Evaluating the Formation of Enabling Public Policy for the Social and Solidarity Economy from a Comparative Perspective: The Effectiveness of Collaborative Processes or the Co-Construction of Public Policy (Draft)

Strengthening partnerships and creating institutional spaces for dialogue between SSE actors and governments is necessary for the SSE to reach its potential. Practices that are now often referred to as the co-construction of public policy are, in fact, present in many national and local settings with significant impact. Based on 14 case studies that looked at public policies in favour of the social and solidarity economy formulated at the local, regional and national levels, this paper shows that co-construction approaches to policy formulation are best suited to enable the growth of SSE. The paper discusses the main advantages of such an approach and examines the conditions for effective collaborative processes, providing examples of best practices and indicating the limits of existing policies that have not been designed or implemented jointly with civil society.

Béatrice Alain is Coordinator of RELIESS, an international reference and networking centre on public policies in favour of the social and solidarity economy created by the Chantier de l’économie sociale.

Marguerite Mendell is Professor at the School of Community and Public Affairs and Director of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia University. Her collaborative research covers community economic development, the social economy and social finance, and their resulting important innovations in public policy.