The Social Enterprise Partnership is a national Equal theme D project with a focus on social enterprise. It aims to benefit social enterprises and their support bodies throughout GB. Its objectives are; To raise awareness of social enterprise and how to build the sector, Improve the performance of social enterprise, make the social enterprise support system more effective and mainstream best practice and innovation to influence wider programmes of social inclusion and enterprise.

The Development Partnership partners are some of the key national bodies in the field. Other national organisations will be closely involved in delivery. Half the projects will be delivered regionally.

The project is needed because, despite the potential for social enterprise to contribute to social inclusion there are a number of well-attested barriers to its growth, including lack of awareness and mainstreaming, a fragile, fragmented and patchy support structure, a need to widen markets, a lack of evaluative models, inaccessible funding and legal complexity.

Project activities fall into two themes - enhancing business support and promoting learning and quality. The former includes professional development for advisers and practitioners, direct business support, needs assessments and infrastructure such as an extranet and a consultants register. The latter includes learning materials, knowledge exchange (case studies events, the web etc), exploring social enterprise delivery of public services, awareness raising and investigating how barriers to social enterprise employment can be overcome.

The project contributes to the objectives of theme D by strengthening social enterprises in general, and in particular expanding its contributions to social inclusion. Main areas of innovation are; bringing together all parts of the social enterprise sector - the development of new tools - learning across the sector - the development of a national professional development programme for the first time - examining routes to diversity for social enterprise - reviewing for the first time how the Benefit System creates barriers to social enterprise employment. A continuous improvement panel, drawn from beneficiaries, will support partners in ensuring that delivery matches aspirations.

The DP will be in two transnational partnerships, taking part in a wide range of information exchanges, joint product development, awareness raising and exchange visits for members of social enterprises. Events, publications and the web will be used to mainstream information across GB.

Project outputs and outcomes will include: a wide range of training and professional development materials - tools for needs assessment, social audit, health check - an extranet - a consultants register - case studies, analyses and reports covering many areas of relevance to social enterprise - more skilled and knowledgeable members of social enterprises and their support bodies - more successful social enterprises - a more integrated and connected support infrastructure for social enterprise, including a transnational dimension - greater diversity within social enterprises and their infrastructure - greater awareness of social enterprise in general and of its potential for the delivery of public services in particular.