Social enterprise and their eco-system: A European mapping report of Lithuania

This report is part of the study “Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe” and it provides an overview of the social enterprise landscape in Lithuania based on available information as of May 2018.

The history of social enterprise in Lithuania is closely related to the evolution of charity organisations and cooperatives. Three different historical stages can be identified in this history: the pre-war period (until 1940), the Soviet-Union period (1945- 1989) and the post-Soviet period (since 1990). In the pre-war period, civil society developed as it did in many European countries. There were charity organisations and Christian cooperatives providing social services. Private philanthropists or farmers’ cooperatives financially supported such non-profit organisations (NPOs). During the Soviet Union period, all independent and democratic civil organisations were prosecuted or forbidden. The true nature of cooperatives was distorted by the nationalisation of private assets and by the process of forced collectivisation. The principle of voluntary action was violated; civil initiatives should promote the ideology of the party or were oppressed. The Soviet-Union period made a significant imprint on the current society attitude toward social enterprises…