Submission to the Consultation on Victoria’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2021

SVA’s submission to this consultation highlights the need for supporting the supply side of the social enterprise market to meet rapidly growing demand.

This submission to the Victorian Social Enterprise Strategy 2021 onwards acknowledges the leadership shown by the Victorian Government in recognising the potential of social enterprise to generate economic and social benefit. Development and Implementation of the Social Procurement Framework (SPF) had provided strong market signals to encourage growth in the social enterprise ecosystem.

Recommendations to realise the ambition of the SPF through focus on supporting the supply side of the market included:

• Boost the capacity of the social enterprise ecosystem by supporting the coordinated development of necessary tools, frameworks and information exchanges;
• Provide support for social enterprises seeking to build capability and scale their operations, whether to access the SPF or to grow their impact through other means;
• Ensure that social enterprises that have managed to survive through the COVID-19 crisis are supported to thrive in the recovery phase;
• Where possible, seek to co-ordinate rather than overlap or duplicate support provided by other entities, including the Commonwealth Government.