In a time marked by multiple crises, riots and criticism of the economic and political system, where people feel left behind by commercial and geopolitical interests, we need solidarity and a system that helps the community, as a whole.
This is how we launch the campaign “The social and solidary economy believes in people”, a campaign to shed light on Romanian society, the field of social economy and how it can be the solution to some of the problems we are currently facing, including the low percentage of employment of the labor force, the increased number of people exposed to the risk of poverty and social exclusion.
What is the social economy?
Social economy is a field that is still at the beginning of the road in Romania, but which #AteliereFărăFrontiere have been developing and promoting for almost 15 years.
Along with the evolution of society, classical economics had to find new sustainable solutions in the face of environmental, social, limited resources and people with increasingly diverse needs. For this reason, an alternative to the classical economy was needed, a model that would successfully combine both economic and social activity.
And thus emerged the social economy, also known as the solidarity economy or the third sector, which combines economic profitability with social solidarity and puts people at the center of economic activity. In this sector we find the most friendly enterprises with people and the environment, all developed with the aim of improving living conditions and offering new opportunities for disadvantaged people or who belong to vulnerable categories.
Social Enterprise and Social Insertion Enterprise
When we discuss the field of the social economy, we often mention the terms “social enterprise” and “insertion social enterprise” in equal importance.
Social enterprise is an organization or enterprise that carries out economic activities for social purposes and in the general interest of the community, without pursuing profit maximization. It cannot distribute profit to potential shareholders in a proportion greater than 10% of the total profit made and applies the principle of social equity among its employees and administrators (salary levels are fair and do not exceed the ratio of 1 to 8). Some of these enterprises choose to be certified by the Romanian state through the Social Enterprise Certificate obtained from the county employment agency.
The insertion social enterprise, on the other hand, is the enterprise or organization that respects the principles of the social enterprise and that permanently has at least 30% of the employed staff belonging to a vulnerable group. Thus, social insertion (integration through work) enterprises offer vulnerable and disadvantaged people employment and training opportunities, as well as bridges to the regular labor market. Similarly, they can obtain from the Romanian state the social mark that certifies their social character and the fact that the enterprise employs vulnerable workers and provides them with insertion measures.
What does socio-professional insertion mean?
According to the 2021 data published by the European Union Commission, the employment rate on the Romanian labor market of disadvantaged categories is well below the EU average, 43.7% compared to 50.6%, and public employment support services for disadvantaged workers and disabled are still limited.
The solution to these problems seems to be simple – insertion social enterprises.
Social insertion enterprises have the ability to increase the employment rate among disadvantaged workers in the conventional labor market and to reduce the number of people exposed to the risk of poverty and social exclusion by the simple fact that their main aim is to integrate people into the labor market vulnerable.
These organizations provide employed persons, who are part of the vulnerable group, with access to professional training, social and educational support services, adaptation and accessibility of the workplace to the person’s capacity, as well as other measures aimed at supporting socio-professional insertion and life independent and dignified person. The ultimate goal of insertion is the integration of the person into the free labor market and not keeping him in a protected job.
Socio-professional insertion is at the beginning in Romania, but there are numerous examples of success that can expand in an ecosystem favorable to the active and not passive integration of vulnerable people.
How do we define a vulnerable person?
The entire activity of the Ateliere Fără Frontiere association has been carried out, for 15 years, around the integration into the labor market of people who are difficult to employ, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who, throughout their lives, have accumulated multiple vulnerabilities.
We employ them in our workshops created on social, circular and solidarity principles (educlick, remesh, bio&co, logietic) and offer them vocational guidance services, other social and educational support services, guiding them towards a more autonomous / independent future (we see) on the labor market in Romania.
But how exactly do we define a disadvantaged worker?
According to the European Union Regulation 651/2014, the disadvantaged worker is any person who:
- has not had a stable paid job in the last 6 months;
- is aged between 15 and 24;
- has not completed a form of high school education, does not hold a professional qualification or is in the first two years of completing a full-time education cycle and has not yet had any stable paid job;
- is over 50 years old;
- lives alone with one or more dependents;
- works in a sector or has a profession where there is an imbalance in the distribution of positions between men and women and belongs to the underrepresented sex;
- is a member of an ethnic minority and needs to develop his language skills, vocational training or work experience to increase his chances of securing a stable job.
Under-employment, the existence of a large number of inactive people in the formal labor market are still major problems in Romania. But through such awareness campaigns, as “The social and solidarity economy believes in people”, we hope that the social stigma will change for the better and we will close, over time, the circle of vulnerability.
The campaign “The social and solidarity economy believes in people” aims to familiarize with the field of the social economy and the ways in which it can be the solution to some of the problems we face today.
Project financed by Active Citizens Fund – Romania through EEA Grants 2014-2021.
