State Progress Strategy Lithuania 2050: Will Lithuania Become the Silicon Valley of Social Business?
Lithuanian Social Business Association (LISVA) in the document prepared by the request of the organizers of the National Progress Strategy “Lithuania 2050” to allocate due value to the value created by social business.
The National Progress Strategy “Lithuania 2050” (hereinafter referred to as the LT2050 Strategy) is being prepared. indicators.
LISVA requests that the priority of the former 3 National Progress Program “Environment for Economic Growth”, which aims to create favorable conditions for growth and competitiveness, be extended and strengthened, paying attention to the social importance of entrepreneurship.
“We note that social business not only meets the ways of sustainable development and operates in specific problem areas – poverty reduction, promotion of sustainability, environmental protection, etc., but also addresses the wide-ranging challenges facing society and the environment around us.
In order to develop a smart and sustainable economy, it is important to ensure the efficiency of business and the balance of sustainable development, ”says Viktorija Bražiūnaitė, Director of the Lithuanian Social Business Association.
LISVA expects dialogue with other sectors of the economy to be made up of representatives of various societies, so the association hopes to take part in discussions that have refined the more precise wording of the strategy and focused on social business.
“We are committed to working together to incorporate the relevant features of the dialogue into our community events,” said the head of the association.
Today, there is no doubt that the field of social business, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, is becoming important not only for overall economic growth but also for meeting the challenges facing society.
“Social economy organizations demonstrate a remarkable capacity to support the strengthening and development of resilient communities and to manage fundamental change, as well as <…> outperformed other sectors and set up up to 12%. jobs while addressing key societal challenges.
The scale and impact of these societal challenges is huge, with 2.8 million in Europe alone. social enterprises ’. (The Importance of Social Entrepreneurship for Post-Crisis Recovery | World Economic Forum, Davos 2021).
The European Commission is currently preparing an action plan for the social economy, which will be launched this year.
The plan aims to improve social investment and entrepreneurship, support social economy organizations to start and expand their activities and their social impact, innovate and create jobs.
The distinctive features of social economy organizations will also be supported to ensure that the transition to a green and digital economy does not leave anything behind and that our communities strengthen their economic and social resilience.
The social economy includes a variety of businesses, attitudes and legal approaches. In their work, they systematically prioritize people and have a positive impact on local communities.
The social goal of the economic-economic model is to reinvest most of the profits back in the organization and / or in a task that is important to society, guided by a participatory / democratic form of governance.
Social economy organizations are responsible for job creation, including sustainable growth and the integration of disadvantaged groups into the labor market, and they ensure industrial development and empowerment, skills upgrading and capacity building.
They cover a wide range of economic sectors and ecosystems, including social and public services, health, social housing or accessibility, affecting people who are helping to alleviate economic crises and increase resilience.
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LISVA is a national umbrella NGO that brings together social business / social economy activities.
LISVA seeks to actively participate in the development and implementation of social business policy in Lithuania, to strengthen the capacity of organizations working in the field of social business, to represent its members in state institutions, to create public opinion on social business, to prepare various public reports and educational campaigns.
At present, the association unites more than everyone and is well acquainted with the subjects in the field of social business, such as: “Pirmas Blynas”, “Miesto Laboratorija”, “Textale”, “Užventumo namai” Lobių dirbtuvė “,” M. Quiz Foundation, My Guru, Order of Malta Helpdesk and others.
The members of the association seek to address a very wide range of issues important to society – poverty, social exclusion, reduction of harmful effects on the environment, more efficient use of natural resources, culture and promotion of public creativity, public education, national defense issues, etc.