engleski

Social entrepreneurship as a supporting model for sustainable rural development: A case study of central Lika (Croatia)

The main purpose of the article is to explore social entrepreneurship as a supporting model for sustainable rural development that could bring the developmental facets of the Lika Region into balance. In that manner theoretical concepts that were used are oriented toward representation of the links between neo- endogenous and sustainable development. The article consists of two thematic parts: in the first part, the results of desk research are presented to describe the social entrepreneurship scene in Croatia ; in the second part, we present the results of qualitative research in two segments. The first segment consists of semi-structured interviews with local social actors involved in Lika’s current socio-economic development (2013). One of the main topics of the research was the economic dimension of sustainable development. The second segment of the research consists of a group semi-structured interview with social entrepreneurship practitioners in Lika (2015): civil society associations. The main topic was the status and developmental level of social entrepreneurship. The research results demonstrate the awareness by social actors of the opportunities for sustainable development in Lika (e.g. preserved natural resources), as well as awareness of alternative and/or complementary economic models that could foster an enhanced quality of life. The key social actors (research participants) see social entrepreneurship as an opportunity to develop an alternative/complementary economic model in Lika, e.g. “to incorporate people’s ideas into the economy and to adapt the economy to people”. An additional “push” factor for the development of social entrepreneurship is connected to third-sector actors, as they are working on a new project: eco-social farms and the grouping of farms based on inventiveness, communality and social capital.

civil society ; local social actors ; social entrepreneurship ; sustainable development

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