The last program for the year 2007: Observatoire international des réalisations de l'économie sociale
The project for an International Observatory on Practices in Social Economy (OIRES) was conceived in late 2006 after the Mont Blanc Meetings (MBM) and was launched in partnership with the FMSH in November 2007.
Imagining a new growth model
The current economic system is dominated by a logic of trade liberalization that is incapable of implementing regulatory bodies adapted to the new situations that are constantly arising, and which makes short-term profits the sole objective of all economic activity. Faced with this observation, more and more actors are rejecting this model which depletes natural and social resources with no concern for their preservation or renewal.
The task at hand is therefore to unite these actors and imagine another model which would found economic growth on shared and sustainable development. This new model would regulate the economy according to criteria such as reducing ecological ‘footprints’, re-balancing the influence of actors involved in business management, and fairer distribution of the wealth produced.
It is in this effort to build a new future based on a social, interactive and plural economy that numerous actors are using terms such as “sustainable development” or “solidarity economy”. These pioneers in social economy are leading the way for major actors in social and economic arenas by experimenting in new practices that could be implemented to the advantage of these actors.
The objectives of the Observatory: making knowledge out of realities
The main objective of the Observatory is to create a tool for observing and understanding practices in the world’s social economy, and more specifically, to produce knowledge about social economy that is based on reality. To accomplish this, the Observatory will promote or launch research initiatives founded on concrete observations, and from there extract principles, whether universal or specific to regions or countries.
The FMSH as incubator and network organizer
The FMSH houses the Observatory and provides it with its expertise in logistic support in order to help bring together academic researchers and those with practical experience, who as a general rule are not used to working together. The latter also come from various regions and countries from around the world and normally do not have the opportunity to have discussions about their respective practices and the results they obtain.
The Observatory thus plays the role of an organizer or “federating knot” for various regional, national, and international networks that work together to form “task forces” for given operations. The “task forces” will be structured around an international steering committee.
More specifically, the OIRES and its steering committee will be housed by the Mont Blanc Meetings Association, whereas the selected programs will be implemented by the FMSH in partnership with the IAS Paris/Ile de France.
Initial partners of the OIRES
- La Maif
- La Macif
- Le Chèque Déjeuner
- Le Crédit Coopératif
- La Fondaction québécoise
Two topics initially planned for the program
- the management of natural resources by social economy, with energy as a primary focus (to follow up on the MBM of November 9-10, 2007)
- the characteristics of socially responsible financial institutions
