O projeto VOAHR

: uma visão acerca da inovação social

Abstract

In order to reflect on the recent European and national bet in Social Innovation, this work tries to make a reflection about the theme in order to perceive its true potentialities and limitations. As there is still no consensus as to the definition of this concept, it was essential to explore the different components and identify the most relevant ones. Social problems continue to be a worldwide concern and, for this reason, society seeks effective solutions in solving them. Social innovation is intended to be an effective solution, but what is known about the subject does not seem to be consensual. With this reflection, we tried to understand which are the most important components for creating an innovation and why it is so urgent to innovate. After the reflection, it was chosen to make the counterpoint between the concept of Social Innovation of Mendes et al. (2012) and Young Foundation (2012). Considering these concepts, we evaluated the VOAHR Project (Organized Volunteer for a Humanitarian Reference Action), a project that took place between October 2014 and March 2016 and aimed to improve volunteer management skills in the organizations. This evaluation was done through questionnaire surveys to the participating organizations, the analysis of the project results, according to the project coordinating team and also through an interview to the project coordinator, Sónia Fernandes. It was noticed that the project was able to meet the requirements of both concepts and therefore constituted a social innovation.

Date of Award	5 May 2017
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Marisa Tavares (Supervisor)