11 things we learned about social enterprise in international development – Social enterprises in their uniqueness have stepped beyond the limitations affecting traditional development and especially their NGO counterparts. Challenges relating to budget cuts, compassion fatigue and criticisms centered around lack of real impact are in some ways being creatively tackled by social enterprises around the world.
Guardian Sustainable Business further dug into the possibilities of a synergy between social enterprises and traditional development while also hinting that – States have cut financial commitments to countries with growing economies – the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) decided to stop bilateral aid to India and South Africa by this year – in favour of investing in social enterprise schemes. In June 2013, USAid and DfID announced the Global Development Innovation Ventures (GDIV) fund, which would invest in “innovative solutions to world poverty”.
But the needs of over a billion people currently living in extreme poverty cannot be met by either traditional development or social enterprise alone. The ideal scenario may be where the two can work together, but how can this be done?
