At Palazzo Chigi, among the files to the attention of the new government, lies an Italian plan for the social economy, sent by Vanessa Pallucchi, spokesperson for the National Forum of the Third Sector, an umbrella that welcomes the major Italian entities, from Acli to Legambiente, from ActionAid to Legacoopsociali. All together they ask not only for the national variation of the Social Economy Action Plan drawn up by the EU Commission, but also for a call to action for the definition of a social economy in Europe, a tax system that takes into account the peculiarities of the non-profit.
And then the development of a new way in the relations between public bodies and the third sector through co-programming and co-planning.
On the other hand, the time is ripe, once the great test of the pandemic has been overcome. The third sector has dealt with the emergency by accelerating the digital transition, which is difficult especially for smaller entities and by innovating the ways in which it provides services, from teaching to welfare. And the latest Istat data confirm this resistance, which in 2020 turned into a push forward: despite the drop in turnover up to 20% by half of the non-profit institutions due to the distancing measures, the number of employees grew by 1% to 870,183 people, at work in 363,499 organizations (+ 0.2% on 2019).
A strong third sector, therefore, which does not end in the non-profit world but is the beating heart of a varied social economy that wants to offer answers to the urgencies of the time from the climate crisis to social inequalities. As was told in the recent Bertinoro Days for Civil Economy, organized by Aiccon, there is an Italy that questions new ways of welfare, the development of inland areas, the meaning of work in the precarious era. And he experiments with forms of neomutualism, as witnessed by Paolo Venturi and Flaviano Zandonai in the book of the same name, published by Egea. Or that puts in place proximity economies activated not necessarily by the non-profit, as in Bari where the Municipality is supporting the shops that regenerate neighborhoods.
Now in order to contribute to the development of the country, the third sector is called to come out of the shadow cone in which it has sometimes settled and, as wished by Professor Stefano Zamagni, to become increasingly aware of its valuable role, not only for that it does but for what it is, and as an expression of civil society. An obligatory path, if we want to establish itself as a real third pillar between the state and the market. The signs are all there: in Bologna, the Municipality has signed a pact with the third sector and civic networks that will also be extended to the business world, starting with benefits.