Transforming welfare institutions through social innovation and action research in Denmark

Abstract

The article will present how action research may contribute to social innovation and empowerment in public welfare and cultural institutions (nursing homes and libraries) in a manner that supports the interests of marginalised citizens and local communities, and creates opportunities for positive change. First, we introduce the concepts of empowerment, action research and social innovation along with the roots of these concepts in critical social theory. Secondly, two case studies are presented to analyse two different methodological variants of action research in two different contexts. The first case is about action research in nursing homes, where the objective was to improve elder care through more autonomy and better quality of life for residents and employees. In this project (inspired by critical utopian action research), so called 'future workshops' were applied to create "free space" for reflection and creation of concrete suggestions of social innovation in elder care. The second case is about the transformation of a public library into a community centre. In this case, the aim was to break down barriers between citizens and public institutions in a deprived, multicultural urban area and thereby promote local community empowerment. In this project, 'empowerment evaluation' was used as an action research method. In the final part we compare the two approaches (utopian action research and empowerment facilitation), and discuss the danger of falling into the trap of localism, where successful social innovations: instead of being up-scaled and widely distributed, end up as oneoffs or simply die out at the very local level

The application of social innovation as it relates to older people and the implications for future policymaking: a scoping review

“…Indeed, Spinelli et al (2019) argue that place-based social innovation projects are more likely to be effective and successful. However, Andersen and Bilfedt (2017) argue that localism can become a trap that inhibits the up-scaling of social innovation projects.…”

Társadalmi innováció a hazai intézményi idősellátásban (esettanulmány)

“…Miközben a társadalmilag innovatív kezdeményezések alakítják a társadalmi viszonyokat, az egyénen és közösségen túlmutató fejlődést idéznek elő (Martinelli 2017). A társadalmi innováció elméleti keret olyan témákkal foglalkozik, mint a hatalmi viszonyok, a társadalmi beilleszkedés, valamint a társadalmi felhatalmazás (empowerment) kérdésköre; azzal a folyamattal, amelynek során a társadalmi csoportok különböző erőforrásokhoz való hozzáférésüket és képességeiket fejlesztik (Moulaert-MacCallum-Hillier 2013, Andersen-Bilfeldt 2017, Häikiö et al 2017.…”

Systematic review of institutional innovation literature: towards a multi-level management model

“…The intent is to create societal value (Turker and Vural 2017 ) and promote social enterprise (Kolk and Lenfant 2015 ; Venugopal and Viswanathan 2019 ) in conflict-affected areas plagued by institutional gaps. Co-creating and legitimating social innovation (Onsongo 2019 ; Kumari et al 2020 ) becomes paramount as institutions explore agents of social change for sectoral diffusion patterns (Peirce 1991 ; Windrum et al 2018 ) along with empowerment in public welfare for marginalised citizens and local communities that creates opportunities for positive change (Andersen and Bilfeldt 2017 ). Governmental (regulatory or policy (Costa-Font and Puig-Junoy 2007 )) innovation involves initiatives by governments that seek to confront discrepancies between the existing and attainable quality of life for citizens (Shaffer 1969 ).…”