160 activists from all over Europe are the members of FundAction, a new participatory fund making grants for social transformation, organized around a community of activists based in Europe to support social movements working towards a transition to a just and equitable world.

About a third of them met near Paris at the beginning of April 2018 for the second assembly of this innovative way of financing.  Members of RIPESS Europe participated in the meeting, contributing to the development of the fund.

Normally philanthropic money sits in an institution where staff and board members decide where to spend it. Participatory grantmaking seeks to involve those directly affected by the issues – the people that the money intends to help – in decision-making about where that money goes.

The goal of FundAction is to shift power to make decisions about funding from foundations to those closer to the issue, strengthen collaboration and mutual support among European activists and build the capacity of activists and the social movements they work with.

FundAction is built in a democratic and participatory way. FundAction was born out of conversations between activists and funders at several occasions.At the EDGE Funders Alliance European Retreat in 2016, four foundations (Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation, European Cultural Foundation, Guerrilla Foundation, Open Society Initiative for Europe) decided to pool funding. In a series of meetings, they outlined the intention and values. Since May 2017, a smaller Facilitation Group has been putting this idea into action.

Three kind of grants are being proposed: Renew, Rethink, Resist.

More info at: https://www.fundaction.eu

First call for the presentation of articles for the Iberoamerican Journal of Solidarity Economy and Socio-Ecological Innovation (RIESISE) on the topics of this new scientific publication published by the Publications Service of the University of Huelva (Spain).

The deadline to submit proposals in the form of abstracts is next June 30. See the call here (in Spanish): Presentación RIESISE

As an organization committed to progressive social and economic change, Synergia Institute would like to alert you to an important program taking place this summer focusing on game changing ideas, practices, and economic models that generate system change toward a political economy for people and planet.

The Synergia Summer Institutes in Osuna, Spain (May 18 – 27) and Tuscany, Italy (June 23 – July 8) are the second iterations of a hugely successful program initiated last summer at Monte Ginezzo in Italy. 

In these programs, co-operatives businesses, social finance, community-based solutions for housing, energy and social care, commons, and many other topics will be introduced during what has been described as a game-changing learning experience, deliverd by some of the world’s foremost experts in their fields.

Especially relevant to researchers, policy makers, social change practitioners, activists, and anyone deeply committed to progressive system change, the program is receiving registrations for both venues and detailed registration information may be accessed through the following links.

https://mailchi.mp/f94f390fb88e/registration-open-for-synergia-institute-2018?e=3c64dd9928

https://synergiainstitute.wordpress.com/2018/01/27/register-now-for-our-2018-study-programs/

Registrations are still open for both programs – the deadline for the Osuna prgram has been extended to April 23,  and until April 23, we are also offering a special discount for early registrants :to the Monte Ginezzo Program – 1,000 euros for the one-week prgram and 1,500 euros for the full two-week progam. We invite you to share this information with other colleagues and networks you think would have an interest in this crucial field of work. We hope you can join us in Osuna or Monte Ginezzo this summer!

The 2nd International Symposium on Agroecology took place at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome, 3-5 April 2018.

700 participants, representing Member States, FAO agencies, farmers’ unions, civil society organisations and social movements as well as researchers from all over the world exchanged on their practices and visions of agroecology.

Urgenci, the international network of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) raised the voice and the visibility of local solidarity alliances between producers and consumers from all parts of the world. Jointly with the other Civil Society actors from the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, Urgenci supported a clear common message: without women, there is no Agroecology, without small-scale food producers, there is no Agroecology, without conscious consumers, there is no Agroecology.

In their various interventions, Urgenci delegates stressed the importance of the role of conscious consumers in scaling up agroecology:

“A global consumers’ movement exists today. This movement is creative and diverse and stands for a vision of agroecology that is clearly connected to food sovereignty and solidarity economy , said Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci, during one of the plenaries.”

Shi Yan, President of the Chinese CSA movement and Vice President of Urgenci shared her experience as a CSA farmer outside Beijing as one of the keynote speakers during the opening session.

Community Supported Agriculture and other types of local solidarity based partnerships between producers and consumers all contribute to many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They should be considered as a central element of the Scaling Up of Agroecology initiative that was unveiled by the FAO.

Nevertheless, several aspects of the implementation of this Scaling up initiative require caution on Urgenci’s part. Especially, that of major investors and large private sector operators who lay claim to agroecology, coopting the principles of peasant agroecology without transparency and accountability. Most importantly, there is a need to tirelessly refer to the fundamental systemic, social, environmental and political changes implied by peasant agroecology.

As the Forum was closing, Simon Todzro, an Urgenci International Committee member from Togo, declared: « Although the FAO scaling up initiative shows a clear paradigm shift, we will continue our own daily work of scaling out, farmer-to-farmer, eater-to-eater dissemination of alternative food partnerships and practicing peasant agroecology on the ground in Africa and around the world ».

By Urgenci, Rome, 5 April 2018.

The conference will take place in Lisbon, on 21-23 November, 2018.

It is organised and will take place at the Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) – Center for International Studies (CEI-IUL)

For more information see (pdf): Call for Papers

The deadline for the Call is May 31, 2018.

By Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci

IPES FOOD (International Panel of Food Experts on Sustainable Food Systems) has been working for some time to establish a European Common Food Policy; There has been a complex methodology, that involves various members of different European Directorate General (Health, Environment, Agriculture…) and a wide process. This process initially consisted of Food Policy Labs on specific subjects and in various locations. Urgenci participated in two Food Policy Labs, including as a contributor in the one on social inclusion.

The next step fo the process was to collectively develop a ‘Sustainable Food Scoreboard’ document. Forr this stage RIPESS was included with a view to high-lighting the alternative that solidarity economy can provide to the economic sector, and distinguish solidarity economy from the ‘private sector’ involved in mainstream agribusiness.

Dražen Šimleša and Gaelle Bigler thus represented RIPESS, alongside Judith Hitchman from Urgenci. Various aspects of a Scoreboard were co-contructed by sixth teams, with Dražen and Judith actively participating in team 5 “Building sustainable farm livelihoods and functional supply chains” and Gaelle in team 3 “Harnessing the potential of urban food policies, city-region planning and alternative food systems”.

The final document will be publicly presented and debated in Brussels on 29-30 May 2018, at  a major event called the EU Food and Farming Forum (EU3F). The main goal will be to carry forward “policy proposals addressed to the EU for a comprehensive ‘Common Food Policy’”.

IPES FOOD and RIPESS signed Letter of Agreement as partners in this process, where RIPESS and Urgenci jointly made sure that the practice of SSE and its values are well embedded in the Scoreboard document. ‌

It is with great enthusiasm that Bilbao City Council announces that the registration for GSEF2018 is open. The Forum is meant to be a dynamic and participatory gathering, constructed in collaboration with local and International partners. It will be a unique opportunity to share visions and experiences through cross-border collaboration and cooperation. The Forum’s central theme is: Social Economy and Cities: Values and competitiveness for inclusive and sustainable local development.

We look forward to your participation, as this is your chance to contribute to this 4th edition of the Global Social Economy Forum, bringing together regional and local governments, Social Economy agents, civil society, universities and social organizations.

You can register here https://www.gsef2018.org/registration/

The independent media are close to SSE, often by their statutes but particularly by the values they defend. But how do they approach it? Here is a selection of articles of independent media from the last two months. You can also find them on the map of socioeco.org: Journalist for solutions (Articles are located on the city where the SSE initiative takes place or, in case of a general article, in the city where the media is located).

As you will see, the articles are in their original language, due do the language diversity in Europe. For Greek, for which the journal Efsyn is particularly present with sometimes several articles per week on SSE, a summary in English is included. This will allow you to perceive what are the themes dealt with by these media: sustainable development, refugees, selfmanagement, cooperatives, organic farming, etc. Do not hesitate to send us an article or the site of a media to improve the map and our knowledge of SSE. Write to Françoise Wautiez: fwautiez [at] socioeco.org

Image from Setembre

Spanish

• El Parlamento y el sector de la economía solidaria abren el diálogo sobre una estrategia canaria de desarrollo sostenible
  Artículo de El diario.es, 10 de febrero 2018 [lire] (Gran Canaria)
  
• Es la economía social, estúpido
  Pedro Bravo
  Artículo de El Diario.es del 20 de marzo 2018 [lire] (Madrid)
• Resistir es crear, resistir es transformar
  Merche Cerverón
  Artículo de El Salto,25/03/2018 [lire] (Bahia, Brasil)

Italian

• Comunità in cammino verso l’autosufficienza alimentare
  Articolo de Viaggio nell’Italia che cambia, 5 de febbraio 2018  [lire] (Emilia Romagna, Italia)
• Le imprese dell’Economia del bene comune #5 – Almacabio
  Paolo Cignini
  Articolo de Viaggio nell’Italia che cambia, 15 marzo 2018 [lire]  (Bolzano, Italia)
• Agricoltura sociale: “I giovani con autismo trovano lavoro e crescita”
  Articolo de Viaggio nell’Italia che cambia, 29 marzo 2018 [lire]  (Mantova, Italia)
• Se in dieci anni nulla è cambiato, noi cambiamo Valori
  Andrea Baranes, articolo di Valori, 11 Aprile 2018 [lire]

French

• La ferme collective de la Condamine cultive l’entraide et la sobriété
  Article de Reporterre, 8 février 2018  [lire]  (Montpellier)
• L’« Atelier Paysan » Le succès d’une coopérative qui aide les paysans à acquérir leur autonomie technologique et à ne pas se surendetter
  Lucile Leclair
  Article de Bastamag, 23 février 2018 [lire] (Renage, France)
• L’agroécologie, le pari pour la paix d’un collectif libanais
  Emmanuel Haddad, Buzurna Juzurna
  Article de Reporterre, 27 février 2018  [lire] (Beyrouth, Liban)

Spanish/French/English

• El campamento de exiliadas kurdas auto gestionado de Lavrio
  Artículo de Kedistan, 26/03/2018 [lire] (Lavrio, Grecia)
• A Lavrio, un camp d’exilé.e.s kurdes auto-géré
  Article de Kedistan, 7 mars 2018 2018 [lire] (Lavrio, Grèce)
  
• In Lavrio, a self-governed camp of Kurdish exiles
  Article of Kedistan, March 7; 2018 2018 [lire] (Lavrio, Greece)

Catalan

• Si no ens plantegem per què la societat civil s’organitza democràticament, per què ens ho plantegem en el món econòmic?
  Josep Comajoan
  Articulo de Setembre, 16/03/2018 [lire]
• Que vénen els supermercats cooperatius! (I la febre “Food Coop”)
  Toni Lodeiro
  Articulo de Opcions.org, 02/03/2018 [lire]
• La XAREC treballarà amb els ateneus cooperatius per estendre pel territori la nova cooperativa de serveis de l’hostaleria i el turisme socialment responsable
  Articulo de Setembre, 11/03/2018  [lire] (Mataro, España)

Greek

• Οι συνεταιρισμοί εκπροσωπούν το 10% της παγκόσμιας απασχόλησης (Cooperatives represent 10% of world’s employment)
  Article of EFSYN, 05/02/2018  [lire]
• Pressenza: Η δημοσιογραφία που αγωνίζεται για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα (Pressenza: journalism for human rights)
  Lena Kyriakidi
  Article of EFSYN, 05/02/2018  [lire]
• Η ΚΟΙΝΣΕΠ Welcommon σε κρίσιμο σταυροδρόμι (Welcommon at a crucial crossroad)
  Ioanna Sotirchou
  Article of EFSYN, 05/02/2018  [lire]
• Διαγωνισμός για υπηρεσίες καθαριότητας από φορείς Κ.Α.Λ.Ο (A cleaning contest exclusively for SSE organizations) Article of EFSYN, 10/02/2018  [lire]
• Το «Εμπρός» συνεχίζει δυνατότερο από ποτέ (Embros goes on stronger than ever)
  Lena Kyriakidi
  Article of EFSYN, 12/02/2018  [lire]
• Mares de Madrid: οι μαδριλένικες «θάλασσες» της Κοινωνικής και Αλληλέγγυας Οικονομίας (Mares de Madrid)
  Athena Arabatzis
  Article of EFSYN, 12/02/2018  [lire]
• Ludd: σχεδιασμός και κατασκευές με «ανοιχτό κώδικα» και αυτοδιαχείριση (Ludd: design and making of with open source and self-management)
  Aphrodite Tziantzi
  Article of EFSYN, 12/02/2018  [lire]
• «…για Κ.Αλ.Ο. …στο ΜΕΤΡΟ» (For SSE … in the Metro)
  Lena Kyriakidi
  Article of EFSYN, 18/02/2018  [lire]
• Οι θεραπευόμενοι στο Δαφνί έχουν το δικό τους περιβόλι (People treated at Dafni have their own garden)
  Aphrodite Tziantzi
  Article of EFSYN, 26/02/2018  [lire]
• Εκδήλωση για την «ανανεώσιμη ενέργεια εναντίον της ανεργίας νέων» (Event on ‘Renewable Energy Against Youth Unemployment’)
  Article of EFSYN, 02/03/2018  [lire]
• Το ζήτημα της τεχνολογικής υποστήριξης για το νέο συνεταιριστικό κίνημα (The issue of technological support for the new cooperative movement)
  Article of EFSYN, 05/03/2018  [lire]
• Δρομολογείται η χρηματοδότηση των Κέντρων Στήριξης Κ.ΑΛ.Ο. (A step forward for the finance of Supports Centers for SSE) Article of EFSYN, 05/03/2018  [lire]
• Καινοτόμες λύσεις σε κοινωνικές προκλήσεις (Innovative solutions to social challenges)Lena Kyriakidi Article of EFSYN, 12/03/2018  [lire]
• «Να επενδύσουν οι νέοι τις γνώσεις και δεξιότητές τους σε συνεταιρισμούς» (Young people should invest their knowledge and skills in cooperatives)  Cristina Pantzou
  Article of EFSYN, 19/03/2018  [lire]
• Με πυξίδα την τέχνη στη σχεδία της ζωής (With art as compass in the raft of life)
  Ioanna Sotirchou
  Article of EFSYN, 19/03/2018 [lire]
• Νερό… γάργαρο και συνεργατικό, όχι νερό ιδιωτικό (Clean and collaborative water, no private water)
  Apostolos Lykessas
  Article of EFSYN, 26/03/2018  [lire]
• Φτηνή στέγη από πλαστικά μπουκάλια για τους σεισμόπληκτους του Μεξικού (Affordable housing from plastic bottles for the victims of the earthquake in Mexico)
  Cristina Pantzou
  Article of EFSYN, 26/03/2018  [lire]

Fed up with Google news? Find the daily selection of Basta! on your mobile.

Bastamag, an independent information site on social and environmental issues, launches this April 11 the application The Portal of Free Media, on which are proposed the articles of a hundred press sites independent of major commercial, industrial and financial interests .

• An open access app;
• Links to 120 reliable sources
• Articles classified by thematic (economy, social, ecology, politics);
• A map of alternatives updated every day;
• A news file;