Self-reliance: cultivating the culture of a sustainable economy through the inculcation of the habit of saving and the investment of savings in socially responsible enterprises.

Our logo

The three circles in our logo represent a tri-dimensional perspective. The first perspective portrays three people, seen from above, working together in solidarity. The second perspective shows three coins (representing material resources) merging together with the synergy of a revolving fund. The third perspective depicts three partner institutions for good governance and social responsibility – the government, the private sector, and the civil society/ NGOs. The lines flowing upward indicate the dynamic synergy of the cooperation, partnership, and solidarity of the elements with the community towards sustainable development.

Past activities

CSRSME Asia was first mooted in November 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a five-country consultation on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) hosted by the Asian and Pacific Development Centre (APDC), an intergovernmental regional organization established by UN-ESCAP in 1980. The consultation on CSR received some modest support from the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation (FPH).
Involved in the consultation were representatives of SMEs and SME Associations from India, France, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. In 2001, these organizations agreed to establish the ‘Asian Coalition for SME Development’ as a regional network for information exchange, experience sharing, and trade promotion.
The organization’s name was subsequently changed to “Coalition of Socially Responsible Small and Medium Enterprises in Asia, Inc.” when it was registered in September 2004 with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines. The SEC disallowed the previous name to avoid confusion with previously registered organizations using the words “Asian Coalition”

The activities of CSR SME Asia during the last five (5) years include the following

January 2001-June 2004: Globalisation and SME Development Program. The program’s principal objective was to facilitate exchange of information and experience on strategies for SME development in the context of globalization. Over the five-year period, the program brought together for business dialogues through five (5) regional (Asia-wide) conferences more than 700 individuals representing 100 organizations (a diverse mix of SMEs, service providers, SME associations, academic institutions, international financial institutions, and government agencies) from 15 Asian countries. With some funding support from FPH, the project culminated in June 2004 with a forum in Hainan, People’s Republic of China.

July 2004-present: BCE Supply Chain and Bayanihan Banking Window. Since 2004, CSRSME Asia devoted attention more sharply on concretizing its vision of an alternative, compassionate economy with socially responsible SMEs as its social base. CSRSME Asia henceforth organized a series of consultative workshops with local SMEs in the Philippines, savings groups, NGOs, faith-based organizations, and fair trade organizations to lay the groundwork for a multi-stakeholder process that will bring together socially responsible producers, consumers, investors, and service providers in an integrated supply chain that will put into motion the principles and standards of an alternative economic system called “Bayanihan Compassionate Economy” (BCE).

The initial target clientele base of this multi-stakeholder initiative consists of some 150,000 members of around 5,000 Bayanihan Financial Centers (BFCs) established in over 600 municipalities and cities of the Philippines. The BFCs are autonomous, informal solidarity finance institutions owned and managed by the people themselves. In order to enable these autonomous BFCs to transact business with each other and support solidarity-based economic initiatives, CSRSME Asia is working out the establishment of a Bayanihan Banking Window (BBW) at the Planters Development Bank.

The Latin American confederation of workers co-operatives and friendly societies was created in June 1975 in Caracas, Venezuela. It is a private not for profit organisation which associates co-operatives, Friendly societies and solidarity based businesses and services in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Vision
Colacot has developed a solidarity based economic model, a global development alternative, based on human values, solidarity, co-operation, work, ethic, equity, justice, democracy, self management and peace in order to struggle against the high poverty rate and social exclusion in Latin America.

Mission
Its historical mission is to promote human values, culture, solidarity, cooperation, work, ethics, democracy, equity, self management, peace and justice through organisation programs for solidarity based production and services businesses and associations at the local, national and Latin American levels.

Colacot has also set up an e-training programme which is available online from the International School for culture and solidarity economy (ECOSOL) created by COLACOT. A documentation centre is also available.

CONSORCIO PARA LA GESTION DE LA ECONOMIA SOCIAL - CONGES (junio 09)
“Reconocemos el papel fundamental, en el desarrollo integral de nuestras naciones, de las cooperativas y demás organizaciones de la economía social, cuyos principios de productividad, competitividad, complementariedad, solidaridad y, sobre todo, responsabilidad social, fortalecen el carácter participativo de nuestras democracias, impulsan la generación de empleos, apoyan el combate a la pobreza, convocan la integración y cohesión social -en particular de las mujeres, los jóvenes, las personas adultas y con discapacidad- generando condiciones de desarrollo”. Resolución no 36 de la Cumbre Iberoaméricana de Jefes de Estado, Montevideo, Uruguay, 2006

PRESENTACIÓN
Hace más de 25 años, nacieron diversas organizaciones de apoyo y promoción a pequeñas y medianas empresas rurales y urbanas en agricultura convencional, ecológica, procesados, comercialización, turismo comunitario, servicios u otros. Durante todos estos años se realizaron múltiples actividades de coordinación y de compartir recursos hasta que nos constituimos en un Consorcio para el Fortalecimiento de la Economía Social, a fin de ampliar el campo de acción geográfico y temático así como sumar a otras experiencias similares. Obtuvimos la personería jurídica el 27 de mayo del 2008, como Consorcio para la Gestión de la Economía Social, CONGES.

VISION
Ser un consorcio de organizaciones y empresas regidas por principios de la economía social que contribuyan a la promoción del empleo y la producción en el ambito mesoamericano contribuyendo a eliminación de la pobreza y a la creación de sociedades justas, sustentables e inclusivas.

MISIÓN
Fortalecer y promover organizaciones y empresas regidas por principios de la economía social, de respeto al ambiente y al ser humano, por medio de procesos innovadores de articulación , formación, incidencia y desarrollo empresarial, con reconocimiento nacional e internacional y en alianza con comunidades, instituciones, empresa, gobiernos y la cooperación internacional.

Capacitación en metodologías para el desarrollo local sustentable y la formación de líderes en la formulación, administración y gestión de proyectos de economía en enlace con ofertas educativas existentes nacionales e internacionales, entre otros.

Activities :

• Research in the area of SME development
• Project identification / formulation
• Strengthening micro credit programmes
• Setting up micro finance institutions
• Institutional building
• Policy formulation
• Training

FACET BV (Financial Assistance, Consultancy, Entrepreneurship and Training) is a consultancy company specialised in Private Sector development, with a special focus on small enterprises. We are active in three broad areas:

1. Financial Services,
2. Business Development Services and
3. Sustainable Enterprises.

Over the past 10 years we successfully carried out assignments for a wide range of clients, including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bilateral donors (GTZ, Swiss Development Co-operation, SIDA), Dutch and foreign NGO’s and co-financing organisations, the European Commission, financial institutions (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter American Development Bank, Triodos Bank, FMO), UN agencies (ILO, UNCDF, UNDP, IFAD, UNIDO, UNIFEM, OPS) and clients involved in sustainable entrepreneurship (Max Havelaar Foundation, Fair Trade Assistance, Solar Development Foundation).

FACET’s mission is to contribute to a sustainable society through offering high quality consultancy services in the field of private sector initiatives.

We believe in a society where people get the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial talents, with equal opportunities for those who want to have their own business.

To achieve our mission, we aim at linking entrepreneurs and investment opportunities with the supply of finance, business support services and knowledge.

Access to adequate and sustainable financial and non-financial services is essential, and FACET contributes to a high quality and professional delivery of such services

Through our close relation with Triodos Bank we have the opportunity to provide consultancy services to the bank in the area of Micro Finance and Renewable Energy (Solar PV).

Areas of interest :

We would like to develop the market for our services in Europe, and the experiences gained in developing countries

FENACOOP Marvin Miranda Silva Antiguo Restaurante LACMIEL 1 c. Al Este 1 c. Al sur Apartado Postal MR-130 Altamira - Managua Nicaragua Tel + 505  278 7037 / 278 7049 Fax + 505 278 7041 Email fondefer@turbonett.com fenacoop@turbonett.com Website: www.fenacoop.org.ni

In English

Fenacoop, Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Agropecuarias y Agroindustriales, creada en 1990 en Nicaragua, es un organismo de integración, representacion política, promoción y defensa de los intereses del movimiento cooperativo, actor clave del sector de la economía social

Visión 2008 – 2011
En el año 2011 la FENACOOP R.L, será la federación cooperativa líder del sector agropecuario y agroindustrial; capaz de responder de manera oportuna y eficaz a las demandas de las cooperativas, primeramente de sus asociadas, con una mejor atención y más servicios de alta calidad, para desarrollar las cooperativas en forma sostenible económicamente y ambientalmente como empresas eficientes y competitivas.

Misión
Somos un organismo cooperativo de tercer grado, con cobertura y liderazgo nacional, integrado en alianzas internacionales, dedicado al fomento organizacional, socio económico, político y cultural de las empresas cooperativas asociadas, con el fin de mejorar la calidad de vida de sus socias y socios en forma sostenible, amigable con el medio ambiente y con enfoque de género".

Esta regido bajo tres líneas estratégicas son:

1. Fortalecimiento organizacional de FENACOOP R.L. y sus cooperativas asociadas
2. Incidencia política
3. Desarrollo empresarial y productivo de las empresas cooperativas

Fenacoop stands for National federation of agro industrial and farming co-operatives. It was created in 1990 to represent and promote the co-op movement interests. The co-operative movement is a key player in the social economy sector.

Vision
In 2011 FENACOOP will be the leader co-op federation in the farming and agro industrial sector, able to adequately fulfil the needs of the cooperatives, firstly their affiliates, and to give them high quality services to develop  in a sustainable way, both economically and environmentally, and to help them become efficient and competitive.

Mision
Fenacoop is a third level co-op organisation having a wide national coverage and leadership, integrated in international alliances. They are dedicated to the promotion of their affiliated co-operatives as economic, political and cultural partners in order to help them rise the quality of life of their members while considering the environment and gender equity.

Fenacoop is ruled by three strategic lines:

1. organisational strengthening of Fenacoop and its affiliated co-operatives
2. political influence
3. development of the co-operatives

Created in 1999, FETS-Finançament Ètic i Solidari is a second tier association regrouping organisations (associations, foundations, co-operatives) promoting ethical and solidarity-based finance in Catalonia.

Our objectives are:

• raising awareness and dissemination of information on the ethical use of money
• promotion of organisations offering ethical finance products / instruments in Catalonia
• intermediation between public authorities and social players
• services to support the development of  new actions and social representation
• promoting the creation of a new alternative finance organisation in Catalonia that applies the basic principles of an ethical bank.

Our activities:

In more than 8 years, FETS concretised his objectives through:

• participation in more than 200 conferences, colloquiums, debates, seminars...
• organisation of classes for the university and secondary schools
• releases in media with more than 500 written publications or broadcasts
• organisation of the international congress of the Ethical Bank
• publishing of the book  "Ethical Bank, much more than money matter" in Catalan and Spanish
• setting up of two exhibitions visited by more than 30 Catalan localities
• participative theatre workshop "Money for all"
• Dynamic game "Do you know? Money at any price"
• organisation of workshops on "Ethical bank an micro credit", "Fair trade and ethical finance", and "the role of public authorities in the promotion of ethical bank"
• Business plan for the setting up of an ethical bank in Catalonia.

Presently FETS concentrates on:

• dissemination of the project among social economy and third sector organisations
• communication with public authorities to create synergies around the project
• coordination with other platforms in Spain, who are in a similar process to make them converge
• stimulate the creation of an Observatory of Ethical Finance

The Institute’s for Social Banking – Training and Research (the “Institute’s”) main activities comprise Training and Research in Social Banking.

In this context, its understanding of “social” includes a broader connotation - covering economic, ecological, social and cultural development. Also, the term “banking” is not seen in its restricted form, but in its broader sense of general financial services, including basic banking services, insurance etc.

The prime target groups for its services are:

• (present or future employees of) social banks, foundations and other financial organisations;
• (employees of) conventional banks, e.g. the department from ethical investment;
• (employees of) banks and micro-finance institutions in developing nations and
• interested people from other related fields.

Concrete human needs, growing poverty, the positive social-ecological and ethical ideas, abilities and projects of others, need a banking and financial sector which is capable of meeting these demands. The challenge is to open the successful practice of social ecological banking up to education, research and also academic discourse.

Based on this background, the Institute had been co-founded (in Q4 2006) and –funded by several socially oriented financial institutions to develop Training/Study programmes and relevant Research projects in Social Banking. The aim of those study programmes and research projects therefore is to equip students and their organisations on the basis of independently developed values, to be able to shape and further develop financial services and organisations in social ecological banking.

Whilst suitable new members are welcome, current members are (in alphabetical order):

• Alternative Bank (ABS)
• Cultura Sparebank
• Ekobanken
• Hannoversche Kassen
• Freie Gemeinschaftsbank
• GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG
• GLS Treuhand e.V.
• La NEF
• Merkur, den almennyttige andelskasse
• Triodos Bank

Initially, the Institute’s main focus was on developing Study Programmes, the first of which were partly organized in cooperation with universities (e.g. University of Plymouth) and the Initiative for Practice-based Research (ipf, Switzerland) relate to the methods and subject matters, specific to social banking and finance.

Two current examples of its successful activities in this field are the biannual International Summer School (last in 2006, next in 2008) on Social Banking and Social Finance and the International Part-Time Masters Course on Social Banking and Social Finance, started in March 2007 with 12 students from financial Institutions in several European countries.
Since developing the above training activities was expected to consume much of the Institute’s limited resources, it was planned from the outset that the Institute would commence only at a later stage with the other focal area, research. We now feel the time has come to pursue this area in more depth.
Therefore, besides developing (further) study courses and continuing with the biannual Summer School in 2008, one of the Institute’s goals is to foster research, concerning the theories, methods and instruments/tools of the social banking practice.

In this context, the Institute does not intend to – nor would it be able to – conduct major research projects on its own. Instead, it perceives its role to be that of a mediator, linking the interests and capabilities of its members and third parties, and initiating and coordinating research projects, as well as identifying suitable funding opportunities for promising projects.

Possible areas of research are listed in the following:

1. Social banking as such, e.g.
- background and history
- actual practices and developments- effects of social banking (economical, employment, social added value; measurement methodologies)

2. Economical and monetary aspects
- the phenomenon of money (character, forms, impact)
- responsible business (How to develop social responsibility and social investment in the business world? What are the links to social banking? What are theory, organizational models, impact and financing structures of “fair trade”?)
- inflation ( What about the impact and on inflation on the economic performance of human beings?
- pricing (“just and fair pricing”; valuation of non-economical elements)
- risk appraisal (social banking methodology; new valuations of collateral and personal potential)

3. Legal aspects
- banking regulations (how do banking regulations affect social banking?)
- ownership questions (means of production, land, buildings)
- specific legal structures for social banking activities

4. Social Aspects
- the role of money in poverty and unemployment
- what is “social development”?
- forms of social organization and their potential (threefold social order, cooperative development, other…)
- the management and finance of public goods

5. Personal aspects
- how does money affect personal life (both for those who have and who have not)?
- how does money affect relationships between people?

6. Managerial Aspects
- what organizational forms are most suitable for socially oriented financial organizations need
- what special capabilities do managers of socially oriented financial organizations need
- is there a role for performance based pay for managers of socially oriented financial organizations need, and how could one measure performance in this context
- Is there a need for socially oriented financial organizations to grow, and what type(s) of growth would be possible?

With respect to the area of research, the Institute currently is in the process of developing a “Research Roadmap” that will be based on a survey of and consultation with its member organizations regarding the most pressing and interesting questions and problems for the Social Finance.

In this context the Institute would welcome any further suggestions and recommendations regarding research topics, partners, and funding sources.
 

 

Jappoo Développement Louis Etienne Diouf Relais 82 Immeuble Mame Abdou Seck Mbour Sénégal Tel +221 33 95 70 997 Email jappoodev@jappoo.org Website: www.jappoo.org

Jappoo Developpement was created in 2006 in Mbour. It is made of two structures: a local development agency called "Jappoo Development", association, and Jappoo Investment that is a solidarity fund in creation.

The values:
J=Jeunesse (Youth)
A=Altruism
P=Professionalism
O=Openness
O=Optimism

Main mandates:

• To promote local products, follow the local products market and deliver the partner structures with the local products
• To promote young people and women employment in Mbour
• To support all kind of you people and women organisations aiming at job creation and the valorisation of their know how
• To promote renewable energies in order to reduce the energy bill of families, enterprise and Senegal
• To support projects that are or could be financed by Jappoo Investment (feasibility study, business plan, search for financing)
• To support local community in computer science, management, development policy

The sectors are: farming and organic farming, fishing, sustainable and ethical tourism, food, training, building and mechanics.

The objectives of Jappoo Development has been concretised by the creation of a restaurants chain called Escales (stop over) Jappoo that employs about 30 young people.

MCE Conseils was founded in 1987 with the mission of offering high-quality management services, expertise and advice in support of innovative projects:

• Economics and marketing
• Finance and accounting
• Management and organizational structure
• Business training
• Planning and project evaluation

These services target businesses, institutions, unions, cooperatives and social economy enterprises.

• Workers groups or promoters from the community who wants advice and training to study the feasibility of scenarios to create and/or revitalize businesses or sectors.
• Cooperatives and social economy enterprises with advises to increase their performance in a collective property context
• Networks to reinforce their capacity and technical and financial support to their member organisations and enterprises
• MCE is also involved in international co-operation, planning and evaluation of projects through training and technical exchanges.

The objective of MCE is to support social economy, better economic conditions of workers and help the integration of poor population in the economic activity in a perspective of social justice,

MCE wants to collaborate with other INAISE members in the fields of :

• Strategic studies,
• Management support for social economy project
• Project planification, monitoring, management and evaluation
• Technical support for international cooperation (technical and financial projects)
• Micro finance
• Market and Strategic planning for INAISE members

Netwerk Vlaanderen aims to contribute to the promotion of ethical, social and ecological principles in society, focusing on the role of money. On the one hand Netwerk supports a different approach towards money in all its dimensions: develop and exchange ideas, values, insights so as to change peoples’ attitudes towards money. On the other hand, Netwerk wants to offer specific products and services, enabling several alternative ways to deal with money. As such, Netwerk supports self-managing, small-scale co-operatives, social, ecological and cultural projects governed according to basic democratic principles. People are invited to lend their money directly to projects (at a low interest rate) to personalise lender/borrower relations. The special savings programme "Krekelsparen" makes people think about the destination of their savings.

Background   

Netwerk Vlaanderen was set up in 1982 as a solidarity fund, based on the consideration that a lot of examples of independent innovative projects had great difficulties in getting essential financial means. In 1984 the "Krekelsparen" programme was launched. This was followed in 1985 by the launch of the "Waarborgfonds Zelfbeheer co-operative guarantee fund". In 1990 the ASLK branch network was set up.

Structure 

Netwerk organises a general meeting of members twice a year to decide the general policy of the organisation. The Board of Managers puts this into practice. The actual work is then done jointly by the personnel and a number of volunteers at the national Head Office. Regional groups of volunteers check and acknowledge the projects supported by Netwerk.

Activities

Netwerk Vlaanderen is structured in two sectors of activity:

1. Netwerk Vlaanderen VZW (non-profit association)
   Netwerk Vlaanderen started an original form of co-operation with ASLK bank in 1984 called "Krekelsparen" (literally: "Cricket Saving"). The system works as follows: Netwerk Vlaanderen acts as an agent for the ASLK bank (now Fortis group) by bringing in savings money and in exchange for its efforts receives a commission (which is now between at 1% of the total savings amount). In October 1993, Netwerk achieved a new agreement with ASLK bank, on the use of a credit line of BEF 30 million to finance its own projects. The savings deposited in "cricket" accounts will be aimed at financing projects representing social and environmental criteria, for example in social housing or public transport, in environmentally friendly undertakings as well as in social educational structures. In 1995 a new agreement was signed: ETHIBEL, an independent screening office controles the ethical content of the reinvestment of the "cricket" portfolio. In addition to the "cricket", depositors may now open term deposit accounts and "cricket" deposit accounts (term from 1 to 10 years). With these products, the saver must give a minimum of 10% of their net interest to Netwerk or an associated organisation. This is considered as a gift and benefits from tax allowance. In order to support the ASLK branches, the ASLK bank has appointed provincial agents in charge of ethical and social banking.

2. Waarborgfonds Zelfbeheer (co-operative) Co-operative guarantee fund providing guarantees in the alternative/social economy. It is used to back loans by individuals to alternative projects.

New Developments Planned

• More attention will go to research, information, training so as to promote different attitudes towards money.

• The setting up of a services centre.

  ---

The Guarantee Foundation, based in Helsinki, was established in 1990 to help over-indebted people in difficulties to manage their debts independently. It specialises in three main areas.

It provides guarantees for people who have been in prison or psychiatric hospital. These guarantees can be as little as Fim 100,000 (Euro 16,820) and have a maximum repayment period of five years. The amount available under this fund is Fim 30 million (Euro 5 million).

The VeRa-project (Insolvency Foundation), set up in 1995, deals with other indebted people whose problems can only be solved by a guarantee. The maximum amount of these guarantees is Fim 200,000 (Euro 33,650) and maximum repayment period is eight years. This fund totals Fim 240 million (Euro 40 million).

Since June 1998 the foundation has also been able to provide guarantees to people on low incomes who cannot get credit on reasonable terms from mainstream banks. The maximum amount of the provided guarantee is Fim 30,000 (Euro 5,000) and the maximum repayment period is five years.

The guarantee Foundation gives free telephone advice to individuals in debt. It also publishes information on legal and other aspects of debt problems, and legal experts are available to give personal advice

Malcolm Lynch Solicitors specialises in charity law, commercial law, employment matters and financial services particularly for progressive companies. The practice is one of the leading firms in the field of employee ownership.

Some of the areas in which Malcolm Lynch Solicitors have a particular reputation include: sustainable business law, charity law generally ethical investment, share issues and other ways of raising and investing finance, commercial property, ESOPs and employee benefits and local government law, renewable energy and energy conservation. The firm has a strong reputation for its work in the field of renewable energy and has substantial experience of the Wind Energy sector, together with experience in the Photovoltaic, Solar, Biomass and Hydro sectors.

In association with Unity Trust Bank, the firm publishes the bulletin Social Economy six times per year.