Social Enterprise

One of REAP’s main objectives is to to promote and support equitable economic solutions. We aim to do this by carrying out a number of actions but mainly by supporting social enterprise.

REAP is a member of the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition.

Supporting Moray Social Enterprise Network
REAP is proud to support MSEN which is a highly innovative group aiming to develop social enterprises in Moray and raise awareness of the added value that social enterprises bring.

The objectives of the Network are:
·  To increase understanding of the work of social enterprises within Moray.

·  To see an increase in trading activity and business development amongst social enterprises in Moray.

·  To help social enterprises become more sustainable in relation to their triple bottom line – socially, economically and environmentally.

·  To build the capacity and confidence of members as individuals and as social entrepreneurs.

·  To foster a culture of mutual support and co-operation amongst social enterprises in Moray.

MSEN achieves this by operating an effective Network which provides support through meetings, information sharing and building new networks with key external stakeholders. Additional effort is applied to delivering a range of generic and bespoke training opportunities for member enterprises and other external stakeholders. Raising the awareness of the role and added value of social enterprises with opinion formers, decision makers and the wider public as regarded as highly important as is representing the interests of social enterprises within Moray through effective lobbying and negotiation.

For more details see the Moray Social Enterprise Network web site.

Providing Accredited Social Enterprise Training
REAP has in the past provided accredited social enterprise training in conjunction with the Social Enterprise Academy. This included a Taster Session to introduce the concepts behind the Social Enterprise Training Programme and a complete social enterprise training course.

SEA are specialists in leadership training for individuals involved in developing and sustaining social enterprises and employ a pool of experienced tutors who deliver innovative learning programmes encompassing all aspects of leadership and development.

For more information about SEA look at their web site.

Providing Capacity Building and Research
REAP has expertise in carrying out research across a wide range of issues concerning local economies and the social enterprise sector.  This has included issue as diverse as economic impact evaluation of local path networks to baseline studies of social enterprise performance.

In the past we have carried out training needs analysis with the Moray Social Enterprise Network to ascertain the range of training requirements of the sector.  REAP has also carried out a number of action research projects on the social economy sector. One looked into current contracting and Service Level Agreements (SLA) between public bodies including local authorities and the social economy sector and another, in partnership with UNISON, looked at employment conditions and organisational health checks with social enterprises.