O desenvolvimento da inovação social: inibidores e facilitadores do processo: o caso de um projeto piloto da ong parceiros voluntários

Abstract

In view of the social difficulties faced by current communities, there is great concern in finding solutions that may, at least, minimize these problems. Within this context, the actions realized promote the development of social innovation, that is, changes that come about based on the identification of the complementary necessities of specific actors, the result of which may generate both social and economic development. Generally speaking, the development process for social innovation begins with a social entrepreneur project, which, very often, is linked to Third Sector organizations. It is thus noted that this process, along with the metrics used to evaluate the development and results of social innovation, still represent a gap in the literature on this topic. Therefore, this study sought to understand how social innovation is developed in the context of the voluntary sector and what the factors are that have an impact on its implementation. Based on the research question and theoretical references, the defined objective of this study was a pilot project in the area of education under the theme of the development of values in primary education, implemented during the academic year of 2011, in the school network of Nova Prata/RS. A qualitative/quantitative methodology was employed to respond to the research question, organized in three specific phases and which provided material for the subsequent stage. In the first phase - of a qualitative nature and called Marco Zero (Ground Zero) - the researcher sought to understand the context in which the project would be implemented. The results served to assist in the elaboration of a research instrument in the second phase - of a quantitative nature -, which sought to define the factors that influence the development of social innovation by means of factorial analysis. Based on the results of this phase, interviews were conducted with different actors involved in the process - school management team and teachers, students parents, educational advisors from the department of education, the manager of Parceiros Voluntários and coordinators from the Nova Prata Parceiros Voluntários Unit -, as well as the creation of two focal groups with students who took part in the project. The results allowed for the elaboration of a framework with different variables for the development of social innovation, as well as the use of the open innovation logic, in which different actors participate in and influence the process. One of the noted results was the identification of complementary objectives and not common objectives, as pointed out by the literature and, later, reiterated in the concept taken from the research. The developed framework sought to detail the phases that lead to social innovation, seeking to define a process that can be used for the replication of projects in different contexts.