ABSTRACT
People-centered social innovation (PCSI) is conceptualized as a combination of the ideas of people-centeredness in development discourse as well as an emphasis on the social relational dimensions of social innovation. This chapter shows that Kudumbashree is an example of PCSI based on the recognition of and solidarity with women, not as isolated individuals and entrepreneurs. It offers a constructive critique of the notions of social capital as a foundation for social innovation and to provide a nuanced understanding of the same by exploring varied aspects of solidarity economy that Kudumbashree has been able to promote both at the level of local communities and at Kerala state level in India. PCSI is an approach which goes beyond the conceptions of social innovation as individual or small-group interventions to a broad-based, people-centered approach in order to address complex social developmental challenges through systemic and systematic intervention that is designed and delivered through a process of institutionalization.
