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"For many years, the EU has been mobilizing its funds to support France Active in the service social economy. Its dynamic and global approach to support social entreprises as well as the scope and diversity of its methods of action stands out. In the past, the European structural funds, as well as the European program for social innovation, have supported France Active Garantie and initiatives such as Cap'Jeunes, to support young entrepreneurs, as well as VISES, which develops an impact assessment approach adapted to the specificities of social enterprises, and IMPACT +, which aims to develop support for the entire ecosystem.
These programs are in line with the European strategy to support the social economy, a sector that creates jobs and an inclusive and sustainable growth, which yet remains underestimated in many EU Member States.
We share France Active’s conviction that the local and regional levels have an essential role to play in the development of the sector, which is so diverse from one Member State to another and according to the economic sectors covered. The social economy can only develop by considering the particularities and opportunities of each territory, as shown by the work of the regional associations of the France Active network. Moreover, France Active's commitments in favor of new entrepreneurs or the ecological transition are perfectly in line with the priorities of the European Action Plan for the Social Economy adopted in 2021. Our common goal is to put people and the planet before profit, for a sustainable and fair transition.
All in all, the France Active network sets an example in the financial support ecosystem through its ability to provideds the socially committed enterprises with the financial as well as non-financial support that is best suited to their needs at different stages of a company's life cycle.
As we seek today to fill the persistent gap between supply and demand of repayable financing for social enterprises in Europe, France Active is a source of inspiration to improve the financial products and programs offered in and by the European Union.”
"The European funds have been funding and innovation levers for the France Active network for many years.
The European Social Fund, among others, has enabled to support, to connect and to fund an increased number of entrepreneurs far from the banking system (job seekers, recipients of minimum social benefits, young people under 26, women, etc.) as well as social enterprises. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), for their part, have strengthened financial instruments towards socially committed entrepreneurs. Finally, the European Commission programs have made it possible to implement experimentations to enhance the France Active tools dedicated to specific stages of social enterprises’ lifecyle (seed or scaling up for instance).
For all these reasons, as well as for their role in structuring and professionalizing the France Active network or for their incentive character with other European, national and local funders, European funds are essential. "
"Social impact is at the heart of the challenges that the social enterprises are facing. The European Union has funded implementation of the VISES project with the support of the France – Wallonie – Vlanderen INTERREG program. This enables us now to develop a reproducible method of evaluating this impact.
After a launch in 2020 in the Centre-Val de Loire French region, we were able to support 3 groups in this process and thus demonstrate that social enterprises have a very large and essential impact in their ecosystem. We thus enable them to seize their evaluation and enter into a process of continuous improvement of this social impact."
"Our project was made possible thanks to the support of France Active which offered us a European funding that allowed us to launch our first house in Nantes".
Aurélien and Emmanuel de Carayon launched Fratries, which develops innovative shared housing: modern houses, in the heart of cities, in which young working people, with or without disabilities, live together. The first house was built in Nantes in 2022, two others will open their doors this year in Rennes (35) and Colombes (92) and other projects are underway in other French cities.
This social enterprise was financed by France Active Bretagne via a bank loan guarantee and an investment, both covered by the European Investment Fund (EIF)
France Active at the « Social economy, the future of Europe » event
