Innovazione Sociale ed empowerment dei cittadini: il caso dell'Etam di Venezia

The shift from “government” to “governance” has led to an active engagement of private actors and civil society within the institutional frame of urban governance, especially in the field of social policy. This paper examines the emergence and the functioning of a governance arrangement which is supposed to combat fragmentation in society and to foster social innovation by empowering civil society. The case study is Etam, a Social Inclusion Service placed in the deprived neighbourhood of Marghera (Venice). It supports citizens in their requests to local administration and is aimed at empowering them for a greater social cohesion. This case is an example of mainly top-down innovations, which means that there is a significant government involvement as well as regarding the framework definition and the funding. Nevertheless, these practices are specifically devoted in engaging civil society in key roles and also in letting civil society design and implement their projects. Membership, leadership, networking capacity, capability dynamics and funding issues will be analysed in order to disclose how social innovation practices actually develop, to what extent politics and public policies matter and which governance arrangements display more effectiveness in fostering SI.