The CEFEC Conference team thanks all who participated in

International conference “Social Firms - A New Dimension
of Enterprise”

Whether in the role of participants, speakers, partners, contractors or volunteers. According to the responses, which were given to us,  it was successful and met our expectations. We are pleased that you are with the content of the course in the most satisfied.

A total of events attended by about 300 people from 22 countries. There were Australians, Indians or one guest from remote Japan among participants. We hope that you took away many pleasant meetings, experiences, experiences and memories, as we did.

We are going to establish a Conference outputs section at this website in the near future, where you will find photos and presentations.

Your CEFEC organizational team

XXII. CEFEC CONFERENCE
Social Firms - A New Dimension of Enterprise
10th – 12th September 2009, PRAGUE, Czech Republic

The conference is a part of Mental Health Weeks 2009

Under the auspices of

Mr. VLADIMÍR ŠPIDLA
Comissioner for Employment , Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
Mr. PETR ŠIMERKA,
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Czech Republic, and
Mr. PAVEL BÉM,
Mayor of the City of Prague, Czech Republic

Introduction

Dear colleagues,
We are very pleased to invite you to join us at the 2009 conference of Social Firms Europe - CEFEC! This is an extremely challenging time in our economy and our society. Although there’s been an emphasis placed on sustainability of development by European Union representatives for some time as a balance of economic, environmental and social elements, the need for this balance has become crucial within the context of the current economic crisis. At our 2009 conference we will consider the different approaches of social economics and social enterprise as some of the few real solutions to today’s challenges. The conference aims to share and disseminate these and other ideas, introduce examples of good practice from a range of different countries all facing similar challenges, and call upon the national and EU policy representatives to support them.

Sally Reynolds, Secretary General of Social Firms Europe - CEFEC
Pavel Novák, Chairperson of CEFEC, Executive Director of Fokus Praha c.a.

The main topics of the conference are:

• Social enterprising and the current economic crisis. Ethics of enterprising
• The economic and social impact of employing disadvantaged people
• Economic sustainability and prosperity of a social firm (promotion, business plan, marketing strategies etc.)
• European Social Firm of the Year Award

The conference program has been conceived to provide many practical workshops and opportunities of personal meetings and sharing experiences. It offers to those who are interested in establishing or are already running a social firm, new knowledge and concrete inspiration to be able to sustain and develop their social firm in contemporary ambient conditions.

Target audiences

This long established annual international event brings together those who are interested or concerned in mental health care, employment of people with various disabilities and/or severe disadvantages and especially in alternative employment projects that intend to compete in regular enterprise (e.g. Social Firms, social co-operatives).

Official conference languages

Czech / English (Simultaneous translation)

The conference venue

We are delighted to welcome you to the Czech Republic in the ancient capital city of Prague, known as “the heart of Europe“ or “the city of a thousand spires“.  We invite you to sample its magical atmosphere and unique beauty. We are also honored to be the first post-communist country hosting the CEFEC Annual Conference.

We hope you will find the conference of interest!

More information will be added continuously, but in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to e-mail us.