Social innovation for agroecological transitions: Changing roles in multi-stakeholder collaborations for improved local food system development

Abstract

The concept of social innovation (SI) is recently gaining attention in agroecological tran-sition research. SI comprises change of multi-stakeholders’ relationships and social practicesin agroecological transition initiatives, such as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS).PGS are group-based local certification approaches to ecological production, aiming atchanges in system operators’ relationships (producers, consumers, facilitators) through newways of organising, framing, and doing. First retrospective studies showed that establishedPGS encourage reconfigurations of social relations to implement alternative farming andfood practices. However, the analysis of how SI evolves through changes in relationshipsrequires perspectives ‘from within’ and ‘in the making’. The concept of roles is suggestedto assess required changes of individual roles (tasks, responsibilities, rights) and role con-stellations to provide new opportunities for multi-stakeholder collaborations. Since 2019,we address the above issues in an ongoing case study (Northern Patagonia, Argentina) onthe transdisciplinary development of a PGS from a SI perspective. Based on a qualitati-ve actor- and activity-oriented approach, the objectives of the study are to assess ‘fromwithin’ and ‘in the making’ i) how the PGS development process facilitates SI; and ii)how changes of understandings and enactment of individual roles and role constellationsbetween participating stakeholder groups shape the collaboration and potential successof SI. Preliminary results show that the PGS development facilitates SI, by addressingsocial needs and by implementing new social practices, such as developing agroecologicalprocess and product quality standards, control mechanisms, and multi-stakeholder gover-nance structures. Participants are encouraged to question their own and others’ roles andto enact role changes. Expected role changes of producers and consumers (become activeand responsible managers and promoters of the PGS) were shared among all stakeholdergroups in the dialogue phases (framing). However, in the implementation phases (doing),it turned out challenging to meet expectations of enacting modified roles. We found joint(re-) definition of roles and evaluation of limitations for enactment of modified roles criticalto improve SI in PGS. Only then, conditions can be adapted for multi-stakeholder groupsto enact roles differently, increasing the groups’ room to manoeuvre to better meet SI aimsin agroecological transition trajectories.