Innovative new cross-border programme to champion social enterprises

The DISCOVERY Programme is a new collaborative two-year programme, developed by SERI and SENI, two organisations that represent the interests of communities that operate Social Enterprises north and south.

The innovative idea is being funded by the International Fund for Ireland, under its Communities in Partnership funding Programme, which supports meaningful cross-border partnerships, including ideas that create the conditions for the development of social enterprise and innovation.

The DISCOVERY Programme aims to connect and to support the leaders of social enterprises, as the key drivers of social impact and good community relations work north and south, the people who provide essential community services and are the backbone of communities on each side of the border. The collaboration to deliver the programme is the first step in a new partnership between SERI and SENI, who have worked together, to design the programme, working in the collective and best interests of the social enterprise sector.

Speaking at the launch event, Paddy Harte, chair of the International Fund for Ireland said; “We know that social enterprises are playing an increasingly important role contributing to the economic and social landscape. They operate much needed facilities, providing services, creating employment, working within disadvantaged communities and adding value to all aspects of community life.

“This IFI funding will provide the building blocks to help Social Enterprises manage and navigate the challenges around financial sustainability and help develop long-term viable social businesses that will benefit communities.

“The DISCOVERY Programme will establish a shared vision to unite communities rather than divide, working with Social Enterprises who are facing similar challenges and ultimately play an important role in building long-term cross-border connections.”

As social enterprises grow and develop over time, expanding their social impact, community leaders can find themselves running quite complex operations, similar to businesses, but where all surplus or profit generated is reinvested into the community.

Over time, the operators of social enterprises can encounter a whole different set of challenges from those when they first came together as a committee to start up their community group. Just like businesses that operate in the private sector, this can require a complete different set of management tools, skills and techniques to sustain and grow the social enterprise. The DISCOVERY programme is about understanding this challenge and working in support of communities over the course of the next two years to address it.

John Logue CEO of Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland said; “We are excited to launch the new DISCOVERY programme and to work in partnership with Social Enterprise Northern Ireland. Both of our organisations are working separately every day, each side of the border, in the best interests of our community of members, to develop policy, to advocate for much needed funding, and to connect with Government and Political Leaders to raise awareness of each Social Enterprises work, their funding and development needs.

"Through the DISCOVERY programme, our motivation is really to practically support the operators of social enterprises, to help them to apply new digital tools, to enhance their financial management expertise, to help to grow and manage income, and to optimise and control costs. Theres also a great learning opportunity from the cross-border collaboration and that’s what we aim to facilitate, and that’s what the programmes about.”

The DISCOVERY programme will build new connections with social enterprises operating in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. Twenty-four social enterprises are taking part in the programme pilot and will benefit from an introduction to new skills and digital management tools, mentorship, training, a series of residentials designed around the sustainability theme, and from cross border exchanges as well as different conference events. At the same time, the partners will be working on behalf of the social enterprise sector, to further build awareness of the significant social impact work that social enterprises do, and to advance and align social policy that’s in the interests of all social enterprise operators.

Colin Jess, CEO of Social Enterprise Northern Ireland (SENI), added: “We are already entrusted by the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland to deliver the Social Economy Work Programme and the DISCOVERY programme adds great value to the existing work we do on behalf of our SENI members.

"The new partnership with SERI, is we believe a key innovation for the sector in that the challenge of financial sustainability, of trading, of growing, of building revenue, of employing and retaining staff, these are challenges that every social enterprise contends with every day. That’s on top of the regular day to day work of delivering services of significant impact and benefit to the community. What we hope to achieve through the programme, is to support social enterprises to work through some of the key sustainability challenges that they face, while at the same time building new relationships that inspire further innovations across the sector in Northern Ireland.”