Within the framework of the ENI CBC Med MedRiSSE project, one of the Italian Consortium partners ARCO - Action Research for CO-Development (PIN S.c.r.l., Educational and Scientific Services for the University of Florence) is leading the elaboration of a Mediterranean Replication Toolkit targeting policy makers, public servants, and SSE practitioners in the Mediterranean.

The objective of the Toolkit is to inspire and provide guiding elements for SSE actors in the public and private sectors wishing to replicate public-private co-production models and good practices for the delivery of social services and, more broadly, Social and Solidarity Economy initiatives.

The Toolkit will showcase the results of the analysis of 5 “good practices” piloted within the framework of the 5 capitalized European projects under MedRiSSE, namely MedTOWN, MoreThanAJob, RUWOMED, MedUP! and IESS!. Each “good practice” will be presented as a structured Roadmap showcasing the fundamental phases of the initiative, the main used resources, the key involved actors, and the undertaken core actions, as well as the major enabling contextual conditions for the potential replicability of the intervention in different contexts. Moreover, each Roadmap will also highlight the main risks that may arise when replicating the initiative as well as the coping strategies that could be used to mitigate or prevent such challenges.

The analysis carried out by ARCO researchers follows an evaluation framework which they elaborated in winter 2021-22 drawing from a preliminary literature review on existing methods analysing replication and scalability of social innovations. The methodological framework developed by ARCO researchers was later presented and explained to all MedRiSSE partners in a dedicated workshop to ensure the Consortium’s alignment and engagement with the overall research process.

A thorough desk analysis is currently being conducted by ARCO researchers on available project documents, reports and materials provided by MedRiSSE partners. Moreover, researchers have coordinated desk research findings with primary data which was collected mainly through a structured questionnaire administered to project coordinators, as well as semi-structured interviews with key informants. A total of 12 interviews were successfully conducted up to this date, while additional exchanges are likely to occur in the upcoming phases of finalisation and validation of the 5 Roadmaps.

The Mediterranean Replication Toolkit is expected to be complete in winter 2022-23 and widely disseminated by MedRiSSE Consortium in the following months of the project lifetime.

Figure above: extract from the workshop held by ARCO to MedRiSSE partners to showcase the overall research process, in December 2021.