Abstract Micro financing is perceived to contribute towards poverty reduction by developing small enterprises. We examined the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction (CFPR) programme implemented by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) between 2002 and 2007. We selected this case because it used a different approach of micro financing where assets were transferred rather than cash to participants. We examined two aspects of the programme: (i) the impact of micro financing through asset transfer instead of cash on reducing poverty; (ii) the factors that contributed to positive impact or little or no impact on the economic conditions of the participant households and the trajectories of changes experienced in these economic conditions. These were analysed using data gathered from a survey of 21 beneficiaries and also from the in-depth interviews of 8 of these households, which included both successful and not so successful cases. The study found that the asset transferring programme resulted in significant improvement in the livelihood of the majority of members. However, in some cases the beneficiaries did not see any or significant improvement in their livelihood. The study revealed that households that demonstrated proper planning, hard work, and personal interest in the business they started have witnessed improved quality of life through micro financing, while idleness of members and absence of proper planning resulted in failures. To some extent, it was found that social barriers can also contribute to failures, even if the beneficiaries work hard and are highly motivated. Based on these findings, the study makes some policy recommendations

We live in an age where our most significant 'story' is becoming that of a growing population living on a resource scarce planet. The need for us to do things differently is clear, increasing our awareness of the importance for social innovation around the world, yet the overriding narrative of our time remains embedded in a value system that maintains things just as they are. By looking at the stories we tell and the ways we tell them this study seeks to understand the role that 'narrative' plays in shaping our world, the power it has to influence an alternative reality, and its significance in creating conditions that are conducive for social innovation to occur. This paper gains a deeper understanding of the value systems in which our storytelling behaviour seems to be fundamentally entrenched by exploring the differences between how we understand and make sense of stories of commercial, as opposed to social, interest. In doing so, it has tried to gain insight into how we have successfully managed to sustain and fuel the growth of a global culture that rooted in an extrinsic value system, while we have failed to engender a sense of social responsibility, justice and equality. By conducting a series of participatory action research workshops across four different case study contexts, the research sought to challenge three core elements identified in the literature as occurring in narrative patterns: (1) narratives appear to be framed within either a negative or a positive framework; therefore, reflecting only a 'partial story', and perpetuating stereotypes or incomplete truths; (2) they are generally told by a single, external storyteller, with a very clear agenda; and (3) they are constructed to appeal to extrinsic values. The study set out to understand how we might unlock fixed narratives in the pursuit of social innovation - reconstructing new narratives that could in turn influence and perpetuate alternative realities. The workshop approach drew on influences from three practice-based methods: Theory U, human-centred design and elements of mindfulness practices. They were designed to prioritise story creation by multiple storytellers from inside the case study context, encourage the exploration of both negative and positive aspects of an experienced truth, and appeal to intrinsic values by creating the space for emergence and honesty. The workshops took place at a non-profit organisation, a private ii company, a public sector community health centre, and with an independent group of individuals from the same area. The core finding of this research was that by gaining a sense of 'agency' over their own capacity to identify, shape and share their own story, participants appeared able to identify and deconstruct 'fixed narratives' and move towards reconstructing a 'new, shared narrative' that was more inclusive of everyone's lived experience. A series of common factors appeared to play a consistently significant role in creating the conditions for this to take place. Some form of mindfulness, or body-based, practice was effective in encouraging participants to connect to 'experienced truths'. The use of different media to identify and create their stories increased participants' capacity to connect with their sense of control over shaping their own narrative, and the quality of listening within each group affected the quality of the story and the storyteller's own level of engagement. This appeared to lead to what is referred to in this paper as 'narrative agency'. The above factors also appeared to contribute to a common 'journey' or eight-stage experience. This consisted of fully entering the narrative workshop space (grounding), witnessing their authentic personal story (activating), articulating and sharing with a group honestly (connecting), embodying the emergent personal narrative (consolidating), gaining a sense of ownership and control over their own story (agency), integrating their own story with the experiences and stories of others allowing a new shared narrative to emerge (integrating), and demonstrating a desire to co-create a new narrative to inform new authentic actions (co-creating). This research demonstrated that it can be challenging to separate ourselves from the 'fixed stories' we have come to claim as our own and truly create the space and time to connect with our deepest needs, thoughts and desires. Consequently, we often have no real 'agency' over our stories. The study indicated that a deeper understanding of how to create conditions that generate a sense of 'narrative agency' could contribute to emerging practices in the field of social innovation, such as human-centred design and Theory U, and potentially inform new products, processes and systems.

No / Creating an integrated social innovation concept requires connecting, engaging, and applying theories and practices into an encapsulating framework. Therefore, the exploitation of various methodologies becomes inevitable and a force in underpinning positive change. This study examines a coherent methodological framework that can be utilized toward examining social innovation in the public sector. The proposed framework provides foundations for examining social innovation leading toward empowering citizens and influence societal changes toward smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth.

Background: Existing literature has declared migrant integration as social stress putting communities under pressure. Dynamics of social innovations and digital technologies can provide solutions to the pressing matter of migrant integration, yet the academic literature is obscure about processes that organisations employ in this matter. Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the process of digital social innovation unfolds in organisations. The main purpose of this study seeks to answer the research question: How do organisations undertake the process of digital social innovations in relation to migrant integration? Method: To answer the research question, a qualitative research approach was chosen. Multiple case study was carried out, and the empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. The content of the company websites and other additional material were used as a complementary source of information. The scope of participants was delimited to Sweden and Germany due to a high level of immigration in these countries. After data collection, the analysis was carried out in an abductive manner. Conclusion: The findings showed that the social innovation process is intertwined with the context where the actor acts as a mediator between the two. Two models were combined to gain both theoretical and practical insights without excluding one another. A suggested digital social innovation process model was then introduced in pursuit of providing a model that could be used in academia to annex scattered literature and to use the model in practice as a foundation for the innovation process.

This study seeks to unpack the formation mechanisms of social innovation (SI) initiatives in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Subsequently, this study employs a qualitative case study to investigate (1) local embedding, (2) trans-local connectivity and (3) university linkages of SI initiatives in Cuernavaca. Previous research indicated that socio-spatial dynamics are critical for the development of SI initiatives. Furthermore, previous research asserted that universities are imperative to SI in the context of Latin America. Nevertheless, previous research contemplating the formation mechanisms of SI was primarily western- centric and displayed an inadequacy to acknowledge SI in the context of Latin America. Based on previous research this study presents a theoretical framework that classifies the results in eight typologies based on (1) local embedding, (2) trans-local connectivity and (3) university linkages. All three dimension are classified as either "high" or "low", which grants insights into influential formation mechanisms. Subsequently, a sample of n=10 SI initiatives was compiled and twelve semi-structured interviews with representatives of the SI initiatives were conducted. The results indicate three typologies of SI initiatives. Five SI initiatives were classified as: HLH – high local embedding, low trans-local connectivity, and high university linkages. Four initiatives were classified as: LHH – low local embedding, high trans-local connectivity, and high university linkages. One initiative was classified as HLL – high local embedding, low trans-local connectivity, low university linkages. The results indicate that SI initiatives either seek to address local challenges or direct their efforts to trans-local challenges. Furthermore, universities evidently play a critical role in the formation of SI initiatives in Cuernavaca and Mexico. This study contributes to SI literature by presenting evidence that universities possess critical roles in the formation of SI. Future research should increasingly embed universities into theoretical approaches when investigating SI formation mechanism in Latin America.

Young people, emerging out of the foster care system, often struggle to become productive and self-sustainable adults in society. They are at high risk of being trapped in poverty and unemployment for their entire adult life because they are unable to make a successful transition out of the foster care system to adulthood. The purpose of this study was to explore how social entrepreneurship can be utilised to establish a developmental transitional service to facilitate the successful transition to adulthood of youth in foster care. The research participants were purposefully selected and comprised social workers and foster youths based in the township and the former homelands of the Free State. Data was collected using in-depth interviews and focus groups and was analysed using content analysis. The study found that the current model of the foster care system is not designed to facilitate and support foster youth to make a successful transition to adulthood. This may be ascribed to the following: ● The legislative requirements imposed on this population group, ● The lack of preparatory transition services and ● The limited capacity of social workers to address the needs and challenges of foster youth. The study concludes that intervention is needed in the foster care system to prepare, equip and support foster youth to become productive and self-sustainable citizens. Through the application of the social entrepreneurship framework, this study demonstrates how existing resources and new actors can be leveraged to provide a developmental transitional service that will serve to promote the resilience of youth in foster care and assist them to break the cycle of poverty.

In order to support Social Innovation, Social Designers advocate for the use of collaborative design methodologies, inclusive design processes, which produce innovative design outcomes and inclusive societies. While there is a large amount of literature on this topic from a European and US perspective, there is little understanding regarding the effect large social disparity between stakeholders has on these types of engagements. The researcher describes this as cross-boundary collaborative design for social innovation, where "boundary" refers to social and collective identity such as, gender, race, class, etc., which is a reality in most South African collaborative design engagements and a gap in the literature. Thus, this thesis explores this gap by asking the research question, what practices, mindsets and interpersonal interactions help to support effective cross-boundary collaborative design for Social Innovation? In order to answer this question, the researcher conducted 32 interviews followed by a single focus group with disparate stakeholders engaged in these types of initiatives. Using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach and applying the lens of Appreciative Inquiry to her interview questions, she recorded narratives that focused on moments of effectiveness within these cross-boundary collaborative design engagements. What emerged from the data was a strong link between the quality of relationships between the disparate stakeholders and the effectiveness of the collaborative design process - what she described as "generative" relationships (connections built on trust, vulnerability, friendship and respect) that blurred the social boundaries between the participants and helped them move across the social divides with ease. This in turn increased the generative nature of the collaborative design process. Furthermore, these generative relationships were often established outside of the design process, in a preliminary phase (pre-project) before a design engagement began because this phase allowed the stakeholders to focus solely on building relationships, instead of generating design solutions. However, the importance of generative relationships does not feature strongly in the current collaborative design literature. Instead, it focuses mainly on developing communication methods as a way to support boundary crossing and views relationship building as a secondary by-product of a good communication method. This thesis, however, concludes that in order to support effective cross-boundary collaborative design engagements, this process should be flipped and attention be given to first building generative relationships that can then help to support the effectiveness of the cross-boundary communication methods and ultimately improve the over all crossboundary collaborative design process.

No description available.

Social innovations are solutions related to humanistic needs and the betterment of mankind with the intent of creating social value and eventual societal level changes. Social innovation therefore broadens traditional views of innovation to include processes of societal transformations and human behaviors. These social innovations are becoming more commonplace across all sectors, including capital markets. Private equity and venture capital firms in the capital markets sector engage in social innovation by investing capital with the goal of delivering both economic and social value. Despite the critical importance of venture capital (VC) in the success of social innovations through socially responsible investing, there is a paucity of research in understanding the factors that affect the performance of these social VC firms. This research gap is addressed by asking the following primary research question: What is the role of strategic and structural factors in the performance of socially innovative venture capital firms? The firm level research is theoretically based on the well-established design school. This framework highlights the overarching importance of strategy and structure in the accomplishment of firm goals. In the context of the venture capital industry, it was hypothesized that certain unique strategic and structural factors (i.e., stage of investment, age, size, and network relationships) would influence the performance of socially innovative VC firms. A moderated mediation model was proposed to examine these factors and their influence on performance variation. The sample of socially innovative VC firms was generated from the ThomsonOne Private Equity Database. The research design and methodology followed a systematic and objective process. This included identification of the sample of 381 VC firms, collection of mission statements for each VC firm, development of key word list pertaining to social innovation for content analysis and the collection of archival data on each VC firm. Content analysis was then used to identify the degree to which the firm’s strategic orientation (mission statement) was related to social innovation. Finally, both traditional and more cutting edge statistical analyses (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) were used to evaluate the moderated mediation model. The results of this study provide several key take-a-ways for both researchers and practitioners focusing on social venture capital. Firstly, results indicated that firms adopt distinct foci of social investing that directs their strategic orientation. These various foci have vastly differing effects on the firm’s overall performance, the strategic decisions they make, and the architecture of their structural design. It is therefore necessary to treat each focus area separately given differences in strategies, industry and investment focus, and market orientations. Secondly, including socially related language in the firm’s mission statement does not guarantee that a VC firm will actually implement a social orientation or seek to create the social value inherent in social innovation. Thirdly, certain investment strategies appear to be more advantageous depending of the size of the firm and the socialness of the firm’s orientation. Lastly, results supported that the adoption of a social orientation did not negatively influence firm performance. Overall, results suggest that pursuing a social orientation is viable and effective in delivering blended value strategies for VC firms engaging in social innovation. These findings offers socially oriented venture capital firms insights into strategic and structural aspects that are important to their success in achieving positive exists of their portfolio companies, thus increasing both financial and social value.

Yes / Despite growing concern in the social innovation (SI) literature about the tackling of grand challenges, our understanding of the role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) remains in its infancy. This article examines foreign MNE subsidiaries’ SI investments focusing on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) in host countries. Using financial data from large listed subsidiaries of foreign MNEs operating in India, along with hand-collected data from firms’ disclosures of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity for five years starting in 2015, we utilise the externalities framework propounded by Montiel et al. (2021). This neatly translates the 17 UNSDGS into actionable goals to examine the efforts of foreign MNE subsidiaries in increasing positive externalities as opposed to reducing negative externalities via SI related investment in host countries. The study also evaluates the effects of the local embeddedness of the foreign MNE subsidiaries on SI investment. We find that MNE subsidiaries tend to favour increasing positive externalities as compared to reducing negative externalities through their SI investments. Also, older subsidiaries tend to prioritize greater investments in SI projects related to reducing negative externalities and subsidiaries with higher MNE ownership tend to reduce investments in SI projects related to increasing positive externalities. We discuss possible interpretations of the exploratory results using the institutional logics perspective and conclude with implications for policy and future research. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo, 12 months after first publication.