Dakar 2005

See our online information center on Social Economy, written by our delegates at the Dakar 2005 Conference !

The Globalization of Solidarity: a Question of Survival

"Last year, Africa's share of total investments in the world was 0.9%. We no longer expect anything from neoliberal economics. You are the alternative!"

So declared Abdou Salam Fall who is Senegalese and a professor at l'Institut fondamental d'Afrique Noire before the delegates at the 2 nd International Meeting on the Globalization of Solidarity in a suburb of Quebec City in October 2001 (the 1st International Meeting was in Lima, Peru, in 1997). Four years on, what has been accomplished? What are the issues and challenges? To assess the ground covered and to chart the way forward, this is the task of the 3 rd International Meeting on the Globalization of Solidarity, which will be held this coming November 22 to 26 in Dakar, capital of Senegal.

The 3 rd Meeting will have five main topics: solidarity finance and credit; popular alternative solutions to the private and State centred models of development; local development; fair trade and ethical trade; and promotion of the social and solidarity economy.

A Uniterra Seminar on the Social and Solidarity Economy

As a prelude to the 3 rd Meeting, Uniterra is organizing a seminar in Senegal from November 13 to 27. "This professional seminar includes a component for young people from Canada interested in the social economy. There will also be 20 social economy specialists and some twenty partners from the South," notes Sylvain Matte, Coordinator of Uniterra's Programming and Partnership Unit. "They will meet to develop, within Uniterra, more direct partnerships between Canadians organizations and organizations from the South, as well as among the organizations from the South themselves." Upon their return, partners will engage in public education activities in their own milieu—conferences, articles, debates, etc.

"We've supported the permanent secretariat of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social and Solidarity Economy (RIPESS), which is organizing the 3 rd Meeting, by sending volunteers," states Sylvain Matte.

Mike Lewis and Gérald Larose, two of the country's major figures in the social and solidarity economy, will be among the seminar's participants.

 A Third Sector

The social and solidarity economy is neither a creature of the State , nor of the for-profit private sector . : o Community groups, cooperatives, mutual associations—the main act o rs of this economic sect o r are non-profit, democratic soit organizations with a social vocation. They include day-care centres (e.g. the Quebec Network of Early Childhood Centres), home care services for persons losing functional independence, popular education, social housing, cultural organizations, environmental enterprises (e.g. waste sorting and recycling centres), etc. The social economy, which gained official Recognition in Quebec during the 1996 Summit on the Economy and Employment, comprises over 6,200 enterprises in Quebec and created about 65,000 jobs in 2001.

Social solidarity economy is a powerful tool to reduce world poverty. Spread the word !