Borderwork: Finnish-Russian co-operation and civil society engagement in the social economy of transformation

Abstract

This paper presents results from research projects that have investigated networks of civil society organizations (CSOs) between EU member states and neighbouring countries. The focus here is on Finnish-Russian civil society co-operation in the areas of social welfare provision as well as regional and economic development. One major objective in this conjunction is to assess the contribution of this cross-border co-operation to the development of Russia's social economy as well as to discuss the various obstacles that civil society actors face in developing co-operative projects. As such, organizational, social and technical issues are important areas to be addressed. However, civil society co-operation is not a mere technical issue; understanding of the social embeddedness of civil society are also necessary in order to promote social welfare agendas. The concluding section will reflect on experiences of CSO co-operation with regard to capacity-building processes of social learning and future prospects for social enterprise.