Robust discussions and good consultations emerged from the Social Economy National Consultation Conference, held on February 27 and 28 in Johannesburg, and these will provide a roadmap going forward, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said on Thursday.

The event was aimed at including the key stakeholders in a consultative process prior to the development of a draft Green Paper for a Social Economy Policy by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Department of Economic Development of South Africa.

Patel indicated during a media briefing that the department had added the extra step of a conference to ensure that all stakeholders were included and to enhance the outcome of the policy. 

The outcomes of the conference will now be considered and the relevant ones will be implemented in the draft policy. This will then be sent to Cabinet for assessment, after which it will be published as a co-product of various stakeholders.

The document will then go through due process, following which it will become a White Paper and then be adopted as policy.

Lastly, the policy will be implemented. Patel termed this the most difficult part of the process, as often, policies are not effected properly, despite being of high quality.  

The government considers the social economy as integral to creating a more people-centred economy, for the benefit of all citizens.

The social economy includes a number of not-for-profit organisations that provide goods and services, cooperatives, nongovernmental organisations (NGOS) and stokvels.

The ILO’s Africa Conference on the social economy, held in 2009, in Johannesburg, defined the social economy as a “concept designating enterprises and organisations, in particular cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations, foundations and social enterprises, which have the specific feature of producing goods, services and knowledge, while pursuing both economic and social aims and fostering solidarity.”

However, practitioners and academics have yet to reach consensus on a universal definition for the social economy.

Patel indicated that, with regard to the draft, one of the outcomes from the conference was that a working definition of the social economy is needed.

In this vein, he highlighted that the consultations indicated that this could be a flexible definition, which would allow for more entities to be included under the banner of a social economy, and thereby able to reap the benefits the policy will provide.

Patel indicated that the paper should make a strong case for a social economy.

Therefore, it must showcase that it can bring “additionality” – proving that a social economy will provide elements such as more jobs and women in the workplace, which the conventional economy is unable to accommodate.

He also highlighted that it should not take the approach of merely “throwing money at the problem”. Rather, it should seek practical solutions, such as public–private partnerships which engender capacity building, for example.

Further, government coordination could be enlisted, such as helping those with limited access circumvent red tape obstacles.