OBJECTIVES: Dynamisation of the productive fabric of four areas in Andalusia with social transformation needs: Cruz Verde (Malaga), Polígono Guadalquivir (Cordoba), El Torrejón (Huelva) and El Puche (Almería), to enable the social and occupational insertion of people at risk of social exclusion and the endogenous development of the regions.
DESCRIPTION: CEPES-A will achieve this Project's aim, by means of:
• Development of the CSR Commitment by the federations or other entities in the district or its surrounding areas. The following actions will be carried out:
Direct contact with the area’s business people.
Encouraging the active participation of the business people of these geographical areas in the socio-economic promotional activities. It is intended to create an association, as the final outcome of this action.
Promotion of CSR (awareness-raising) so the companies will use the region's resources, by signing collaboration agreements with the social entities in the area, for internal company practices. These commitments will be expanded so that they also cover the tutoring of business ideas and other types of actions that influence the socioeconomic promotion of the area and increase support to social entrepreneurs. Also, some meetings will be organised in June, in which the official signing of the agreement will take place between the AD and the business entities that have joined up to that date, at the same time as serving as an occasion for obtaining the commitment of new entities.
Drafting of a catalogue of services: That can be used by the entrepreneurs who participate in the inclusion process.
Diagnosis of CSR: promotion and circulation of good practices that contribute to eliminating the stigmatisation of the area, by means of meetings, press publications, radio and television, etc.
A Certificate/Stamp/Accreditation or equivalent will be sent from the Equal-Atenea Project to the participating and collaborating companies. A certificate of participation, issued by the SAE, will be sent to the collaborating companies and will award distinctions to all whose work was outstanding.
Agreements concerning microcredits for the project’s beneficiaries.
• Promotion of Self-employment in its associated form, in Training centres and by means of awareness-raising actions in the district. Along this line, the work will comprise:
The running of short courses for entrepreneurs: Our training activity will be aimed at unemployed people and, yet, our company creation activities are not restricted solely to this group (from the start, we encourage the creation of companies of both unemployed people and others who, although employed, decide to undertake a new economic activity, as this ultimately concerns providing people with skills to improve their employability). As well as awareness-raising for the self-employment of the individual beneficiaries of the programmes and the students at the training centres, this action aims to strengthen the skills necessary for managing a company. The principal deficiencies detected among the potential beneficiaries of our programme are:
Business management
Marketing
Accounting and tax administration
IT applications
Sales techniques
Contact with leaders of training programmes and centres, to offer them our collaboration in terms of information and motivation for self-employment, especially in its associated formula, as an employment opportunity for the students. Interventions will be made in programmes that have already or are about to start, with cross-modules concerning social entreprise and raising awareness about self-employment.
In regards to the institutes, the aim is to simulate the creation and management of cooperatives and design the intervention strategies and materials, which will be drafted for their implementation during the coming school year.
• Creation of Social Economy companies from the Underground Economy and Social Enterprises.
The purpose of our intervention in this case is the creation of Social Economy companies, based on the standardisation of the underground and informal economy and of other social enterprises.
To provide incentives for the creation of companies, some sort of assistance will be set up for entrepreneurs in the zone who need economic support to set up their projects.
The amount of funding assistance consists of a maximum of 10,000 euros for the individual business projects and a maximum of 15,000 euros for the collective business projects.
In total, there is €120,000 for the four zones, of which €24,000 is intended for the creation of business associations, €12,000 to encourage the creation of business initiatives within the framework of the training programmes aimed at groups who live in said districts, and the rest will be allocated to the creation of other Social Economy companies, arising from the standardisation of the underground economy and other social enterprises.
The quantities of each grant and award of funding will be assessed for each case and may consist of assistance for the planning of the company project with a subsequent economic grant for the initial investment of incorporating the company, or simply as a supplement to other funds that the person may obtain.
PARTICIPATING ENTITIES: Department of Employment, Department for Equality and Social Welfare, Federación de entidades SURGE, Red Andaluza de Lucha contra la Pobreza y la Exclusión Social (Anti-Poverty Network), Fundación Secretariado General Gitano, Federación de Mujeres Progresistas de Andalucía, Federación Andalucía Acoge, CEPES-A, Universidad Pablo de Olavide.
FINANCING: EQUAL PROGRAMME.
COMPLETION DATE: December 2007
URL: www.equalatenea.org
PUBLICATION: Economía Social y Equal Atenea (PDF)
