Blog author: Coompanion
The digitization that followed the pandemic a few years ago brought with it some positive effects for Swedish civil society, shows a report from the Agency for Youth and Civil Society Affairs (MUCF). Some believe that the democratic processes have become more democratic. The report also shows that more people have had the opportunity to participate in activities that previously required travel.
MUCF further writes that associations and other organizations in metropolitan regions are most positively disposed to digitization. In 2022, almost a third of the associations stated that digitization led to actually developing new areas of business.
There is no doubt that the social economy is making progress in digitization, both in terms of its outward-facing work and its internal work. But can digital tools and not least the use of different types of data contribute to these organizations’ ability to make greater impact on society?
That’s what the partnership behind the EU-funded Do Impact project believes. The project aims to strengthen civil society’s impact with the help of digital and data-driven tools. We do this by offering capacity building training for social economy enabling organisations, in Sweden and other European countries.
In Sweden, the project is run by Coompanion Gothenburg region. Coompanion is a support organization for cooperative and social enterprises, and has, among other things, a mission from the The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth to provide advice for everyone who wants to start democratic owned and governed enterprises together.
When asked Swedish organizations that in various ways represent cooperatives and associations in the social economy, they find themselves at a medium to high level in terms of digital competences. However, the level differs between different employees.
As a conclusion we believe that actors within Swedish civil society can gain a lot from access to and learning new tools. Tools that can streamline and automate parts of their work. The use of data to confirm and make visible the social impact are other areas we strongly believe will benefit the sector.
With almost 40 years of experience in supporting the social economy of west Sweden, we have found that these organisations and businesses are very good at their core activities, that they are the most passionate about. However, they often ask for support or knowledge in areas such as economy, marketing and digital tools to help them accomplish their goals.
The first Do Impact transnational workshop is approaching: Boosting Digitalisation and Data Strategies in the Social Economy. It will be held in Turin, Italy, beginning of April 2025.
