The study analysed the importance and extent of projects with a specific focus on social innovation in the Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Austria and examines the impact of these projects in each region. The research also looked at the impact of these social innovations and the resulting change processes on women and men of different age groups and disadvantaged groups.
In order to address the issue, the study focused on two levels of monitoring:
- the level of the LAG and its wider regional cooperation system
- the level of projects implemented in the course of implementing the Local Development Strategy (LDS) in responsibility of LAGs are generated and implemented.
Furthermore, the study also scrutinized the level of
- the state agency responsible for action
- the Federal Administration Authority at the Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism
- the European Commission (Directorate General for Agriculture and Forestry) rural development)
- the “micro level” of individual actor constellations, which are of great importance in the emergence of SI
To this end, the study team used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods, narrative and numerical information and data in order to capture the complex reality in the most complete and vivid way, to read regulatory patterns, to interpret them comparatively and finally to interpret them and to derive practical recommendations for interventions at the political-programmatic level (EU / federal / state) from these findings.
