Next July 10th and 11th, the international conference Pact for Impact is being held in Paris (France) to place the social and inclusive economy at the heart of the international agenda. RIPESS attends the event to make visible the needs of SSE grassroots organizations and also co-organizes the plenary session “What if the local has the solution? The Social and Inclusive Economy at the level of the territories”.

The international conference Pact for Impact has the aim to create a Global Alliance for a Social and Inclusive Economy involving governments, networks and key stakeholders. Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) will have be a central theme in this conference since it is considered a major strategy for a comprehensive transformation of the economy and in coming up with solutions for a better world.

RIPESS attends Pact for Impact conference to bring the voice of grassroots SSE organizations into this global event. Effective impact is being achieved by local SSE organizations that work on a daily basis to improve people’s quality of life, communities and their environment. As it has been proved in many occasions, like the recent UNTFSSE’s conference on the role of SSE in the implementation of the SDGs held in Geneva last June 25-26, local SSE experiences are key actors to reach Sustainable Development Goals.

For RIPESS, Social Solidarity Economy is an alternative model of development to capitalism or to state managed economies since in SSE ordinary people play an active role in shaping all of the dimensions of human life. SSE seeks systemic transformation of the social and economic system that goes beyond superficial change,

Plenary session focused on territories

 

RIPESS co-organizes the session “What if the local has the solution? The Social and Inclusive Economy at the level of the territories”, together with the European Commission and our international member GSEF. The session will take place on July 10th at 3.30 pm.

The main objective of this panel is to illustrate that the cooperation between public and private actors tends to address better the needs and challenges of territories, through social innovations. Reinforcing this collaboration is also a key-solution to reach the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

SSE organizations and enterprises, which are also widely recognized for their local roots, are therefore essential partners for cities and regions to participate in the success of the SDGs, particularly SDG 11, at territorial level.

Therefore, the session works towards the imperative co-construction of strong public policies in order to foster an inclusive development, defined by the 2030 Agenda.

The session is a unique opportunity to hear relevant SSE actors such as Adama Sangaré, Major of Bamako (Mali) and GSEF Vice-president; Ulla Engelmann, Head of unit, Advanced Technologies, Clusters, social economy from DG GROW (European Commission); and  Dr. Peter Kurz, Major of Mannheim (Germany).

Several RIPESS’ members also participate in this session: Dr. Eri Trinurini-Adhi, member of Asia Solidarity Economy Council (ASEC) from Indonesia and RIPESS Board Member and Sonia Vallancourt, from the Chantier de l’économie sociale (Québec).

RIPESS during Pact for Impact

In addition to the session on territories, RIPESS members are participating on several sessions and workshops, as you can see below:

July 10th, 14.00h

Plenary Session “2030 Agenda: no Sustainable Development Goals without the Social and Inclusive Economy!”

Laure Jongejans, RIPESS Executive Secretary, will co-moderate this plenary session organized by the UN Task Force on SSE (UNTFSSE).

The session addresses the great potential of SSE to facilitate innovative and sustainable solutions for the economic, social and environmental issues. It will show how SSE addresses the root causes of exclusive and unsustainable development and ultimately contributes to realizing the transformative vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

July 11th, 10.00h

Special Focus “Financing Social and Inclusive Economy: Creating Wealth, Making Sense, Building our Future”.

Madani Koumaré, General Coordinator of the Refinancing Mechanism for Decentralized Financing Companies and RIPESS Board Member, participates in this session to discuss the implementation of strategic financial alliances, set to transform our economies.

Madani Koumaré focuses his intervention on the refinancing instruments’ role of microfinance institutions in guiding productive investment formats.

David Thompson, Chair of the Board of Community Sector Banking of Australia, a member of INAISE, and RIPESS Board Member, also contributes to this session. Thompson talks about a model for a citizen investment structure.

July 11th, 15.15h

Closing speech

Finally, Madani Koumaré will be one of the speakers in the panel of the Pact for Impact Closing ceremony.

You can find the entire program of Pact for Impact here.

Final manifesto and future engagements

As mentioned before, Pact for Impact aims to start the implementation of a Global Alliance for the Social and Inclusive Economy with a wide range of key stakeholders. Therefore, the conference will work to approve a Manifesto signed by all the participants.

This final Manifesto will reflect the commitments approved by consensus during the different workshops, parallel sessions and also the Special Focus session. These commitments will be key to advance toward the implementation of the global alliance.

For those people and organizations that are also in Paris, please feel free to contact the different RIPESS representatives from Asia, Africa, Europe and North America who will be representing RIPESS in that session. It will be a pleasure to exchange a few words with you.

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