Social enterprises in Serbia operate in an unregulated and unstimulating environment, thus actors have limited room for broader action.

Civil society organisations often argue for policy innovation in this field and also often initiate the creation of social enterprises.

A good example for that is the gathering of CSOs in the Coalition for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship, which is strongly committed to creating a sustainable system of support to the social enterprise sector.

Social enterprises continue to intrigue the expert and general public with their ability to handle various challenges and problems in modern society. The idea of social enterprises playing a key role in supporting economic development, creating conditions for employment and improving the well-being of local communities is highly underrated at the level of member states, thus they are often largely neglected or seen only as initiatives for work integration.

The European integration process has incited the forming of the social entrepreneurship sector in Serbia. Social enterprises account for a small share of the Serbian economy, not only relative to other sectors in Serbia, but also compared to the contribution of these companies in European countries. The social enterprise sector employs 10,326 people, which equals 0.6% of the total employed population of Serbia.

The general objective of the project is to help create support for the development of social entrepreneurship, which it will achieve through specific goals, by strengthening capacities through connecting resources in the process of advocating innovative policies aimed at social enterprises, building a strategy and raising the general public’s awareness of social entrepreneurship.

Project activities:

Organising and implementing the strategic planning of the Coalition for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship,

Various activities aimed at raising awareness among target groups for increasing knowledge of social entrepreneurship.

Timeframe: March – December 2018.

The project donor is the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Serbia.