The Department of Economic Development on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Flanders and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), aimed at advancing South Africa’s social economy.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said the MoU would bring together “four key ingredients”, namely resources, expertise, information and knowledge and coordination, to further the government goal of growing the social economy.

Patel noted that R19-million “in seed money” would be advanced by the government of Flanders, while the local government would add R5-million. “We need money, money is never enough . . . it is a catalyst [to carry out] key things,” he said.

He further noted that the MoU would allow South Africa to draw on the technical expertise and “enormous” experience of the ILO.

“South Africa’s challenges are well known: we have an unemployment challenge that is large by global standards; we have poverty and inequality challenges similar to what many countries in the world are grappling with and we need to do something about it,” he pointed out.

He highlighted that a social economy created the opportunity to reverse these challenges, stating that it “makes an extraordinary contribution to development goals”.

Also speaking at the event, Flanders counsellor Dr Geraldine Reymenants noted that, although the two governments have had a long-standing relationship since 1994, the MoU was a “first of its kind” between the two partners.

She noted that the first two-country strategy papers signed between South African and Flanders focused on agriculture and security and job creation through small enterprise development.

She added that, along with the National Treasury and the Department of Environmental Affairs, the government of Flanders was developing a new strategy paper focused on the green economy.