GenSo: Genossenschaft und Soziokratie - ein innovatives Modell für kooperatives Entrepreneurship
▶Summary
The main objectives of the project are to promote democratic participation in decision-making processes and to support sustainable working and economic practices. Another goal is to develop fundam...
▶Objectives
The main objectives of the project are to promote democratic participation in decision-making processes and to support sustainable working and economic practices. Another goal is to develop fundamentals that combine the legal form of cooperatives with the sociocratic model for governance and self-organization, thereby fostering meaningful and sustainable economics. Ultimately, it aims to strengthen democratic participation in decision-making processes in the workplace. The project seeks to contribute to the priority of 'Common Values, Civic Engagement, and Participation.' Sub-objectives include building a strong partnership, gathering expertise on the combination of cooperatives and sociocracy, and developing a guide to reach our target groups (trainers, consultants, experts, founders, and decision-makers). The guide will be made available for free to introduce many people to the GenSo model and provide guidance for its implementation.
▶Activities
The initial project activities were activating and listening to our target audience, developing an interview guide based on preliminary theses, conducting an online survey to identify needs and success factors, and carrying out in-depth personal interviews. The interim results were summarized. Following the analysis of survey and interview results, processing cooperative law for Austria, Germany, and the EU, comparing legal forms and concepts for Gen&So, we conducted expert rounds to clarify key questions and developed a guide with supporting materials and a concept for a training-program based on project insights. The contents underwent a review, were prepared for printing, finalized, dispatched, and uploaded to the websites and social media of the partners as well as to the Erasmus+ PRP. The highlight for dissemination was the organization, promotion, and execution of an online networking event. For dissemination, we also used press releases and target group-specific networking, alongside publication on EPALE. Additionally, articles on the topic of GenSo are appearing in professional publications.
▶Impact
Our key results were (1) insights into the needs and success factors in the field of cooperative entrepreneurship, based on an online survey and personal interviews, (2) a comprehensive 44-page guide that integrates cooperative law and sociocracy, offering practical guidance for establishing sociocratic cooperatives (GenSo Guide), along with supporting materials: a comparison of legal forms and a model set of rules for GenSo, (3) an online networking event to present project results, which brought together about 80 participants and stakeholders from various fields, (4) development of fundamentals for a new training program based on the project's findings, supporting the practical implementation of the GenSo model. (5) A network of professionals, consultants, and decision-makers committed to promoting the GenSo model was established to improve visibility and networking. These results significantly contribute to closing an educational gap in the field of cooperative economics and promoting democratic participation in the workplace.