Finance for the Social Economy in Northern Ireland

In early 2004 the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), acting on behalf of the Social Economy Forum, issued Terms of Reference for a study of Finance for the Social Economy in Northern Ireland. Following a tendering process, a team led by Colin Stutt Consulting was appointed to undertake the study.

The Study Team was Colin Stutt, Dr. Brendan Murtagh of Queen’s University Belfast, Belden Daniels of Economic Innovation Inc. of Boston Massachusetts and Professor Peter Lloyd. The team provided, respectively, knowledge of the social economy in Northern Ireland, knowledge of US community investment techniques and knowledge of social economy practice and policies elsewhere in the UK and across the EU.

The study was undertaken in a very open and interactive manner, with significant involvement from the social economy in the process. The study was overseen by a Steering Group made of social economy practitioners and government officials.

The Social Economy Forum endorsed the study and its recommendations at its September 2004 meeting and the Department launched the Report in November 2004. A copy of the report and of the Working Papers is available from the Social Economy Unit pages of the Department’s website (www.detini.gov.uk), but they are also available from this page.

The Department and the Social Economy Forum have established a Joint Implementation Group to implement the recommendations made in the Report.

The following documents are available by clicking on the links below

Executive Summary of the Full Report

The Full Report

Working Paper 1 - Literature Review

Working Paper 2 - Results of a Survey of Social Economy Organisations

Working Paper 3 - Case Studies of Social Economy Organisations

Working Paper 4 - Benchmarking Northern Ireland against Other Regions and Countries

The following PowerPoint presentation presented the main findings of the Report to the Social Economy Forum at its September 2004 meeting and was extended at the November 2004 launch of the Report to present some early conclusions arising from the Belfast Local Strategy Partnership study tour of the USA in early November 2004, which examined US approaches to community investment.(An evaluation of the Study Tour and more information about the Tour are available by following this link.)

PowerPoint Presentation to Social Economy Forum & Report Launch

To a considerable extent, the 2004 study of Finance for the Social Economy in Northern Ireland was a follow on from the 2001 study of Social Economy Policy for Northern Ireland, in that the earlier study recommended a partnership approach towards working on defining the financial mechanisms for the social economy and the later study was implemented using the structures that we recommended should be put in place in the 2001 study. Click here to go the the 2001 study of Social Economy Policy.

I would be interested in any comments or feedback on these reports. Please feel free to email me at cs@colinstutt.com

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