CEE Social Economy Forum in Vienna

Credit: @Marlena König

CEE Social Economy Forum took place on 8th November at the premises of Erste Group in Vienna, Austria. For the first time, this forum gathered policymakers, European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) managing authorities, national promotional banks, microfinance and social finance providers, impact investors, and experts from the EC, EIB Group, and Council of Europe Development Bank to discuss the future of the social economy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).  

MFC was one of the co-organisers together with the European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), the European Investment Bank (EIB) Advisory Services Department for fi-compass, Erste Group, European Microfinance Network, FEBEA and Impact Europe. 

The panels focused on the state of social economy in CEE, financial instruments for social economy, bridging social policy gap through leveraging microfinance for inclusive growth in CEE and the roe of impact investors in driving social entrepreneurship growth in the CEE Region. 

The forum enabled exchange, networking and collaboration among the various social economy stakeholders and supported the sector development through better understanding its needs and potential solutions. 

We would like to thank our members who were the speakers and participants for their contribution! MFC was represented by Ewa Bańkowska, Deputy Director and Beata Biela, Advocacy Manager.