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Ethos Perspectives
Social Innovation
IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY
BRAC’s success is, unfortunately, not as common as people hope. Where cost recovery through their business activities is not possible, government funding remains the single most important source of revenue for social enterprises. In Singapore, the Government assists social enterprises through the ComCare Enterprise Fund (CEF), under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS). The programme, which provides funding for up to 80% of the total project cost (capped at S$300,000), has funded more than 66 enterprises since 2003, and has supported a wide range of social enterprises including food caterers and cafes, specialised education providers, apparel and handicraft makers, beauty and spa service providers, and retailers.
Apart from financial support, the government also has a role to play in creating an environment that would allow social enterprises to survive. For example, the government’s approach to social enterprises could shift from one of governance of charities to one akin to business enterprise development. In this aspect, the CEF has taken a step in the right direction by treating start-up social enterprises as regular business start-ups, with similar privileges and controls. The next step could be to further develop social enterprises as an industry separate from welfare organisations that rely on government funding to deliver social services. Although, with the primary goal of meeting social needs, social enterprises are unlikely to shed their association to the social service sector, this strategy could help social enterprises gain credibility as serious business entities, and avoid being mired in philosophical debates on charity, philanthropy and altruism.
With appropriate funding, as well as other non-monetary support, social innovation can thrive, and social enterprises can contribute towards the greater social good. To that end, the government performs a critical function. While it is still responsible for matters such as the incorporation of organisations and tax benefits relating to social enterprises, the government can move away from its traditionally antagonistic roles of regulator and taxer, towards more collaborative roles of partner, supporter, and facilitator.
WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?
"The nature of an innovation is that it will arise at a fringe where it can afford to become prevalent enough to establish its usefulness without being overwhelmed by the inertia of the orthodox system." Kevin Kelly, Founding Executive Editor, Wired Magazine
There is growing recognition that innovation is not confined to the realms of business and technology. Around the world, institutes, think-tanks, and other non-profit organisations focused on social innovation are being formed as an answer to the world’s social challenges: poverty, healthcare, education, community development, etc.
One such organisation is the Young Foundation in the United Kingdom, founded in 2005 to undertake research to identify and understand unresolved social needs, and to develop practical initiatives and institutions to address them. Another example is the Netherlands Centre for Social Innovation (NCSI), formed in 2006, not by the government, but by a number of employers’ organisations, trade unions, universities and research centres, to promote and develop social innovations in the Netherlands.
In Singapore, the Social Innovation Park (SIP) is an example of a social enterprise and incubator of social entrepreneurs which was formed to "develop a self-reliant and thriving model for both aspiring and budding social entrepreneurs alike to bring positive transformation to society". Another example is the partnership between Lien Foundation and the Singapore Management University to establish the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, set up to advance the thinking and capability of the non-profit sector.
While the field continues to be dogged by different interpretations and murky conceptual definitions of what constitutes social innovation, what is crucial here are not the specific instances of innovation, but innovation as an ideology with clearly defined aims and ideas to realise them. Social innovation, as a movement, stems from the belief that there can be systematic ways of arriving at creative and sustainable solutions to social problems, and from a willingness to challenge conventional ways of thinking and doing.
"Don’t take conventional wisdom as a kind of sacred cow," says Professor Mohammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank. "Sometimes conventional wisdom can be conventional stupidity. We started where we started from because of going against conventional stupidity. If it doesn’t work, attack it." |
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