Anders Bro

Background

About Anders Bro

I have a PhD in political science and have long-term experience in research and development work in the field of civil society and social economy. I am active in nationally or European funded projects as well as in various European networks. As a policy officer at one of the regional governments in Sweden, Region Örebro County, I am also responsible for developing the policy and strategic frameworks for the region's work in supporting civil society and social economy. I am mainly interested in how the public sector can create the conditions so that civil society and social economy can operate both as an independent actor but also as an alternative service provider for the public sector. I am also interested in how collaboration between the public sector and civil society/social economy grows and develops in different ways. The social enterprises are relatively few in Sweden, but I have initiated a regionally recurring survey about the spread and scope of the social enterprises in the county. Relevant statistics are important to give the topic political attention. Procurement issues, public-private partnerships and similar issues are of utmost importance. For several years I have devoted myself to social innovation, theoretically and conceptually, but mainly with the ambition to create functioning collaborative structures and to incorporate social innovation into the traditional innovation support system. I was one of the initiators of the Partnership for Social Innovation in Örebro County, which started in 2015. During a three-year period, I was active at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions and wrote a national handbook on how municipalities and regions can collaborate with social enterprises. My assignment was also about supporting a network of municipalities in the country that wanted to develop their cooperation with social enterprises. During 2018-2024 I was a member of the European Commission expert group on social economy and social enterprises (GECES). I am not active on social media, but feel free to contact me for further discussions.