Social economy as an agent for sustainable development

Social economy, understood as all the economic and business activities that pursue general interest as a whole, is present in many sectors of activity. It may also be found in the field of development cooperation, where principles such as the primacy of people over capital, transparency, democracy, solidarity and social cohesion, endow this business model with an added value.

This is acknowledged in the Law on sustainable development and global solidarity, recently passed by the Congress of Deputies by overall majority. Once again, Spanish legislation is a pioneer in the designing of public policies to support the social economy, such as the one that back in 2011 established the first law on the social economy in Europe.  Companies in the social economy are committed to the 2030 United Nations Agency and they are characterised by their economic and social transformation capacity in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This transforming vocation is extended to developing third countries through the start up of development cooperation projects or business internationalisation.

Following the recommendations by international organisms, such as the European Union, the International Labour Organisation or the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the new law includes “promoting public-private alliances with social economy entities in order to fulfil the SDGs in member countries and the dissemination of good practices in sustainability” amongst its goals.