Engineers without Border - Various Dimensions of Social Entrepreneurship - Case Study Example

Contents Contents SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2 SOCIAL TECHOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2 HOW EWB WORK ON TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS 3 According to some recent survey results, EWB are running many successful programs in the rural areas of Africa. There is some information about the process of technological development in Africa as mentioned below. 4 PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN AFRICA 4 HOW THIS MODEL OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT HAS OVERCOME SOME SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL/CULTURAL/POLITICAL OBSTACLES 5 SUGGESTIONS OF OVERCOMING THESE OBSTACLES 7 CONCLUSION 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 9 Name: Instructor’s name: Course: Date: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP Social entrepreneurship is relatively a new concept and an emerging tool for positive societal improvements. In current modern environment, the concept of social entrepreneurship is gaining much importance in societies. The term “social entrepreneurship” can be explained in variety of ways. Generally, this concept is based on two primary factors. First factor addresses the social problems or needs by approaching some innovative ideas and techniques. Second factor addresses significant awareness and efforts towards balancing responsibility in the best interest of stakeholders. The main aim of social entrepreneurship is to achieve social and environmental goals by working for the welfare of society. On the other hand, the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship is based on entrepreneurs. The term “social entrepreneurs” is accredited to the class of people who recognise the social difficulties and try to solve them with the help of primary entrepreneurship approaches. In present world, there are many organizations that are using social entrepreneurship models for the welfare of human being. Social entrepreneurs come in many types ranging from large non-profits to single-person causes. They also come in differing orientations such as non-profit or profit making organizations. (examples) SOCIAL TECHOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP The essence of any social entrepreneurial venture is to solve a problem or cater to a need in the society. Social entrepreneurs all over the world use different ways to solve the problems that concern our society such as poverty, illiteracy, and pollution. The use of technology in this cause has been able to develop some excellent business models and social development ventures. Technology entrepreneurship (or Technopreneurship, as commonly called today) and social innovation make an excellent combination for the development of the world. Many small, medium or large social ventures have sprouted up which use technology to solve the problems. With the help of PCs, notebooks, PDA, mobile phone devices, GPS, and wireless technologies, entrepreneurs find it easy to come up with innovative and cost effective solutions. One such venture is “Engineers without borders” which we will study in this paper to see how they add value through technology to their target market and society in general. ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDER “Engineers without border” (EWB) is an international organization of entrepreneurs in mainly Canada, Australia, and Africa with many non-affiliated braches in various countries. The primary objective of Engineers without Borders in Africa is to minimize the poverty level by developing the technology in rural areas. According to the Engineers without Borders, poverty is an outcome of the broken systems and these broken systems are creating obstacles in identifying the inner potential of people. Engineers without Borders focus to implement the entrepreneurship models to work in the best interest on African people. For example, EWB is trying to create opportunities for African people to get clean water. In addition, volunteers of EWB are trying to implement new technologies which can increase the potential of local farmers. HOW EWB WORK ON TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS At initial stage Engineers without Border invest in people. Secondly, EWB introduces systematic innovations in local people to obtain maximum level of results. For this purpose, EWB uses both human resource and technology together to unlock the inner potential of target people. According to some recent survey results, EWB are running many successful programs in the rural areas of Africa. There is some information about the process of technological development in Africa as mentioned below. PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN AFRICA In current technological trends, the world is moving towards the 5th generation. On the other side of coin, the level of poverty is increasing with the speed of bullet. There are huge numbers of ordinary people who do not have any access to basic necessities of life. According to some internet survey reports, people in the rural area of Africa are real victims of poverty. They do not have any access to clear water and hygienic food. Engineers without Border aim to create opportunities for the individuals to make their lifestyles easier, healtheier and prosperous. Development of technology in rural areas is primary element of this voluntary program. Engineers without Border help the people by providing them appropriate technology in their operations. For example, the human resource of Engineers without Border guides the people about appropriate technologies to increase the level of production in their farming. In addition, Human resource of EWB works together with the local partners to implement technical ways to gain clean water for rural African people. The Volunteers of EWB are working with technical staff to build the peaceful communities in each region. EWB is running its programs in three main sectors in the region of South and West Africa. Working on the infrastructure to gain clean water Increasing the potential of farmers Enhancing the opportunities for the innovation of entrepreneurs. A short summary about the different technological developments of EWB in different areas of Africa is mentioned below. Water and Sanitation in Malawi: EWB is running its programs to gain the clear water in the region of Malawi. EWB is trying to identify new innovative approaches that meet the target “clean water for the people of Malawi”. It is using their primary entrepreneurship model to bring the technological development in this region. The volunteers of Engineers without Borders have also started a “repair program” to maintain the efficiency of current water infrastructure. In addition, staff of Engineers without Border is training the local communities about necessary repairing techniques. EWB is also using new innovative models in this sector for the implementation of the quicker and stronger approaches. It is their objective to create an environment where government takes actions to maintenance of wells, and for proper sanitation in this part of the world. Rural Infrastructure in Ghana: The volunteers of Engineers without Border are working with local governments to improve the infrastructures in the region of Ghana. The main focus is to develop an efficient infrastructure of education, health, and water supply. Rural Agriculture in Ghana: Engineers without Border has developed a marketing environment for agriculture in the region of Ghana. Volunteers of Engineers without Border are running their marketing program together with food ministry. New market tactics of EWB is to add the innovation in local farmers to sell their agriculture products and earn the profits in both long and short run. EWB has also equipped local farmers with the necessary technological tools that increase the production level in small farms. There are also many other programs such as Market Access in Zambia and Agriculture in Burkina Faso are running by Engineers without Border. HOW THIS MODEL OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT HAS OVERCOME SOME SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL/CULTURAL/POLITICAL OBSTACLES According to the volunteers of EWB, the failure is the first step of success. They state that they are using simple approaches to overcome all obstacles. They first integrate in to system and, then identify the opportunities for systematic innovations. They also co-design the program with local partner because local partners are only the source of improvement. After these stages, Engineers without Border tests the program on small level. In the case of any failure, management redesign the program with more innovative ideas and thorough research. Entrepreneurship model of Engineers without Border has overcome many obstacles. Some of the major obstacles with their affects have been discussed below. Poverty and Broken Systems: It is mentioned above that, Africa is the main victim of poverty. Engineers without Border faced many obstacles when carrying out technology development model in these areas. Beating the poverty is not an easy task. Poverty is the product of biased systems. So implementation of new system is a main obstacle in these areas. EWB model of technological development has contributed to overcome this obstacle in efficient manner. Human resource of Engineers without Borders unlocked the human potential by introducing new emerging innovation techniques. These emerging techniques are directly effecting on the level of poverty. People are becoming self de pendent and trying to live the life as they want. Talent development: During last few decades, no one spent much time for the improvements of rural areas in Africa. According to some survey reports, People who tried to give their attention on the development of these areas had not enough resources to work in effective manner. The volunteers of Engineers without Borders are enabling the local people to act in the best interest of these areas. The management of Engineers without Border is creating innovations for the people by providing new tools and equipment for routine operations. Issues and Policies: Policy holders had not set any appropriate and reasonable policy for the development in rural areas. Some people tried to set the policies on numerous issues, but they were far from the real grounds. There was only little level of informed stakeholders who took care about these issues during last few decades. The management of Engineers without Border has introduced new business plans and polices to accelerate the developments in Africa. SUGGESTIONS OF OVERCOMING THESE OBSTACLES Poverty Level: As there is huge poverty level in the rural areas of Africa so the problem can also be overcome by assigning micro finance to people. In addition, there is a need for regulatory bodies to start some training programs in these areas to teach the people about the use of new technology. For example, training sessions can be conducted on the topic of “how to use modern techniques to increase the production level in farming”. The regulatory bodies or social entrepreneurs can also start small business industries in these areas to provide the employment facilities to people. Social entrepreneurship can also create innovation in the people by providing the opportunities in the same field that they want. Also, enabling common people to set up their small businesses by either microfinancing them or becoming their business partners. These measures can overcome the poverty level in efficient manner. Talent development: There is a need for social entrepreneurs to take certain measures that can create the social awareness among the people. By the use of technology, they can develop their skills and enable the people in developing their talents. Capacity building training programs can can be conducted in order to develop their talents and hone their skills. The talent development model can be based on growing the network of talent development trainers. The EWB can first develop a few common people, then grow them in number. The already learned people who have a particular skill can teach the others in the community. This number will grow eventually on its own if the people start teaching each other on their own. Motivation is also a strong factor in developing talents. Without motivating the individuals, EWB cannot develop any skill of talent in the people. Issues and Policies: In my opinion, polices are one the most sensitive areas that have deep effects in long run. There is a need for unbiased policies that can act in the best interest of the society. Local partners have primary role to make and implement any policy or strategy. They can act as key people because they are aware of all ground realities. CONCLUSION The world is full of problems that a common living beings faces everyday. People are dying of hunger, animals are dying because of environment; there is illiteracy, hunger, poverty, pollution, and injustice on a very high scale in different parts of the world. As being educated and socialy responsible citizens, it is our responsibility to devise solutions for these threats in our society and the entire world. Social entrepreneurship is an excellent way to use an entrepreneurial model to address a social problem or injustice. Having technology as its driving force in the case in point, it is creating wonders. Technology is enabling people to get their tasks done easily in a simple and cost effective manner. EWB has taken an excellent initiative in enabling the poor people of Africa and other parts of the world to overcome their social problems. Social entrepreneurship has many dimensions. It comes in both of profit making and non-profit making types. It can operate on funds or sponsorship, or can generate revenue by selling their service or products. It can be both in the form of single person or in the form of organization. It can act in the best interest of society such as in technological developments. It can also overcome many social, cultural, and political obstacles. It can uplift the society to a better, healthy and prosperous lifestyle. In short, social entrepreneurship can restore the grace, justice and beauty of the world. BIBLIOGRAPHY Banks, J A. The Sociology of Social Movements. London: Macmillan [for the British Sociological Association, 1972. Print. EWb, . "Intelligent Development." Engineers Without Borders. Engineers Without Borders, n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2012. . EWB, . "Why We Work in Africa." Engineers Without Borders. Engineers Without Borders, n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2012. . Hawken, Paul. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. Hawken, Paul. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. Boston: Back Bay Books, 2006. Print. Read More