Sustaining Local Development through Enabling Social Financing Instruments in Euro-Mediterranean Countries

In post-crisis EU landscape, EU Mediterranean countries are making steps in alleviating the burdens that citizens have carried at individual and collective level by restructuring their economies and re-designing social protection measures. Social and solidarity economy (SSE) is a sector that despite its growth and positive impact towards vulnerable groups during the crisis has also seen several impediments in its development most notably regulatory and financial obstacles and an uneven development of the sector among E.U. countries.

In this new landscape, endogenous local development and the sustainability of the sector relies on stable and recurring funding sources, as it is necessary to answer the financial needs of social economy actors and operators in the current and next E.U. programming period (2021-2027), to sustain the emerging dynamic of SSE. The paper addresses the pivotal role of social financing in supporting social economy organizations endeavors and presents data based on a literature review regarding the EU framework on financing social enterprises and operators and the specific social investment initiatives that are taking place in Euro-Mediterranean countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, and Greece.