UWV helps URAIDE to become a true social enterprise

As I stated in my previous contribution: less is more. Again I found this to be true in the way a social enterprise is run. In short: running it as a business carries the risk of being seen as profit focused instead of social profit focused.

The Dutch social service (UWV) finally helped me out. As the grace period of six months for starting-up a business came to an end I had to make up my mind: continue the private enterprise I had established or once again enter the labour market and provide for income in a different way. With URAIDE not yet providing for a living, I had to opt for the latter and started filing job applications again.

This is not to say that there is no market for support to Public-Private Partnership development. The international PPP facilities of the Dutch government have only recently opened and several other financing institutions are encouraging PPPs. The mission of URAIDE therefore has not ended. With PPPs developing at rapid speed, the danger of diminishing civil society space is still out there if people are not considered to be part of the equation.

URAIDE will continue its activities for the International Coordination Council of the Civil Society Politics initiative which will gradually merge with activities for ¥OURWORLD, a still dormant network of civil servants, civil society staff and entrepreneurs. The coming month is election time in the Netherlands. As a candidate for a small Christian political party (ChristenUnie), there will be ample opportunities to engage with public debates concerning the safeguarding of civil society space.

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