Working visit Prague - roots.utopia.sk
In the footsteps of the social and solidarity economy in Prague
Report from the working visit
In November 2022, together with the activists of ÚRMC, we went on a working trip to Prague, where we visited a number of enterprises that are part of the social and solidarity economy. We were accompanied by Karolína Silná from our partner organization Ekumenická Akademie.
The social and solidarity economy asks how people can create and distribute economic resources together democratically. It seeks to eradicate poverty, social and economic exclusion and undemocratic, authoritarian power relations and institutions. It plays an indispensable role in thinking about the development of marginalised communities and social exclusion, as its aim is not to maximise profit, but to improve social and community relations and build respect for the environment.
The first stop was the Fair&Bio coffee roastery in Kostelec nad Labem, not far from Prague. It is a social cooperative that provides work for people with mental and physical handicaps. All the coffee that comes to the roastery for further processing comes from Fairtrade-certified farms and in the vast majority of cases is grown organically. The activists from ÚRMC were enthusiastic about the visit and have begun to develop plans to open a similar enterprise in the Banská Bystrica region.
The social and solidarity economy asks how people can create and distribute economic resources together democratically. It seeks to eradicate poverty, social and economic exclusion and undemocratic, authoritarian power relations and institutions. It plays an indispensable role in thinking about the development of marginalised communities and social exclusion, as its aim is not to maximise profit, but to improve social and community relations and build respect for the environment.
The first stop was the Fair&Bio coffee roastery in Kostelec nad Labem, not far from Prague. It is a social cooperative that provides work for people with mental and physical handicaps. All the coffee that comes to the roastery for further processing comes from Fairtrade-certified farms and in the vast majority of cases is grown organically. The activists from ÚRMC were enthusiastic about the visit and have begun to develop plans to open a similar enterprise in the Banská Bystrica region.
The next business we visited was the Fair & Bio shop. The activists got information about Fairtrade certification and we also discussed solidarity across continents. From the shop, our steps led to the nearby alternative space Bar/ák, which harbours a bar or theatre. The same building also houses a workshop recycling old furniture.
We also visited the Strěcha Restaurant , which is also a social cooperative. It employs people with experience of homelessness or after serving a sentence. After a while, each of the employees gets a chance to join the cooperative and participate in its running. The activists had the opportunity to discuss with one of the founders of the cooperative. They learned a lot about its daily operations and the biggest challenges facing the cooperative. During the following workshop, they experienced for themselves what the first steps before setting up a social enterprise should look like.
Before we left, we also had a chance to visit Café Therapy, an integrative social enterprise that employs hard-to-employ people at risk of social exclusion. The aim of the enterprise is to stabilise and retrain male and female clients and return them to the open 'labour market'.
Translated by deepl.com. Not edited.
Translated by deepl.com. Not edited.