What Are the Impacts of Social Innovation? A Synthetic Review and Case Study of Community Forestry in the Scottish Highlands

Barlagne, Carla; Melnykovych, Mariana; Miller, David; Hewitt, Richard J.; Secco, Laura; Pisani, Elena; Nijnik, Maria

doi:10.3390/su13084359

Cited by 18 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…The decisive factor for the success of these projects was therefore the involvement of local communities [27]. The LEADER approach has been influential in reducing rural disparities [38][39][40]. Additionally, for example in the case of Agroberry, the LEADER approach has been decisive in enabling women to become entrepreneurs [41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Innovation in Rural Areas of the European Union Learnings from Neo-Endogenous Development Projects in Italy and Spain

et al. 2022

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Within the framework of the LEADER approach to rural development applied in rural areas of the European Union, a high degree of social innovation (SI) has been achieved with the support of public–private partnerships. This research analyzes the different forms of SI achieved in specific projects in marginal rural areas facing depopulation. These initiatives make important, sometimes intangible, contributions to rural society, which are not sufficiently valued in rural development practice. Using an exploratory qualitative methodology, we made a selection of projects carried out in rural areas of Spain and Italy by searching for specific keywords (“innovation”, “entrepreneurship”, and “LEADER”) in the European Network of Rural Development database. According to the typology of promoters, we considered Transnational Cooperation Projects promoted by various Local Action Groups (LAGs), by public sector initiative and by private promoters. In-depth interviews were also conducted. The main findings include: the crucial role played by local leaders, social enterprises and LAGs in overcoming resistance and reluctance amongst the local community to participate in and support rural development projects; the importance of creating collective learning processes; the complexity of the network affects the number of contributions; the need for long-term continuity of processes and projects, and the importance of combining exogenous and endogenous development and knowledge.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Innovation in Rural Areas of the European Union Learnings from Neo-Endogenous Development Projects in Italy and Spain

et al. 2022

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“…In order to address the main research question posed, in the current paper SI is understood to be a response to societal challenges that is (a) leading to the reconfiguration of social practices, (b) innovative with regard to the context or beneficiary, (c) more effective in meeting needs than previous actions/projects/initiatives, and (d) focusing on providing long-term solutions (elaborated based on Neumeier 2012; Barlagne et al 2021).…”

Section: Theoretical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the research, some cautious remarks have been made with some scholars arguing that an 'all-positive' approach to SI, viewing it as a 'panacea' (Benneworth et al 2015) or a 'self-help' tool (Bock 2016) for rural regions and its role in future policies of the new rural paradigm (Barlagne et al 2021) puts the SI at risk of furthering the state withdrawal, putting rural regions at a greater risk, and leading to even less attention being granted to rural areas (idem). At the same time, the prominent space for SI in the development of rural regions cannot be disregarded.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to echo and build upon the recent elaborations addressing the SI impact measurement and assessment (Antadze and Westley 2012;Secco et al 2019a;Cunha and Benneworth 2020;Mildenberger et al 2020), with specific focus on rural areas (Ravazzoli et al 2021; Barlagne et al 2021), in the current paper an attempt is made to assess impacts of an SI initiative from a rural region of Baixo Alentejo, Portugal. Thus, in order to answer the proposed research question, the main aim of the paper is to carry out an SI impact assessment exercise through which the SI impacts (and their various types, scales, and domains) could be identified and analysed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Innovation Impacts and Their Assessment: An Exploratory Study of a Social Innovation Initiative from a Portuguese Rural Region

Novikova

2022

Social Sciences

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Over recent decades, various approaches to social innovation (SI) have been developed. At the same time, the question on how SI can contribute to and can impact the development of rural regions still remains only partially answered. One of the research gaps that remains addressed only to a certain extent is associated with the ways in which impacts produced by SI can be assessed. Such research, focusing on SI impacts in rural contexts is even more scarce. In the current paper, an attempt is made to investigate the impacts of an SI initiative operating in the field of integrated rural development. The study takes on a case study design focusing on ADC Moura, a local development association from Baixo Alentejo, Portugal. The results show that the impacts of said SI initiative have a multi-sectoral and multi-durational nature and transcend sectors and address multiple domains (social, economic, institutional, and environmental), with the SI initiative having the most impacts on the local level of the municipality. In addition to this, the paper provides some ideas for further research.

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“…Recently, social innovation has also been included in the EU 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. Public policy efforts in enhancing social innovations and social enterprises have thus been seen as complementary measures to help solve many of the contemporary problems in a situation where pub-lic budgets are under pressure, and public policies are suffering from sectorization and fragmentation [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Policy for Social Innovations and Social Enterprise—What’s the Problem Represented to Be?

Johansson

Gabrielsson

2021

Sustainability

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Social innovations and social enterprise have been seen as innovative measures to achieve sustainable development. Drawing on an evaluation of a development project on creating social enterprises in Sweden, this article analyzes social innovations as a policy area. The policy area is often described as loaded with ideological contradictions. The aim of the article is to explore underlying premises and discourses in policy implementation aimed at creating social innovations in a comparison between two ideal types on social sustainability—(1) an individual activation strategy (responsibilization of the individual) and (2) a societal equilibrium strategy (balancing social values). The research question is inspired by Carol Bacchi’s policy theory and asks what is the problem represented to be? The analysis is carried out at the micro-level as a context-sensitive approach to explore articulations made among actors creating the policy and entrepreneurs participating in a locally organized project. The article contribute with a better understanding of how societal problems and their solutions are discursively determined, with implications for policy makers and project managers active in this policy area. The analysis and findings indicate a significant policy shift during the implementation process. Initially, the policy idea consisted of well-considered ambitions to create a long-term sustainable development. During the implementation of the project, the problem’s representation changes gradually in the direction towards individual activation. This transition is driven by pragmatic difficulties of defining the policy area, problems of separating means from ends, and the need to make decisions based on a limited range of information. We conclude by emphasizing the need for reflection on how the social dimension is defined when implementing social innovation strategies. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies of how this policy area can be linked to policies for social sustainability.

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What Are the Impacts of Social Innovation? A Synthetic Review and Case Study of Community Forestry in the Scottish Highlands

Cited by 18 publications

References 50 publications

Social Innovation in Rural Areas of the European Union Learnings from Neo-Endogenous Development Projects in Italy and Spain

Social Innovation in Rural Areas of the European Union Learnings from Neo-Endogenous Development Projects in Italy and Spain

Social Innovation Impacts and Their Assessment: An Exploratory Study of a Social Innovation Initiative from a Portuguese Rural Region

Public Policy for Social Innovations and Social Enterprise—What’s the Problem Represented to Be?

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