Between 12-14 May 2016, CRIES will organize in Timisoara (Romania) an international conference, several debates, a Fair of social enterprises and public events to involve citizens in promoting social economy.

The main objectives of these events are:

• to facilitate the meeting and exchanges between different initiatives of social economy from Romania and some European countries;
• to promote the good examples among citizens in order to understand better the concept and the role of social economy;
• to identify common solutions and areas of collaboration among actors of social economy.

The main thematics that will be taken into consideration: community supported agriculture, fair trade, responsible consumption, working integration enterprises. On May, 14, there will be the celebration also of the World Fair Trade Day.

The agenda of the international conference will be available soon.

Social and Solidarity Economy is an emerging sector in Romania. In the last years, more initiatives were developed in area of services, food and agriculture. There is a Romanian law of social economy, but also many challenges that need to keep in mind. We plan to organize an event to analyze together with other actors how we can share resources and expertise in order to increase the impact of our actions regarding public policy but also the awareness of citizens and their role in order to sustain this sector, Mihaela Vețan, CRIES president.

The event is organized in partnership with RIPESS Europe.