On the 26th of June 2019, the European project Rights to grow – R2G held the final conference in Brussels.

Our CECOP President Giuseppe Guerini took part in the conference as a panellist to highlight the role of democratic governance in the cooperative model concluding his speech with an inspiring quote: “Taking up the challenge of enterprises’ democratic governance is a fulfilling endeavour. Beyond legal frameworks, we should reject the risk of entropy and go back to the utopia of cooperation”.

The R2G project aims at mapping governance models of Social Enterprises across Europe, identifying and analysing good practices and drafting policy recommendations for EU, national and local institutions and stakeholders in order to foster information and consultation rights for employees of Social Enterprises in Europe.

The action focuses on social enterprises providing social services, work integration opportunities for disadvantaged and disabled persons (WISEs) and also social enterprises involved in Public–Social Partnerships. It covers a large number of countries thanks to a broad partnership including European level organisations (DIESIS, CECOP, ENSIE, ETUC and SEE) both on the workers and employers side and national organisations (SEUK, RISE, ACT GRUPA,COCETA, Legacoopsociali, CGM, AVISE, FISE).

In September 2019, partners gathered in Budva, Montenegro, for a seminar that participants give the opportunity to improve dialogue on the cooperation of various stakeholders but also a place for analysing trends that can contribute to the cooperation and development of different forms of partnerships and platforms at the regional level and within the Western Balkans region.

The outcome of the R2G project will be policy recommendations to decision-makers on democratic governance of social enterprises.

To read the case studies, please consult the project’s website: http://r2g.diesis.coop/