May 6, 2019  Budapest

#Bondproject Kislépték and Védegylet held their national thematic workshop this Monday May 6th, 2019 with the aim of stimulating dialogue and cooperation on social/societal/common good economy.
The goal of the workshop was to create a cross-sectoral dialogue and network among the different stakeholders encompassing representatives of policy -makers, producer advocacy groups, research and civil society organizations. The workshop stimulated debate and a rich discussion on cooperation between the actors involved in social/societal/common good economy and especially with the producers, serving the public good. Collaboration can be achieved through the construction of relations between social economy actors and the government for a possible legislative process of policy design.

The learnings from the international study tours of the BOND project (eg. Spanish legal measures, Valencia Province social economy legislation, the application of the public good economy in the catering service, Dutch care farms, etc.) have greatly contributed to the vision of the workshop.

There were more than 20 participants: representatives of policy makers and of the legislative sector (FAO, Ministry of Interior Affairs – Coordination Department of the Social Cooperatives, Ministry of Human Resources, State Secretary of Social Affairs, Financial Support and Occupational Rehabilitation Department, Ministry of Finance – Labor Market Programs Department), of researchers (Environmental Social Sciences Research Group, private research institutions and from the national academia), of funding bodies, and different advocacy groups (National Chamber of Agriculture, Small Producers Advocacy Group, Association of Social Farms, Social Entreprises, etc.).

You may read more on the methodology of the workshop HERE:

The participants actively discussed a possible list of recommendations that will be shared in the upcoming weeks among themselves and other actors wishing to get implicated in the process.

JUNE

BOND_WP2.3_MAY6WorkshopReport_Methodology_KLT_en_v1_2019_05_31 Follow up the May 6 Hungarian national workshop Kilépték presented #bondprojecteurope and the findings of the national workshop at the social farming conference “Szak-Ajtó” held at the Ministry of Human Resources in Budapest, Hungary. Deputy State Secretary Dr Attila Szinay from the Agricultural Ministry explained the importance of social farming in rural areas, while Deputy State Secretary Dr Attila Simon from Ministry of Human Resources emphasised the significant role of farming activity in the life of vulnerable people in the country side and Ministry Advisor Zsolt Ruszkai from Ministry of Finance talked about the Government policies on social farms. Kislépték described the need of tailor-made regulations (land-use, flexible hygienic rules for production, taxation) for social good economy and social farming as to enhance their effective operation. It was highlighted that consumers and society awareness and consciousness could be developed by setting up a social economy registration and the introduction social economy label as to identify positive social impact. The finding and proposals of the May 6 National Workshop, organised by Kislépték and Védegylet, was handed over in written form to the representative of the Agricultural Ministry.

In the final event of the conference Social Farm certification trademark award were distributed among social network cooperatives and associations. These organisations manage farming activities for vulnerable people as to rehabilitate and employ them in agriculture by dealing with chicken raising, egg production, vegetable gardening, cheese making, etc. Kislépték had a major work in the preparation of the certificate trademark handbook and the registration Social Farm certification trademark for Szibiózis Fund, the holder of the certificate trademark, which is party to the working network of Kislépték.