ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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	Abstracts

Social integration and regional development. The performance of work integration social enterprises in the local economy
by
Andreas Schulz
Universität Giessen, Bismarckstr. 37, 35390 Giessen, Germany

Within the last few years, the worldwide globalisation had an increasing impact on people’s social and labour market situation. Unemployment, especially long-term unemployment of older and low-qualified persons increased. A large number of not-for-profit-organizations have been founded in order to help unemployed people, especially in low developed regions. These organizations provide measures and activities both for social and labour market integration, establishing a space for participating in between of the private realm and closed communities on the one and the ordinary labour market on the other hand.

An international project by the EMES-group (European Research Group) developed a type of a not-for-profit-organization which is organizing work integration beside social and labour market projects and the production of goods or services. The performance of these work integration organizations – in the following called work integration enterprises (WISE) – are based on their balancing of social, productive and political activities inside the regions. According to this concept to be introduced in the first part of the paper, the performance of these organizations is based on a balance of a multiplicity of resources and a multiplicity of tasks and goals. The latter ones are concerning offers for social and occupational integration, the creation of useful goods and services and finally forms of advocacy for the groups and people they are concerned with.

Work integration social enterprises are an example for a new type of balancing social and economical aims, offers a new concept of regional development which focuses on a single organization. Furthermore, the approach is not limited to the social impact of not-for-profit-organizations as it includes both aspects – the social as well as the economical performance of this type of organization.

The presentation will introduce in the possibilities of WISE to achieve contributions to the regional development due to their economic and social activities, such as work integration measures, goods and services as well as networking and political advertising. The performance of WISE will be exemplary illustrated in an empirical part which is based on a postal questionnaire and a number of qualitative interviews in Germany.

While WISE pursue multiple goals such as social integration and regional development, the activities of the organizations are related on the state, the market and the civil society:

• Labour market policy: The western European countries and especially Germany have a rich tradition in social state regulation and labour market policy. Since 1969 different Federal Employment Acts regulate measures for occupation, qualification and placement of unemployed people. Additionally, municipalities have also developed strategies for labour market integration. Work integration enterprises in Germany have access to various political actors and programmes which they can use to finance their activities.

• Impact of market activities: The production of goods and services inside the WISE serves two different purposes in Germany. Firstly, the production provides possibilities to learn working skills and abilities for the workers. Secondly, a small market income is guaranteed due to the sale of goods and services. Only a small number of WISEs have succeeded in establishing a strong position inside the local economy. However, WISE produce additional goods which are not provided by market firms, and what is more, WISE also provide public goods which are necessary but which are neither guaranteed by market nor by state organizations. The market activities of WISE in Germany are characterized by their relation to the local needs and to the regional economy.

• Impact of civil society and community-based activities: In Germany, the WISEs are characterized by a significant level of political and community-based activities. They represent specific norms and values, are part of local and regional networks and are members in umbrella organizations; furthermore they have generally established an enduring contact to political and social actors. WISE stand out with their ability to produce and use “social capital”. Therefore, these organizations not only support the social development through their activities but also contribute to a democratic development through opinion-building and their participation in the political process.

While WISE combine these different activities and objectives in their operational work, these organizations contribute to the social and regional development of weak regions and / or regions in structural change.

Date received: September 29, 2003

Copyright © 2003 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # camk-96.