The chapter discusses comparative results across regions regarding the application of the method ... more The chapter discusses comparative results across regions regarding the application of the method for quantifying and qualifying the endowment of social capital and rural governance in Local Action Groups of the EU LEADER initiative. Results show that the Putnamian tradition alone does not suffice to capture some distinctive features of local social capital. It should be complemented by the Bourdieusian tradition which stresses the role of social networks in conjunction with the broader social and political context and thus sheds light on the multi-dimensional and contextual aspects of social capital and rural governance.
This chapter presents the innovative elements proposed in the method for quantifying and qualifyi... more This chapter presents the innovative elements proposed in the method for quantifying and qualifying the endowment of social capital in Local Action Groups of the EU LEADER initiative. In sum, the innovative elements of the evaluation correspond to a deep scrutiny of the economic implications of social capital in rural areas; the identification of different dimensions and sub-dimensions of social capital and rural governance; the use of Social Network Analysis for the elaboration of data regarding information sharing, reputational power, and trust among actors; the proposal of a large set of indicators selected after a careful phase of testing in the field; the validation of a methodology in the field; and a first attempt at measuring governance in relation to social capital. The chapter concludes with recommendations on the implementation of the method for improving monitoring and evaluation activities in rural development policy.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Feb 15, 2020
Innovation actions within European Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects aim at testing research results ... more Innovation actions within European Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects aim at testing research results in practice. When supporting social innovations in rural areas, such testing requires the alignment of several rural actors in order to entail behavioral changes beyond the individual level. Recently, social innovation has been recognized as an important tool for rural areas, developing new solutions to respond to wicked problems for improving local living conditions at the grassroots level. In this study, we analyzed the use of an operational framework to support the early governance of social innovation actions. This framework was applied to co-construct seven innovation actions across Europe and the Mediterranean basin applied to forestry, agriculture, and rural development. Our results showed that supporting social innovators and local actors at the early stage of social innovation processes is key for efficiently addressing and tackling challenges and opportunities. Additionally, we showed that the process of defining a social innovation is complex and requires recursive engagement, which might lead to evolution through time, especially in the first phases of the process. Lastly, conducting the feasibility assessment enabled strategic thinking on crucial dimensions for designing a promising social innovation action, such as social networks management, financial sustainability, and know-how. Such findings helped us to draw general lessons for the development and governance of social innovation actions in rural areas, potentially applicable to any rural sector.
The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been deve... more The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been developed following different sequential steps. In this chapter, we show that this stepwise process can be applied to European Local Action Groups (LAGs), it can be used for comparing values across indicators for both monitoring and evaluation, and the results obtained can unveil the intervention logic of “social capital” at different steps of aggregation. As promised in the introductory chapters of the book, we show the steps taken for opening the “black box” and identify how this method fits within the 2014–2020 programming period and specifically contributes highlighting the value added of LEADER.
Social agriculture is a fast-growing sector in Europe. There is a great diversity in the social a... more Social agriculture is a fast-growing sector in Europe. There is a great diversity in the social agriculture landscape across Europe, depending on the national contexts. The settings in which social agriculture takes place, namely social farms, are innovative because they combine health care and social services with agricultural production. Different participant groups find their place on these social farms. Social agriculture can be beneficial for participants, providers, the environment and the wider society. In this paper, we give an overview of the social agriculture market situation in a selected number of European countries, namely the Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), Italy, Austria and Ireland. The country focus is largely dictated by the composition of, and the resources available to the project team undertaking this study. To explain how social agriculture is organised in the different European countries reviewed, three main frameworks are used: a multifunctional agriculture...
Social Innovation (SI) as the capacity to create and implement new ideas that are likely to deliv... more Social Innovation (SI) as the capacity to create and implement new ideas that are likely to deliver value (thus meeting individual economic interests), contemporarily responding to social demands (thus meeting societal needs), that are traditionally not addressed by markets or existing institutions (e.g. BEPA, 2011; Anderson et al., 2015). Social innovation includes new institutional arrangements, new fields of activity and new actors' relationships and interactions. Funded under the EU-funded H2020 project SIMRA (Social Innovational in Marginalised Rural Areas), this research aims to: Identify whether and how existing methods, approaches and tools can be used or adapted to propose a new evaluation framework that measures SI and its impacts in mountain areas. Identify specific critical issues for evaluation of SI and impacts in mountain areas. Reflect on how evaluation of SI cansupport more effective mountain development policies Mountain regions,
The EU funded H2020 project 'Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas' (SIMRA; www.simra-h20... more The EU funded H2020 project 'Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas' (SIMRA; www.simra-h2020.eu) has the overall objective of advancing the state-of-the-art in social innovation. This paper outlines the process for co-developing an evaluation framework with stakeholders, drawn from across Europe and the Mediterranean area, in the fields of agriculture, forestry and rural development. 4 Preliminary results show the importance of integrating process and outcome-oriented evaluations, and implementing participatory approaches in evaluation practice. They also raise critical issues related to the comparability of primary data in diverse regional contexts and highlight the need for mixed methods approaches in evaluation.
Social capital is widely recognized by social scientists as one of the influential factors determ... more Social capital is widely recognized by social scientists as one of the influential factors determining social and economic development in local and regional economic system. The aim of this poster is to present and propose an innovative on line tool (a smart app) intended to measure, in different moment of time, the endowment of social capital and related aspects of governance in specific public-private organizations, i.e. Local Action Groups. LAGS are the local programming and management units of the EU-funded LEADER initiative. The app is available at https://socialcapitalgal.shinyapps.io/App_GAL/
The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been deve... more The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been developed following different sequential steps. In this chapter, we show that this stepwise process can be applied to European Local Action Groups (LAGs), it can be used for comparing values across indicators for both monitoring and evaluation, and the results obtained can unveil the intervention logic of “social capital” at different steps of aggregation. As promised in the introductory chapters of the book, we show the steps taken for opening the “black box” and identify how this method fits within the 2014–2020 programming period and specifically contributes highlighting the value added of LEADER.
The chapter discusses comparative results across regions regarding the application of the method ... more The chapter discusses comparative results across regions regarding the application of the method for quantifying and qualifying the endowment of social capital and rural governance in Local Action Groups of the EU LEADER initiative. Results show that the Putnamian tradition alone does not suffice to capture some distinctive features of local social capital. It should be complemented by the Bourdieusian tradition which stresses the role of social networks in conjunction with the broader social and political context and thus sheds light on the multi-dimensional and contextual aspects of social capital and rural governance.
This chapter presents the innovative elements proposed in the method for quantifying and qualifyi... more This chapter presents the innovative elements proposed in the method for quantifying and qualifying the endowment of social capital in Local Action Groups of the EU LEADER initiative. In sum, the innovative elements of the evaluation correspond to a deep scrutiny of the economic implications of social capital in rural areas; the identification of different dimensions and sub-dimensions of social capital and rural governance; the use of Social Network Analysis for the elaboration of data regarding information sharing, reputational power, and trust among actors; the proposal of a large set of indicators selected after a careful phase of testing in the field; the validation of a methodology in the field; and a first attempt at measuring governance in relation to social capital. The chapter concludes with recommendations on the implementation of the method for improving monitoring and evaluation activities in rural development policy.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Feb 15, 2020
Innovation actions within European Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects aim at testing research results ... more Innovation actions within European Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects aim at testing research results in practice. When supporting social innovations in rural areas, such testing requires the alignment of several rural actors in order to entail behavioral changes beyond the individual level. Recently, social innovation has been recognized as an important tool for rural areas, developing new solutions to respond to wicked problems for improving local living conditions at the grassroots level. In this study, we analyzed the use of an operational framework to support the early governance of social innovation actions. This framework was applied to co-construct seven innovation actions across Europe and the Mediterranean basin applied to forestry, agriculture, and rural development. Our results showed that supporting social innovators and local actors at the early stage of social innovation processes is key for efficiently addressing and tackling challenges and opportunities. Additionally, we showed that the process of defining a social innovation is complex and requires recursive engagement, which might lead to evolution through time, especially in the first phases of the process. Lastly, conducting the feasibility assessment enabled strategic thinking on crucial dimensions for designing a promising social innovation action, such as social networks management, financial sustainability, and know-how. Such findings helped us to draw general lessons for the development and governance of social innovation actions in rural areas, potentially applicable to any rural sector.
The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been deve... more The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been developed following different sequential steps. In this chapter, we show that this stepwise process can be applied to European Local Action Groups (LAGs), it can be used for comparing values across indicators for both monitoring and evaluation, and the results obtained can unveil the intervention logic of “social capital” at different steps of aggregation. As promised in the introductory chapters of the book, we show the steps taken for opening the “black box” and identify how this method fits within the 2014–2020 programming period and specifically contributes highlighting the value added of LEADER.
Social agriculture is a fast-growing sector in Europe. There is a great diversity in the social a... more Social agriculture is a fast-growing sector in Europe. There is a great diversity in the social agriculture landscape across Europe, depending on the national contexts. The settings in which social agriculture takes place, namely social farms, are innovative because they combine health care and social services with agricultural production. Different participant groups find their place on these social farms. Social agriculture can be beneficial for participants, providers, the environment and the wider society. In this paper, we give an overview of the social agriculture market situation in a selected number of European countries, namely the Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), Italy, Austria and Ireland. The country focus is largely dictated by the composition of, and the resources available to the project team undertaking this study. To explain how social agriculture is organised in the different European countries reviewed, three main frameworks are used: a multifunctional agriculture...
Social Innovation (SI) as the capacity to create and implement new ideas that are likely to deliv... more Social Innovation (SI) as the capacity to create and implement new ideas that are likely to deliver value (thus meeting individual economic interests), contemporarily responding to social demands (thus meeting societal needs), that are traditionally not addressed by markets or existing institutions (e.g. BEPA, 2011; Anderson et al., 2015). Social innovation includes new institutional arrangements, new fields of activity and new actors' relationships and interactions. Funded under the EU-funded H2020 project SIMRA (Social Innovational in Marginalised Rural Areas), this research aims to: Identify whether and how existing methods, approaches and tools can be used or adapted to propose a new evaluation framework that measures SI and its impacts in mountain areas. Identify specific critical issues for evaluation of SI and impacts in mountain areas. Reflect on how evaluation of SI cansupport more effective mountain development policies Mountain regions,
The EU funded H2020 project 'Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas' (SIMRA; www.simra-h20... more The EU funded H2020 project 'Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas' (SIMRA; www.simra-h2020.eu) has the overall objective of advancing the state-of-the-art in social innovation. This paper outlines the process for co-developing an evaluation framework with stakeholders, drawn from across Europe and the Mediterranean area, in the fields of agriculture, forestry and rural development. 4 Preliminary results show the importance of integrating process and outcome-oriented evaluations, and implementing participatory approaches in evaluation practice. They also raise critical issues related to the comparability of primary data in diverse regional contexts and highlight the need for mixed methods approaches in evaluation.
Social capital is widely recognized by social scientists as one of the influential factors determ... more Social capital is widely recognized by social scientists as one of the influential factors determining social and economic development in local and regional economic system. The aim of this poster is to present and propose an innovative on line tool (a smart app) intended to measure, in different moment of time, the endowment of social capital and related aspects of governance in specific public-private organizations, i.e. Local Action Groups. LAGS are the local programming and management units of the EU-funded LEADER initiative. The app is available at https://socialcapitalgal.shinyapps.io/App_GAL/
The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been deve... more The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been developed following different sequential steps. In this chapter, we show that this stepwise process can be applied to European Local Action Groups (LAGs), it can be used for comparing values across indicators for both monitoring and evaluation, and the results obtained can unveil the intervention logic of “social capital” at different steps of aggregation. As promised in the introductory chapters of the book, we show the steps taken for opening the “black box” and identify how this method fits within the 2014–2020 programming period and specifically contributes highlighting the value added of LEADER.
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Papers by Catie Burlando