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World Forum

The Social Enterprise World Forum

Presentation

The Forum will be the first international gathering of practitioners and support agencies dealing exclusively with social enterprise and will bring together social enterprise leaders and champions from all continents to collaborate, share best practice and plan future developments. This collaboration will raise awareness of social enterprise as an expanding global mechanism for social change and will explore the merit of ongoing collaboration for key stakeholders.

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Call for papers

We would like to invite proposals for papers focusing on citizen participation and democratic engagement. These might include discussions on: rules of inclusion, formal and informal relations with representative institutions, the outcomes of participation and mechanisms for the selection and channelling of civil society organisation; the ways in which citizens mobilise for democracy; the role of networks and others in mediating state-society relations, etc.
We particularly encourage thinking about the value of comparing experiences across the globe and papers that will raise issues for international dialogue. Authors are encouraged to link their discussion of citizen participation and democratic engagement to our broader themes:

• Methodological challenges: how can we learn from comparing experiences between North and South (or East and West)?
• How do different state actors understand or promote conceptions of participation?
• What are the challenges for citizens engaging in new governance spaces, and how do these challenges vary between countries?
• How do citizens’ strategies for participation and democratic engagement vary?
• What are the ‘dividends’ or outcomes of citizen engagement and participation for deepening democracy and achieving developmental results?

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Theme

Participants will examine the conditions needed for social enterprises to thrive, highlighting outstanding examples of innovation and best practice from around the world. Participants will engage with representatives of governments that are actively supporting and promoting social enterprise and will analyse the challenges of changing world and local markets, Social Enterprises and Support Agencies will emerge with shared actions to improve sustainability and increase social and economic impact.

The theme of working together for a sustainable future runs through the entire Social Enterprise World Forum. We will examine how and when social enterprises thrive as well as engaging delegates in action planning to meet common challenges and opportunities.

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Participation

CEiS is promoting the Social Enterprise World Forum at a number of international and local events as well as to a world wide audience through partner organisations, government agencies and membership networks. The enthusiasm for the event has been extremely encouraging and reflects the expanding interest in the social enterprise business model throughout the world.

The Expressions of Interest received to date indicate that the event will be fully booked well in advance of the closing date. Delegates are encouraged not to make flight or accommodation arrangements until confirmation of a delegates place has been received from the CEiS Events Team.

To have a truly international World Forum there are territorial and organisational limits to ensure social enterprises and support agencies are prioritised.

To avoid disappointment we strongly encourage you to book early.

Official web site

Please check the Forum's official web site for updates and further details.

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