UPDATE: View the video summary of the Policy Dialogue event :

 

Under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness:

Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan

Workshop on:

Social Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region: Inclusiveness and Growth*

April 17, 2019

 Amman, Jordan

 

The Royal Scientific Society, iPARK, FEMISE and CASE­ – Center for Social and Economic Research are organising this joint workshop to address the issues of social entrepreneurship (SE) in the MENA region and the roles of the different actors in providing financial and technical support to these initiatives. A special focus will be made on how SE can tackle the refuges crisis in Jordan and Lebanon.

Context

Social entrepreneurs, “tackling social issues with a business-like approach”, contribute to providing solutions to problems of their communities and are increasingly seen as important factors to innovative, sustainable and inclusive development. A rapidly expanding phenomenon worldwide, social entrepreneurship in the MENA region has ample growth potential.

Recognizing this, the Royal Scientific Society, iPARK, FEMISE and CASE ­ – Center for Social and Economic Research partnered to organize this workshop to provide a space for debate about these issues among the different stakeholders: supporting institutions, international organisations, private sector, researchers and social entrepreneurs.

The participants will discuss a number of issues related to the role of social entrepreneurship in the region, among others:

• the potential contribution that SE may have to solving some of the most pressing issued in the MENA countries, including the case of the Refugees crisis in Jordan and Lebanon.
• the main challenges they are facing in their day-to-day works,
• the applicability of different Social Entrepreneurship business models in the region,
• creating an enabling environment that facilitate their most efficient and effective operations
• ways in which cross-country and cross-regional cooperation can induce a virtuous circle for the emergence of Social Entrepreneurship ecosystems in the MENA region.

As a result of the workshop, a policy brief presenting the main conclusions and recommendations of the participants and the various stakeholders will be developed. Outcomes of the discussion and the focus group will also contribute to the preparation of a report “Social Entrepreneurs’ Responses to the Refugee Crisis in Jordan and Lebanon”, developed by CASE and RSS under FEMISE funding.

 

 

 

* The event received financial support from the European Union through the EU-FEMISE project on “Support to Economic Research, studies and dialogues of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership”. Any views expressed in this workshop are the sole responsibility of the speakers.