Social partnerships and local social innovations in rural restructuring

In Finnish: Sosiaalinen kumppanuus rakenteiltaan muuttuvan maaseudun paikallisissa innovaatioissa

This study analyses the emergent forms of social partnerships and the social innovations at local level which these partnerships produce and implement to promote certain paths of developments or mitigate the negative consequences of restructuring processes. We analysed social innovations in the selected rural areas of three countries (Finland, Lithuania, and Russia). We define social innovations as programs, principles, practices or organizational forms that serve some joint or common interest at local level. Four research questions are:
1. What is the role of contextual factors in the success of social partnership and social innovation?
2. While analysing the actors and partnerships in social innovation processes, who are the initiators of innovations, who disseminate them and who institutionalise them at local level?
3. How are the co-ordination and the networking of territorial initiatives organised?
4. What kinds of social consequences do the social innovations have?
Main results will be reported in Nikula J. (ed., 2011): Social...