“There are thousands of social enterprises already operating across Australia, each of them working smartly and having an impact. However, while this sector is an extraordinary national asset, it is also undervalued, fragmented and underserved. What we have in front of us is a huge and untapped opportunity,”
Alex Hannant , Prof of Practice and Co-Director, Yunus Centre Griffith University.
The development and release today of a National Social Enterprise Strategy is a significant milestone for the sector and ACRE is proud to have played a role in its development.
ACRE CEO and Co-founder, Mr Matt Pfahlert, paid tribute to fellow Social Enterprise National Strategy Advisory Group members who worked together to build out a Strategy that supports a shared ambition to make social enterprise business as usual:
- English Family Foundation (Belinda Morrissey)
- Yunus Centre at Griffith University (Alex Hannant, Jo McNeill, Ingrid Burkett)
- Social Traders (Tara Anderson)
- SENVIC (Nick Verginis)
- SASEC (Sharon Zivkovic)
- YLab (Michael Lim)
- Good Cycles (Jaison Hoernel)
- ACRE (Matt Pfahlert)
“Government backed national strategies across the globe have showed what can be achieved through vision and collaboration – why not here in Australia?”, said Matt.
” We now have a blueprint to create a thriving sector and to build on the collaboration and innovation that united us in 2020. As Australia plans to host the 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum, the time is right for governments to improve the operating environment for social enterprise,” he concluded.
The Advisory Group has released new research conducted by the Yunus Centre Griffith University which points to a pathway for using social enterprise to boost Australia’s economy in a more inclusive and sustainable way:
- Part One: Sense making: a summary of themes, tensions & provocations, capturing the history and learning in the social enterprise sector in Australia and internationally.
- Part Two: Strategy: a possible pathway for building the connective tissue across the Australian social enterprise sector so that collectively we can amplify our impact. It asks us to consider – what would it look like if we were to better organise at a national level?
Access Part 1 & Part 2 reports here >>
The next phase in development of the National Social Enterprise Strategy project is formation of a governance structure, sector wide consultation and co-creation. A third part of the report will be used during the co-creation process.
Like to know more?
Read this article from ProBono: The time is now to step towards an Australian social enterprise strategy
Join a conversation at the Social Enterprise Virtual Unconference on Wednesday 21 July.Tickets (free) at https://lnkd.in/gqdx8RK
Watch this video: Footage courtesy Impact Boom, Social Enterprise Council of NSW and ACT, Queensland Social Enterprise Council, Social Enterprise World Forum. Production gifted by Digital Storytellers.