Whilst SSE's focus has been resolutely on the UK over the past 6 months (hello Cornwall, Yorkshire, Devon, Hampshire to the growing franchise), there's also been a bit of international expansion and work going on as well.
By all accounts (there was a significant UK / Scottish presence…), the Social Enterprise World Forum 09 in Melbourne was a great event, and congrats are due to the organisers (Social Traders and all at Social Ventures Australia). To get a sense of what the event was like, you can check out the photo gallery (look forward to Voice 10 being opened with a 'smoking ceremony') or, better still, watch the video of the centrepiece debate, featuring SSE CEO Alastair Wilson in fine form:
SEWF Debate: There's no business like social business from Rowan Attenborough on Vimeo.
Second up video-wise, SSE was the UK partner in recruiting and inputting into the design of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellows Programme on Dialogue and Social Entrepreneurship, involving Jewish and Muslim social entrepreneurs from France, UK and US. Again, it was an exciting thing to be involved in, and we were delighted with the UK participants selected: an amazing bunch, including two SSE Fellows (Athol + Mobeen) and one current SSE student (Norma). Here is a 5 minute video that gives you an insight into the 2 week programme in New York:
There is also a round-up video from the US partner / delivery organisation, Columbia University here:
Hi Nick,
I really enjoyed your article “Video-tastic: social entrepreneurs in Melbourne + New York”. It spoke about the importance of philanthropy, which was why I thought you might want to know about a new and exciting philanthropic concept- “The Foundation for Everyone” at http://myphilanthropedia.org.
~Dawn