At Yaounde confab: African stakeholders concert to create social solidarity economy.

As explained by the Minister of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Achille Basilliken III, who presided over the forum, FORA’ESS will from now on bring together players in this sector every two years, with the aim of sharing practices, experiences, policies and visions, in order to build, support and accompany African models of the social and solidarity economy.

The minister added that an ad hoc resolutions committee was also set up to finalise the FORA'ESS governance charter.

At the end of the forum, resolutions included the creation of an African observatory for the social, solidarity-based economy and the creation of a pan-African incubator to unleash the potential of young people and women.

The mayors, who are considered as major players in the implementation of the social economy, through the Mayors’ Declaration, pledged to play their part in developing the social economy, in particular by putting in place public policies conducive to the emergence and development of this form of economy.

This, the mayors assured, will be done by facilitating access to finance, strengthening partnerships with players in the field, encouraging social innovation, the creation of sustainable jobs and the implementation of local policies favourable to the social economy, such as access to local public procurement, the promotion of social entrepreneurship, among others. 

Africa’s youth, through their representatives, also presented the youth declaration on social solidarity economy.

By promising to spearhead the social solidarity-based economy, the youth, among other things, called for the integration of the social solidarity-based economy into education and vocational training programmes, the creation of an African youth network for the social solidarity-based economy, the development of a pan-African monitoring and evaluation mechanism for public policies on the social solidarity-based economy, and the establishment of both national and pan-African financing and fund-raising mechanisms to support youth initiatives.

The maiden edition of FORA’ESS was held under the theme: “African models of the social solidarity economy: towards the co-construction of a global human economy anchored in the territories”. The second edition is scheduled for 2026 in Congo.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No3132 of Wednesday June 05, 2024