Social as being used for our course is addressing social issues not necessarily social media. Though sometimes social media is used to communicate and raise awareness to social issues. This post starts with asking questions...what social problems is the world facing today? What are those 5 that you want to research and see how people and places are coming up with business solutions to address these problems.
Let's start with a list of social issues facing the world:
Poverty
Hunger
Lack of Education
Sanitation
Child Welfare
Family Erosion
Faithless
Unemployment
Animal Rights
Human Trafficking
Slavery
Lonliness
Aging
Disabilities
Social Exclusion
Homelessness
Immigration
Addiction
Abuse
Global Warming
Natural Disasters
and unfortunately the list can go on and on...
and turn it into a word cloud with www.tagxedo.com
But simply thinking of all the problems the world faces will not solve them. We can look for inspiration in social entrepreneurs and the organizations that support their development like th Skoll Foundation, Ashoka and NESsT.
Now I will pick 5 of these problems and try to show how social entrepreneurs are trying to solve them through social enterprise and social innovation...
Poverty is being addressed by many social enterprises but trying to create pathways out of the poverty cycle. Providing seed money to in sma
ll amounts to start microenterprises is how microfinance concept began and led Muhammad Yunus to a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Yunus has spread the concept of social entrepreneurship and his reach has gone beyond his intial homeland of Bangladesh to many other parts of the world including his initiative Yunus Social Business Balkans.
Human Trafficking - Partnership for Freedom ran a social entrepreneurship idea competition to help identify ways in which victims of human trafficking could heal and engage in employment to reclaim their lives. The results were discussed in a Jan 2014 Forbes magazine article. I found another example of Neet's Sweets whose founder was a victim of human trafficking and now helps others through the bakery she runs with a social purpose.
Homelessness is a topic I have covered through blogs before so you can see more at the link provided which was written after I worked with the City of Zagreb to address some social issues right here in Croatia. One of the most memorable ideas is the one called Hidden City Tours out of Barcelona which employs the homeless or previously homeless to give tours of the city as they know the city streets so well from living on them.
Aging and increasing life spans has lead to a shortage of housing and quality of life issues for those over 65 in communities across the globe. The UK even has published a guide book to address health and social care businesses that might want to serve this demographic. An example of one is Amnick Social Enterprise which helps elderly in 3 main ways...teaches them IT, helps them get back into sports and provides a handyman assistance program.
Disabilities can be short term or long term but they create physical and mental challenges to leading a full participatory life. People with disabilities often get left out of work and social groups and there are many organizations who are trying to solve this with business solutions. Vedran Habel in Croatia is a chef and cooking teacher who has been working with the blind, wheelchair bound, hearing impaired and low mental capacity individuals and organizations as well as mainstream organizations to help educate and connect and include through hospitality and catering. He runs Center UNUO and offers dining workshops where persons with different abilities can come together and share through meals and learn more about reducing the challenges for those with disabilities toward fuller inclusion.
Let's start with a list of social issues facing the world:
Poverty
Hunger
Lack of Education
Sanitation
Child Welfare
Family Erosion
Faithless
Unemployment
Animal Rights
Human Trafficking
Slavery
Lonliness
Aging
Disabilities
Social Exclusion
Homelessness
Immigration
Addiction
Abuse
Global Warming
Natural Disasters
and unfortunately the list can go on and on...
and turn it into a word cloud with www.tagxedo.com
But simply thinking of all the problems the world faces will not solve them. We can look for inspiration in social entrepreneurs and the organizations that support their development like th Skoll Foundation, Ashoka and NESsT.
Now I will pick 5 of these problems and try to show how social entrepreneurs are trying to solve them through social enterprise and social innovation...
ll amounts to start microenterprises is how microfinance concept began and led Muhammad Yunus to a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Yunus has spread the concept of social entrepreneurship and his reach has gone beyond his intial homeland of Bangladesh to many other parts of the world including his initiative Yunus Social Business Balkans.
Human Trafficking - Partnership for Freedom ran a social entrepreneurship idea competition to help identify ways in which victims of human trafficking could heal and engage in employment to reclaim their lives. The results were discussed in a Jan 2014 Forbes magazine article. I found another example of Neet's Sweets whose founder was a victim of human trafficking and now helps others through the bakery she runs with a social purpose.
Homelessness is a topic I have covered through blogs before so you can see more at the link provided which was written after I worked with the City of Zagreb to address some social issues right here in Croatia. One of the most memorable ideas is the one called Hidden City Tours out of Barcelona which employs the homeless or previously homeless to give tours of the city as they know the city streets so well from living on them.
Aging and increasing life spans has lead to a shortage of housing and quality of life issues for those over 65 in communities across the globe. The UK even has published a guide book to address health and social care businesses that might want to serve this demographic. An example of one is Amnick Social Enterprise which helps elderly in 3 main ways...teaches them IT, helps them get back into sports and provides a handyman assistance program.
Disabilities can be short term or long term but they create physical and mental challenges to leading a full participatory life. People with disabilities often get left out of work and social groups and there are many organizations who are trying to solve this with business solutions. Vedran Habel in Croatia is a chef and cooking teacher who has been working with the blind, wheelchair bound, hearing impaired and low mental capacity individuals and organizations as well as mainstream organizations to help educate and connect and include through hospitality and catering. He runs Center UNUO and offers dining workshops where persons with different abilities can come together and share through meals and learn more about reducing the challenges for those with disabilities toward fuller inclusion.
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