scholarly journals Satisfaction with Democracy in Perspective: Anchoring Today by Looking Back and Forward

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-39
Author(s):  
Sue Baines ◽  
Chris Fox ◽  
Tamara McNeill ◽  
Lynn Martin

Abstract This paper makes a novel contribution by turning an ‘asset’ lens onto social and technical innovation in the context of the small-scale generation of renewable energy. The authors draw on learning from an international project that aimed to develop innovative technologies for the micro generation of energy using wastes and residues. Variations on innovation that cut across the social and technical are introduced. It is noted that although emanating from different traditions, a common theme is emphasis on a distributed knowledge base in which the roles of innovator, producer and consumer overlap or merge. This implies that the (social) innovation process is also one of co-creation. The authors borrow from international development studies the Sustainable Livelihood Analysis (SLA) framework, which is usually used for working with poor households to foreground strengths and resources rather than needs and deficits. To illustrate the utility of SLA for social innovation at local and community level, findings are presented from UK fieldwork on socio economic barriers and opportunities affecting the feasibility of new community energy generation and enterprise options. The importance and the fragility of human assets are highlighted.

Author(s):  
Asif Javed ◽  
Vaqar Ahmed ◽  
Bakhrul Khair Amal

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 intends to end poverty of all forms and the government of Pakistan is also targeting poverty alleviation through social safety nets. ‘Ehsaas’ is the major social safety nets proramme which include various initiatives that are benefiting millions of households. The study examines the state of poverty in Pakistan and also highlights the spending under each social safety net. Furthermore, the study also evaluates the Livelihood Enhancement and Protection (LEP) programme which is a major initiative for poverty alleviation under Ehsaas programme. Survey in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Balochistan provinces were conducted of those beneficiaries who are getting asset and skills training. It was found that asset provision and skills trainings are helpful in increasing the earnings and provide sustainable livelihood opportunities to poor households.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 1399-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Vézina ◽  
Majdi Ben Selma ◽  
Marie Claire Malo

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the organising of social innovation in a large market-based social enterprises from the perspective of dynamic capabilities and social transformation.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyses the process by which Desjardins Group launched the Desjardins Environment Fund as the first investment fund in North America to integrate environmental screening. It uses longitudinal single case analysis and a theoretical framework based on Teece’s three dynamic capabilities.FindingsResults show that dynamic capabilities can be conceived as stages in the process of social innovation. Sensing refers to the capability to identify a societal demand for social transformation. Seizing capability is about shaping societal demand into a commercial offer. Reconfiguring concerns organisational innovation to integrate actual and new knowledge through innovative routines. Microprocesses of both path dependency and path building are in action at each of the three stages.Practical implicationsThis paper shows that managing dynamic capabilities is central to social innovation in the context of a large social business and provides genuine managerial input via an analysis of the microprocesses at work in the social innovation process.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the operationalization of Teece’s dynamic capabilities model. In mobilising a framework in the field of management of innovation, it contributes to the understanding of the process of social innovation and develops the organisational mechanism for multiscalarity of social innovation as a condition for social transformation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Suzanne Érica Nóbrega Correia ◽  
Verônica Macário de Oliveira ◽  
Carla Regina Pasa Goméz

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar as iniciativas de inovação social desenvolvidas pelo Programa de Articulação de Tecnologias Apropriadas às Comunidades (PATAC), a partir do modelo proposto por Lévesque (2002). Nesse sentido, foram observados os três níveis de análise apresentados no modelo: atores, organizacional e institucional. Realizou-se um estudo de caso descritivo e exploratório, a partir da realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas junto a gestores e técnicos do programa supracitado. Na análise dos atores, percebe-se envolvimento da comunidade pela valorização da cultura e da capacidade de aprendizado. No nível organizacional, observou-se que, nos projetos geridos, tem um caráter compartilhado, na busca do fortalecimento sociopolítico. Os resultados demonstram que, no nível institucional, o processo de inovação social tem como função coordenar os diferentes setores da sociedade, para manter redes de relacionamentos e cooperação para funcionamento dos projetos e programas sociais envolvidos. Assim, os níveis de análise da inovação social não devem ser entendidos apenas como mecanismo isolado de satisfação das necessidades sociais, mas também como um mecanismo de transformação social que busca mudanças na configuração da sociedade como meio de promover a sustentabilidade e a qualidade de vida.Palavras-chave: Inovação social. Níveis de análise da inovação social. Desenvolvimento local.ABSTRACTThis paper aims to analyze the social innovation initiatives developed by the Appropriate Technology Joint Program for Communities (PATAC) from the model proposed by Lévesque (2002). In this sense, the three levels of analysis presented in the model were observed: actors, organizational and institutional. We conducted a study of descriptive and exploratory case from conducting semi-structured interviews with managers and technicians of the aforementioned program. In the analysis of the actors, the community’s involvement is appreciated by the valorization of the culture and the learning capacity. At the organizational level, it was observed that in managed projects, it has a shared character, in the search for socio-political strengthening. The results demonstrate that at the institutional level the social innovation process has the function of coordinating the different sectors of society to maintain networks of relationships and cooperation for the operation of the social projects and programs involved. Thus, analysis of levels of social innovation should not be understood only as a single mechanism of satisfaction of social needs, but also as a social transformation engine that seeks changes in society setting as a means of promoting sustainability and quality of life.Keywords: Social innovation. Analysis of levels of social innovation. Local development.


Author(s):  
Chiara Cannavale ◽  
Lorenza Claudio ◽  
Michele Simoni

AbstractNowadays, innovation is no longer a peculiarity of developed economies. Indeed, more frequently, it occurs that innovations born in the so called "emerging countries" spread in the advanced ones. This phenomenon is well known as Reverse innovation (RI), and within the global innovation literature about RI, some authors refer to these reversed innovations as developed in order to solve social or economic issues, specific of emerging contexts. However, scholars use to connect innovation with social goal as primary benefit to another phenomenon: i.e., Social innovation (SI). Within the Social innovation literature, there is a lack concerning how it should be undertaken to spread globally. Thus, we applied the Reverse innovation process to Social innovations: through a case-study analysis, we link the two phenomena which have never been explored together in previous studies. The paper aims at understanding how Social innovations spread from emerging to more advanced markets, while implementing this inversion of the flow. Further, we want to explore which is the potential that a Social innovation has in the host market: in other words, if SI could lose, hold, reduce, or increase their original social connotation.


Author(s):  
Chris Fox ◽  
Kevin Albertson

A major innovation in public sector commissioning in recent years is the recourse of the state to so called ‘Outcomes-based Contracts’ particularly Payment by Results (PbR) in the UK. A PbR contract contains three elements, a commissioner, a service provider and an outcomes metric. The outcomes metrics is designed, in theory, to align the incentive structures of the commissioner and the service delivery agency so as to achieve efficient results. Thus, PbR is theorised to allow public commissioners to pay a provider of services on the basis of specified outcomes achieved rather than the inputs or outputs delivered. A related innovation is that of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). SIBs are distinguished from PbR contracts in that they supposedly allow financiers to contribute to the social innovation process by providing working capital. The return on the SIB is calculated using PbR methodology. Compared to a PbR contract, the SIB contract seeks to align the incentive structures, not only of commissioners and providers, but also financiers through an appropriate metrics-based payments scheme. PbR and SIBs have been referred to as key tools for delivering change. In this chapter we set out the theoretical and practical challenges arising from the development and application of PbR and SIBs and consider the evidence of their efficacy or otherwise.


2019 ◽  
pp. 379-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Paulesky Juliani ◽  
Ania Silva ◽  
Jorge Cunha ◽  
Paul Benneworth

There is an increasing recognition that dealing with sustainable development need to address the social structures that encourage unsustainable economic and environmental practices. Universities represent important sources of knowledge for addressing sustainable development, but there has been relatively limited consideration of their contributions to these social elements. Drawing on recent interest in social innovation as to conceptualise social change and community development, this paper aims to understand universities' involvement in the process of social innovation, for the particular case of a Brazilian higher education institution. By exploring how universities can contribute to the different stages of the social innovation process, it highlights the capacities that universities have to address the social sustainable development challenge. The paper identifies five characteristics of universities contributions to social innovation and sets out an agenda for future research necessary to understand universities' wider contributions to sustainable development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 1241-1260
Author(s):  
Tezcan Mert-Cakal ◽  
Mara Miele

Abstract The focus of this article is community supported agriculture (CSA) as an alternative food movement and a bottom-up response to the problems of the dominant food systems. By utilizing social innovation approach that explores the relationship between causes for human needs and emergence of socially innovative food initiatives, the article examines how the CSA projects emerge and why, what is their innovative role as part of the social economy and what is their transformative potential. Based on qualitative data from four different models of CSA case studies in different regions of Wales, UK, and by using concepts from an alternative model for social innovation (ALMOLIN) as analytical tool, the article demonstrates that the Welsh CSA cases play distinctive roles as part of the social economy. They satisfy the needs for ecologically sound and ethically produced food, grown within communities of like-minded people and they empower individuals and communities at micro level, while at the same time experiment with how to be economically sustainable and resilient on a small scale. The paper argues that in order to become ‘workable utopias’, the CSA initiatives need to overcome the barriers that prevent them from replicating, participating in policies and decision-making at macro level, and scaling up.


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