As other Horizon 2020 projects in its first months of implementation, MOVING has started the development of a theoretical basis for the project – a so-called ‘Conceptual and Analytical Framework’ (CAF).
One of the main purposes of the conceptual framework is to establish clear definitions and a common understanding of the specific terms that the project will use, and those used more generally to describe the Value Chains (VCs) and Socio-Ecological Systems (SES), vulnerability and resilience. The MOVING CAF also examines the conceptual contribution of VCs to the sustainability and resilience of SES.
The ten propositions for the MOVING CAF are:
- Local actors engage in social practices.
- Practices are aimed at creating and distributing value.
- Social practices are developed within actors’ relational space and are affected by normative, cognitive and technical systems of rules. Some rules are generated by governance systems.
- Actors interact with other actors to connect to existing value chains or to establish new value chains.
- Business activities are a continuous flow of connection/disconnection of practices. Value chains can thus be perceived as assemblages of practices.
- In a value chain, practices evolve in relation to the connections with other practices.
- Business models are different modes of assemblage.
- Connections among practices can extend beyond borders, across different SES.
- Through these connections (in the form of Interactions and Outcomes) a value chain can influence the vulnerability and resilience of different SESs.
- Strengthening (new) value chains capable of creating value while enhancing SES’s sustainability and resilience in mountain areas, is the goal.
The CAF is being developed by the University of Pisa, and the first draft will be published at the end of August 2021.