What is the Social and Solidarity Economy?
The Social and Solidarity Economy is the set of socio-economic initiatives, formal or informal, individual or collective, that prioritize the satisfaction of people's needs over profit.
They are also characterized by being independent of public authorities, acting guided by values such as equity, solidarity, sustainability, participation, inclusion and commitment to the community, and also promoting social change.
You will find more details in the document Strategy for the Social and Solidarity Economy in Barcelona 2030. Reactivation and strengthening of an economy for life in the city. There you will discover the description, practices, principles and values that the SSE field in Barcelona has agreed to define and project itself.
Common elements of all the initiatives that define the transformative nature of the Social and Solidarity Economy:
Democratic and participatory management
Instead of the hierarchical organizational model in which a few people control, manage and decide on the resources, assets, information and future of the majority, the Social and Solidarity Economy introduces democracy into the economy and business.
Orientation to human needs
The Social and Solidarity Economy seeks to recover the original function of the economy by putting it at the service of people to manage resources equitably and exploit them sustainably, as well as create a production model that turns work into an instrument for satisfying human needs.
Commitment to the community
Social and Solidarity Economy organizations contribute to improving society, creating jobs, providing services, linking to the territory, supporting social causes, financing solidarity initiatives with impoverished countries and collaborating with transformative social movements.
We find Social and Solidarity Economy initiatives present in all sectors of economic activity, from energy to culture or food.
Barcelona City Council promotes the establishment of more social and solidarity-based economic structures in the city, both by consolidating and growing the dense network of cooperative, social and solidarity-based economies that exist in the city, and by promoting new initiatives. This task is developed, politically, by the mayoralty through the Commissioner for Social Economy, Local Development and Food Policy, which also promotes the development of responsible consumption.
The practical development of public policy to promote the SSE in Barcelona is carried out by the teams of the Department of Social Economy (of the Directorate of Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy Services) of Barcelona City Council and the Operational Directorate of Socio-Economic Innovation of Barcelona Activa.