Public policy for social and solidarity economy: a case study from Nepal

Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) has been embraced in Nepal as a source of decent jobs/enterprise for social economy (larger than household economy) as well as for national economy. The social solidarity economy has recently emerged in Nepal; however, its application dates back to the ancient past entrenched with indigenous institutions/cultures. It has been rooted particularly in rural and suburb areas as a resilient response against prevalent poverty, subsistence economy and casual hegemonies. Informal ways of exchanging goods and services (barter system), extending unconditional help to helpless, free-of-interest-borrowings among kith and kin, collective responsibility of performing rituals such as marriage, funerals and some unavoidable cultural and religious functions are still prevalent in various parts and among various ethnic and tribal groups of Nepal. Most of these practices have now institutionalized into SSE organizations as cooperatives, fair trade groups, user groups, federations and social enterprises, however almost of them are in infancy stages and sought to be capacitated. Strengthening partnerships between social and solidarity economy actors, civil society movements and government has largely been recognized and urged globally as a smooth pace for social and solidarity economy to reach its potential. In this context, an attempt to catalogue the social solidarity economy attributes of Nepal is important before aims at capacitating and strengthening them