A missed opportunity
A few weeks ago I received a message informing me that the change of government in the Islands had affected the subsidy received by the Social Market. This situation has led to the reduction of its structure and the impossibility of maintaining the shared premises. It is a shame that this cooperative initiative and the social and solidarity economy (ESS) has had to decline in its development in the Balearic Islands.
A project to boost the ESS
In mid-2023, we attended a meeting at their premises to present a project for a Local Public Policy Panel to Boost the ESS. The aim was to establish synergies to implement this project in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and to serve as an engine to improve or initiate this type of policy in both territories. However, they informed us that they had not yet reached this point and we considered whether any ideas from the project could be adapted.
The case of Catalonia
In Catalonia, we already have municipalities interested in the promotion of ESS. The Network of Municipalities for the Social and Solidarity Economy (XMESS) brings together several municipalities that share good practices, training and discussion spaces.
At the beginning of 2023, with the help of XMESS, we carried out a pilot test of the Local Public Policy Panel to Boost the ESS in Catalonia. From this pilot test, in which 30 of the 60 municipalities of the XMESS participated, interesting data were obtained: more than half of the municipalities consider that their ESS policies are not transversal; two out of three municipalities do not have strategic planning in ESS; 45% of the municipalities do not have specific personnel to work on the promotion and consolidation of the ESS; one in three municipalities has not carried out training in ESS for its staff; and more than half of the municipalities do not have the ESS quantified in their territory.
The lack of data and information
One of the aspects that generated debate after the presentation of the results was the lack of data on the ESS. This lack of data is concerning for several reasons. First, collecting information on SSE is complicated, as it often requires answering official questionnaires that can be tedious and even coercive. In addition, there are difficulties in accessing official data collected by different administrations, either because they are in PDF format or because they are not accessible to the public.
For example, the Spanish Tax Agency publishes statistics on taxes collected, such as corporation tax, which could help to measure the economic dimension of the ESS. However, the most recent data published are from 5 years ago and it is not possible to access a segmentation by NIF and autonomous community.
In addition, we do not have sufficient evidence on how policies to promote SSE are developed at local level or on their impact on the territory. The launch of a panel like the one that was proposed could contribute to the proliferation of SSE policies, as well as to the evaluation and measurement of their impact. This would allow us to continue working in the field of ESS and cooperative poles.
