The EU-funded project on ‘Community Development through Social Entrepreneurship’ (CODE-SE) is holding its final conference in Yerevan on 4 December. Since the end of 2015, this EU4Business project has worked to support sustainable community development and enhance the capacities of civil society organisations (CSOs) in generating income through running social entrepreneurship projects for the benefit of communities in seven regions of Armenia.
The final conference aims to consolidate and present the project results and lessons learnt, providing opportunities for networking between beneficiaries and other stakeholders in the field of regional/community development and social entrepreneurship.
For the 100 or so participants, the conference will be a meeting, discussion and networking space for social entrepreneurs, national and international organisations, governmental structures interested in promoting social entrepreneurship ideas and practices.
Looking to the future
The conference will not only pull together the project outcomes, but will also be a starting point for further development of the field in Armenia. For this reason, the Association of Social Enterprises of Armenia has been invited to be main partner in the work of the conference, and will be fully involved in the conference, aiming to take the lead in future social entrepreneurship field development in Armenia using the outcomes and lessons learnt from the project.
Additional conference events
As part of the conference, a Fair of Social Enterprises will create possibilities for existing social enterprises to present their work and best practices, to find synergies and cooperation schemes between each other’s work, and to pass their experience to other potential social enterprises.
A discussion panel on ‘Reality, Trends and Perspectives for Social Entrepreneurship in Armenia’ will focus on the current context in which the field is operating, challenges that it faces, opportunities and preconditions for development.
In addition, a series of thematic workshops on trending and important issues will provide a space for conference participants, experts and guests to share their vision on the realities and challenges for the promotion and development of the social entrepreneurship field in Armenia. The results of the discussions will serve as a basis for thorough reflection and the development of recommendations for further work in the field.
The CODE-SE project, part of EU4Business Initiative, was implemented by the International Centre for Intercultural Research, Learning and Dialogue (ICIRLD, Armenia), the KASA Swiss Humanitarian Foundation (Armenia), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Armenia and the Intercultural Centre (IZ, Austria), and funded by the European Union, with co-financing by the Austrian Development Cooperation.
Date
4/12/17, 10:00-16:00