Social economy puts people before profits. It invests in people, in their capacities and creativity, and empowers them, creating quality jobs and providing training as well as prioritizing social objectives, like helping people far from the labour market access work.
In a market economy, enterprises are meant to generate a profit. They operate in the market, providing goods and services and looking for customers’ satisfaction. This is also true for the social economy. But the difference being that in a social economy, the profit gained goes toward meeting social objectives, not primarily toward generating individual wealth.
By prioritising social objectives, social economy contributes, in an innovative way, to tackling social, economic and environmental needs in society that have been overlooked or inadequately addressed by the private or public sectors. With this understanding in mind, Caritas are actively creating and implementing a variety of different types of social economy projects throughout Europe.
