CSEHub E-Bulletin - Vol 3 No 2 - May 08

 Welcome to the bulletin of the Canadian Social Economy Hub (CSEHub) for the National Research Program on the Social Economy (funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council). Over the next five years, the CSEHub will be sending out bulletins on a regular basis to provide updates on the work of the CSEHub and its Nodes. An Update on CSERP

  • This is the midpoint in the five year funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships. Four of the Nodes as well as the Hub completed a midterm review for SSHRC in March, with reports from the other two Nodes to follow in September. The Hub review is posted here on the CSEHub website. Also on the CSEHub site is a a list of over 100 different research projects in which CSERP is involved, which you can access by clicking here.
  • Rupert Downing has resigned from his position as executive director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), which he has held for the past six years. Mr. Downing will be moving on to other areas of interest in the CED field as well as working on personal projects.
  • The Research Partnerships recently held an in-person meeting in Ottawa to plan activities for the upcoming two years. The Board agreed to hold a research showcase in November 2008 in Ottawa, support a public policy research forum in Atlantic Canada in late 2008, and work with practitioner/acteur organizations to hold a convergence Summit event in the spring of 2010.
  • Nancy Neamtam, President and CEO of the Chantier de l'économie sociale and a member of the board of CSEHub, was a member of an official delegation to Mexico in February invited by a committee of the Mexican Parliament looking at the promotion of Co-operatives and the Social Economy. The Mexican members of parliament are interested in developing public policies that support the social and solidarity economy.

2008 BCICS/Canadian Social Economy Hub Winter Speakers Series: Co-operation and the Social Economy Throughout the past several months, CSEHub and the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies co-hosted a Winter Speakers Series entitled “Co-operation and the Social Economy”. Featured lecturers included Robin Tunnicliffe (Cooperating for Local Food Security), Jorge Sousa (Sharing the Challenges and the Rewards of Converting to Co-operative Ownership), Vic Murray (Bridging the Gap: Between the Ideal and Reality in the Governance of Non-Profit Organizations), and Vanessa Hammond (Working with Nomadic Women in Mongolia). A balanced mix of students, faculty, staff and community members attended these midday lectures, often bringing along their lunches. Each session featured an inspiring presentation followed by a lively question-and-answer period, which provided insight into both the knowledge of the speaker as well as the diversity of the audience. These events were an amazing opportunity to showcase some of the remarkable Social Economy research and activism that is taking place across the country and around the world, and also a chance for the CSEHub and BCICS to collaborate on a rewarding project. Our sincere thanks to all who participated! If you missed these events, multimedia records of each lecture are available on the Events page of the CSEHub website. Each for All update: new website, expanded broadcast options For the past two years, staff from the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies has been producing a radio show on the subject of co-operatives. As of August 2007, Each For All expanded its mandate to incorporate a broader focus on social economy organizations and their contributions to people's lives. Now EFA is going further afield! The show is being broadcast from both Victoria (CFUV) and Vancouver (CFRO), and now from Atlanta Georgia. The website has also been updated, to make it easier for listeners to access the show or interview that they want. All of the EFA episodes are available to download, free of charge. Check it out at www.eachforall.org Grassroots Economic Organizing now online! Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) is a group that works to promote an economy based on democratic participation, worker and community ownership, social and economic justice, and ecological sustainability. Since 1993, the GEO Newsletter has been providing its subscribers with news and analysis of global efforts to build a democratic and cooperative economy. In order to reach a broader audience and be able to provide more in-depth information about the solidarity economy in the context of the United States, GEO has redesigned its website to be interactive as well as informative. For more information, and to subscribe to their EBulletin, visit www.geo.coop CSEHub Telelearning Sessions After a brief hiatus, the CSEHub telelearning sessions are back! These call-in lectures and discussions are accessible to anyone in Canada with a telephone. In February, we had an exciting English-language session on the topic of Students and the Social Economy and we’ll soon be holding a corresponding French-language session. The questions that were asked of the two lecturers focused on engaging, supporting, and facilitating ongoing opportunities for students. Lena Soots, a graduate student at Simon Fraser University, spoke on her experiences and those of her peers within the academic environment, and CSEHub’s own Ian MacPherson stepped up to provide insight into the engagement of students and their importance to fostering lasting research initiatives. A French-language version of this session will be taking place at the end of April, featuring Dr. Jean-Marc Fontan of UQAM and Christian Howald of Laurentien University. In addition to these issue-focused telelearning sessions, CSEHub was pleased to work together with CCEDNet, RIPESS, Économie solidaire de l’Ontario, and BALTA to host a teleseminar featuring David Thompson, who is the CEO of a national social-economy initiative for the unemployed in Australia. Mr. Thompson’s lecture provided a unique opportunity for both researchers and practitioners across Canada to learn about the Social Economy in Australia, and hopefully derive lessons that can be applied to a more local context. A similar event, featuring Pat Conaty of the UK’s new economics foundation, took place at the start of April and centered on sustainability legislation and innovations in energy-conscious economic development within the context of the United Kingdom. For the podcasts and background readings of these telelearning sessions and more, please see the Telelearning page of the CSEHub website. SESN Update and Social Economy Lunch for Students at the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Science Annual Congress

  • Do you have questions about the Social Economy?
  • Are you interested in Social Economy research and practice?
  • Do you believe that we can better provide economic and social well-being to peoples around the globe?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, please join us on June 5th to discuss these topics and more while enjoying a free lunch! In association with the Canadian Social Economy Hub (CSEHub), the Association for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER) and the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC), the Social Economy Student Network (SESN) is hosting this event for both graduate and undergraduate students at the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Science Annual Congress, May 31 - June 8, on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The fun lunch will be provided free of charge to participants with the goals of exposing them to aspects of the Social Economy, facilitating information-sharing, networking and community-building, and offering them a chance to get to know other students and top researchers working in the field.

 

Thursday, June 5th, 2008 @ 12:30 PM

To register, RSVP to studentnet@socialeconomy.info with your name, location, affiliation, position, and any dietary restrictions. Spaces are limited – Register soon! Other SESN Updates:

  • SESN would like to welcome Suzanne Cook, who is volunteering with the SESN as a student representative from the Southern Ontario Node of the CSEHub. Suzanne is currently a PhD candidate in Adult Education and Community Development at OISE at University of Toronto. We are looking forward to working with her!
  • Congratulations to Melanie Hamel, the French Student Network Coordinator. Melanie has organized a workshop in partnership for francophone students in Montreal on May 2, 2008. The purpose of the workshop is to encourage students interested in the social economy and to provide an opportunity for students to share with others their research projects.

Researcher of the month Over the past several months, CSEHub staff have been conducting brief interviews with interesting researchers whose work contributes to the Social Economy, and then posting the podcasts to the CSEHub website along with biographical notes and links to related background information. The objective of these “Researcher of the Month” profiles is to provide insight into current Social Economy research and show the friendly faces of those who are undertaking it, in order to make the work more accessible for all. The most recent featured researcher is Chipo Kangayi, graduate student working with at Linking, Learning, Leveraging (the Prairie node of CSEHub) whose Canada-wide study into the impacts of social economy initiatives involved a comprehensive mapping and measuring of the geographic spillovers of co-ops in and beyond their local communities. Previously profiles include Brendan Reimer, who examines policy affecting the social economy through his work as the Prairies&Northern Territories Coordinator of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), as well as Jacques Caillouette, a professor in the Social Work department of the University of Sherbrooke who focuses on rural sustainability and intersections with issues such as food security. If you know of a researcher that we should interview, please email secoord at uvic.ca. Ethical Purchasing Policy Activist School This past February, members of the Canadian Student Fair Trade Network organized the third annual Ethical Purchasing Policy Activist School, at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. The goals of this event were:

  • To map the student movement and facilitate a consensus-building process on how to re-structure the CSFTN into an organization with student activists from across the country represented in its leadership structure;
  • To train student activists on advocating for an ethical purchasing policy; and
  • To connect the Fair Trade and No Sweat student movements.

As a follow up to the Activist School, Terrance Luscombe, a student in International Development Studies at York University, prepared a report discussing impressions of the weekend’s events as well as the next steps that are required in order to sustain the movement for social and economic justice. To read the report, please click on the link below:

In addition, early in March, Luscombe was involved in a successful civil disobedience action at York University, in which students from the York Sustainable Purchasing Coalition held a sit-in outside the office of the university president. Their demands were that the university joins the Workers Rights Consortium, a third-party independent agency, as well as the Fair Labour Association. The Coalition also asked York University to use the code of conduct submitted by York students to develop a meaningful policy. For more information, please see the website of the York Sustainable Purchasing Coalition.

Contact the Canadian Social Economy Hub Project Officer: Annie McKitrick secoord at uvic.ca This Bulletin will appear on a regular basis. To subscribe, send an e-mail to info@socialeconomyhub.ca

E-Bulletin Editorial Committee Lindsay Kearns Annie McKitrick

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