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Last week I was invited to a conference organised by the Swedish Minister for Health care, Public Health and Sport, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Public Health Agency of Sweden to illustrate how the social economy and social enterprises (hereafter SE) contribute to health equity. I feel that the links between the two issues have so far been heavily neglected.

According to WHO, health equity refers to the absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people in access to healthcare and access to the resources needed to improve and maintain health.

Many factors – be them personal, social, economic, or environmental – influence people’s health status. SE gives a contribution to some of these, such as gender equality, childhood development, employment, social inclusion, education, integration of migrants, and social relations.

Considering that the conference audience consisted mostly of people from Nordic countries, I decided to give examples mainly from Mediterranean countries to bring a different perspective. First of all, because I am Italian and before coming to Brussels, I worked in SE in Italy. Secondly, because in countries such as Italy and Spain, one of the reasons why SE are well developed was to fill the gaps of welfare systems. Indeed, SE have their origin in the initiative of groups of citizens or individuals that detect a specific need in their community and set up an enterprise in an attempt to give a response.

In a previous blog I focused on SE contribution to gender equality ( source: WEstart project run by our member, the European Women’s Lobby). Now I will cover some of the factors mentioned above (the full presentation can be viewed here).

If SE currently accounts for 10% of jobs and 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the European Union, it has also proven the capacity to create and maintain employment during the crisis. In Spain, SE created more than 31,000 enterprises and 210,000 jobs from 2008 to 2015. Another added-value is the capacity of SE to employ people that otherwise might find it difficult to find a job. SE can provide sustainable jobs or act as a stepping stone towards traditional companies. SE are able to create a protected work environment where people in vulnerable situations work on equal footing with other people. In Italy, it has been estimated that in 2016 €1 invested in the inclusion of workers in vulnerable situations in social cooperatives has produced a social and economic return of €1.92. The economic return includes increased income for people in vulnerable situations, more tax revenues, better work-life balance, and less hospitalisation and medicines. The social return that cannot be quantified in monetary terms includes the improvement of the relationship with the family and the local community, an increased perception of security, reduction of stigmatisation, greater willingness to show solidarity, and reduced rates of contact with the criminal justice system.

Another aspect is the contribution of SE to children’s development and education and training. Many SE provide early childhood education and care, particularly in countries such as Italy and Spain where welfare systems do not provide a public solution to all children and families. In Spain, from 2007-2013 the European Social Fund provided national inter-sectoral plans for life-long learning. A special programme was developed for SE. It trained 20,371 people.

It is worth developing stronger relationships between the health community and SE.