Local background of the social innovations The administrative decentralisation of the political structure in Spain grants regional and local councils a set of legislative and executive competencies which, in the case of social welfare services, are very far-reaching (Aguilar et al. 2011). This decentralisation of competencies has given considerable leeway to each territory in the…
Local background of the social innovations Innovation is defined in many ways by social scientists, people connected with business or technology. In short, it is a way to improve the systems that already exist, making them better, faster and cheaper (Iuri and Kuhn 1998). The meaning of “better, faster, cheaper” depends on the area of…
Local background of the social innovations Innovation is defined in many ways by social scientists, people connected with business or technology. Shortly speaking, it is a way to improve the systems that already exist, making them better, faster and cheaper (Iuri and Kuhn 1998). What means “better, faster, cheaper” depends on the area of interest.…
Local background of the social innovations Over time, a strongly left-wing political culture emerged in Nijmegen. Its key values related to the protection of the less well off: solidarity, equal opportunities to participate in society and the urge for an “undivided” city. Over the past few years, a fear of increasing divisions between residents in…
Local background of the social innovations Social innovations do not come “out of the blue” but capitalise on different resources, e.g. human capital and public support, available at the locality where they are developed and put into practice. Moreover, social innovations, perceived as indicators and messengers, respond to social problems occurring at a particular time…
Local background of the social innovations An unequal distribution of responsibilities between national and local governments in the WILCO policy fields: Taking into consideration the three WILCO policy fields, multi-governance is the predominant situation with more or less shared responsibilities between national and local governments. However, we can clearly distinguish labour market policy where local…
Local background of the social innovations The role and recognition of civil society in Varaždin has strengthened since 2000. Before, civil society was a rather marginal phenomenon. However, over the last decade, civil society organisations have grown respectably in their number, and have gained a growing policy role. Some of recognisable areas of civil society…
Local background of the social innovations The concept of social innovation, its meaning and understanding is a relatively new approach for all stakeholders, even for the academic community. This concept comes more as a part of Europeanization of social policy, one kind of top-down concept of modernisation of social policy. Social policy is mostly centralised…