Hvordan sosial innovasjon blir utviklet gjennom organisasjoner i sivilsamfunnet som yter sosial hjelp til sårbare grupper

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Aleksandar Bozic fra Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap ved UiA disputerer for ph.d.-graden med avhandlingen «Social Services, Social Innovation and Multi-Actor Collaboration: A Civil Society Organisation Perspective» torsdag 27. oktober 2022.

Han har fulgt doktorgradsprogrammet ved Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap ved UiA, med spesialisering i sosiologi og sosialt arbeid.

Summary of the thesis by Aleksandar Bozic:

Multi-actor collaboration, social innovation and service provision in a socio-politically fragile context: A civil society perspective

The thesis attempted to advance an understanding of how social innovation is generated through the perspective of civil society organisations (CSOs) that provide social services for vulnerable groups through collaboration with multiple actors in a socio-politically fragile context, with a legacy of war, scarce resources and weak institutions.

15 case interviews

Using Bosnia and Herzegovina as a case, this dissertation adopts mixed methods research design.

The empirical data consist of 15 semi-structured interviews with representatives from local CSOs, international aid/development donors and the public social sector institutions, as well as a survey of 120 CSO representatives from a variety of social service CSOs with the experience of the implementation of socially innovative services, models and interventions.

The thesis consists of three articles

Article 1 identified the mechanisms and processes of social innovation generated by civil society organisations as non-state service providers in challenging social work practices.

Article 2 explored the role of CSOs in delivering social services within a multi-actor setting and how this facilitates or challenges CSOs in the field of social innovation.

Article 3 revealed the external environmental factors influencing the integration of social innovation by CSOs into their social services.

Findings

The overall findings suggest that social innovation in social services in a socio-politically fragile context is not a public sector phenomenon, but rather is driven by non-state service providers (local CSOs).

Usually, it emerges within the triple framework of collaboration developed between civil society, international donors and public organisations.

Despite this, a collaborative aspect of social innovation is not easy to implement in such a context due to power imbalances, tensions and lower trust among multiple actors, strong hierarchical structures of different organisations and lack of relevant policies, which may undermine the visibility of CSOs' collaborative and innovative efforts in social work.