Is Social Innovation Possible in Spanish Social Services? Reflections from the Professionals' Point of View

Between 2021-2022 we carried out a study on the perception of public innovation, which took into account the assessments of the people responsible for the seventeen social services of the autonomous communities of Spain. At a later stage, we conducted a second survey aimed at social service professionals. As a result of this previous investigations, arose the need to research the role of social innovation in social services from the point of view of the professionals who make up the work teams. To this end, throughout the summer of 2024, we carried out an exploratory phase, through semi-structured interviews with top-level experts in social services, whose profiles ranged from social workers to centre directors and municipal advisors.

The approach used was qualitative, and reflections focused on the weaknesses, threats, opportunities and strengths existing in the sector in relation to social innovation and the promotion of creativity in the sector. Likewise, a series of recurrent resistances and elements that hinder the innovation of professionals were detected, such as: lack of time and personnel, and the lack of support from political managers. Among the discourses, the impact that COVID-19 has had on the internal functioning of the teams appeared, both in terms of organisation, communication and professional practice itself. In short, by actively listening to experts in social services, it has been possible to obtain a preliminary diagnosis of the situation. This information, in addition to advancing in the knowledge of good practices and keys to promote social innovation in social services, has allowed us to have accurate and focused criteria to design a Research and Development project at national level. The main objectives of this project will be to detect, validate and transfer good practices of social innovations carried out in first level social services in Spain.