Change Hubs for Ecosystemic Social Solutions (CHESS)

Under a “learning by doing” approach, the CHESS project aims to works towards these goals through the design, implement, and test in action of a Social Innovation in Action Manual in four pilot countries, Slovenia, Italy, Lithuania, and Greece, around four distinct use cases that address concrete societal challenges, each systemic in nature, within local contexts. Instead of creating yet another toolkit, CHESS will test and improve existing SI methods and instruments that aim to enhance the collaboration between diverse innovation actors. In the case of Lithuania, the area chosen for the project is refugee integration.

The role of the European Social Fund Agency is to test models and tools for social innovation proposed by experienced partners. This will be done by organising local stakeholder workshops in a selected field, thus contributing to the creation of an ecosystem supporting social innovation and to increased stakeholder cooperation. The European Social Fund Agency, as part of the EU-funded CHESS project, will organise a total of three Social Innovation Workshops and a final event to discuss and present the results of the workshops and the implementation project. After three rounds of these workshops tested tools will have been improved through an iterative process and will be developed into the final version of the Social Innovation in Action Manual. This guide will be shared for its open use among all types of organisations in the innovation ecosystems across Europe, as well as any partner stakeholder interested in using a SI approach to tackling their most complex social challenges.

Project duration: 24 months, starting 16 January 2023, ending 15 January 2025.

Coordinator

Partners and Associated Partners