On 16 June 2026, as part of a professional meeting on the social and solidarity economy at the ELTE Center for Social Sciences Research.
The aim of the event was for researchers and practitioners to jointly discuss the current challenges facing the social and solidarity economy, the role of social innovation, and the results and limitations of initiatives supporting social integration.
During the afternoon session of the conference, the ESIRA project presented two papers. Luca Koltai, a researcher at the Hétfa Research Institute, presented the experiences of the ESIRA project in a talk titled “Supporting Social Innovation Through Social Enterprises in the ESIRA Project,” highlighting the role of social enterprises in strengthening the innovative capacity of local communities. Anna Szerepi, a staff member at the Hungarian Reformed Charity Service (MRSZ), presented the results and lessons learned from the domestic application of the Multi-Actor Platform methodology in her presentation titled “Local Experiences with Implementing the Multi-Actor Platform Methodology.”
The workshop addressed methodological issues related to the social and solidarity economy, the effects of social integration at the individual level, and outcomes and challenges at the community level, organized into three thematic blocks. The program concluded with a joint professional discussion and a conversation about opportunities for collaboration.
The event was organized by the ELTE Center for Social Sciences Research as part of the OTKA 147050 research project titled “The Role of the Social Economy in Promoting Social Integration in Rural Areas of Hungary.”