Wdrażanie innowacji społecznych przez wiejskie organizacje pozarządowe
Social Innovation Implementation by Rural Non-Governmental Organizations

Summary/Abstract: The operation of local social policy entities inevitably involves looking for so - lutions to social problems. Measures aimed at solving social problems may be atypical, nonstandard, or alternative to what had previously been done in the locality. Social innovations understood this way are introduced by entities from different sectors. Each of them has its characteristics that may facilitate or hamper the process of implementation. The aim of the article is to answer the following questions: 1. What social problems are discerned by nongovernmental organizations operating in rural gminas of a province where social problems experienced by its residents are particularly numerous? 2. What kind of social problems do they try to reduce? 3. Do they introduce social innovations? If so, then 4. What kind of social innovations do they introduce? These questions are answered on the basis of results of empirical sociological research carried out in 2016 by applying a) the technique of unstructured interview with a standardized list of information to find, and b) the technique of in-depth unstructured interview on a sample of respectively 108 and 4 nongovernmental organizations from rural gminas of Lubelskie Province. These organizations divide social problems into problems which should be solved/reduced by public institutions, and problems which they can deal with by themselves. They very rarely try to solve problems that source literature identifies as crucial for the prevention of marginalization of rural areas (such as depopulation, poverty and unemployment). About 3% of the investigated organizations mostly introduce social innovations involving the provision of individualized services. Such innovations are usually short-term, which limits their potential for reducing social problems.

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