Evaluation of the innovativeness of moroccan social organizations: case of the argan cooperatives in the Souss Massa region

Abstract

Today, cooperatives are a major engine of social and economic development in developing countries. Their main contribution is materialized by the implementation of projects with a hybrid added value: social and economic. However, the creation of this value is strongly linked to the innovative capacity of these cooperatives.

The innovativeness characterization of a social project remains a major issue for social organizations, and more particularly for cooperatives. The latter remain confused about the approaches, methods and tools for this characterization. Hence the following research question: How to evaluate the innovativeness of a social project concerning the Argan cooperatives of the Souss Massa region in Morocco?

This article proposes a tool for characterizing the innovation of a social project that makes it possible to assess its innovative character through the determination of the principal variables of this characterization within the Argane cooperatives of the Souss Massa region. Methodologically, authors referred to literature review on social innovation and its characterization tools. Then, they opted for a case study combining documentary analysis and interviews with staff of the social development agency (ADS- Souss Massa), consultants, experts and project leaders.

The results revealed a panoply of criteria for characterizing a social project, the most relevant are: (1) identification of needs (2) impacts (3) experimentation and risk (4) involvement of actors (5) governance (6) resources (7) type of innovation and (8) innovation process.

Keywords: Social innovation, Characterization of social innovation, innovative social project, Argane cooperatives.

JEL Classification: L30; O35

Paper type: Empirical research