The Knowledge Centre aims to be the one-stop-shop for learning more about Social Investment; both theoretically and in practice. The Centre is an outcome of the Alliance for Inclusive Investment in Social Care and Support (a4i) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The a4i project aims to build up the capacity of social services, private investors and public authorities to collaborate and to use private investment for projects in the field of social care and support.
The Knowledge Centre
The SocialInvestment.EU Knowledge Centre is a one-stop-shop webpage for learning more about Social Investment; both theoretically and in practice. By Social Investment, we primarily mean different forms of private investment into the field of social care and support; and the social economy more broadly.
Private investment in social care and support remains still a widely ignored topic; yet can have a major impact over innovation and increased social impact in the next few years.
The Knowledge Centre aims to provide the basic information around private investment in social care and support; primarily targeting
- finance professionals and CEOs in the field of social care and support seeking investment,
- professionals active (or seeking to be active) in private investment into social issues
- professionals from public authorities seeking to better understand and use private investment.
- Universities seeking to develop their teaching material around social investment
The Knowledge Centre includes both a
- universal and country-specific online training around social investment for practionners (or those who seek to understand better the issue) – both theoretical and practical
- Key background documents (State of the Art report, EU Guidance, etc)
- Best practices in Social Investment
- And a list of key partners and stakeholders
a4i project
These outputs come from the a4i project, co-funded by Erasmus+ programme which seeked to build up the capacity of social services, private investors and public authorities to collaborate and to use private investment for projects in the field of social care and support.
It brought together representatives from
- social care and support: EASPD, F. ONCE (Spain), UNIPSO (Belgium) & APSS (Czechia)
- private investors: FEBEA, Caja Laboral (Spain), CREDAL (Belgium) and Ceska Sporitelna (Czechia)
- universities: Mondragon University & Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)(Spain), University of Liège (Belgium) & CEVRO (Czechia)
- & Others: HealthClusterNet
In a4i, Social Service Providers (SP), Private Investors (PI) and Higher Education Institutions (HEI) work together to create a new cross-sectoral teaching concept, based on integrated academic and adult training learning methods together with models and case examples of good practices. Therefore, thanks to this project, Social Services Providers and Private Investors can use common knowledge and tools to understand each other, communicate and collaborate more easily.
Online Training Course:
The a4i project has produced a thorough online training course (MOOC) open to the general public and accessible here (simple registration process needed):
The Training Course in English covers the following topics through 14 modules:
- Understanding Social Investment, an introduction
- Understanding the Investment Cycle
- Understanding Demand for Social Investment (social care and support sector)
- Understanding Supply of Social Investment (private investment sector)
- Conventional (what instruments for your investment needs)
- Unconventional Financing Models (what instruments for your investment needs)
- Partnership with Public Authorities
- Developing a Business Plan (conventional)
- Developing a Business Plan (unconventional)
- Partnership with Private Investors
- Social Impact Assessment
- Risk Assessment
- Monitoring the Implementation
- European Financial instruments
The Training Course also enables access to additional material focusing on the national specificities in Spain, Belgium and Czechia. The Training Course is also the result of a face-to-face and successful piloting of this material in the three countries involved.
Key Resources
The a4i project has also produced other key resources to create this online training course; including
- State of Play report on Social Investment in Social Care and Support in Europe (2021); which details the main context and trends around private investment in social care and support across the continent.
- European Guidance on Quality Investment Principles for Social Investment (2021)
- Promising Practices of Social Investment from across Europe (2021), including those benefitting from EU support.
- Pool of a4i mentors (2021), where you can access the contact details of the a4i project’s key stakeholders in case you wish to request mentorship or support for your project development
- Guidelines for the national transposition into Belgian, Spanish and Czech context are also available on request (2021).
- An a4i project vision statement and joint terminology of key terms(2021).
Library
Human rights
United Nations: Business and Human Rights: A Progress Report
United Nations: About the Sustainable Development Goals
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons
Joint Declaration: Developing the Support Services of Tomorrow
Social care & Social investment
Federation of Social Employers: New report on the Social Services Workforce in Europe: Current State of Play and Challenges
Caritas: The future of the welfare state
How to Fund Quality Care and Support Services: 7 key elements - EASPD Conference Report 2019
BIS: Structural changes in banking after the crisis
Leverage for good: An introduction to the new frontiers of philanthropy and social investment
OECD: Social Impact Investment 2019: The Impact Imperative for Sustainable Development
EU financial instruments
EASPD: Investing in Social Care & Support - A European Imperative
European Commission: Boosting Investment in Social Infrastructure in Europe - Report of the High-Level Task Force on Investing in Social Infrastructure in Europe
European Investment Bank: EaSI Guarantee Instrument
European Committe of Regions: Factsheet: Financing a city’s or region’s long-term capital investment programme - EIB framework loans
Use cases on social investment
Social Investment & European Investment Fund: August 2020
News & Articles
Why engage private investment? October 2020
a4i Profesionnal Development Programme October 2020
Social infrastructure finance and institutional investors October 2020
Launch of the Czech Piloting November 2020
Private Investment, Human Rights & Social Care: Building a common European agenda November 2020
InvestEU 2021-2027 January 2021
Launch of the Spanish Piloting April 2021
What is InvestEU? April 2021
InvestEU Programme: Guidance on social sustainability proofing of investment and financing operations May 2021
file:///C:/Users/hp/Downloads/1.1%20Social%20investment%20in%20the%20EU_%20state%20of%20p
