SERI part of Consortium that wins tender for DRCD Data Collection exercise on social enterprises
Castlecomer Discovery Park is a proud #socialenterprise, working to develop rural tourism, create jobs and regenerate the local economy. Kathy Purcell, General Manager at the Discovery Park holds a position on the SERI Practioner’s Council and is delighted to announce that SERI has been successful in tendering for a game changing piece of work for the social enterprise sector, creating a database of social enterprises in Ireland.
Background
The Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) was established in July 2017 to provide a renewed and consolidated focus on rural and community development in Ireland.
In 2019 DRCD published the National Social Enterprise Policy 2019-2022 (NSEP) which seeks to create an enabling environment for social enterprise in Ireland to grow and contribute to Ireland’s social and economic progress
One of the policy commitments was to “Improve data collection relating to the extent of Social Enterprise in Ireland and the areas in which social enterprises operate”
DRCD has found during policy implementation that lack of data or, more specifically, no reliable estimate on the number of social enterprises in Ireland has impeded efforts regarding supports and awareness.
In January 2022 DRCD sought applicants to tender for the first Data Collection of Irish social enterprises. SERI formed a consortium comprising themselves, Amárach Research, and the Irish Local Development Network (ILDN) to bid for this tender
Result of Tender
On Friday 5th March DRCD announced that the SERI/Amárach/ILDN consortium were awarded the Tender.
Fergus Finlay Chair of SERI said “this represents a very important milestone displaying a commitment by DRCD to providing critical information on the sector, needed to shape and help execute social enterprise policy. The success of the data collection will require extensive communication and collaboration amongst all the key players in the social enterprise and C&V sectors and the consortium is committed to that approach.”
It is planned that work will be completed in late 2022, it being dependent on a range of known issues being addressed in a timely manner. We will keep you informed on plans and how you can engage with this work.
Objectives of The SE Tender (for information)
Design and implement a baseline data collection exercise regarding the social enterprise sector in Ireland. The achievement of this objective will be the establishment of a reliable evidence base necessary for successful policy delivery through a robust and repeatable data collection exercise regarding the social enterprise sector in Ireland.
The assignment will have two stages:
Stage 1 – To design a comprehensive data collection process/methodology, in collaboration with social enterprise stakeholders, to establish the size and scope of the social enterprise population in Ireland.
Upon satisfactory completion of Stage 1,
Stage 2 – To conduct the first National Social Enterprise baseline data collection exercise in collaboration with social enterprise networks, present a preliminary report with headline findings, followed by a comprehensive report about the scale, scope and nature of the social enterprise population in Ireland. The data collected would be presented in an anonymised format.
