The first GRAPE Social Economy Mission took place in Sicily in the Municipality of Mirabella Imbaccari from the 13^th to the 15^th of July 2022. In this occasion, partners had the chance to meet in person and start sharing experiences and skills. The Mission pivoted around some key objectives: the introduction of the partners communities with their own strengths and weaknesses, the identification of shared priorities for the green and digital transition in each community, the sharing of existing or designed good practices, the evaluation of synergies and replicability conditions of the proposed initiatives and finally the introduction to the first elements for the construction of a local Action Plan.

The two days of meetings were preceded by the elaboration and sharing of documents and materials describing each community, so as to facilitate confrontations. Specifically, introductory documents included a general description of each context and its socio-economic dynamics, the state of the art with respect to local initiatives for the transformation in terms of sustainability of each community and an analysis of their internal and external strengths and weaknesses.

Common elements

The first day was dedicated to the partners’ and respective contexts’ presentation, providing then a clear map of common elements among the different territories. This activity has allowed to find the important shared priorities: protection and promotion of local heritage, efficient and sustainable use of resources, healthy and sustainable agro-food system. A fourth priority, connected to the topic “just and fair transition”, has been identified as a cross-priority: each initiative will have to take into account its social impact so as to leave no-one behind, especially most vulerable subjects. In this respect, the involvement of social economy is even more crucial in order to guarantee such result.

The second day started with a technical session on how to draft a Local Action Plans for social and environmental resilience, with the introduction of some key elements for their design. The evening has been dedicated to the tour of local good practices, with a showcase of five local enterprises from the digital and the agro-food sectors. It has proved useful in order to learn directly from local players about challenges and opportunities for a transition towards sustainability.

The Mission ended with an public meeting, open to the whole community of Mirabella Imbaccari, during which the project goals and expected achievements have been explained.