Current challenges and future potentials of social economy in Croatia

Abstract

The social economy sector in Croatia has been neglected for a long time and has not been recognized as a space for sustainable jobs and the development of a more inclusive and cohesive society, as is the case in many Eastern and Central European countries. On the other hand, social entrepreneurship is a relatively new phenomenon established in this century. The aim of this paper is to assess the trends and challenges of social economy development in Croatia as the newest, last EU member state. On the basis of a secondary data analysis, the paper scrutinizes trends in social economy development. Social entrepreneurship is analysed as a part of the social economy that is strengthening, as well as the economic activity of associations that tends to turn into a social economy or a solidarity economy. The paper will also give an overview of the instances of the institutional context of the development of cooperatives and social enterprises, such as the recent legislative and policy changes, as well as the institutional framework with some insights into recommendations how to promote the development of the social economy sector in Croatia. Keywords: social economy; cooperative sector; social enterprises; Croatia.

Impact of Service Learning on Social Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment in Croatia

“…The fact that participants consider that the general climate should be the key incentive for encouraging the employment of young social entrepreneurs or for their stay in the social entrepreneurship sector is in line with another analysis, which assessed it as a relatively unfavorable with the lack of political will to prioritize the development of this sector [40,54]. While other incentives are also important (e.g.…”

Key challenges for further development of social entrepreneurship in Croatia

“…After this first wave, the second wave was more focused on social cooperatives as a new form of social entrepreneurship (Vidović and Rakin, 2017) Petričević (2012) argues that the above-mentioned definition is holistic and integrated and emphasizes the key elements of sustainability that are not focused exclusively on profit but rather on people and nature as places for living and survival of those who create profit. Even though the adoption of the Strategy was a significant institutional achievement, its implementation proved to be very poor and complicated, followed by insufficient political will and awareness as to the importance of developing social entrepreneurship (Baturina, 2018;Vidović, 2019;Babić and Baturina, 2020).…”

Towards negotiation: A RAMESES narrative review of social enterprise to support sustainability in Sport for Social Change (S4SC)

“…In addition, even though there are not always stringent laws to guide social enterprise development, organizations may be able to operate according to social enterprise principles reflective in the social enterprise definitions put forth. Therefore, we may be able to assume that it is up to the organization to articulate the principles, which may be the most welcoming and applicable to their own context (Babi c & Baturina, 2020;Monzon-Campos & Herrero-Montagud, 2016).…”