Waltraud Pospischil
I'm born in Austria and moved to the UK in the 80ties, as a student.
Location UK
Activity
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@DavidMartin you can read our article online about plastic pollution: https://arkbound.com/something-not-to-ship-the-uks-recycling-overseas/
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
In the UK we have a similar module as New Zealand, in encauraging and supporting the employment of disabled people. I was also impressed by India's national centre for promotion of employment for disabled people and follow them now on LinkedIn and Twitter. - They have the same logo as my UK group: Nothing about us withour us", and stress the importance of...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
I'm a founder member of https://bril.uk/ - "Bristol Reclaiming Independent Living" and we promote "Nothing about us, without us" - too often decisions get made which don't include disabled people themselves, about health care, education, employment...
Even in the UK a hostile environment caused a lot of hardship, stress, even serious illness and death, to...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
It is important to support disabled people in ways they feel integrated into society and are able to have independent lives as much as possible.
I'm a member of 'Reclaiming Independent Living' https://bril.uk/ and also a family carer. -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Continue with my work for my charities, while reflecting on what I learned and using the knowledge and ideas from the course
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I have done extensive training in social enterprise skills, also with Voscur, I got nominated: https://www.socialentsindex.co.uk/ones-to-watch-2020/arkbound-foundation-cio, I use all catch phrases and select funding opportunities after how well they fit our visions, missions and realistic projects...
What can I say?
We proofread each other's applications as... -
I know that the UK's ancient forests got chopped down right throughout history. A lot was used in ship building as well, already by the Vikings.
There are incentives to restore woodland and plant more trees, but they are slow. -
You can get books printed on recycled paper, or read them online. Reading is really important, too much 'knowledge' today comes only in short, opinionated summaries, like news and media.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
In the UK, even though we are regarded being a "rich and developed country" we have a very high percentage of people who live in poverty: they are homeless, have nothing to eat (unless they receive donated food through charities, NOT our government) and can't afford to heat their homes in winter, even if they work.
We have a very high sucide rate for working... -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
In my country - the UK, as well as the country of my birth - Austria, the laws are equal...
BUT:
My brothers still inherited everything in Austria, because laws can't force someone who makes a will to give equal amounts to sons and daughters.I was 'allowed' to take up higher education, simply because it was free of charge in Austria (and through the OU...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
What is gender inequality?
- When there are no equal rights which are independent of gender. But it can be in forms of laws, social practice, education, as well as cultural upbringing, which puts different expectations on different gendersWhat values and belief systems continue to embed and sustain gender inequality?
- I every country in the world... -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Really great initiative! Alive and Kicking are doing a great job: they support disadvantaged people and people with disabilities, who are ever so badly left out, even in my country, the UK.
Accessibility is important not only for those who are disabled, which includes 'hidden disabilities', neurodiversity, mental health, ... but also to make our society...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Both charities I support as trustee - Arkbound Foundation and Ambition Lawrence Weston - make strong, positive contributions to the climate crisis:
Arkbound Foundation is planting 2000 trees around Bristol and published several books on climate action and adaption:...
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My friend Tracey West is the CEO of the https://www.wordforest.org/ which plants trees in Kenya. In the UK it acts as a charity, while it provides social enterprise type of employment (reforestation, planting trees) and education, skills training and empowering women in Kenya.
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It is great to see that so many realistic and accessible support schemes for social enterprises which address climate change and environmental improvements have been intruduced and get supported in South East Asia.
My country, the UK, has also schemes, policies and funding opportunities for such SE in our country, but we can usually not control what gets...
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I think that most limitations come along because there is not enough transperancy, big business is still too aggressive and doesn't care, lipservice and 'greenwash', governments getting sponsored by 'pollutuers', legislations are difficult to implement and make effective (rich businesses can afford legal defence for anything) ... it is 'cheaper' to pollute or...
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Very sad to hear it. It is a shame that our news and media don't share such stories enough, and that too many get away with causing damage to people's health and pollute the planet
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Plastic ban (on packaging, bags on single-use items) in the UK:
The realised or likely positive impacts from this policy are…
- that we have much less waste which goes into landfill (most is not recycable) or even gets shipped to other countries in the world (Turkey was in the news this year) where it gets burned and pollutes beaches and the seaThe...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Spending and investment:
- Investing on pollution free, frquent, accessible and low cost public transport
- Investing in more affordable ways to grow your own food, reuse and recycle
- More support for environmentally friendly enterprises, to allow them to thrive and keep their prices low.
Taxation and incentives
- Higher taxes on cars, flights,... -
My objectives for the UK:
Less waste on food; re-use and recycling cloths and other items; less plastic packaging, bags and single use; more public transport, walking and cycling; recycling most waste; less consumerism and buying useless stuff; more homemade items, presents, food; -
Still in the process of doing it, while I put down a longer list of challenges
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I'm still completing the document, while trying to address the all the main problems in the UK.
We have overconsumption, our re-use and recycling is not efficient enough to deal with most of the waste, we have air, water and 'light' (you can't see stars at night in London, and those flashing advertisment screens are annoying, while wasting a lot of energy)...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
In the UK all of the above excist, while still not enough is done.
More laws on an international level, like making ecocide a punishable crime, might help.
There is also such a sad situation that big businesses which cause a lot of pollution, often get away without paying taxes. Corruption of political incentives can also come in many forms. Often big...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Busninesses should take on a big role in that matter, but they depend on support through governments, laws and initiatives to support them.
I have seen some businesses loose out, after changing to become more eco-friendly, which is not right. For example in the UK "Boston Tea Party" cafe/restaurants stopped giving customers their drinks in throw-away...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Consumers can influence how much businesses adapt towards cutting down on CO2 emmission.
But there is just so much injustice:
- rediculous that pension funds are related to fossil fuels, if our older generation actually cares for the future of our children and grandchildren.
- poorer people, even in the UK, can't afford to 'shop around' to buy items... -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
It would be of major importance that everyone works together, also all countries in the world unite to save our planet from catastrophic results.
This is humanity's only home, and there is not enough done! - If rainforests still get cut down, it is not only the fault of the government in those countries, but of big, worldwide businesses which profit through...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
"Climate Apartheit" is the most striking injustice caused by climate change:
- People in poorer, less developed coutries need to pay the price, even though they don't cause the problem.
- Rich people in economically well-off nations are the biggest polluters, while they don't feel the impact: they can afford to escape from disasters, choose homes which... -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
It is a frightening prospect. My charity Arkbound Foundation was strongly involved in COP26, we published books about climate adaption, we plant trees, we help with research and articles...
"Climate Apartheid" strikes a note of utter injustice. The UK has a lot of refugees who flee their home countries due to war, persecution, political unrest, extreme...
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All are important in the UK, while I have chosen "Changes to law" because there is a lot of potential in 'adding' clauses (not completely changing the law) to many laws, which will put Environmental Impact, Health and Wellbeing, Social Value and Creative Value on a higher level, when it comes to supporting SE which serve people and communities.
For example,...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Even in the UK setting up new funds and institutions can be complicated.
To some point it is neccessary that they are well checked, fulfil all important criteria, present themselves professionally and provide full insight and updates on what they do, who they support, full financial reports, achievements...
But for some smaller institutions it can be...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Social Investment Tax Relief really helps investors and social enterprises in the UK. For investors it is less risky to support SE, and they have a benefit if their capital is directed into supporting them.
My charitable social enterprise Arkbound Foundation is also able to claim back VAT taxes on office rent and things we need to buy for our enterprise.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
UK Big Society Capital has increased to £6.4 billion in the year of the pandemic! It shows that such impact investment funds can directly support SE work and activity in difficult times, reaching people in need.
I'm also a trustee of my local community charity, and they started to deliver food, medicine and essential items to people in need during the...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Government has power to facilitate and support social enterprises right from the start, by making capital available through impact investment funds and programmes: such funds also support a positive outcome for the people in a country, as SE provide employment, food, produce, services, even education, training, health and wellbeing.
Environmental benefits...
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In the UK we have a lot of grant funding philantropic organisations, but it is also a big struggle to get accepted with your application.
More and more small social enterprises and charities are in need of funding. 40% have either closed or reduced their work because of the pandemic. Making a funding application is rather technical, difficult, takes a lot...
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What is the situation in your country?
- I live in the UK and work as voluntary trustee for a CIO charitable social enterprise. I have visited "Good Finance" several times, but we are too small to take advantage of their offers.Is social investment well known?
- I've heard a good amount about it, while I'm not sure how well it is known overall in the UK... -
Social finance and impact investment can provide great encouragement and support for social enterprises.
It helps getting social enterprises more recognised and provides them with essential financial means to set up, get started and advance.
It might also encourage SE to make sure they become successful and able to pay back the investment.
Social finance... -
Waltraud Pospischil replied to Waltraud Pospischil
Our SE is a Charitable Incoporated Organisation, which means that all trustees work for free. At www.arkfound.org we publish and sell books and provide services in the form of creative writing, writing for wellbeing and mentoring.
The income from our books makes only about 5% of our turnover, and we need to look out for project funding opportunities to be... -
It is interesting to learn from the report, that:
- " there are no direct policies intended for social enterprises in the Philippines.
The concept and practice is emerging in both private sector activities and government initiatives, but it still has not been legally defined or formally institutionalised.
There is however, a current effort from social... -
I have chosen the Philippines, because I recently made an application to the British Council for a grant to support two artist sisters there, providing them with connections and some investment towards getting more recognised, as well as participating in providing art courses and engagements for others.
My application was not successful, while I learned...
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I agree that government and policies are very important to encourage, facilitate and foster social enterprises.
A start-up support is necessary, then ongoing help and guidance, including training and practical advicde. - Social enterpreneurs could also learn from each other through networking and sharing their positive and challenging experiences. -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
1.) How policies and investment can support social enterprises all over the world.
2.) That social enterprises provide higher levels of equality, diversity, social inclusion, fairness of wages and health and safety at work... than big businesses.
3.) Social enterprises are also more eco-friendly, because they provide sevices, food, produce, essential... -
Waltraud Pospischil replied to Angelina Twomey
Thanks, I registered
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
I'm behind with completing several course components, but will catch up soon.
I had an incredible amount of work to do recently, all related to my voluntary post as trustee of the UK charitable social enterprise Arkbound Foundation.
I know from first hand experience how difficult it is to bring the best possible ideas, incentives and well structured...
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Nobody in this world is 100% "able" and fully employable for any job. - It is more than fair to support everyone to have a career and a job. -
Some disabilities are visible, like physical impairments, many are not noticed.
I think that 'attitude' is often a barrier towards employment, as well as the lack of accessibility.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
The benefits I think exist are:
1.) For their employees, with and without disabilities:
- Being assured that your company cares, protects and heps you, whatever is going on.2.) For the company in general:
- The company gets an employee who is grateful for having the job, and is very devoted to be accepted.
- Their business will be seen as being... -
I hope the futute will be more positive and inclusive for Indonesia!
- In the UK we have accepted mental health being part of disability, and the barriers faced.
- We might need a new term/word for "disability" but I know that physical as well as mental problems need to get included, as nobody chooses to have them, or can stop them.
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Good to hear that Egypt has regulations that at least 10% of any sector employment rate must be from the disabled population.
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You're right - we could say that "our society is disabled" - if too many facilities and provisions don't take account of the fact that everyone is different
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Waltraud Pospischil replied to Andrew Evans
You put down about everything I wanted to say ... I'm a member of BRIL https://bril.uk/ and we try to organise an event for SWE next week to create more awareness.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
SEUK has provided valuable support to my UK based charitable social enterprise Arkbound Foundation.
Congrats to our UK Social Enterprise speaker! Very encouraging. I feel more supported and recognised after listening to the presention.
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Waltraud Pospischil replied to Juliet Cornford
I had to miss it due to other appointments and an overload of work - really great to be able to catch up on it now.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Really important modules - I started on them, while still needing to complete some steps from the privious ones.
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@AngelinaTwomey signed up
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
What have been the key learning points for you from this week?
- Most of it was part of my work, while the course created an unique opportunity to engage with people from all over the world and hear their stories, updatates and insightsWhat additional reading or research do you need to do now (if any?)
- Staying on the learning path I've taken on some... -
My friend is the CEO of the https://www.wordforest.org/ - I know that it is difficult to get accepted in the tender process
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Really brilliant videos!
- I really hope all the social enterprise presenters as well the beneficiaries and the communities they serve will have long lasting and well structured and funded support.
- From my own experiences I have seen too much disadvantage and financial insecurity, which is present for many small enterprises who have big ambitions and...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
1.) What are your views on preferential procurement for social enterprises or socially responsible businesses?
- I believe that Social Enterprises should have preferentail procurement.
- We still have a long way to go.
- The recent Covid related lockdowns and measures have had a detrimental impact on many social enterprises, and charities providing social... -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
"Social Value" was rather well introduced in the UK - now many years ago - when I acted as voluntary Bristol Neighbourhoods Equality Rep, as well as trustee for my local community organisation and Arkbound Foundation.
We had several informative meetings and events, also some encouragement and support then. But over the last couple of years I unfortunately...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
As trustee of an UK social enterprise I've a lot of experience using #BuySocial in context of advertising our books and services. Arkbound Foundation's books are written by disadvantaged authors and they are socially and/or environmentally meaningful. - On top of it, our authors receive 66% of the income from the sales of their books (the highest amount...
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In the UK social enterprises can be effective in all three situations.
Selling to individual customers is the most streight forward option, also for new and small SE organisations: what is produced can get sold to customers in the community or to the general public.
Some social enterprises might also get big businesses, like shops or hospitality, as...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Do you think a registration or recognition scheme is a good idea in your context? - It is a good idea, because it provides a sound structure and the recognition is generally accepted and valued in your country. Your enterprise or business will run legally and receive the right support.
Who should run such a social enterprise registration scheme? - Central...
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Just registered
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
I hope to learn about positive incentives and real life practices. I'm disabled myself and involved with disability action groups in the UK... but we all have very disappointing experiences.
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@christophersubano unfortunately not everything gets recylcled here. The UK produces far too much waste as well, and 'plastic' can come in many different forms, often mixed with other materials which can't get broken down/recylcled anymore.
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Thanks for the tip!
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Really interesting; great initiative!
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CIO charities can apply for VAT reductions and Gift Aid. CICs might be able to pay low income tax if their profit is not high, and they have a lot of expenses.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Disability can come in many different forms, and we all are or will be 'disabled' at some times in our lives, usually increasingly with age.
From my own experience, where I only have a permanent knee injury, I noticed how much more difficult it is if you can't run, cycle, need crutches to walk outside, get on public transport ... Not only are many jobs...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Social enterprises are the basic building materials of a better business structure and service provision for all people and communities in a country, working towards a better future for everyone.
They work from "the bottom up" and serve the people they directly engage with. Too much is still structured as a "top down" approach, which does not really reach...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Social enterprises can make a significant contribution to their local communities in different ways, providing social and creative value added, as well as catering for basic needs.
- They can provide locally grown food, locally sourced produce, which is accessible for their communities and cuts on travel/distribution costs and CO2 impact.
- They are good in... -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Really important and very interesting. I'm a disabled social enterpreneur myself, as well as a 24/7 family carer for my partner, who has long term heart and mental health problems.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Our legal forms are not accessible enough for everyone, they still 'scare away' many people and organisations who would be perfect.
As noted by me before, DWP policies also need to get adjusted towards supporting social enterprises. My charity Arkbound Foundation can not afford to employ anyone full-time. I've been volunteering for 5 years now. We get...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
CIC looks to be a rather attractive solution for small buisinesses which have a positive influence on their community and have a social purpouse. They have government support as well as obligations to fulfil.
They enjoy tax benefits and flexibility in how they develop and move forward. Regulators have an important role in overseeing and evaluating the...
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My charity Arkbound Foundation is a CIO charitable, non-profit social enterprise. We incoporated Arkbound publishing in 2019, which was a Company House registered social enterprise writing and publishing organisation, but simply could not survive from the limited trading income from selling published books, without applying for charity funding.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
In the UK social enterprises are overall supported through SEUK, which provides membership support in all areas, ranging from advice on setting up, getting registered and included, networking and reaching out, and all the important practical advice and training along the way.
We also have local organisations which support the "Voluntary and Community...
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@SamJohnson In my neighbourhood in Bristol, UK, we have just have community incentives, like competions on who has the nicest front garden or flower type of display (even decorating your windows for Xmas)
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
I'm very dissapointed with the UK in regard to policy levers, or even their own performance on the points you mentioned:
- The UK has shipped plastic which was collected for 'recycling' to other countries (Turkey was the last appearing only for minutes on our media/news) where it got burned and caused pollution and problems for the people living there. - Such... -
Even in the UK we have lack of support from government and policies, and face 'corruption' in cetrain ways: big businesses, who sponsor our ruling political party, get the contracts, as well as escaping to pay taxes.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Really informative and it is amazing that there are so many initiatives which welcome and support social enterprises around the world, for which Jonathan Wong provides real examples.
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You are spot on
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I looked into South East Asia social enterprise facilities, growth and support, with a focus on the Philippines, because through my UK charitable social enterprise Arkbound Foundation, I have direct connections to creative hubs and individual, disadvantaged artists we would like to support.
- I made my second application for a British Council grant (max...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Governments have the official power to pass important policies which can either facilitate or stop social enterprises on all stages:
- Starting up
- Initial support
- Ongoing support
- Inclusion and recognition
- Legal issues, registration, taxes, red tape...I'm rather cautious and had lots of difficult experiences myself in the UK: I signed myself...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
A very important topic. My charitable social enterprise Arkbound Foundation has an office in Glasgow, and we are strongly involved in COP26 right now, even received an UN accreditation.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Being an unpaid, voluntary social enterprise leader in the UK (I could fill a book about my stories) - I learned that it is very hard and takes a lot of committment and resilience to progress, reach out, face and deal with challenges, and make a social enterprise work.
Arkbound Foundation (my social enterprise I support without getting paid for it) is...
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Really sad to hear about those crimes
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
1. "Independent of Government" - needs to be seen in relation on whether the government supports social enterprises in all their stages from development, establishment and having a secure place and platform. - No social enterprise can take off or grow if a government doesn't have policies and provisions to facilitate such.
2. "Social and/or environmental... -
Legal forms are always necessary, because we never know who applies, and there needs to be an accountable structure and registration.
But there should be much more support for small organisations and individuals, who really want to make a positive difference, but have problems which 'red tape' - because they don't have expert knowledge.
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
It is very inspiring to see that such organisations were able to get established and received enough space and support to become influential.
Education, skills, young people, careers, inclusion, community engagement, good/green/social jobs .... going in the right direction can have a great, positive impact on a better future for everyone.
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@JulietCornford From my own experience: I'm an artist, writer, poet and 24/7 family carer for my partner. I brought up three children in poverty, which included a period of homelessness. Throughout that time I counted as 'jobseeker' and had just pressure and disappointing experiences with my jobcentre advisors. I was even told off for doing 'too much...
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There should be policies in place which are more encouraging for everyone and for small enterprises to make a start, get guidance, training and support, which are linked with available and accessible provisions.
Examples would cover the employment sector policies, because it can be too difficult to even start a social enterprise, with the best ideas...
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
I'm a big believer in social enterprises, while I would include small, local businesses as well, which serve their communities, like a village shop in a remote area, a bus service, a friendly pub, a farmer selling fresh produce at an affordable price...
Governments should encourage social enterprises, provide training, guidelines and support. -
@JulietCornford I can see social enterprises getting mentioned much more now, but it could be due to being a trustee of a CIO charitable social enterprise.
Political parties far too often favour big businesses, which sponsor them, which is a sad reality. -
Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
My own CIO charity Arkbound Foundation is a non-profit social writing and publishing charitable enterprise. We have faced many challenges, and I'm volunteering as trustee and Vice Chair (which is unpaid) for many hours every week.
I got nominated as Social Enterpreneur last year... -
@AngelinaTwomey booked my place for the online event
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How do you get appointed or registered to be a Certified B Corporation?
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@NomenjanaharyLeviHoseaRAKOTOARIMANANA small enterprises which support local communities, and also provide support for health, education, environment, wellbeing, supporting disadvantaged people and communities... are all 'social enterprises'. I hope there will be more support in Madagascar, or through the British Council
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In the UK social enterprises are CIC (community interested companies) or CIO (community interested organisation - also registered as chartity)
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Also in the UK there is a lot of inequality and lack of opportunities. I really believe in Social Enterprise, which has so much more impact, social and creative value, and a fair distribution of returns.
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@AngelinaTwomey thanks for the link!
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Waltraud Pospischil made a comment
Really important learning for this week! - I'm lacking behind with my course, because I had an incredible amount of work to do recently. My charity Arkbound Foundation has a big impact in relation to COP26 through our Glasgow office. We recently published several related books:...
