Empowerment and confidence

Posted on July 15, 2008 by sse

A couple of things stood out in the social entrepreneurship field in the past week or so. the first was the launching of the Empowerment White Paper from Department of Communities and Local Government, expertly chronicled and tracked by their secondee Simon Berry (check out the EWP Pageflake for example). Two relevant funding streams in this: a £70m Community Builders fund, which seems to be an amended, reduced version of the previously proposed ‘community anchors’ fund (a large proportion is capital). There is also a £7.5m which is a reworked version of the withdrawn Strategic Partners fund. Particularly pleased to see the emphasis here on the individual, and on practical action (one of the principles of the paper is "within the third sector, we recognise and celebrate the role of individual active citizens, social entrepreneurs, campaigners, volunteers and political activists…these people deserve the support and recognition of government").

Alongside that launch, there was the release of the new Social Entrepreneurship Monitor (as was), now simply called Social Entrepreneurship in the UK. (pdf download available from this page). In the past, the SEM has been a largely finger-in-the-air exercise in how it comes to its figures, but this report seems really well-thought through and researched. Includes case studies for the first time, and some interesting (and helpful) delineations of various terms. As with previous reports, it emphasises that "social entrepreneurs are not as confident as their mainstream counterparts….and do appear to be less confident as their activity becomes more established". This has always been something SSE has focused on (88% of SSE Fellows have an increase in skills and confidence to lead; 60% say this continues after the programme has finished), and it’s important that this is recognised from independent sources elsewhere. Also worth noting that the report underlines that "mentoring and coaching as well as access to finance through the growth process are important". Again, it’s good to see endorsement of our call for specialist support, without which all the good work on financial instruments, measurement tools and legal structures is lost.

What connects these two reports, I think, is that they both draw attention to the need to a) support and develop individuals and b) that this is not, primarily, about level 2 box-ticking audits, but about more intangible and "softer" (though harder to pin down) things like empowerment and confidence. Whilst many social entrepreneurs are driven by frustration with the status quo, or powered by personal experience, this can also become disillusioning if they are not supported on a long-term basis through the journey and if they are not genuinely able to achieve ’empowerment’. By which I mean not only in the sense of " To equip or supply with an ability" but also in the direct sense of "To invest with power", either via organisational forms they’ve established, or via genuinely representative roles within (and outwith) the political system.

If this research and this white paper can help make the case for and deliver that kind of work, then last week will have been an important one for social entrepreneurs across the UK.

Research engine

Posted on April 29, 2008 by sse

Increasingly in my role here at SSE I am tracking bits of research and policy that are flowing from different outfits and areas (and countries). And, while I haven’t had much time to pore over them of late, here are a couple that I thought were of particular interest:

– The Social Intrapreneur: A Field Guide for Corporate Changemakers (pdf at end of article); It’s from Sustainability, whose stuff is usually leaning towards the corporate / US / big business version of social entrepreneurship, and I guess this report is a logical extension of this. Their stuff is always very good and thought-provoking though, so this makes it worth a read. We’ve often played round with the idea of social intrapreneurship here, although as much in a ‘large non-profit’ as a multinational….but, either way, entrepreneurial individuals within organisations setting up new initiatives and projects for social benefit. Different challenges to starting from scratch, different benefits….but also much that is shared. An area to revisit, I think.

– Hitting the Target, Missing the Point: How government regeneration targets fail deprived areas is from the New Economics Foundation, and seems incredibly timely to me. Indeed, no sooner had I written something like "DCLG should aim to learn from previous / current regeneration initiatives such as LEGI" in a policy document than this lands in my inbox. Looks very interesting, particularly as it is rooted in practical work in the St Helens area (which has LEGI money: the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative).

I’ve yet to read it in full, but the general message seems to be that concentrating on outputs like job nos., enterprises started etc doesn’t capture the full benefits of such initiatives. It’s not a surprise to hear NEF calling for more sophisticated, thought-through measurement…but this one could have a big influence at at time when DCLG is looking at its regeneration objectives and infrastructure closely. Certainly, SSE has found that its outcomes and impact range far and wide: yes, jobs created, organisations established…but also increased political engagement, decreased isolation, greater community cohesion, improved relationships (!) etc…..

Intern-ment

Posted on February 8, 2008 by sse

Whilst reading about Derek Conway and the other MPs paying their own family for internships and work experience (even the Third Sector got briefly drawn in), I got thinking about how this related to the use of interns by third sector organisations, particularly in the fields of policy and research. As regular readers of this blog will know, SSE recently had an intern over from St Olaf College in Minnesota, which was pretty much an unqualified success. Using volunteers in this way can clearly make a substantial difference to an organisation like SSE whose capacity is still relatively small, if growing. And (I think) it can be a genuine win-win, with significant personal development, learning and contacts/networks for the intern in question.

The problem, which we have debated a fair bit internally, is how to ensure that this doesn’t run counter to our other principles: namely, the need for diversity in the third sector, the need for entrants and new leaders to come up from the grassroots as well as from the ‘grad-routes’. For, inevitably, for someone to take a full-time three-month position at an organisation in (usually) London, unpaid with (possibly) some expenses, they have to have support from elsewhere. This is usually parental, either in the form of direct monetary support, or in the form of free rent & board. Or they are in university full-time and can afford not to work during some of their holidays. Generally (and this is a generalisation), these means of support skew the potential intake to those with a more privileged or well-off background.

So how can we ensure internships go to a real cross-section, to the best people regardless of background? Clearly, bursaries and sponsorship is one way: some universities arrange placements and support expenses, such as identifying cheaper accommodation or directly paying expenses. In Thor’s case, this meant that he could afford to not do his restaurant manager job for a month in the holidays, and come to SSE.

But how to also extend these opportunities further out? Our neighbours Operation Black Vote recently won an award for an interesting shadowing scheme which focuses on political internships / work experience, precisely to avoid the old-boy networks we see continuing in those establishments; these might provide a useful model; or something along the lines of this scheme, Leaders Together. Maybe there is a case for something similar in the third sector: funded internships that take the burden off the organisation and the individual to find the money to make it possible, and allow for a broader, more diverse intern network. Happy to hear of any such initiatives or ideas: there could be a social enterprise in this….

Is Social Enterprise applicable in academic institutions?

Posted on January 11, 2008 by sse

After my first full week with the SSE and in the
UK, I think I am starting to grasp the basics of both. It took me a while to
get used to the light switch, the traffic system and the British slang, but
it’s amazing how quickly one adapts to a new environment. In my first week here
at the office I’ve been trying to get a sense of the SE sector by poking around
on the web and working on different projects for the network team. At first I
was a bit overwhelmed by all the different companies, names, terms and slang,
but it’s starting to sink in gradually .

One of the things I’ve been working on is the Social Enterprise
Ambassadors programme
, led by SEC and assisted by a
consortium of different organisations, including of course, SSE. It’s been
very interesting to read about the very inspiring individuals that make
up the ambassadors group and I very much look forward to meeting them at a
training session towards the end of my stay in London.

Although the SE Ambassadors are amazing people, and have been chosen to promote the
movement, what’s been inspiring to me so far is my
encounters and interaction with the students and Fellows
of SSE. While social change was an abstract term to me at school, my meetings
with these people have shown me that change doesn’t occur in the abstract or (necessarily) on
the macro level, it happens in our local communities, mostly at a smaller scale.
My challenge in the months to come is to figure out a way to bridge such
practical solutions with an abstract learning model that will work for my college back in Minnesota. SSE programmes are very much about learning, rather
than teaching…and focused on the practical and personal, rather than the
academic and generic.

Since I’ve also learned that much of the conversation
about social change indeed occurs through blogging I
would love any input /responses to this question:

How can Social Enterprise/Innovation/Entrepreneurship be taught in an academic setting?

Category Archives: Learning

Intern-ment

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