SSE networks are sets of economic, social and political interlinked initiatives that
include many different actors or groups of actors (called nodes) who play different roles,
bringing different resources and needs. The organizational or legal form of the entities is not
considered as important as the perspective and the values pursued, adopting "approaches from
local to global that support freedom, reciprocity, solidarity and egalitarian exchange" (cit. RIPESS
EU). These networks are built at different scale: they can be local (e.g. XES Catalunya or RES
Marche), national (e.g. REAS) or international (e.g. RIPESS), as well as sectoral (e.g. food or
energy) and inter-sectoral (e.g. URGENCI – CSA network) and their flexible structure allows them
to develop different practices and enterprises (e.g. worker- and consumer-owned cooperatives,
associations, rural farmers' unions, fair trade networks, local/social currencies, bartering market,
etc.)
