Last Thursday, December 5, the presentation of the project took place in Montevideo, Uruguay. Construction of a statistical information system for the Social and Solidarity Economy in Uruguayorganized by the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Economic Sciences (FCEA) and the Commission for Extension and Activities in the Environment of the same Faculty. The event included the participation of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), represented by Felipe Correa, researcher from the Productive and Business Development Division, who presented experiences in statistical systems of the Social and Solidarity Economy (ESS). in the countries of the region.
Correa began his intervention by highlighting that, after the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on SSE 2023an international definition of the SSE was established. This was an important milestone, as it provides a common framework to understand, structure and measure the impact of this sector.
Next, Correa presented a comparative analysis of the institutional and, therefore, statistical frameworks of the SSE in Latin American and Caribbean countries, highlighting the cases of Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Costa Rica. Each model offers certain particularities that could contribute to the development of a similar SSE measurement system in Uruguay.
The first case presented was that of Colombia, a country that has had legal support since 1998 with the Social and Solidarity Economy Law. Correa explained that there are two institutions with powers in the sector: the Solidarity Unit, in charge of promotion, and the Superintendency of Solidarity Economy (Supersolidaria), responsible for inspection and preparation of statistics. The latter develops statistics on non-profit entities based on the Single Business and Social Registry (RUES) and includes information on active and new organizations by municipality. On the other hand, the statistics of monitored SSE organizations provide data on the income, assets, associates and employees of some types of organizations.
Something similar happens in Ecuador, a country whose supervisory body – the Superintendence of Popular Economy (SEPS) – has the authority to prepare statistics. As relevant information, Correa pointed out that he prepares them by dividing the financial sector from the non-financial sector and takes into consideration the organizations, partners, directors, financial statements, among others. For its part, the Institute of Popular and Solidarity Economy is in charge of the Single Registry of Actors of the Popular and Solidarity Economy that allows organizations to access the benefits and institutional support of the SEPS.
According to Correa, Mexico is a special case, since the Social and Solidarity Economy Law enacted in 2012 does not establish guidelines on the production and dissemination of statistics. So much so, that the National Institute of Social Economy (INAES) does not compile annual statistics on it. However, in 2013 and 2018, the INAES together with the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) prepared the Social Economy Satellite Account, using data from the economic censuses and the agricultural census. These accounts allowed us to estimate the contribution of the SSE to the national GDP through indicators such as production value and costs.
The last country that Correa showed was Costa Rica, whose Directorate of Social and Solidarity Economy, dependent on the Ministry of Labor, requested technical assistance from ECLAC in 2022 to improve the collection of statistics. This work was developed in two stages: first, interviews were carried out with the organizations that make up the ESS and, subsequently, a historical database was created hosted on an interactive website. This work, which has had the support of ECLAC and the Program on Social and Solidarity Economy of the University of Costa Rica (PROESS), is expected to culminate at the end of 2024 with the creation of an Observatory of the Social and Solidarity Economy for Costa Rica.
Correa concluded his intervention by highlighting the need to establish a clear and concise composition of the SSE sector for Uruguay, precisely identifying the sources of information and promoting inter-institutional agreements for the transfer of information between public organizations. All this, prioritizing in the first instance basic indicators such as the number of organizations and partners.
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