Parcerias intersetoriais em inovação social: uma perspectiva entre diferentes atores

Abstract

Social innovation has been gaining prominence in academic, managerial, and political discussions due to its potential to generate positive social impact and help solve complex societal problems. Although the term has gained relevance in recent years, there is still room for new contributions, so Social innovation has been considered an innovative method that produces goods and services in a participatory way, in order to reduce social inequalities. Because it encompasses complex problems, it has commonly been developed in interaction with various social actors (individuals, organizations, government, universities, among others), organized under different legal types (cooperatives, social organizations, non-profit organizations, private companies, social enterprises, hybrid organizations, among others). These interactions with various actors, within the SI environment, have been studied in the literature as intersectoral partnerships, considered actions, agreements, or networks of collaboration and support between actors from different segments (government, private sector, and third sector). However, despite the literature reporting that social innovation is the result of partnerships between various segments, its internal dynamics and interactions still require further study. This descriptive and exploratory thesis, employing a qualitative analysis approach, discusses how the characteristics, motivations, values, and actions that constitute intersectoral partnerships are articulated in the production of social innovation within the experiences of the Lagoa Mundaú Social Innovation Ecosystem and the Sergipe Women's Solidarity Network. To this end, two social innovation initiatives established in Northeast Brazil (Alagoas and Sergipe) were selected for analysis of the intersectoral partnerships involved. Data collection instruments included documents and semi-structured interviews with managers, partners of the initiatives, and their respective members/beneficiaries. Data processing was carried out through content analysis. This sought elements in the sources of evidence that allowed verification of whether the presented records and discourses are in accordance with the theoretical postulates. The study found that the production of democratic social innovation occurs through the articulation of converging motivations, complementary values and characteristics, and structured actions of intersectoral partners. From this perspective, it is understood that the articulation of these elements does not occur independently, but rather they influence and guide each other, allowing divergences to be transformed into convergences, which, in turn, favors the production of social innovation and the construction of more effective responses to existing demands. It was also possible to infer new constitutive elements of partnerships between various sectors within the scope of social innovation, enabling the construction of future models to be applied within the scope of democratic social innovation. The research advances theoretically by positioning itself within the radical or democratic aspect of social innovation, a still incipient field that diverges from the instrumental/entrepreneurial aspect, predominant in Brazilian literature, and presents empirical relevance by investigating the relationship between intersectoral partnerships and democratic social innovation in initiatives of a local context and in an emerging country (Global South), filling a gap in studies that are mostly concentrated in the Global North.