4 Social and Territorial Cohesion case-study: The “Milk Mountain” strategy for the

common good, protecting the general interest and increasing individual and community welfare. All in all, SSE organizations are among the main actors which prove to be of critical importance in the process of keeping together the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental) at the local level. STC aims at ensuring the welfare and basic human capabilities for all members and social groups within a country, reducing the disparities among better-off and lagging territories that are hampering access to rights for all, opportunities for personal development and upward social mobility. This is particularly evident and relevant in the current pandemic times, as inequalities, different forms of exclusions, power imbalances and vulnerabilities are most immediately experienced by people in the local communities and territories where they live. All in all, social and territorial cohesion is both a desirable end and a fundamental means to Sustainable Human Development at the local level. SSE and STC can be combined and interlinked to effectively enhance SDG localization as part of a territorial ecosystem, and particularly to counter the effects of exclusionary and unsustainable development outcomes that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Taken together, they shape not only the provision of goods and services but also the achievement of territorial functionings in the four pillars of Sustainable Human Development (SHD): Equity and cohesion; Participation and empowerment; Sustainability; Productivity and efficiency. Moreover, they can enhance the transformative resilience of local systems and entail a real process of institutional change, which involves reshaping political incentives to continuously nurture collective action and agency for SDG localization. In other words, SSE and STC together act as catalysts of a circular virtuous process through which – grounding on the creation and re-creation of socioeconomic value, as well as on the enhancement of people’s agency and empowerment – they are capable of transforming territorial inputs (e.g., resources, capacities, relations) into final SHD outcomes. Participatory governance mechanisms and strategic integrated planning can further enhance this virtuous process, by strengthening the connections and interlinkages between SSE initiatives and STC policies through information sharing, partnerships to harness new or underused (local and external) endowments and resources, and identification of joint solutions to local needs.

The Italian approach to social economy and cohesion policy

In this regard, Italy has a long-lasting experience both in fostering social economy as well as implementing cohesion policy in its own territories in order to foster Sustainable Human Development at the local level. Indeed, Italy is nowadays globally recognized as one of the countries where SSE is more developed, thanks to i) an outstanding number and array of SSE organizations, ii) the gradual introduction of a solid legal and policy framework, iii) a strong connection with local communities reinforced by multi-stakeholder governance processes, and iv) a rich enabling ecosystem that plays a key role in strengthening and innovating SSE contribution to social, economic and human development. Such key distinctive features enhance the potential for the SSE sector in Italy to contribute to the localization of the SDGs by understanding the needs of the local community and interacting with the different actors of the territory to cocreate a shared vision of Sustainable Human Development and concrete actions to implement it. Also, Italy has a relevant tradition in designing and implementing cohesion strategies, policies and initiatives, due to the presence of strong social and regional disparities and an enduring North-South divide. Indeed,

social and territorial cohesion are strongly embedded in the Italian Constitution, which explicitly embraces a Sustainable Human Development perspective to set an institutional architecture pursuing the collective mission of equality of opportunities for citizens in all areas of the country. The Italian long-lasting tradition towards STC is also coupled with the efforts of the European Union in reducing the significant imbalances that exist at all levels. Over the years, this has led to a distinctive Italian approach to social and territorial cohesion based on a) integration between interventions on local economic development processes, essential services and infrastructures, regeneration processes, and governance capacity-building; b) strong local leadership and responsibilities for both strategic programming and implementation played by LRGs; c) whole-of-society approach in both strategic programming and implementation to gather tangible and intangible resources, efforts and responsibilities within local communities; d) openness to public debate and scrutiny to enrich the knowledge base on both local problems and solutions and to ensure collective mobilization towards shared goals. This approach contributes to nurture and sustain societal alliances at the local and community level among public, private and social actors, in order to foster an enabling environment for the promotion of collective well-being in all places, thus contributing to SDG localization. All in all, Italy’s national and local experiences on both SSE and STC are rather unique and can constitute a useful reference for other countries and places to find their own routes in introducing or consolidating relevant models and practices.

The identification of relevant case-studies and the design of Policy Guidelines for e xperience-sharing and peer-to-peer learning

In a world looking for (and needing) innovative and tailored approaches to design and implement appropriate recovery and transformative strategies for the post-Covid19 era at all levels, experience-sharing and peerto-peer learning appear extremely important, especially for SDG localization. The diffusion of good practices is a key mechanism ensuring that good ideas can inspire as many relevant actors as possible and can create a multiplicative global effect on local communities. For this reason, this study identifies 6 case-studies that are exemplary of the Italian approach to SSE and STC as drivers for SDG localization, according to a set of 8 selection criteria: Capacity to catalyse SDG localization; Focus on specific vulnerable groups / communities / territories; Systemic change; Multi-actor processes and dynamics; Multilevel territorial processes and dynamics; Institutionalization; Social / transformative resilience; Potential replicability. Therefore, the following case-studies can potentially inspire similar practices and showcase replicable models in other countries. The Consortium “Sale della Terra” is a commendable model of consortium of cooperatives contributing to maximize territorial social impact, by adopting an overarching and systemic development approach and by leveraging more resources as compared with a single social cooperative. The ensemble of coordinated and coherent actions by a multitude of territorial organizations pursuing a strong and shared social mission generates a potential for systemic and innovative change in the local economic, social and welfare systems as a whole.

The social enterprise “Quid” adopts an alternative vision and strategy to the mainstream market and social logics, a model where what the traditional market leaves behind (i.e., discarded materials/commodities and by-products, as well as people belonging to a socially disadvantaged category or at risk of social exclusion) becomes the starting point for a new economic, social and environmental paradigm. The Messina Community Foundation offers an interesting model of community foundation. In fact, in order to guarantee the sustainability of its human development policy, it invests in productive economies with a constant entrepreneurial mindset in order to catalyse and promote self-sustaining systems and, therefore, multiplying its sustainability effect and social and economic impact. The Strategy “Milk Mountain” for the Emilian Apennines is exemplary of a model of designing and implementing a local development strategy for an inner and fragile area by leveraging the valorisation of typical products with high value-added and by integrating it with the upgrading and renewal of public services for citizens and communities. The Local Action Group “Maiella Verde” is an illustrative example of the application of the LEADER / Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) approach in Italy, which aims at mobilising and involving rural communities to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This approach relies on Local Action Groups as political and technical bodies that are able to tie the local partnership of actors with the managers and technical team in charge of designing and implementing a local strategy for rural development. The SIBaTer project is a praiseworthy model of institutional upgrading for social and territorial cohesion in Italy. On the one hand, it acts to improve the administrative capacity of municipalities in regard to the competences assigned to them by the law. On the other hand, it fosters the creation of a favourable environment for the generation of community / youth entrepreneurship proposals aiming at the valorisation of abandoned lands and assets. The in-depth analysis of each case-study is translated into 6 Policy Guidelines [available here], aimed at inspiring the adoption of similar models of SSE and STC by LRGs and local actors in emerging countries, counting also on the support by UN or development partner projects. These Policy Guidelines go far beyond a simple descriptive approach, in favour of an in-depth analytical investigation of the key determinants for the effective implementation and replicability of selected practices. The latter, indeed, showcase illustrative examples of ‘complex’ and integrated territorial dynamics fostering social cohesion and promoting inclusive, equitable and sustainable economic development, thus supporting the localization of the 2030 Agenda.