s
eager proponents of ‘Social Enterprise’, a way of initiating sustainable
change in the lives of underprivileged communities, we have often been
asked, ‘What’s new about Social Enterprise?’ The question has never been
easy to answer, particularly because the concept itself and the
framework for action that it espouses are still evolving. Having said
so, there is enough evidence to suggest that altering one’s perspective
on the socioeconomic development processes within communities that are
inextricably linked to the market- and enterprise-based solutions for
basic needs goods and services can lead to significant change in living
conditions, rapid growth in hitherto marginalised village economies and
overall access to vehicles of empowerment.
In sharp contrast to the
‘problem-solution’ or ‘need-response’ paradigm within which most
development action is conceived, the promotion of social
entrepreneurship is based on recognition of people’s strength.
Emphasis is placed on understanding such strengths and facilitating
dialogue at the interface of otherwise narrow specialisations to design
initiatives in which existing and potentially available human,
natural, technological, financial and institutional resources can be
capitalised upon.
Over the years, action research
undertaken by the DA Group and partner organisations in the sectors of
building materials and technology, water and renewable energy based
rural electrification has helped build a diverse body of experience on
the factors that need to come into play for an eco-system of social
enterprises to attain maturity. With constituents ranging from the local
producer group to large-scale promoters of scalable solutions, it has
been quite rewarding for our ‘community of practice’ to find strands of
knowledge which can be woven into path-breaking multi-stakeholder
initiatives. The approaches thus developed are now being extended into
areas such as basic literacy and livelihood security.
In the real world, where state
policy and private initiative play a dominant role in shaping the future
of business-led responses to the acute need for fulfillment of basic
needs such as housing, electricity and water, techno-financial
feasibility continues to be the dominant concern while formulating new
ventures. It is, however, extremely encouraging that social and
environmental dimensions are seen, at least in favourable innovation
driven settings, as not just desirable consequences but necessary
outcomes for long-term viability of any enterprise. Is it not possible
for governments and industry to build a more robust policy architecture
and investment paradigm around the objective of ‘techno-social’
feasibility; with environmental sustainability being built into the
choice of technology through effective standards, more conducive
regulation and better enforcement. The economic outcomes would, we
believe, be easier to deal with than social unrest.
This issue of the Development
Alternatives Newsletter highlights the initiatives taken by the DA Group
to bridge divides between the domains of technology, enterprise, society
and nature. The ‘Literacy to Self Reliance’ project with support from
the NOIDA Power Company Limited, SPEED Programme initiated in
collaboration with partners in industry, consulting and civil society
with support from the Rockefeller Foundation or the 17