Since May, 2021, SDA is part of an international consortium implementing the project Social Innovation Plus – Competence Centres (SI PLUS). The project is led by Lechner, Reiter & Riesenfelder Social Research OG – Austria. Project partners are Foundation for the Technical Development of the Industry – Hungary and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family – Slovakia. Associated partners are Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy – Hungary, Ministry for Social Policy and Integration, Baden Württemberg – Germany, Slovenian Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Police and European Network of Social Integration Enterprises.
SI PLUS aim is to provide professional support services to social innovation in public policy on employment and the labour market. It intends to establish national competence centres in four countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia in order to support ESF Managing Authorities in planning and implementing subsidy programs for boosting SI, as well as social innovators in order to benefit from these programs.
Creating a Center for Social Innovation is generally a long process. For the last year SDA team, who is working on its creation, have held numerous meetings and events with experts, decision-makers, and citizens in order to shape and detail the structure and functions of such a center and the citizens’ needs.
Based on a year-long study, numerous focus groups, seminars and discussion forums, a clear concept for the Center for Social Innovations was created.
Based on the research findings and their validation the functions of the future Competence Centre could be:
- Capacity-building:among a range of stakeholders: ESF+ managing authorities, local and regional authorities, practitioners, support organisations, donors, etc.
- Raising awareness of the social innovation concept and the visibility of their creators.
- Developing tools and methods to achieve and scale-up impact.
- Networking, synergies and resources:
The first step towards building those centers is creating an online space in which organizations can share good practices, ideas and events, linked to social innovations. This place in called Social Innovations Club!
The project builds on the previous cooperation of the partners in the Danube Transnational Programme (Interreg), which aimed to promote economic, social, and territorial cohesion in the Danube Region through policy integration.
SI PLUS includes institutions from countries with diverse levels of economic development and different experiences of social innovation.
The project’s duration is 24 months.
The project is funded by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION, European Social Fund and European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation.