THE POWER OF PEOPLE, PLACES & FIRMS
Helena Rodríguez Mellado is a policy officer at the DG for Social and Solidarity Economy and Cooperativism of the Government of Catalonia, where she contributes to the design and implementation of public policies to strengthen the Catalan SSE ecosystem. She holds an MSc in International Social and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she graduated with Distinction and was awarded the Loch Exhibition Prize and the Titmuss Prize. Alongside her public sector role, Helena is actively engaged in civil society as Co-Head of Joves pel Futur, the Catalan delegation of Talento Para El Futuro, fostering youth engagement in public policies across local and international arenas and leading the Spanish Youth Network for the Social Economy. Her work spans SSE, social policy and international development, with a particular interest in how public institutions and civil society can jointly advance more inclusive, resilient, and democratic societies.
Reading Time: 4 minutesCatalonia’s social and solidarity economy wasn’t built by legislation alone: fourteen Cooperative Hubs and community networks came first, creating over 1,100 cooperatives since 2016. As legal recognition arrives, can policy alone sustain what communities already built?