There was a fantastic turn out last Thursday for a Local Government and Social Enterprise workshop hosted by the Institute for Regional Development in Burnie (TAS). The workshop was run through an open meeting approach with the philosophy of whoever comes are the right people, whenever it starts is the right time, whatever happens is the only thing that could happen and when it's over it's over.
It all began with questions around social enterprise and how communities and councils could play a role. What was really clear was that many local councils have been working in this sector for many years. There were some fantastic stories of partnerships within regional communities that were not only sustainable financially but were contributing to the social and cultural life of local communities.
It was also clear that once again the terminology can be confusing, but we hope that this doesn't distract from the message relating to the benefits of these businesses that generate income through the sale of goods and services while contributing to the community.
The hope is that this is just the start of the conversation with Local Government and that the sector can be strengthened to support continued involvement in social enterprise.
It is great to hear that there was a chance to share some of the current good practice going on. We did some research in Victoria a few years ago on the role of local government in supporting social enterprise development for health and wellbeing. The context is obviously a bit different, but the resources we produced may be of interest. You can find them at https://wiki.qut.edu.au/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=89757743
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