BCICS and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, located in Victoria, were the successful applicants for leading the National Hub of the Social Economy Suite, an $11,000,000 project sponsored by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to stimulate research on the Social Economy and to encourage community discussion, policy analysis and project development within the Social Economy in Canada.  The national “hub” will be managed by the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies BCICS will work with the CCEDNet, a national board and regional “nodes” of researchers and practitioners.

The primary question addressed in this five year, SSHRC funded project is: How can Canadians better understand and more effectively use the Social Economy to address the new challenges of this time?  While there are different definitions of the Social Economy, the simplest would include a variety of community-based enterprises (including co-operatives), the volunteer sector, and a rich diversity of strategies and institutional efforts to improve community sustainability. 

This multi-faceted project involves representatives from 27 academic institutions, community organizations and community development groups.  BCICS will have a particular interest in examining the roles co-operatives can play within the Social Economy.

Given the breadth of this project and the many players it is difficult to foresee all the potential outcomes. However, one primary outcome relevant to the work of BCICS will be the development of the Social Economy Learning Network (SELN), an on-line multi-faceted resource being developed to meet the needs and interests of this project. Based on an Open Source database, the SELN will develop collaborative tools, shared content, and educational resources to help meet the needs of the developing Social Economy in Canada and other parts of the world. Social economy research, training and teaching materials, user-submitted information, a user and researcher registry and more will be available through the multi-lingual SELN site. The SELN will provide a rich database and communication system to inform the general public and those with a specific interest or role in the social economy.

Joy Emmanuel

website: www.socialeconomyhub.ca