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<p>The role of social innovation initiatives in contributing to sustainable rural development has been discussed both in academia and practice. Some scholars argue that, rather than delivering solely on unmet needs and services, social innovation should have a broader transformative impact. By applying Castro-Arce and Vanclay’s analytical framework for transformative social innovation (2020), the paper seeks to analyse the experience of a rural development initiative based in Portugal. The results of this exploratory study indicate that, in triggering bottom-linked governance, the initiative has taken on the bridging roles of knowledge broker, resource broker, shared vision champion, transparency and conflict resolution agent, and network enabler. Alongside taking on these bridging roles, the initiative under study, while promoting cooperation and knowledge exchange, has encountered some challenges further discussed in the paper. Finally, the paper makes some suggestions on how the proposed framework could be enriched.</p>
</abstract>

The role of social innovation initiatives in contributing to sustainable rural development has been discussed both in academia and practice. Some scholars argue that, rather than delivering solely on unmet needs and services, social innovation should have a broader transformative impact. By applying Castro-Arce and Vanclay’s analytical framework for transformative social innovation (2020), the paper seeks to analyse the experience of a rural development initiative based in Portugal. The results of this exploratory study indicate that, in triggering bottom-linked governance, the initiative has taken on the bridging roles of knowledge broker, resource broker, shared vision champion, transparency and conflict resolution agent, and network enabler. Alongside taking on these bridging roles, the initiative under study, while promoting cooperation and knowledge exchange, has encountered some challenges further discussed in the paper. Finally, the paper makes some suggestions on how the proposed framework could be enriched.

Transformative Social Innovation in Rural Areas: Insights from a Rural Development Initiative in the Portuguese Region of Baixo Alentejo

European Countryside

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The role of social innovation initiatives in contributing to sustainable rural development has been discussed both in academia and practice. Some scholars...

Transformative Social Innovation in Rural Areas: Insights from a Rural Development Initiative in the Portuguese Region of Baixo Alentejo

Published Online: Apr 03, 2021

Page range: 71 - 90

Received: Sep 15, 2020

Accepted: Jan 04, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2021-0005

Keywords
transformative social innovation, rural development, bridging roles, bottom-linked governance, Portugal

© 2021 Marina Novikova, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Transformative Social Innovation in Rural Areas: Insights from a Rural Development Initiative in the Portuguese Region of Baixo Alentejo

Published Online: Apr 03, 2021

Page range: 71 - 90

Received: Sep 15, 2020

Accepted: Jan 04, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2021-0005

Keywordstransformative social innovation, rural development, bridging roles, bottom-linked governance, Portugal

© 2021 Marina Novikova, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
transformative social innovation, rural development, bridging roles, bottom-linked governance, Portugal