Naslov
The role of (external) funding in the development of social entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

Autori
Baturina, Danijel

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
ISTR 2021 Global Virtual Conference, Global Civil Society in Uncertain Times: Strengthening Diversity and Sustainability

Mjesto i datum
Online, 12.07.2021. - 15.07.2021

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Social entrepreneurship, External financing, CEE countries

Sažetak
There is a growing recognition of social enterprises across Europe (ICF, 2014). But, when compared to Western Europe, social enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are considered to be “less developed”, or unrecognized (Galera, 2016. ; ICF, 2014 ; Borzaga et., al.2008). The forms and methods of financing are, in general, crucial for the development of social enterprise initiatives. Social entrepreneurship is characterized by hybridity, in which the sector relies on different types of financing (Di Domenico et.al, 2010, Austin et al., 2006) beyond market-based income, public funding stemming from either international (EU), national or local levels and different types of investments and donations are also important. At the beginning of the transition period, there were no public support policies (Galera, 2015) and funding schemes designed for social enterprises (ICF, 2014) in CEE. Therefore, one of the key nudges for the emerging initiatives came from „external“ financial sources, such as international development organizations and the EU. The goal of the paper is to analyze in what ways “external” financing influenced the development of the SE field in CEE. To better understand this question, we compare supra-national financial sources available for SE development in six selected CEE countries (Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Poland and Hungary). The countries we selected are at different levels of EU integration, which also enables us to better understand the role of the EU in shaping the SE field in CEE. Beyond (1) the role of the EU we identified two other external funding sources (2) financing coming from SE development agencies and (3) other international development agencies also influence the development of the SE field. Through comparing these different external funding sources in our case study countries, we aim to spot tendencies or overarching mechanisms in the development of the SE field in and beyond CEE. The methodological approach used in this paper includes desk research and country summaries. Desk research includes a collection of secondary data based on available documents, reports, studies, strategies, and other relevant documents regarding social entrepreneurship in all of the researched countries, Country summaries for this analysis were written by key country experts with an aim to outline in what ways external financing influenced the development of the SE field in each country. External financing or donors are often seen as a “magic bullet”, but we can conclude it was more of a “fire starter” in setting a path of recognizing social entrepreneurship and fostering its development. EU is one of the main drivers of the SE field in both EU member and non-member countries of CEE but different donors shape the SE field in different ways given specific goals and type of activities to which financing was targeted. Our analysis also indicates that third sector organizations considered relying on external funding and market-based income as one of the survival strategies within the third sector in the time of crisis. Paper is written as a transversal analysis within the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) Project.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija, Sociologija, Socijalne djelatnosti

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