Diakonia as Innovation: A Political and Organisational Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate the relationship between diakonia and innovation in the field of provision of welfare services. Special interest is therefore vested in studying the role of the third sector more generally. Traditionally, this sector and its organisations have been considered the most important actors for innovation in welfare services provision, as pioneers in this field of services. The investigation has laid open a rather complex field. Theories and models drawn from several fields of study, including welfare state theory and social policy theory, are used in the analysis of the relationship. A constructivist approach to social problems, combined with approaches to functions of third sector and faith-based human service organisations have helped us create a picture of the subject of investigation. The article provides elements to an analytic framework for empirical studies of how diakonia, through its organised actors, can influence public problem processes and innovations in welfare services, connected with political processes that may stimulate and inspire innovations in the public sector as well as other sectors -or hamper them. Potential risk factors, both political, financial and moral, are identified that may have an impact on innovation in welfare service organisations in civil society, including diaconal actors. Faithbased welfare service organisations possess moral resources in terms of the basic ideology and moral values. These resources may serve to stimulate innovations to improve the life of the people the organisations serve, as foundations for critical participation in public debate on social problems and welfare services innovation, but also for organisational change into the opposite of innovation, making lives more miserable for users of the organisations instead of better.

Gendered Potentials and Delimitations in the Church of Sweden’s Social Innovation

“…Angell, 2016;Berglund et al, 2016;Eurich & Langer, 2016;Schröer, 2016), especially as part of the women-dominated diaconal work (cf. Berglund et al, 2016;Bäckström et al, 2010b).…”

“…Several examples, however, have been mapped in nonscientific reports, encompassing, for example, innovative work training for the unemployed, rehabilitation models during long-term sick leave, integration measures for immigrants, self-provision models for homeless and poor people, inclusive renewal of neighborhoods, popular education on health issues, care and nursing services, digital social communities, and gender equality measures in organizations and societies (European Commission, 2010c, 2013a. Some scientific studies of practical social innovations in church contexts were recently published, primarily highlighting innovative diaconal ser-vices in welfare (e.g., Angell, 2016;Berglund et al, 2016;Eurich & Langer, 2016;Jones, 2016;Schröer, 2016). The diaconal focus on the well-being of marginalized people is perceived as congruent with the main trend of user-centered services and approaches (Eurich & Langer, 2016).…”

“…The added value to innovative social services by the faith-based foundation of churches is delineated as the 'moral resources' of basic ideology and moral values, stimulating innovations that improve the life of concerned groups of people (Angell, 2016;Jones, 2016). In these studies, diaconal innovation is primarily conceptualized as a part of contribution by the third sector or civil society to the public welfare system (Angell, 2016;Eurich & Langer, 2016).…”

“…Yet this has rarely been acknowledged as a site for innovation, whether in public discourse or in intraorganizational communications (Angell, 2016;Berglund et al, 2016). The growing scientific and public interest in the concept of 'social innovation' (i.e., new solutions to social challenges and social needs among disadvantaged groups in society) has the potential to highlight how the innovative social practices developed in the Church relate to the changing social role of the Church as a consequence of the formal separation from the Swedish state in 2000 and the growing importance of civil society organizations as service providers in the Swedish welfare system.…”

“…Several of the examples were developed as part of the women-dominated diaconal work (cf. Angell, 2016;Bäckström et al, 2010b), thus potentially challenging predominant masculine norms of mainstream industrial innovation, while at the same time risking to be marginalized because of similar masculine norms in the Church of Sweden (cf. Alsos et al, 2013;Andersson et al, 2012;Lindberg & Schiffbänker, 2013).…”