A Conceptual Framework for the Evaluation of Social Agriculture: An Application to a Project Aimed at the Employability of Young People NEET

Antonio Baselice, Maurizio Prosperi and Antonio Lopolito
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Antonio Baselice: Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resource and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25-71122 Foggia, Italy
Maurizio Prosperi: Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resource and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25-71122 Foggia, Italy
Antonio Lopolito: Department of Economics, Management and Territory, University of Foggia, Via Da Zara, 11-71121 Foggia, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-19

Abstract: Agriculture can be a possible provider of social services of relevant importance for the whole society. In order to generate a valuable social service, a multi-actor approach is often applied, based on an active collaboration among public institutions, non-profit organizations, and private firms, and capable of generating multiple positive impacts. This new approach may both favorite agricultural diversification and enhance the quality of life of rural communities. However, in order to enable policymakers in motivating the public support to these types of initiatives, an evaluation method capable of disentangling the multiple benefits generated by social agricultural projects is required. In this paper, we adapted the evaluation method previously developed by the SIMRA consortium for Social Innovation initiatives, to a project aimed at the employability of NEETs in the south of Italy. A selection grid, framed by cross-referencing the national policy objectives of social agriculture and the criteria of eligibility adopted in public calls is proposed, to choose the suitable indicators for the evaluation. The evaluation experience allowed the measurement of 34 indicators of performance. The results prove that 12 indicators are positive, while 12 are moderate, and 10 are low and are mainly related to the enhancement of social inclusion. The evaluation exercise may be useful to disentangling the multiple outcomes generated by initiatives based on social innovation, which are highly based on intangible assets, and exert a positive effect on the internal cohesion and the engagement of the civil society.

Keywords: NEETs employability; social agriculture; social innovation; evaluation; multi-stakeholders interplay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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