Estrategias de Supervivencia y Elaboración de Políticas Públicas: El Papel de la Economía Social y Solidaria en Latinoamérica y la Contribución De Brasil hacia la Construcción de Políticas Emancipadoras (Draft)

The Solidarity Economy (Spanish acronym: ESOL) is a phenomenon that has gained increasing economic, social and political visibility, especially since the crises in the 1980s and 1990s that hit the Brazilian (and other) labour markets. One of ESOL’s new features is the way it has impacted the planning of public policies at the municipal, state and federal levels, as ESOL actors, organizations and entities seek recognition, institutionalization and support for their projects and activities. The challenge for public policy is to understand what ESOL actually is and how it can be measured. This paper examines several policies that have been adopted in Brazil and in some other Latin American countries in order to understand and analyse how ESOL has been conceived, as well as key policy achievements and limitations, related, for example, to the expansion of ESOL and its ability to generate employment and income. The work points to the fragility of various policies and the need for an integrated approach to meet the challenge of inclusive development for the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Leandro Morais is Professor of Economics at the Pontific Catholic University of Campinas (PUCCAMPINAS) and Faculdade de Campinas (FACAMP), External Technical Consultant to the International Training Centre of the ILO and Senior Technical Advisor to the Polis Institute. He is a coauthor of numerous books, including Social and Solidarity Economy: Building a Common Understanding and Social and Solidarity Economy: Our Common Road towards Decent Work.