engleski

Zagreb

In the chapter it is presented the analysis of social innovations and of the characteristics of the local welfare system in the city of Zagreb. The analysis of the presented social innovations is based on background interviews with local stakeholders, experts, civil society representatives, practitioners and on secondary resources (newspapers, websites and policy documents). Cases are examined through an analytical grid, including the questions of types of services and ways of addressing service users ; question of internal organization and modes of work ; and the question of embeddedness of the project in the local welfare system. Case studies from Zagreb are selected in the fields of family policy, employment projects for disadvantaged groups and from housing policy. Research findings show poor understanding of the concept of social innovation, as a driver of change, among local stakeholders, including the public administration of the City of Zagreb. The presented social innovations in the city of Zagreb are very different in nature, and in initiation and outcome. Innovation in labour market social mentoring comes as a transfer of innovation placed in existing institutional infrastructure, fully funded by EU money and remaining mostly in professional circles. Innovation within the family policy show the capacity of civil society to understand and address social problems and become co-governor in the child care system. The civic initiative provides evidence of developmental capacity in terms of creating a strong network and setting-up social enterprise. It should be stressed that the innovation is a bottom-up development. Besides that, new generations of social services produced here provide a sense of a potential welfare mix system. Innovation within the housing programmes has emerged as the result of political will and the professional capacity of the local authority. City administration, particularly in the area of social policy, demonstrates openness for the development of new solutions and supporting new good ideas. This is particularly true in their cooperation with civil society and civic initiatives where they have built certain partnerships. For the time being, in the local welfare system, the challenge is coordination and parallelism in programmes with governmental programmes of social care and employment.

social innovation, service innovation, concepts and contexts, approaches and instruments, recurrent patterns of social innovations, ways of addressing users, internal organisation and modes of working, interaction with the local welfare system

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