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Social work research and practice that address environmental sustainability have already become prominent. However, a change in unsustainable economic structures is also urgently needed. This study explored emerging opportunities in theory and practice for a sustainable economy that are relevant to the aims of social work. As practical examples, our study concerns ‘ecosocial innovations’, i.e., social innovations that combine ecological and social goals. We analysed how these grassroots innovations in the field of social work reflect crucial shared conceptions of alternative economies. The qualitative data set comprised of 50 ecosocial innovations and six case studies in five European countries. The findings show a rich diversity of ecosocial innovations and describe how they reframe economic purposes, value economic diversity and democratise the economy. We suggest that social work might consider these practices as opportunities for collaboration, especially regarding work with people on the margins of the labour market. ispartof: International Journal Of Social Welfare vol:29 issue:4 pages:378-389 status: Published online

The article contributes to sustainability transition research by indicating the significance of transformative grassroots innovations in the context of social work research. We introduce the integrative concept of ecosocial innovation in order to demonstrate how grassroots innovations can successfully combine social, ecological and economic aspects of a sustainability transition. By ecosocial innovations, we refer to social innovations with a strong ecological orientation (e.g., recycling workshops, urban gardening, participatory unemployment projects and new local economies). The data consists of 50 examples of ecosocial innovations in Finland, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the UK. We investigate how ecosocial innovations interconnect ecological, economic and social goals and study the factors of their integrative crucial capacity. On the basis of qualitative data analysis and thematic categorisation of ecosocial innovations, we identify five integrative practices: diversity of activities, successful networking, addressing new livelihood, focus on food and explicit conceptual work on sustainability. Very often these integrative practices emerge as pragmatic solutions to local needs. For the participants, the ecosocial innovations can be relevant sources for new livelihood and wellbeing beyond the conventional labour market. Foremost, ecosocial innovations are valuable as forerunners for sustainability transition in practice.

Este artigo apresenta o conceito de inovacoes eco-sociais. Conceito que remete para as organizacoes locais ligadas a economia social e solidaria cuja intervencao nao deixa de atender aos desafios sociais e ecologicos, podendo ser vistos como modelos de sucesso na operacionalizacao da sustentabilidade. Baseado num estudo comparativo multi-caso internacional, a partir de uma abordagem do Servico Social, o artigo procura mostrar o trabalho desenvolvido nestas iniciativas, salientando a importância das mesmas. Entrevistas recolhidas junto dos atores locais em quatro paises permitiram identificar sete caracteristicas comuns as diferentes experiencias estudadas. Destaca-se a identificacao de um padrao comum no funcionamento destas inovacoes eco-sociais: uma criativa fusao de trabalho assalariado, voluntariado e emprego subvencionado. Esta combinacao nao e resultado, apenas, de compromissos motivados pela falta recursos, mas, tambem, da adocao de praticas sociais sustentaveis e de bem-estar. O artigo termina com um resumo das principais conclusoes e um sobrevoar do potencial que as inovacoes eco-sociais apresentam para o futuro, podendo, por exemplo, fornecer modelos para um servico social ecologico.