POLAND: First Polish Fair of Social Economy

The main idea of the fair was to popularize the idea among the decision-makers, as well as to together people and organizations involved in the development of social economy in Poland and let them get to know each other. The first day was devoted to a conference during which various politicians and representatives of organizations acting in the field of or simply interested in social economy discussed the meaning, goals, and problems of social economy in Poland. The proponents of the idea stressed the importance of social economy endeavors in offering the employment to the poorest and otherwise disadvantaged people in society. In this way social economy prevents or deals with social exclusion of many societal groups. For some social enterprises, if privileged, would threaten free market competition. But there were also opinions that some social economy is only another way of smuggling to today?s world the old-fashioned socialistic ideas. Nevertheless, lack of laws regulating the functioning of social economy institutions (social enterprises, in particular) was acknowledged as the main obstacle of development of social economy in Poland. In response, two professors that were involved in the formulation of the Act on Public Benefit Activity and on Volunteering, which was the first law passed in 2003 to regulate many dimensions of the functioning of the nonprofit sector in Poland, promised to draw up a proposal of the law on the social enterprise in Poland. The second day was devoted to the real fair, when on the main market of Cracow, already existing forms that could be considered as the social enterprises, presented the products of their work. The participants of the fair and passer-bys could watch, taste or even buy various goods produced by the people working in these social enterprises.