3. THE ITALIAN APPROACH TO SOCIAL ECONOMY AND COHESION POLICY Italy has a long-lasting experience in implementing integrated local development initiatives concerning social economy and cohesion to foster Sustainable Human Development at the local level. For this reason, in this section we present an overview of the Italian approach and experience in both SSE and STC, by presenting both their core policies and actors, as well as a characterization of their distinctive features and core models that make them significantly valuable for replications in other contexts. This overview is based on the combination of extensive desk-based analysis of the academic literature, policy documentation and institutional reports, along with the conduction of semi-structured interviews with 18 key Italian informants in each field (see Appendix 1). While the former has provided the general background on the institutional setting and policy approach, the latter have provided in-depth insider information on the Italian distinctive features on SSE and STC, with particular reference to real-world insights on operational processes and mechanisms on the ground. 3.1 Social and Solidarity Economy in Italy Italy has a long-lasting tradition in SSE. The first organizations date back to the Middle Ages, namely the catholic brotherhoods, the “Misericordie” in Florence, in 1244, and the “Monti di Pietà” set up by Franciscan friars in 1462, in Turin, which provided credit to people in need. Overall, in 2017 the non-profit sector in Italy totals 350.492 organizations and employs 844.775 people (ISTAT (2019). Even though not all these organizations can fall inside the definition of SSE, Italy is nowadays globally recognized as one of the countries where Social Economy is more developed (see Table 1 for the list of the main SSE organizations currently present in Italy). Table 1. Main organizations of the SSE sector in Italy LEGAL ENTITY
TOTAL NUMBER
TOTAL EMPLOYEES
TOTAL VOLUNTEERS
Association
292.174
154.908
5.020.810
Foundation
7.509
98.164
62.211
Cooperatives (non Social)
43.049
763.586
-
Social Cooperatives
15.600
428.713
43.781
Other no-profit organizations
28.149
130.921
401.957
Source: Authors’ adaptation from Barco Serrano et al. (2019)
These numbers show that SSE organizations in Italy are not a residual phenomenon but rather, a driving force of social, economic and human development. SSE organizations in Italy have developed thanks to the interplay of different factors:
the growing difficulty in providing answers to social needs through centralised monetary disbursements
20
