Social Investment and the causes of energy poverty: are cooperatives a solution?

This chapter is about a successful energy co-operative in Spain. With rising poverty and energy prices among the most expensive in Europe and, the cooperative not only provides a reliable source of clean energy to consumers, but also forms a central part of the community in which it is situated. The case study points to a need for private enterprises to collaborate with local authorities and social services to provide solutions to drastic situations of poverty that are still prevalent, particularly in areas of Southern and Eastern Europe. The Spanish energy cooperative demonstrates one way in which the social economy can help to shape the future of the welfare state in the absence of state funding and in the face of national policies that are not well aligned.

Revitalising the self-sufficient household economy: the Social Land Programme in Hungary

The authors introduce the Social Land Programmes, Hungary. Social Land Programmes aim to strengthen self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on social aid by helping people with no financial means to engage with small-scale agriculture. The case study investigated eight rural communities participating in a Social Land Programme. Innovative features include bottom up organisation designed and carried out locally (in contrast to top-down public employment programmes in Hungary). For local leaders, producing food and improving living standard are its main points. They also see various other benefits that include improving the social and physical environment and passing on positive role models within the family. However, they consider national goals of increased employment and self-sustainability to be over optimistic.

Acquiring work experience for vocational education graduates in Greece

Work Experience for Technical Education Graduates was a programme launched in Greece to provide education, vocational counselling and work experience to people aged up to 29 years who resided in regions of the highest youth unemployment. It was organised and managed by a consortium of social partners established for the purpose. Enterprises were given the opportunity to employ graduates as interns to extend their workforce and to benefit from fresh ideas. The programme was quite a complex one with very limited time available (just under one year). There is some evidence nevertheless of positive effects on various levels although it is too early to assess the numbers and sustainability of new jobs created.

Social Investment in theory and praxis: a ‘quiet revolution’ in innovative local services?

This final chapter draws together lessons from the ten thematic chapters of the book. The authors consider in particular the changing roles and responsibilities of different actors, and the heightened importance of the substantive economy. They also note some emerging evidence of ‘co-creation’, which implies profound changes in relationships between the state and the individual. Social justice rather than economic efficiency was typically the main local driver reported in the chapters. This street level view of Social Investment in practice is consistent with recent scholarly perspectives on it as a tool to enhance human capabilities and not only to increase productivity. The chapter concludes with reflections on the intersection of Social Investment with social innovation and some implications for decision makers and for front-line practitioners tasked with implementation.

Social Investment in welfare: a sub-national perspective

Taking a critical but sympathetic perspective, this chapter discusses recent debates around Social Investment as a new welfare paradigm. Scholarly and policy literature on Social Investment focus on aggregate effects and macro-comparative analysis with limited reference to local and micro level implementation and practice. Innovation is an essential element of Social Investment as social policies require constant adaptation to new challenges, yet literatures on Social Investment and social innovation rarely connect. This chapter sets the scene for the edited collection, highlighting the aim to advance empirical and conceptual insight into Social Investment from a social innovation and a sub national perspective. It briefly introduces in-depth, multi method case studies in ten EU countries of innovative, strategic approaches to delivering social investment policy at a sub national level.

The creation of a socially diverse neighbourhood in Utrecht, the Netherlands

The authors explain the innovative creation of a socially diverse neighbourhood called the ‘Green Sticht’ in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Inspired by the ideas of a charismatic activist preacher, the Green Sticht created an entirely new neighbourhood with an informal support system for socially vulnerable people, and thus circumvented the ‘not in my backyard’ sentiment present in the city. Residents who choose to move there out of idealism live alongside citizens who are formerly homeless, often with psychological and psychiatric problems. The Green Sticht has become financially self-reliant. It has never been fully replicated but has recently inspired two new projects, showing that it is possible to adapt combinations of the main elements and mechanisms that have made it successful and sustainable.

Investing in the future! Three case studies of social innovation in the Emilia-Romagna Early Childhood Education and Care services system

Taking evidence from three contrasting locations in the region of Emilia Romagna, Bassi demonstrates how high-quality early years provision is achieved through the co-creation and sharing of knowledge, expertise and experiences that are generated by innovative forms of public governance. A key success factor was a strong focus on continuing professional development activities organised in the form of ‘laboratories for social change’ – empowering early years professionals – rather than as top-down training. With regards to the financing of Social Investment, a significant lesson is the success of flexible combinations of different funding sources (public, philanthropic and private enterprise). This case study provides exemplary evidence of diversified provision, serving the needs of children and families within local communities and realised with a special focus on accessibility and economic sustainability.

Labour market activation and empowerment of the homeless in Poland

This chapter is about activation and empowerment of the homeless in Wroclaw, Poland. Known as ‘Assistance from A to Z’, it concerns a programme intended to equip homeless individuals with competencies and skills to improve self-sufficiency and access the labour market. It is a local project but related to national and EU active inclusion policy and funded through the European Social Fund. An important innovative element is the use of ‘accompaniment’, an idea for intensive individual support that comes from France. In the Polish context, the combined use of a wide range of social and professional support was also innovative. The activation and empowerment of a group of such extremely excluded people as the homeless is demanding and requires intensive, individualised interventions adapted to the needs and capabilities of the beneficiaries. Economic evaluation of this case suggests that it was successful in bringing positive results and was a productive expenditure.

Network for the labour market integration of migrants and refugees in Münster, Germany (MAMBA)

The Network for the regional labour market integration of asylum seekers and refugees in Münster (MAMBA) was designed by a refugee aid association who coordinate it. It brings together five partner organisations, each providing individual support to participants in its particular field of expertise. The partnership spans the public, private and third sectors, and partners’ goals and priorities are divergent, ranging from the championing of refugee rights to resolving skill shortages in the craft sector. In addition to working intensively with individuals to improve their job prospects, the MAMBA partners attempt to address structural barriers to labour market integration by raising awareness with employers and providing training for Job Centre staff. MAMBA is a success story mainly as a result of intensive, time consuming personal assistance achieved through fruitful cooperation of very different organizations.

The Youth Guarantee and One‑Stop Guidance Centres as a social innovation and a policy implementation tool in Finland

Chapter 5 introduces the Youth Guarantee and One-stop Guidance Centres, Finland. Youth Guarantee supports young people to gain a place in education and employment to prevent prolonged youth unemployment. The One-Stop-Guidance centres (OSGs) are a mechanism for Youth Guarantee implementation, giving young adults tools with which to improve their social situation, e.g. enhancing access to education and jobs. This is a social innovation that creates in a new form of public–private–people partnership with young people actively shaping their own future. OSG Centres invest in young people’s social capital. Turku OSG Centre, the focus of the case study, achieved its goal of empowering young people by involving them from the very beginning and throughout implementation.