The Western Development Commission has launched a new interactive map for social enterprises operating in the western region covering Clare, Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal.
In April, Minister Heather Humphreys announced €50,000 in funding to Western Development Commission provided by the Department of Rural & Community Development’s (DRCD ) Awareness Raising Initiative for Social Enterprise Scheme (ARISE ), which will be used to help raise awareness of social enterprise activity across the region and host a series of networking/educational events.
To date, the Western Development Commission’s team has identified and mapped 288 social enterprises within the region but believe there are more to capture. As part of the research, the WDC has developed an interactive map of social enterprises.
Tomás Ó Síocháin, chief executive of the Western Development Commission, said: "We welcome the recent allocation of funding from Minister Heather Humphreys to support our work in this sector.
"Supporting communities and social enterprises provides an opportunity for the WDC to use its sectoral knowledge, expertise and capital to stimulate economic activity and create jobs in rural regions.
"This new interactive map will allow consumers to access information about services locally which has previously not been available. If successful, there is potential for this map to be rolled out nationally."
Social enterprises that are not included on the map are invited to complete a short survey which can be found at www.westerndevelopment.ie Registering your social enterprise on this interactive map creates an opportunity for you to increase your visibility and highlight the services your social enterprise provides.
Western Development Commission plans to launch a strategy that sets out a number of actions to accelerate the growth of social enterprise across the region and plans to create a Social Innovation Region.
