Acta Innovations

14-21

Authors: Katarzyna Zajda

Non-governmental organizations encounter some barriers when trying to implement social innovations, such as having limited ability to collaborate with other entities designed to solve social problems or limiting that collaboration to entities which are not interested in implementing such innovations. The aim of this article is to characterize the collaboration between non-governmental organizations from Lubelskie Province and local entities, as well as to evaluate the collaboration in terms of the possibility of implementing social innovations. The study was carried out between October and December 2016 and was based on the following research questions: 1. What kind of social problems do the investigated non-governmental organizations from the rural communes of Lubelskie Province try to solve? 2. What entities are involved in solving those problems? 3. Do the investigated organizations often collaborate with them? 4. Should the collaboration be modified or changed? 5. What entities should increase their participation in the cooperation network? The study involved 108 chairpersons of non-governmental organizations from the rural communes of Lubelskie Province, with whom in-depth interviews with a standardized list of targeted information were carried out. The article presents part of the collected empirical material. Although non-governmental organizations are willing to engage in non-standard, unconventional or atypical projects, they limit their activity to problems regarded as “easier to solve” or to activities that are not likely to solve those problems. In this context, extending nongovernmental organizations' cooperation networks by new local non-governmental organizations (out of the social welfare field) does not seem as desirable as their further collaboration with public sector organizations based on the principle of partnership and oriented at implementing social innovations.

30-37

Authors: Ilona Matysiak

The article explores the potential of elderly people living in rural areas in terms of implementing social innovations related to care provision. It is argued that seniors should receive greater recognition as important actors organizing care at the local level. Two examples of care cooperatives recently established in Dutch rural communities are used to illustrate the argument. The article is based on a literature review and in-depth interviews conducted in the Netherlands in February 2017. The challenges involved in transferring this model to Poland are also discussed.

47-52

Authors: Małgorzata Dziekanowska

The purpose of this is to address the social activities of women living in rural areas, and especially the degree to which such activities are innovative. Special attention is given to innovations designed to improve the quality of life in local communities, to identify their needs and social problems, and to make attempts to address these. Data for this study comes from in-depth interviews with women who are particularly involved in various areas of social life in their local communities.

65-73

Authors: Kamila Hernik

The article discusses problems of joining of social economy and social innovation, illustrated by the example of activities undertaken in the last decade in the rural commune of Bałtów (Świętokrzyskie voivodship). In the theoretical section, I present the context of emergence of social innovations in Europe and some of their definitions. In the empirical section, I depict the development of social entrepreneurship initiatives in Bałtów commune based on the case study conducted in 2013 and analyse them in the context of social innovation.

87-93

Authors: Barbara Szczepańska

The scientific objective of the research conducted on Lower Silesia in 2013 was to identify social factors that influence the implementation process of agricultural development in agricultural holdings. The processes of land concentration proceed very slowly and the agricultural structure is dominated by small farms with low economic viability where income from farming is not sufficient to maintain the family, and surely does not provide any possibilities for development of such farms. To increase the productivity and efficiency of agriculture, it is necessary and essential to speed up the absorption of progress in agricultural holdings of 5 to 50 ha in area.