THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Caroline Jane Thomas
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration
Johannesburg February, 2004
ABSTRACT In the global context of a widening gap between the wealthy and the poor, and as a developing country, South Africa faces many challenges given the burgeoning social problems such as HIV/AIDS, crime, educational deficiencies and poverty. Social entrepreneurship has been suggested as a concept that could address societal ills in a sustainable manner. The purpose of this research was to establish whether social entrepreneurship could make a positive contribution to community development.
This research comprised case studies of three social entrepreneurs engaged in various community projects. Trevor Mulaudzi runs a cleaning company and uses the cleaning resources and profits to facilitate cleaning of township and rural school toilets. Veronica Khosa started the Tateni Home Care Nursing Services organisation to care for home-bound patients in the Mamelodi area, and works predominantly with HIV/AIDS care. Lesley Ann van Selm runs Khulisa – a non-profit organisation addressing issues of crime prevention and criminal rehabilitation in Johannesburg and surrounding areas.
It was found that social entrepreneurial projects can make a positive contribution to community development in the areas of both impact and sustainability. Factors that stood out as contributing to the impact and success of social entrepreneurship were identified as innovation, the social entrepreneurial ‘champions’ themselves, and the use of ‘first-hand experience’ in the on-going struggle to change social perceptions, traditions, attitudes and behaviours.
Dimensions of social entrepreneurial impact include changes in the attitudes and behaviour of the surrounding communities, the expansion of the social entrepreneur’s idea, creation of employment, and the impact of the project on national policy. Factors affecting this impact include the social entrepreneur’s character, and resources mobilised - such as knowledge, role models, materials, networks and communication or family-based support. Project sustainability is affected by the ability of the social entrepreneurial organisation to attract and generate funds, the ability to form partnerships, the introduction of an effective organisational structure, as well as the ability to attract people and skills. ii
THE DECLARATION
I, Caroline Jane Thomas, declare that this research report is my own, unaided work. It is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in this or any other university.
Caroline Jane Thomas 6 February 2004
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to the following people for their invaluable contribution to this research report:
My supervisor, Dr David Dickinson, for his regular input and thorough feedback on each draft, for making his time available and for challenging me to think critically at each stage of the research. Ashoka for making their organisation and their fellows available for interviews, and for encouraging this research. Veronica Khosa, Trevor Mulaudzi and Lesley Ann van Selm for not only making themselves available but also their co-workers, employees and other contacts. All three are extremely busy people, but a pleasure to interview.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................ii THE DECLARATION................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES .....................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................viii LIST OF APPENDICES .............................................................................................ix
1
2
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1 1.1
Background ................................................................................................1
1.2
Research Problem ......................................................................................2
1.3
Importance of Study...................................................................................2
1.4
Definitions..................................................................................................4
1.5
Limitations and Delimitations....................................................................5
1.6
Assumptions...............................................................................................6
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................7 2.1
Setting the Context for Social Entrepreneurship .......................................7
2.1.1
The Voluntary Sector.........................................................................7
2.1.2
Shifts in the Voluntary Sector............................................................8
2.1.3
The Need for Sustainable Solutions to Social Problems ...................9
2.2
Towards a Definition of Social Entrepreneurship ...................................10
2.2.1
Entrepreneurship ..............................................................................10
2.2.2
Entrepreneurial Outcomes ...............................................................11
2.2.3
Entrepreneurship within the Three Sectors......................................12
2.2.4
Commercial and Social Entrepreneurship .......................................15
2.2.5
Positioning Social Entrepreneurship in the Entrepreneurship Model….. .........................................................................................17
2.2.6
Completing the Entrepreneurship Model.........................................18
2.3
Personal Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs ....................................19
2.4
Social Entrepreneurial Organisations ......................................................21 v
2.5
Organisations Encouraging Social Entrepreneurial Activity...................21
2.5.1
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public ...................................................22
2.5.2
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship .....................22
2.5.3
The Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship ..........................22
2.5.4
Yale School of Management – Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Non-profit Ventures.................................................23
2.5.5
Centre for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University ..............................................23
3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...................................................................24
4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................25 4.1
5
Research Method .....................................................................................25
4.1.1
Qualitative Research ........................................................................25
4.1.2
The Case Study Research Method ...................................................26
4.1.3
Number of Case Studies...................................................................29
4.2
Population and Sample ............................................................................29
4.3
Data Collection ........................................................................................31
4.4
Data Analysis ...........................................................................................35
4.5
Reliability and Validity............................................................................36
BACKGROUND TO CASES ...............................................................38 5.1
MC Trevor Consultancy ..........................................................................38
5.1.1
How the Project Started ...................................................................38
5.1.2
The Action Plan ...............................................................................39
5.1.3
Funding ............................................................................................40
5.1.4
Public Sector Support ......................................................................40
5.2
Tateni Home Care Nursing Services........................................................41
5.2.1
How the Project Started ...................................................................42
5.2.2
The Action Plan ...............................................................................44
5.2.3
Funding ............................................................................................45
5.2.4
Public Sector Support ......................................................................46
5.3
Khulisa .....................................................................................................47
5.3.1
How the Project Started ...................................................................47
5.3.2
The Action Plan ...............................................................................48
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6
5.3.3
Funding ............................................................................................50
5.3.4
Public Sector Support ......................................................................50
CASE ANALYSIS ....................................................................................51 6.1
Positioning the Cases in the Entrepreneurship Model .............................51
6.2
The Origin and Migration of Social Entrepreneurs .................................53
6.3
Understanding of the Term ‘Social Entrepreneur’ in the Community ....53
6.4
The Social Entrepreneur as an Evangelist ...............................................58
6.5
Impact of Social Entrepreneurial Projects in Communities.....................60
6.5.1
Dimensions of Project Impact..........................................................60
6.5.2
Comparative Impact of Cases ..........................................................67
6.5.3
Factors Contributing to Project Impact............................................69
6.6
7
Sustainability of Social Entrepreneurial Projects ....................................77
6.6.1
Factors Contributing to Project Sustainability.................................77
6.6.2
Comparative Sustainability of Cases ...............................................82
6.7
Comparison of Impact and Sustainability................................................85
6.8
Project Progression: Social Entrepreneurs and their Teams ....................86
6.9
Summary ..................................................................................................88
CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................91
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................95
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LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Relevant Situations for Different Research Strategies ..................................27
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Example of a Sustainable Project...................................................................5 Figure 2: The Entrepreneurship Model........................................................................13 Figure 3: Outline of Interview Progression .................................................................32 Figure 4: Positioning the Cases in the Entrepreneurship Model..................................52 Figure 5: The Drive for Systemic Change ...................................................................55 Figure 6: Trevor Mulaudzi: The Drive for Systemic Change......................................56 Figure 7: Veronica Khosa: The Drive for Systemic Change .......................................56 Figure 8: Lesley Ann van Selm: The Drive for Systemic Change ..............................57 Figure 9: MC Trevor Consultancy – Idea Replication.................................................61 Figure 10: Tateni Home-Care Nursing Services – Idea Replication ...........................62 Figure 11: Khulisa – Idea Replication and Multiplication...........................................64 Figure 12: Comparative Impact of Cases.....................................................................67 Figure 13: Comparative Sustainability of Cases..........................................................83 Figure 14: Comparison of Impact and Sustainability ..................................................85 Figure 15: Stage Progression of Social Entrepreneurial Projects ................................87 Figure 16: Summary Diagram of Research Findings ..................................................89
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LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A: THOMPSON’S ‘SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MAP’..............99 APPENDIX B: BREAKDOWN OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS.............................100 APPENDIX C: CASE SELECTION .........................................................................101 APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW PROBE QUESTIONS ..............................................103 APPENDIX E: RECORD OF INTERVIEWS AND COMMUNICATION.............104 APPENDIX F: COMPARATIVE IMPACT OF CASES..........................................108 APPENDIX G: COMPARATIVE SUSTAINABILITY OF CASES .......................116
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1 1.1
INTRODUCTION Background
Entrepreneurship has been recognised in many economies as a key ingredient in growth and development. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) believes that at a macro-level, “productive entrepreneurship is central to economic growth, employment creation and innovation. Entrepreneurial activity drives efficient resource use, and accelerates the process of generating, diffusing and applying ideas, both technological and organisational” (OECD, 2003). In an interview regarding his views on entrepreneurship, business thinker Peter Drucker cited economies such as Korea, Taiwan and China as examples of economic growth booms due to entrepreneurial innovations, and attributed Germany’s strong economic position to an “explosion of entrepreneurship” after World War II (Gendron, 1996:30). Drucker relies on only one definition of an entrepreneur: “An entrepreneur is someone who gets something new done” (Gendron, 1996:37). According to this definition, entrepreneurial activity may occur in the context of any sphere of human activity.
Business entrepreneurship along with profit-making is spoken of and publicised more than any other type of entrepreneurship, with the commercial sector implicit as the given context. Social entrepreneurship, although not a new concept, is a variation on the usual concept of entrepreneurial innovations working towards a profit-making objective or purely financial impact. Logically, the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ would seem to indicate that whilst ‘getting something new done’, the primary objective is social impact, rather than financial – regardless of the context in which it occurs (for example commercial, private or public sector). However, as an ‘in vogue’ term that is now receiving higher media attention (Thompson, Alvy & Lees, 2000), there have been varying definitions and explanations of this concept, and clarification is needed. These definitions and contexts are further explored in Section 2.
Definition issues aside, the thought of innovations which have a social impact – which can revolutionise a community and perhaps even a whole society – is extremely appealing to any country, especially to those in the developing world. South Africa
1
faces enormous social challenges as it progresses into the new Millennium. Differences arising out of its apartheid past need to be redressed, and the country is in need of sustainable solutions to current social ills such as the spread of HIV/AIDS, high rates of violence and crime, educational deficiencies and unemployment.
1.2
Research Problem
The purpose of this research report is to establish whether social entrepreneurship can make a positive contribution to community development.
1.3
Importance of Study
In a world where globalisation has brought success and prosperity for some, there is a large and increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots. A vast difference in GDP growth between developed countries and those that are developing exists and, in the latter, a multitude of problems abound. These range from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS to civil disorder, famine, illiteracy, discrimination and violence. The number of people in the world who are in absolute poverty has increased and is increasing, and deprivation has become more regional – concentrated in regions that often have the least capacity to improve. A new ‘underclass’ of countries has emerged, signifying the vast discrepancies between those who are secure, powerful and privileged and those who are weak, vulnerable and impotent (Chambers, 2000).
South Africa is no stranger to the concerns that are so common in many developing nations. The country has a widening gap between rich and poor (Mazwai, 2003), a high rate of HIV infection estimated at 11.4% (Shisana & Simbayi, 2002), and high unemployment rate (2000 estimate at 32%) (Torres, 2001). The country has notoriously high crime rates, having been ranked as having the highest per capita rates of murder and rape in 1997 (Schonteich, 2000). These figures are all indicative of a society in need of social repair.
Distinctions between the public, private and voluntary sectors are blurring – thus creating more opportunity for shared learnings between sectors. One of the key learning opportunities is that of developing creative and sustainable responses to the vast array of social needs that surround us. If government welfare or civil society initiatives do not seem to be making a difference in our communities, and business is 2
being perceived as part of the problem as opposed to the solution, an opportunity exists for the three sectors to identify the skills and resources necessary to accelerate positive social change (Anderson & Dees, 2002).
Social entrepreneurship has been suggested as a concept that could provide sustainable, long-term solutions to social problems. The subject is currently a popular topic of discussion, even though definitions remain broad and somewhat unclear. According to Drucker (Gendron, 1996:36) “the social entrepreneur changes the performance capacity of society”. If this is the case, there is a need for every society to look at ways of enhancing social entrepreneurship within their communities.
Evidence of demand for social entrepreneurial activity is already at hand. An increasing number of colleges and universities are offering courses in social entrepreneurship (Schuyler, 1998). Stanford Business School has a Centre for Social Innovation, offering courses in social entrepreneurship to business students. Programmes in non-profit management and social entrepreneurship have also been established at the Harvard Business School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (Bornstein, 1998). However, in many countries, social entrepreneurship is either unheard of or only emerging as a conceptual vehicle for social change. If the concept does offer an opportunity for societal transformation, this subject needs a greater focus of attention in every sector and society.
The time seems ripe for social innovations, as a growing number of people desire to make a difference in their communities. Volunteer professionals have been growing in the USA non-profit sector in both number and impact (Drucker, 1989). In commenting on why business executives become involved in the non-profit or voluntary sector, Drucker quotes the typical reasoning (Drucker, 1989:93): “Because in my job there isn’t much challenge, not enough achievement, not enough responsibility; and there is not mission, there is only expediency.”
The growth of the non-profit sector is not limited to the USA, and growth in citizen organisations is evident on every continent. Drayton (2002:121) comments on these trends of “explosive growth” and makes specific reference to various developing countries such as Indonesia, Slovakia and Brazil. Although shifts and growth in the 3
voluntary sector are perhaps being led by social entrepreneurs in the more advanced economies, South Africa, as a developing nation, can learn from the successes elsewhere. Any changes or shifts in sectoral activities and structures which may assist in positive social transformation, present a worthwhile cause for investigation.
1.4
Definitions
This research report investigates the role of social entrepreneurship in ‘community development’. A community is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “all the people living in a specific locality” or “a body of people having a religion, profession etc. in common” (Oxford University Press, 1990:230). ‘Community development’ is viewed as an embracing concept concerning the improvement of the standard of living or quality of life within a community.
In the context of social entrepreneurship, it is important to understand the definitions of each of the three sectors in which entrepreneurs can operate: 1. Private Sector: Also referred to as the business sector or profit sector. This refers to the sector of the economy that is focused on profit-making activities to create wealth for the owners or shareholders. 2. Public Sector: Also referred to as the government sector or state sector. This is the sector of the economy controlled by the government and is focused on the fulfilment of governmental policies. 3. Voluntary Sector: Also referred to as the third sector, the social sector, the citizen sector or the non-profit sector. This is the sector of the economy which is non-profit oriented and relies heavily on voluntary support in order to survive. The underlying raison d’être of organisations in this sector is of an altruistic nature rather than generating profits and shareholder value.
The research questions cover aspects such as project impact and sustainability, which are defined as follows: Project impact describes the influence of the project in the given environment. The influence is investigated at an individual level as well as a social level. Project sustainability describes the ability of the project to maintain its impact on the surrounding communities in the long-term. A project is most sustainable when impact
4
increases without requiring a proportional increase in resource input to achieve this level of impact. This is depicted in Figure 1:
Figure 1: Example of a Sustainable Project
Impact / Resources
Impact
Resources
Time
1.5
Limitations and Delimitations
The sample of respondents selected was purposeful and not random. The sample of social entrepreneurs was organisationally-bound (limited to those selected by the Ashoka organisation), and regionally-bound (limited to those in the Gauteng area). This limits any possible generalisations of the findings.
The respondents interviewed for each case were limited to employees of Ashoka, the social entrepreneurs and their co-workers where applicable, and members of the community affected by the social entrepreneurial projects. Respondents were thus selected as those directly involved or affected by the social entrepreneurial projects. No effort was made to gather opinions on social entrepreneurship from external sources such as government officials or representatives of the private sector unless where such individuals were directly involved with a particular project.
5
1.6
Assumptions
It was assumed that the concept of social entrepreneurship was sufficiently established in South Africa to ensure that the experts interviewed (employees of Ashoka) were fully familiar with the concept and its application. A further assumption was made that the respondents selected for interviewing were unbiased in their responses, and that the time given for the interviews (ranging from thirty minutes to two hours) was sufficient to extract the relevant information required for the research.
6
2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature concerning social entrepreneurship is somewhat limited in that it is a relatively new term (albeit the concept is not a new one). Thus, this review concentrates on setting a context for this new term and attempting to draw an accurate definition from the various existing definitions in the literature.
Entrepreneurship is first defined along with its various practical outcomes and then positioned within the context of the three sectors as defined in Section 1.4. Figure 2 shows an ‘Entrepreneurship Model’ which has been constructed to better understand social entrepreneurship in its given contexts. Additionally, personal characteristics of social entrepreneurs have been identified, and the various organisations contributing to the rise of social entrepreneurship identified and briefly described.
2.1
Setting the Context for Social Entrepreneurship
The literature concerning social entrepreneurship contains definitions that span the public, private and voluntary sectors. In fact, it is highlighted that the boundaries between these sectors are diminishing (Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CCSE), 2001; Fowler, 2000). As partnerships are increasingly common between sectors (Fowler, 2000), it is difficult to limit particular activists to one sector only, including social entrepreneurs. However, it is recognised that the predominant environment of the social entrepreneur is the voluntary sector (Thompson, 2002). Civic action results as a consequence of gaps in society left by inadequate public systems or private sector action – thus forming the basis of the so-called ‘third sector’. In order to set the context for social entrepreneurship, some background to the current happenings in the voluntary sector is necessary.
2.1.1 The Voluntary Sector The voluntary sector has seen a large amount of growth over the past few decades, with a proliferation of non-profit organisations (Bornstein, 1998). Drucker (1989) noted this tremendous growth, referring to the non-profit sector in America as its largest employer, with over 80 million people working on average five hours a week within this sector. Drucker noted in his article ‘What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits’ that some of these non-profit organisations excelled in management
7
expertise, particularly in strategy and effectiveness of the boards in comparison to commercial businesses, and established a foundation for non-profit management in 1990 (Bornstein, 1998). One of the key factors in the successful non-profit organisations, Drucker believed, was the ability of nonprofits to be more missionfocused and money-conscious, as opposed to money-focused and mission-conscious.
Drayton (2002) has also commented on the explosive growth experienced in the number of voluntary organisations on every continent, and alongside this the growth of employment in the citizen sector as such. In the more advanced economies, “employment in the citizen sector is growing two and one-half times faster than it is for the economy as a whole” (Drayton, 2002:121), and salaries are becoming more competitive.
In considering the South African voluntary sector, Cawthra, Helman-Smith & Moloi (2001) comment that although there is a lack of reliable data in the analysis thereof, studies have revealed that there are between 54 000 and 100 000 voluntary organisations in the country, and the “general view is that the sector has shrunk since the transition [1994]” (Cawthra et al, 2001:143). Changes have been reported in the sector as prior to the transition, the majority of non-profit organisations were either welfare organisations or organisations fighting for democracy. The latter have experienced a shift of objectives from perhaps purely political to more developmentoriented objectives.
2.1.2 Shifts in the Voluntary Sector Fowler (2000), in proposing a new framework for non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) other than that used by the ‘official aid system’, outlines a brief history of NGDOs and the changes experienced over the past few decades. These organisations, originally purposed for civic action aimed towards humanitarian need, have been increasingly influenced by official aid agencies – most of which have set policies and projects in mind and are driven by neo-liberal economic models. A trend towards privatisation has also brought NGDOs into the aid mainstream, resulting in a shift from private funding to tax-based funding of these organisations. In all, there has been what Fowler refers to as a “shift from civic to public legitimacy” of these organisations (Fowler 2000:640) as they are increasingly reliant on the public 8
sector for accountability structures and resources instead of the people for whom they exist.
According to Fowler, this shift has resulted in the pitfalls of (1) increased vulnerability of NGDOs in the face of overall declining levels of aid, even as the proportion of their tax-based funding is increasing, and (2) declining independence and inclination to promote alternative ideas for developing sustainable societies. In spite of a vast number of NGDOs in place, few interventions seem to be sustainable. For example, Cox and Healey (1998:3 in Fowler, 2000:638) claim that poverty interventions of European development agencies are sustainable in only 15% of cases. Yet Fowler believes there are also “many opportunities for NGDOs to make a reinvigorated and renewed contribution to creating sustainable, equitable and just societies” (Fowler 2000:638).
Drayton (2002), on the other hand, refers to another shift in the voluntary or citizen sector. He believes that accompanying the growth of the sector is a transformation from a bureaucratic and monopolistic nature to one that is entrepreneurial and competitive. He refers to a deep structural change as “the social arena has been taken over by independent, competitive citizen-created and citizen-run organisations” and new standards that are being set by “a growing number of highly competitive and competent social entrepreneurs” (Drayton, 2002:122). This shift is however being led by the more advanced economies.
2.1.3 The Need for Sustainable Solutions to Social Problems Leadbeater (1997) comments on the collapsing nature of the welfare system which is costly, lags the private sector in productivity levels, is slow to learn and adapt, and has created a dependency culture in societies. He comments: “We need to commit ourselves to a wave of social innovation, lasting years, to create new welfare services and new organisations to deliver them” (Leadbeater, 1997:26), and believes that social entrepreneurs will be one of the most important sources of innovation in an “active welfare system”.
The shift observed in the past few decades from social welfare to development makes sense in terms of promoting sustainability, yet the real shift is moving more towards 9
“a market-based approach with an emphasis on market forces as the primary tool for distribution (and redistribution) of scarce resources” (CCSE, 2000:2). Fowler (2000:641) echoes this view, mentioning the emphasis on open trade and foreign direct investment as “the preferred mode for allocating development capital and accelerating economic growth based on competition for individual gain”.
2.2
Towards a Definition of Social Entrepreneurship
Clarification of the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ is needed, along with some indication as to how this concept interacts with or relates to other forms of entrepreneurship. From the literature, a model has been constructed in order to facilitate an explanation of social entrepreneurship as indicated in Figure 2 (Section 2.2.3). This model identifies the three different types of entrepreneurship within the contexts of the three sectors, namely ‘commercial’, ‘state’ and ‘social’ entrepreneurship. Because of the overlap of entrepreneurial activities amongst the sectors, the idea of social entrepreneurship has been used freely in all three sectors – perhaps blurring an understanding of what it means.
Some have recognised the need for a clarification in defining social entrepreneurship, such as Thompson (2002), who attempted to map the scope of the social entrepreneur’s activities within the business and voluntary sectors. A number of activities and groups were mapped along axes of “job creation”, “buildings”, “volunteer nature” and “help focus” (Thompson, 2000:430). Although Thompson sheds light on the scope of activities in which the social entrepreneur engages, and which types of organisations might be considered as social entrepreneurial, it is not an exhaustive description, and it represents merely one perspective of the boundaries within which this concept might fall. See Appendix A for an outline of Thompson’s model.
2.2.1 Entrepreneurship The first step in defining social entrepreneurship is to understand what the word ‘entrepreneurship’ means. The Oxford Dictionary limits the scope of the entrepreneur to purely commercial undertakings, reflecting a common perception of the word. The entrepreneur is described therein as “a person who undertakes an enterprise or business, with the chance of profit or loss; a contractor acting as intermediary, or a 10
person in effective control of a commercial undertaking” (Oxford University Press, 1990:392). Yet, this word has come to be understood in a somewhat different manner, and although often thought of in the commercial context, conveys a sense of innovation without necessarily being limited to the commercial sector. Drucker (1985) states that entrepreneurship is not so much a personality trait as it is behaviour – which can be learned. He defines the entrepreneur as someone who “always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity” (Drucker 1985:25) – no matter the sector in which this occurs. In an interview with Gendron, Drucker referred to an entrepreneur as “someone who gets something new done” (Gendron, 1996:37).
Thompson et al (2000:330) speak of entrepreneurship as a process, comprising “an (often opportunistic) idea and the ensuing actions which bring about desirable outcomes” and include the expansion thereof as an important element in this process. Shaw (1999) believes that entrepreneur is not adequately defined in academic literature, conceding that the term has adopted a broad range in meaning. He refers to two aspects of entrepreneurship: firstly that of an idea which is implemented by the combining of resources and management skills in order to create a new venture, and secondly, driving the growth of this new venture.
For the purposes of this research report ‘entrepreneurship’ is interpreted as the implementation of a new idea, whereby the necessary resources (such as people, funds, time or initiative) and management skills are used to effect the implementation. The emphasis is on the fact that the idea should be innovative and replicable, and that it is not limited to the commercial sector only.
2.2.2 Entrepreneurial Outcomes Thompson et al (2000) refer to the four types of capital, which can be generated or threatened by entrepreneurs – financial, environmental, aesthetic and social capital. In this context, social capital is seen to be the creation of community-based tangible and intangible assets, which help to empower disadvantaged people and encourage them to take greater responsibility for, and control over, their lives (Thompson, 2002). While all types of capital can be destroyed by entrepreneurial ventures, it is the objective of any venture to create at least one of these capitals, hopefully without 11
‘destroying’ any other. Profit-focused businesses can destroy social, aesthetic and / or environmental capital in the pursuit of profit. At the same time, a lack of financial capital can constrain social entrepreneurship and restrict their ability to create social capital (Thompson, 2002).
Leadbeater (1997) also refers to the creation of social capital as the most important asset that is created by social entrepreneurs. Social capital is described as “the network of relationships that underpins economic partnerships and alliances” (Leadbeater, 1997:34), and is seen as key to addressing social problems through partnerships – rather than individually. Leadbeater also refers to the “virtuous circle of social capital” in which social entrepreneurs “inherit, create and invest social capital” in the development of social entrepreneurial organisations (Leadbeater, 1997:92).
2.2.3 Entrepreneurship within the Three Sectors As the literature refers to social entrepreneurship within all three sectors (private, public and voluntary – the boundaries of which are not always clear), the different types of entrepreneurship will be described within these sectors. The entrepreneurship model in Figure 2 shows the overlap of the sector boundaries and the approximate positioning of each type of entrepreneurship encountered. (Note that Leadbeater (1997:18) has used a similar figure to identify sources of social entrepreneurship, which is limited to the overlapping sectoral areas only).
12
Figure 2: The Entrepreneurship Model
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Three types of entrepreneurship can be defined within each of the three sectors and are briefly described here:
1. Commercial Entrepreneurship: This comprises profit-driven innovative activity in the private sector, which can be further defined as either ‘intrapreneurship’ or ‘small business entrepreneurship’. Intrapreneurship is entrepreneurial activity that takes place within an organisation (Gendron: 1996). Commercial entrepreneurship is also prevalent in small businesses, or even individual innovations that are subsequently commercialised (this generally constitutes the traditional understanding of ‘entrepreneurship’).
2. State Entrepreneurship: Innovative activity is also necessary in the public sector where creative solutions are always in need (this can really be defined as ‘intrapreneurship’ as it would originate from within the organisation). Drucker 13
comments on the vital importance of innovation in government (Gendron, 1996) – concerning both the systems that are currently in place and economic theories – most of which are a few centuries old. In recognising the need for state entrepreneurship, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard is implementing a course in social entrepreneurship (Bornstein, 1998).
3. Social Entrepreneurship: This is positioned in the voluntary sector, as it is the predominant environment of the social entrepreneur (Thompson, 2000; Leadbeater, 1997). The term ‘civic innovation’ could be used to perhaps more accurately describe the social entrepreneurial activity that falls within the voluntary sector (Fowler, 2000) as it focuses on civic benefit, and the drawing of resources purely from the citizen base. Although the term ‘civic innovation’ is useful for the interpretation of ‘social entrepreneurship’, the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ will be used in this report to convey the same meaning, as it is more widely used and recognised in the literature.
In terms of entrepreneurial outcomes, the primary types of capital that one would expect to generate in each environment are indicated in the given model. In the case of public entrepreneurship, either social or financial capital (or both) could be generated as a primary objective. Of course environmental and aesthetic capital may be generated as well, in certain instances even as a primary focus (for example an organisation such as Green Peace, which would generate environmental capital). However, financial and social capital are reflected in the model merely as an indication of the general case.
The model also indicates entrepreneurship within overlapping sectors, which will be further explained in Section 2.2.4 – as these sector boundaries are becoming less obvious, so the activities therein increasingly extend into more than one sector. The movement of activities from one sector to another is shown with the use of colour – for example corporate social responsibility would originate in the private sector and expand into the voluntary sector, whereas integrative and complementary social entrepreneurship would originate in the voluntary sector and expand into the private sector.
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2.2.4 Commercial and Social Entrepreneurship Boschee (1995), in his article entitled ‘Social Entrepreneurship’, focuses on non-profit organisations that have resorted to profit-seeking ventures in order to generate funds. The trends of increasing running costs, low resources, increased social needs and decreased funding are given as a background to the profit-making initiatives that are sought to create self-sufficiency. Ventures started by social entrepreneurs are classified into two categories: affirmative ventures (providing jobs and opportunities for the disadvantaged), and direct-service ventures. Although some of these are forprofit and some non-profit businesses, most of them emerge from the non-profit sector. In this sense, the ‘social entrepreneur’ builds on something already in place rather than starting something new.
Boschee (1995) recognises the discomfort that many feel towards traditional nonprofits making money, and agrees that profit-making is not always an appropriate strategy. Yet, the integration is offered as a useful means of serving clients in a selfsufficient manner, thus reducing pressures for public or private funding. The “twin carrots of mission and money” (Boschee, 1995: 23) would attract an increasing number of ‘social entrepreneurs’, and the resulting situation is described as “winwin”.
Dees (1998) refers to this shift of non-profit funding in his article ‘Enterprising Nonprofits’ against the backdrop of the rising tide of commercialisation in the voluntary sector. The trend of non-profits turning to the for-profit arena for funding is discussed whilst highlighting both the advantages and dangers thereof. If certain social programmes were to become self sufficient, philanthropic funding may be freed up and allocated to other needy activities. Of course, one of the major threats is that the organisation may lose sight of its original mission, which is social rather than financial. However, Dees (1998) does not classify the commercial ventures of nonprofits as ‘social entrepreneurial ventures’, but merely points out that these organisations are “enterprising”.
As social entrepreneurship becomes a more popular concept, so the definitions taken on by different organisations vary. The Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CCSE, 2001:1) has defined the concept broadly to fall within two categories: 15
1. In the for-profit (private) sector, encompassing activities emphasising the importance of a socially-engaged private sector; 2. In the non-profit sector, encompassing entrepreneurial activities which increase organisational effectiveness and foster long-term sustainability.
From these discussions, one may conclude that the type of social entrepreneurship that is referred to in the literature by Boschee (1995) and the CCSE (2001) is really a combination of commercial and social entrepreneurship in the sense that the private and voluntary sectors overlap. This overlapping section can be seen in the entrepreneurship model (Figure 2). The social entrepreneurial ventures (originating in the voluntary sector) can be split into ‘affirmative ventures’ (such as a non-profit organisation employing handicapped people) and ‘direct-service ventures’ (such as an orphanage or counselling centre). Boschee (1995) makes this distinction, whilst commenting that these ventures often originate in the voluntary sector and then move into commercialised operations.
The shift in focus in the voluntary sector from civic to public legitimacy has been discussed in Section 2.1. Fowler (2000) suggests two possible frameworks in response to the shift in aid thinking; ‘social entrepreneurship’ or ‘civic innovation’. Fowler (2000) defines social entrepreneurship in a similar way to Boschee’s (1995) definition thereof and Dees’ (1998) definition of ‘enterprising non-profits’ – those ventures with the “economic mission of creating a surplus rather than a profit to ensure viability in tackling social problems” (Fowler, 2000: 643), and the use of commercial undertakings to finance social projects. He suggests two types of social entrepreneurship: 1. Integrated social entrepreneurship: an organisation’s economic activities are focused on generating positive social outcomes. 2. Complementary social entrepreneurship: an organisation engages in an economic activity which does not directly result in a positive social outcome, but the benefits are used to cross subsidise a development activity. Organisations engaged in these types of social entrepreneurship are really profit / nonprofit hybrids (as indicated in the entrepreneurship model) and are complex to manage. It is suggested that the integration of developmental agendas with market opportunities often results in contamination rather than synergy (Fowler, 2000). 16
Fowler (2000) suggests the concept of ‘civic innovation’ (or civic entrepreneurship) as a preferred alternative to the above described ‘social entrepreneurship’. A civic innovator would draw on the citizen base in the way of motivation and resources, finding new ways of addressing social problems. This is closely linked to the original premise on which NGDOs were founded, with the underlying assumption that civil society could be instrumental in solving societal problems. Fowler (2000) draws in examples of civic innovation from the fellows of the Ashoka Foundation (see Section 2.3).
Fowler’s definitions of these two concepts are given as (Fowler, 2000:645): Social Entrepreneurship: the creation of viable (socio-) economic structures, relations, institutions, organisations and practices that yield and sustain social benefits. Civic Innovation: the creation of new or modification of existing conventions, structures, relations, institutions, organisations and practices for civic benefit demonstrated by ongoing, self-willed citizen engagement and support.
2.2.5 Positioning Social Entrepreneurship in the Entrepreneurship Model In commenting on the definition of social entrepreneurship, Fowler (2000) states that “hybridisation appears to equate to today’s understanding of social entrepreneurship, which – in addition to social benefits – is explicitly intended to mobilise resources for an NGDO’s own sustainability” (Fowler, 2000:644). However, it would be amiss to position ‘social entrepreneurship’ as merely an activity falling within the overlap of the voluntary and private sector. It seems logical that social entrepreneurship should fall primarily within the voluntary sector as indicated by Thompson (2000) and that, in spite of popular definitions, hybrids of commercial and social entrepreneurship should be positioned within the overlapping sectors. Thus the definition of true ‘social entrepreneurship’ should really be understood as Fowler’s (2000) description of ‘civic innovation’.
Advantages of choosing ‘civic innovation’ as a new framework for aid, according to Fowler (2000) include: less vulnerability of the innovator to harbour exploitative motives 17
closer proximity to civic constituencies, less influence from other parties lower risk in vulnerable market conditions
Concerning this paradigm, Fowler (2000:646) comments: “For civic innovation the core is a capacity to find and back individuals and organisations that, through civic mobilisation and action, are capable of providing systemic solutions to social problems that reach far beyond the one case or location. Put another way, one answer to the role of northern NGDO’s lies along a spectrum from social development bankers to non-profit civic venture capitalists”.
2.2.6 Completing the Entrepreneurship Model The other overlapping areas in the model (Figure 2) represent overlapping sectors such as the private and public sectors, the public and voluntary sectors, and the overlap of all three sectors. Partnerships between sectors are common (Fowler, 2000) and so private-public partnerships as an entrepreneurial activity would fall into the overlapping section of the private and public sectors. It is often the aim of the state to ensure that entrepreneurial activity is promoted and supported for economic development and growth – economic policies are formulated and systems put in place accordingly (Jenssen & Havnes, 2002).
The entrepreneurial activity that takes place in the public and voluntary sectors includes the public sector support or driving of social entrepreneurial activity, or possible funding of a social entrepreneurial venture. Lastly, partnerships between all three sectors in an entrepreneurial venture are possible and would be positioned in the centre of the model. For example, a rural electrification project made cheaper with low cost materials could be initiated by an individual within the voluntary sector (a new, entrepreneurial idea), funded by government and supported from a technical perspective by the commercial sector.
Thompson et al (2000:331) refer to what they call a “hybrid of civic and social entrepreneurship” in describing the interaction of public sector organisations and local communities. This creates some confusion in that the term ‘civic entrepreneur’ is used to describe members of public sector organisations who are freed up to be entrepreneurial in finding solutions to community problems, sometimes even drawing 18
in resources from the private sector. Rather than creating confusion in definitions, the point may be drawn that hybrid entrepreneurial ventures do exist in two sectors, and sometimes in all three sectors.
Defining social entrepreneurship is a complex task, although the model provided (Figure 2) helps to identify the context and boundaries within which the term can be used and understood. Social entrepreneurship, from a purist perspective, should be defined within the voluntary sector alone. Yet as the sector boundaries are blurred, the instances of social entrepreneurial ventures falling purely within this sector are diminishing and hybrid forms of entrepreneurship are on the increase.
For the purposes of this research report, the area of focus is on the social entrepreneurial ventures as defined within the voluntary sector. However, as expected, some hybrid forms of social entrepreneurship have been encountered because of the growing number of partnerships being formed between sectors.
2.3
Personal Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs are sometimes defined by their personal characteristics as opposed to the activities in which they engage (Thompson, 1999; Thompson et al., 2000). This is useful for organisations that wish to support or foster entrepreneurial behaviour in their identification of potential entrepreneurs. Bill Drayton, founder of the ‘Ashoka’ foundation (see Section 2.4.1), defines a social entrepreneur as “a path-breaker with a powerful new idea, who combines visionary and real-world problem-solving creativity, who has a strong ethical fibre, and who is totally possessed by his or her vision for change” (Bornstein, 1998:4). Drayton (2002:123) also comments that as with business entrepreneurs, the social entrepreneur will “envisage a systemic change, identifies the jujitsu points that will allow him or her to tip the whole society onto this new path, and then persists and persists until the job is done”. In their identification and selection of social entrepreneurs, Ashoka looks at the following characteristics of the individual (Ashoka, undated): Creativity – in the setting of a vision and in problem solving
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Entrepreneurial Quality – the full commitment of the person to the vision in the sense that they will not rest until a solution is found and in that they want to see the solution extended throughout society as a new pattern Ethical Fibre – the individual should be completely trustworthy and honest, and their commitment must be rooted in a motivation of ultimately serving the community Entrepreneurial quality is said to be the most important criterion as, although there are many with good or altruistic and innovative ideas, there are few with “the entrepreneurial quality necessary to engineer large scale systemic social change” (Drayton, 2002:124).
Thompson (2002:2) comments that social entrepreneurs have the qualities or behaviours associated with business entrepreneurs (such as good leadership and management skills), but they are more concerned about “caring and helping than with making money”. They are described as people who inject imagination and vision into social problem solving, motivate others, build networks, and demonstrate capabilities in overcoming obstacles and risks in the process. Thompson emphasises that social entrepreneurs (more so than for example members of the public sector) are much closer to the community, and hence can identify real needs and respond in meaningful ways. He points out that this need not be an individual who meets all the relevant needs, but could comprise a team of people fulfilling a social entrepreneurial venture.
Thompson et al. (2000) expand further on the traits of social entrepreneurs as being ambitious and driven, and having the ability to communicate a vision that inspires those around them – a vision of adding value to the underprivileged in a community. They are creative, and engender trust and co-operation through the establishment of relationships and networks in their search for resources.
Leadbeater (1997) states that successful social entrepreneurs are leaders – with a sense of mission and the ability to mobilise people around that mission, as well as storytellers who communicate their mission with the use of stories or parables. They also excel in managing people, are visionary opportunists and alliance builders.
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In relation to the given model (Figure 2), it is clear that the social entrepreneur as identified requires many of these characteristics in order to succeed. Innovation is key to the concept of entrepreneurship itself, and given the blurring of the sector boundaries, social entrepreneurs require creativity and networking skills in order to take advantage of the resources that surround them. As the social entrepreneur is defined within the voluntary sector, this person would need to have a vision for social change and not be driven by a profit-making motive. The ability to inspire others and communicate well is very important if the social entrepreneur wants to make a significant impact on the surrounding communities, and in drawing in other sectors for support.
2.4
Social Entrepreneurial Organisations
The structure of social entrepreneurial organisations is said to be flat and flexible – with little bureaucracy. A small contingent of committed full-time staff is important in contributing towards a culture of innovation - rather than having only part-time volunteers on board who are likely to move in and out of the organisation on a more flexible basis. Governance bodies tend to be small and sometimes lacking in accountability structures, and management styles tend to be informal (Leadbeater, 1997).
In addition to the nature of social entrepreneurial organisations, Leadbeater (1997) also comments on the complex nature of the environment with which these organisations interact. Relationships with users evolve as the social entrepreneur becomes aware of the complex needs and demands of the client. Funding is often received from differing organisations in various sectors, and co-operation with a complex set of partners or alliances is also critical.
2.5
Organisations Encouraging Social Entrepreneurial Activity
Various foundations that have arisen in support of social entrepreneurship are mentioned here, as the vision for this activity as a vehicle for transformational social change has become increasingly popular.
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2.5.1 Ashoka: Innovators for the Public This is an international organisation, which has offices based in Johannesburg. Ashoka is committed to “pushing back the frontiers of poverty by identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs through financial and a host of value-added professional services” (Ashoka, undated).
The organisation was founded in the USA in 1980 by Bill Drayton, and now has offices in thirty-three countries. He named Ashoka after a third century B.C. Indian Emperor who, after a particular conquest, renounced violence and dedicated his life to doing good deeds for the public. Identifying the organisation as the first professional association for social entrepreneurs, Drayton sees the organisation as playing an important role in the defining of this new field (Bornstein, 1998).
Through a rigorous selection process, Ashoka identifies people with new ideas, selecting the most capable individuals and providing them with a living stipend and relevant support structures to enable them to focus full-time on the implementation of their ideas. Typically, this lasts three years depending on Ashoka’s confidence in the individual. (Ashoka: undated).
2.5.2 The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship This foundation seeks to identify, recognise and disseminate initiatives in social entrepreneurship that have significantly improved people’s lives and have the potential to be adapted to other settings. This is a non-profit organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, and aims to foster greater understanding of, and support for, the practice of social entrepreneurship through the creation of a network for social entrepreneurs (Schwab Foundation, 2002).
2.5.3 The Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship The CCSE is based at the University of Alberta School of Business, and works with members of all three sectors to encourage social innovation through entrepreneurial approaches. It is believed that as the sector boundaries are dissolving, so opportunities are created for learnings to be shared for the development of communities. Their goals include becoming a hub for the sharing of knowledge on this subject, providing opportunities for dialogue emphasising innovation in matters of social and economic 22
importance, encouraging and supporting Canadian social entrepreneurs and positioning the University’s School of Business as a leader in social entrepreneurship (CCSE, 2003).
2.5.4 Yale School of Management – Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Non-profit Ventures This partnership provides educational and financial support for non-profit enterprises, and focuses on social entrepreneurship in the non-profit sector. It was created in response to the growing number of non-profit organisations and their need to become financially sustainable. Thus the management school brings together teachings from the areas of entrepreneurship, social responsibility and business skills to enforce the philosophy that strong skills in the areas of business and management are critical in the success of leadership in all sectors of the economy. The partnership benefits from the mentoring skills of Goldman Sachs employees, consulting expertise from McKinsey, the Yale School’s faculty staff and students in evaluating business ideas, providing technical assistance and assisting in research and case studies (Yale, 2003).
2.5.5 Centre for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University This Centre was initiated in late 2001 in recognition of the talent, passion and dedication of many entrepreneurial leaders in the social sector. Given the current challenges in this sector, the Centre leaders believe that social sector leaders, students and faculty can benefit from a mutual learning process and discover means by which sustainable and innovative solutions may be developed in response to social needs. They recognise the increasing opportunity for cross-sector learning and the increasing focus in the social sector on organisational effectiveness and demonstrated outcomes. The Centre’s mission is to promote entrepreneurial leadership in the social sector by supporting activities such as presenting courses on social entrepreneurship, enabling students to act as non-voting board members within local non-profit organisations, and providing funding for social sector related research (Anderson & Dees, 2002).
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3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
As has been previously indicated, the purpose of this research is to establish whether social entrepreneurship can make a positive contribution to community development. In order to investigate this subject, the following research questions need to be addressed: 1. What is the impact of social entrepreneurial projects on the surrounding communities? 2. What factors, including resources, are required for the success of social entrepreneurial projects? (Here, success comprises both the project impact on the surrounding community, and the project sustainability.)
A breakdown of these research questions is given in Appendix B, indicating the importance of each question and the source of information.
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4 4.1
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Method
As this study on social entrepreneurship is exploratory, the method chosen to perform this research was the qualitative case study research method. The cases studied were various social entrepreneurs and their projects in their given environments in South Africa.
4.1.1 Qualitative Research Qualitative research differs from quantitative research in that the data that is collected and analysed appears in words and not numbers (Miles & Huberman: 1984:21). Patton (1990:10) refers to three types of data collection in qualitative inquiries: 1.
In-depth, open-ended interviews: consisting of direct quotations from people about their experiences, opinions, feelings and knowledge
2.
Direct observation: detailed descriptions of peoples’ activities, behaviours, actions and the full range of interpersonal interactions and organisational processes that are part of observable human experience
3.
Written documents: these yield excerpts, quotations or entire passages from organisational, clinical, or programme records, memoranda and correspondence, official publications and reports, personal diaries, and open-ended written responses to questionnaires and surveys
These elements of a qualitative research study permit the research of specific issues in an in-depth and detailed manner (Patton, 1990). The research is not constrained by predetermined analysis categories as in quantitative analysis, but is open-ended in nature – enabling the study to take on a somewhat evolutionary course of discovery. Miles & Huberman (1984:15) refer to the attractiveness of qualitative data in that it is a source of “well-grounded, rich descriptions and explanations of processes occurring in local contexts”. They refer also to the preservation of chronological flow, assessment of local causality and derivation of fruitful explanations and the enabling of researchers to go beyond initial preconceptions and frameworks as advantages of qualitative analysis.
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Of course, qualitative research is not without disadvantages. This method of study produces a lot of detailed information about a small number of specific cases or issues and therefore cannot be generalised as can quantitative data – even though rich insight is provided into the given situation (Patton, 1990). This difficulty with generalisability has been considered, and the cases in this research were selected to ensure that the sample was as representative as possible across criteria such as region, race and gender. Replicability was also a concern in considering that words can be ambiguous and researchers can be biased. No fixed ground rules exist for the analysis of qualitative data, and many researchers agree that this analysis is more of an art, requiring researchers to have good intuition in drawing conclusions from the data collected (Patton, 1990).
Qualitative data analysis, according to Miles & Huberman (1984:21) comprises three steps: 1.
Data Reduction: Selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting and transforming the ‘raw’ data that appears in the written-up field notes by summarising, coding, teasing out themes, making clusters or partitions and writing memos. This sharpens, sorts, focuses, discards and organises the information so that the final conclusions are more effectively drawn and verified
2.
Data Display: The display of the data permits conclusion drawing and action taking. Narrative text can be lengthy, unstructured and cumbersome, and may even cause the researcher to draw unfounded conclusions. Matrices, graphs, networks and charts will help to organise information and draw more justified conclusions.
3.
Conclusion Drawing / Verification: Regularities, patterns, explanations, possible configurations, causal flows and propositions are being thought of throughout the data collection and analysis stages. Final conclusions may only appear after data collection is complete, but conclusions are being verified as the researcher proceeds to ensure plausibility.
4.1.2 The Case Study Research Method Yin (2003) indicates that case study research is but one of the methods used in social science research – others include experiments, surveys, histories and the analysis of 26
archival information. He suggests three conditions that are considered in selecting the research method, namely (1) the type of research question, (2) the control an investigator has over actual behavioural events, and (3) the focus on contemporary as opposed to historical phenomena.
The given research topic of social entrepreneurship lent itself to the case study method as it has been primarily an exploratory investigation. Yin (2003:5) indicates in the following table (Table 1) the criteria for various types of research strategies:
Table 1: Relevant Situations for Different Research Strategies
REQUIRES STRATEGY
FORM OF RESEARCH
CONTROL OF
QUESTION
BEHAVIOURAL EVENTS?
Experiment Survey
Archival Analysis
How, why? Who, what, where, how many, how much? Who, what, where, how many, how much?
FOCUSES ON CONTEMPORARY EVENTS?
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes / No
History
How, why?
No
No
Case Study
How, why?
No
Yes
Source: COSMOS Corporation (in Yin, 2003:5)
This investigation into the subject of social entrepreneurship does focus on contemporary events – not in the sense that examples of social entrepreneurship did not exist in the past, but rather in that there is a very definite contemporary focus on the subject and the intention has been to determine its applicability in a contemporary context. The research did not require control of behavioural events (as would for example a laboratory experiment in which selected variables are monitored and others controlled), but rather the collecting of facts, direct observation of events being studied and interviews of the persons involved in the events (Yin, 2003). The questions asked for this particular study were the ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions. Yin (2003) comments that when using the ‘what’ question in an exploratory sense rather
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than a ‘how much’ or ‘how many’ sense, an exploratory case study may be appropriate. Thus the criteria for the case study method as represented in Table 1 were met.
Perry (2001) refers also to the situations in which case research is generally applied. The method is appropriate when the subject of research is associated with an emerging body of knowledge (rather than paradigmatic), the boundaries between the subject and its real-life context are unclear, and causal links are too unclear for other experimental methods to be successful. Thus the choice of methodology was confirmed in that the body of knowledge surrounding social entrepreneurship is emerging (see section 2.4) and the boundaries between the subject and its context are unclear (see section 2.1). Causal links for example between the resources needed by entrepreneurs and their subsequent impact on surrounding communities are also unclear currently, further emphasising the usefulness of an exploratory case study. Information contributing to this method of research usually includes interviews, observation and other multiple sources of data (Perry, 2001).
Perry (2001) discusses the level of prior theory required for case study research in both the exploratory confirmatory and disconfirmatory stages. There are arguments which favour the inductive approach (very little theory-building) and others which favour the deductive approach (in which theory is investigated and then tested), and there are of course those which favour various combinations of the two. Perry (2001) recommends a blend of the two approaches so as to ensure that the researcher benefits from existing theory, whilst not being prevented from developing new theories (as in the case of pure deduction). Yin (2003) in commenting on the role of theory in design work, suggests that theory development is essential regardless as to whether the research objective is to test or develop the theory. In the case of topics that are surrounded by an inadequate or poor existing knowledge base, conceptual frameworks and hypotheses will be difficult to develop and the research will take on more of an exploratory nature.
As social entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept in the literature, the study is more exploratory in nature, without hypotheses or propositions suggested upon completion of the literature review. However, the entrepreneurship model (Figure 2) 28
has been considered a simple conceptual framework (as determined from the existing literature) to be used as a starting point for the research.
4.1.3 Number of Case Studies There is no general rule for the number of cases chosen when embarking upon a case study research project, although some guidelines have been proposed in deciding upon the number of cases to investigate. Perry (2001:312) comments that one case is unusual, but is justified in situations where one of three conditions is met; “(1) the case is a critical one and only one case meets certain conditions, or (2) the case is rare or extreme, or (3) the case provides unusual access for academic research.”
In this particular study, there were a number of cases available and accessible for investigation which met the criteria for investigation and thus three cases were selected for research purposes. Yin (2003) comments on the advantages of multiple case studies in that they are considered more robust, and the evidence more compelling – although the resources and time required are considerably increased.
Perry (2001) indicates that the suggested number of cases varies, with the recommended minimum number ranging from two to four cases and the maximum from twelve to fifteen. Three cases were selected for this research project to benefit from the advantages of using multiple cases, although the number was limited due to time and resource constraints.
4.2
Population and Sample
The research population consists of all individuals who are actively engaged in social entrepreneurial ventures according to the definition as represented in the entrepreneurship model (see Figure 2). These social entrepreneurs’ projects were likely to be positioned in the voluntary sector, with some overlap into either the public or private sectors – or both.
The investigation comprised a sample of three social entrepreneurs of a subpopulation as identified by the Ashoka Foundation. Although Ashoka is not the only foundation engaged in the promotion and support of social entrepreneurship, it has been chosen because of the access granted by the organisation and because the 29
selection criteria are based on a definition of social entrepreneurship which concurs with that chosen for the purposes of this study. Ashoka’s selection criteria for the social entrepreneurs are (Ashoka, undated): 1. A New Idea: a knock-out initial test as to whether the idea is truly new and transformational in nature 2. Creativity: the person must be creative in both vision- or goal- setting and in problem-solving, creating original solutions 3. Entrepreneurial Quality: this concerns the commitment of the person to the idea – will they persevere relentlessly until a new pattern is created across society? 4. Social Impact of the Idea: will the idea solve a problem that has impact nationally and beyond, and will it be adopted in the relevant field once demonstrated? 5. Ethical Fibre: a test as to whether the person is honest and can be instinctively trusted – is the commitment to the idea rooted in a commitment to serve others?
The sampling method appropriate for selecting information-rich cases for in-depth studies - referred to as “purposeful sampling” (Patton, 1990:169) - was used. Of the Ashoka ‘fellows’ information provided, cases were selected according to the following criteria: Geographical location: as far as possible, cases in the Gauteng region were selected to facilitate face-to-face interviews Accessibility and availability: the social entrepreneurs and those working with them needed to be available for interviews within the planned time frame, and their working environment accessible Project track record: the social entrepreneurs selected needed to be actively engaged in their projects, and the projects concerned sufficiently progressed to ensure relevant information (such as resources and community impact) was available Maximum variation: cases selected were to be spread across a variety of contexts to ensure results were representative across as wide a spectrum as possible – with regard to gender, location (urban and rural), sector overlaps and nature of the project 30
4.3
Data Collection
Yin (2003:97) suggests three principles of data collection: 1. Use multiple sources of evidence: the rationale for this principle is “triangulation” – different information sources are used to ensure a more rounded perspective 2. Create a case study database: documentation should be contained in two separate systems; the data base and the investigator’s report 3. Maintain a chain of evidence: an external observer follows the progress and inductions / deductions made throughout the case
Thus, sources of evidence included documentation (such as pamphlets, newspaper articles and evaluation reports), archival records (as kept by the Ashoka Foundation), in-depth interviews, and direct observations (in being present in the working environment of the social entrepreneur). Information was collected and stored separate to the investigator’s report as a case study database, and the role of the investigator’s supervisor as an external observer assisted in maintaining the chain of evidence.
In-depth interviews were conducted as indicated in Figure 3 – two initial interviews with employees of the Ashoka Foundation (experts), six pre-screening interviews to facilitate final selection of the three cases (according to sample selection criteria as stated in Section 4.2), three to seven interviews with members of the communities in which the three entrepreneurs work as well as co-workers of the entrepreneurs, and follow-up interviews with the social entrepreneurs. Finally, an exit interview was conducted with one of the Ashoka experts to both feed back information to the organisation and to ‘round off’ the process. The number of interviews was adjusted according to availability of resources and the development of the investigation as it progressed. Patton (1990:185) emphasises that this number would depend on the depth or breadth focus of the investigation: “The validity, meaningfulness, and insights generated from qualitative inquiry have more to do with the informationrichness of the cases selected and the observational / analytical capabilities of the researcher than with the sample size”.
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Figure 3: Outline of Interview Progression
Research Proposal
2 Expert Interviews Ashoka Employees
6 Pre-screening Interviews Ashoka Fellows (Social Entrepreneurs)
Trevor Mulaudzi
Veronica Khosa
Lesley Ann van Selm
6 Interviews
5 Interviews
5 Interviews
Co-workers / Community
Co-workers / Community
Co-workers / Community
Members
Members
Members
Observation
Observation
Observation
Follow-up Interview
Follow-up Interview
Follow-up Interview
(Trevor Mulaudzi)
(Veronica Khosa)
(Lesley Ann van Selm)
Exit Interview Ashoka Expert
Research Report
32
The objective of pre-screening for case studies was to ensure that the sample selection criteria were adequately met and that any barriers to gathering information in any of the six possible cases were identified as early as possible.
Ashoka provided a list of twenty-four social entrepreneurs located in the Gauteng area and, during the initial expert interviews with the Ashoka members, various individuals were suggested as fulfilling the given criteria as set out in Section 4.2. (Cases were deemed to be appropriate if they were accessible geographically, the projects accessible and active, the entrepreneurs available, and the three cases were required to vary in factors such as race, gender, location, sector and project nature.) From these suggestions, the individuals were contacted and interviewees selected primarily according to availability. Six pre-screening interviews were performed in order to select appropriate cases according to the given criteria. Those selected for the pre-screening interviews are listed below along with the types of projects that they had initiated: 1. Trevor Mulaudzi – School sanitation 2. Veronica Khosa – Home-based care programme for HIV/AIDS patients 3. Lesley Ann van Selm – Crime prevention, criminal rehabilitation and reintegration 4. Flick Asvat – Mentorship (initially in schools) 5. Mandla Mentoor – Environmental awareness 6. Beulah Thumbadoo – Literacy
Appendix C gives a summary of the individuals selected, along with their project names, sectors, race, communities, and the various pros and cons of each case that were considered with respect to further interviews. The three cases selected (Trevor Mulaudzi, Veronica Khosa and Lesley Ann van Selm) were chosen according to the relevant criteria. These showed relevant variation across race and gender, and ranged across various sectors and communities.
Two cases were discarded for concerns that they were seen to potentially jeopardise the research results. Flick Asvat’s project had moved from the public to the private sector; the original project initiated in schools within the public sector was shrouded with negative feelings and experiences, and the new project is still in its beginning 33
stages. Beulah Thumbadoo’s project had somewhat changed direction since being taken on by the Department of Education – she felt it no longer represented what she initially envisaged the project goals to be. Her project seemed to be more focused on advocacy and rights than hands-on community involvement.
One of the cases that may have been suitable for an in-depth study (Mandla Mentoor) was not selected. The reason for this was that in considering triangulation of information for this case, there were fewer potential interviewees who could provide objective opinions of the case details in comparison with the three selected cases. (Most of the potential interviewees were internal to the organisation.)
Case study interviews were “guided conversations rather than structured queries” (Yin, 2003:89) and took on a flexible nature. Yin (2003:90) presents three types of interviews: 1. Open-ended: respondents are questioned in a conversational manner about facts relating to the subject of investigation and opinions about events – the respondent is viewed as an “informant” 2. Focused: respondents are interviewed for a short period (1 hour) – the interview is still conversational but a set of questions may be followed as derived from the case study protocol 3. Formal Survey: this is more structured, and can be used to produce quantitative data for the case study
Focused interviews were used for the purposes of this study – however as recommended by Perry (2001), the interviews started off in an open-ended manner by asking the respondent to tell the story of their experience in the given situation. Some probe questions were prepared (see Appendix D) so that consistency was achieved across the different interviews and so that any disconfirmatory or confirmatory information that may have been required could be noted.
Potential respondents were first contacted by telephone explaining the context and purpose of the research and requesting their involvement. Interviews were scheduled with those that were available and willing to be interviewed. The ‘snowball effect’ was used in that initial respondents were be used to determine contacts for further 34
interviews. The various sets of interviews for the three different cases were scheduled as far as possible in parallel so that consistency was ensured.
4.4
Data Analysis
The chosen method of analysis was the “developing of a case description” (Yin, 2003:114) whereby a descriptive framework for the organisation of the case study is developed. Although Yin (2003) comments that the analytical methods of theoretical propositions or rival explanations are preferable, these were somewhat difficult given the exploratory nature of the research.
As case analysis provided the information for the cross-case analysis, an individual case analysis was performed first before comparisons were made (Patton, 1990; Miles & Huberman, 1984). Thus initial data analysis took place in conjunction with the interviewing process – the notes from each interview being written up and reviewed on the day of the interview or as close to this time as possible. Interview write-ups formed part of the case study database, which included other information such as newspaper articles, brochures or information packs to ensure triangulation.
The research may be defined as interpretive as the underlying assumption of the research is that “our knowledge of reality is gained only through social constructions such as language, consciousness, shared meanings, documents, tools and other artefacts” (Klein & Myers, 1999:68). Thus the principle of the hermeneutic circle could be applied and, in the data analysis, understanding was reached regarding the complex whole from understanding “preconceptions about the meanings of its parts and their interrelationships” (Klein & Myers, 1999:70). An iterative process of understanding was used by analysing the individual parts that make up the whole subject of social entrepreneurship, and moving back and forth between the different interviews or information sources (the ‘parts’) and the overall concept of social entrepreneurship (the ‘whole’) in order to suggest a framework which adequately addresses the research questions.
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4.5
Reliability and Validity
These proposed tests are common to all social science methods (Perry, 2001; Leedy, 1989). Yin (2003) summarises four tests to ensure the reliability and validity of case research, and these are commented on in the context of this study:
1.
Construct Validity: “establishing correct operational measures for the
concepts being studied” (Yin, 2003:34) This is often criticised in case study research, with comments that subjective judgements are used in data collection rather than developing a sufficiently operational set of measures. To ensure that construct validity was maintained, multiple sources of evidence were used (interviews, documentation, observation), and a ‘chain of evidence’ established (the supervisor reviewed the research at various intervals and followed the derivation of evidence as it was drawn out from the interviews).
2.
Internal validity: “establishing a causal relationship, whereby certain
conditions are shown to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships” (Yin, 2003:34) Internal validity is more of a concern in causal or explanatory case studies than exploratory or descriptive ones, as the investigator may fail to observe or include certain influential factors when using the cause / effect logic. However, there is the concern that when making inferences (when an event cannot be directly observed) in an exploratory study, these may be incorrect. Thus care was taken in data analysis to ensure that inferences and resulting conclusions were robust, that ‘rival’ explanations have been considered and that the evidence was truly convergent.
3.
External validity: “establishing the domain to which a study’s findings can
be generalised” (Yin, 2003:34) Unlike survey research, case studies are not readily generalisable from a sample to a population. However, although not generalisable in the statistical sense, case studies may be generalised in the analytical sense – where the researcher wishes to generalise data to a broader theory. As this exploratory research concerns only three case studies of a sub-population of social entrepreneurs, it is not readily 36
generalisable to the broader population of social entrepreneurs. However, from an analytical perspective, the information gathered has provided a basis for generalisation in the various theories that have been developed concerning the impact and sustainability of social entrepreneurial projects.
4.
Reliability: “demonstrating that the operations of a study – such as the data
collection procedures – can be repeated, with the same results” (Yin, 2003:34) Reliability of a case study ensures that if the same study were repeated by another researcher, the same results and conclusions would be found and so errors and biases must be minimised. Thus the case study protocol was followed and the case study data base carefully maintained.
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5
BACKGROUND TO CASES
For the sections containing case background and analysis, information was drawn from the interviews and personal communication listed (Appendix E). These included expert interviews with Ashoka employees, with the social entrepreneurs themselves, co-workers, and members of the communities in which they work.
5.1
MC Trevor Consultancy1
Trevor Mulaudzi has been an Ashoka fellow since 2001 – elected for his work in putting township school sanitation programmes in place where there has been a history of bad sanitation. He now also runs a profit-making cleaning business called ‘The Clean Shop’ and uses a portion of these profits to pay for some of the work done within the school sanitation programme. The name of the closed corporation is ‘MC Trevor Consultancy’, and the profit-making business trades as ‘The Clean Shop’.
5.1.1 How the Project Started Trevor was a geologist working at Rand Mines in 1995. On his journeying around town, he noticed children loitering in the Khutsong township near Carletonville during school hours and decided to ask a few questions as to why they were not in class. The standard answer he received was that they were “going to the toilet”. On further query as to why the toilets at the school could not be visited, he was challenged to take a personal look at the local school ablutions, which he did. The sight was disgusting, as was the smell. Toilets were blocked with items such as bricks and shoes (Moos, 2002), as well as basins – literally “full of it”.
Trevor went straight to the school principal, who blamed the children for being unruly and not caring about their facilities. However, the experience had such a profound effect on Trevor that he decided to resign from his job that day, telling his company and family that he was going to clean toilets. Not only did he give up his position as chief geologist at Blyvoorduitzicht Mine (Badat, 2003), but also a salary of over R200 000 per year, a double-storey house and two luxury cars (Moos, 2002).
1
Information concerning this case background comes from interviews with the social entrepreneur (T.
Mulaudzi, interviews, 8 July and 21 August 2003), unless otherwise indicated.
38
Trevor viewed the situation as serious, as it was keeping children out of school as well as encouraging them to use toilets in public places such as shebeens. (At times, they would stay for a beer or two afterwards – Trevor had witnessed this as he followed the children into a shebeen, whilst pretending to be a customer). He felt that this situation could create a generation of illiterate young township students and was prepared to do something about it personally – even if he had to clean the toilets himself.
Neither the children nor the schoolyard cleaners were prepared to clean up the mess (they didn’t have the skill or materials) – as far as they were concerned it was someone else’s problem. Of concern to Trevor was that the situation posed a health risk in terms of sanitation and hygiene – subjects about which the school clearly lacked knowledge. Trevor had a strong suspicion that this situation would be the same at many other township and rural schools around the country.
5.1.2 The Action Plan In the next few weeks, Trevor contacted various cleaning and chemical companies to find out all he needed to about toilet cleaning. He purchased cleaning equipment and materials and tried to get a clean-up operation going at the school he had visited – but the principal was unfortunately unco-operative (it was suggested that perhaps he was embarrassed because it was his ultimate responsibility to ensure that ablutions were kept in order). Further schools were contacted with some success. Trevor’s implementation strategy of cleaning up the school ablutions was as follows: Visit the school ablutions with a camera on hand and take pictures of the mess Approach the school principal to set up a cleaning plan The principal would set up a meeting with parents, which Trevor would attend, handing out photographs of the current state of affairs (thus winning them over) A day would be set up to do a clean-up of the facilities – with parents and some of the older school children The school would take on the responsibility of keeping the facilities clean, by employing two or three parents who were unemployed at the time – these parents are currently sponsored by ‘The Clean Shop’
39
To date, Trevor has visited around 100 schools, with about 30 of them having a sanitation programme in place. Between 1996 and 2003, Trevor visited schools in the Limpopo, Free State, North West and Gauteng provinces. He is now affectionately known in these communities as “Dr SH*T” (Moos, 2002), which Trevor says is an acronym for “School Hygiene Implementation Team”.
5.1.3 Funding Shortly after Trevor began on his cleaning mission, he opened up ‘The Clean Shop’ to generate income and has since become a professional in the cleaning business. Starting off with a car wash, and employing street children from the township, this profit-making business resulted. Since 1996, ‘The Clean Shop’ has been contracted to clean three of Anglo Gold’s mining hostels in the Carletonville area. This business now generates R430 000 turnover per month, and 285 people are employed. The Clean Shop is also contracted to clean two complexes in Pretoria – belonging to City Properties. Both the operations are managed full-time by designated managers that Trevor has employed.
With the income from this business, Trevor funds 11 parent employees at five schools. This currently costs The Clean Shop R6 600 per month. Trevor does not regard the profit-making initiative as removing his focus from the school cleaning, but sees it rather as an opportunity to further develop the schools project and sustain it.
The Clean Shop activities now include mixing their own chemicals and packaging their own toilet paper – which they supply to the schools to sell to the surrounding community at a profit. Thus the participating schools can raise money to fund their sanitation programme. It is the schools’ responsibility to market the products and do the fundraising. However, efforts to get the schools to raise funds to maintain an acceptable standard of sanitation have not been successful (Moos, 2002). Trevor also has a shop in Thohoyandou, Venda, where he sells chemicals and toilet paper to the public, as well as supplying these products to schools in the area.
5.1.4 Public Sector Support In the past, Trevor has approached the Department of Education to get assistance and has tried to raise support for sanitation programmes in schools. However, this has 40
proved very difficult – the feedback received was that the schools did have budgets in place for cleaning and that further funding for sanitation was unavailable. A representative of the Department of Education confirmed this, commenting that they were aware of the school sanitation problems, and often received letters from the Department of Health concerning this issue. However, the problems are generally referred back to the schools for action – with the realisation that this is often unfair on the principles as the yearly budgets are inadequate for the schools’ needs. (T. Du Plessis, personal communication, 19 August).
Trevor was at one stage referred to the Department of Population and Welfare, who were involved in poverty alleviation and mobilisation of communities at the time. A member of the Community Empowerment and Capacity Building Unit commented that he was suitably impressed with Trevor’s knowledge of the cleaning process and his willingness to take on such a hard task. He had witnessed the state of some of these ablutions on a visit organised by Trevor to a primary school in the Khutsong township – the condition was described as “really disgusting”. (S.J. Appelcryn, personal communication, 20 August, 2003). He referred Trevor’s case to the Department of Education, but nothing ever came of the recommendation for support. Trevor is still knocking on the doors of members of this department for help.
5.2
Tateni Home Care Nursing Services2
Veronica Khosa runs a home-based care project in Mamelodi township, outside Pretoria, whereby trained home-based carers visit chronically ill patients in the community to offer health care and support. Most of these patients are HIV positive and in the AIDS phase of the disease, although there are a few who are either disabled or have other chronic illnesses. In addition to health care, support is offered in terms of education for the family concerned, material support (food and medication for opportunistic infections) where necessary, and general moral support. Veronica was elected into the Ashoka fellowship in 2000.
2
Information concerning this case background comes from interviews with the social entrepreneur (V.
Khosa, interviews, 14 July and 23 August 2003), unless otherwise indicated.
41
5.2.1 How the Project Started Veronica started studying nursing in KwaZulu-Natal in 1957. Her work experience includes work at a tuberculosis hospital in Witbank, and a clinic in Mamelodi, and her desire to always increase her knowledge has taken her through various courses along the way. Not only did she try to keep her skills up to date in nursing, but she also registered for a course on community health and nursing. This facilitated a move from primary health care (local community-based first point of contact health service) to community health care (specialised community health services which are often homebased in nature), which was closer to her heart.
In the 1980’s, the Pretoria City Council was growing rapidly, and thus various city council posts became available. Veronica took up a position as a community health trainer in 1986, looking after the needs of social science students who were being brought in to do practical community work in and around Pretoria. In the six years that she worked there, she got to know many students and had contact with most of the South African universities. At the same time, awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic was on the increase and the local health authority formed an HIV/AIDS information centre in response to the growing need. As they had only four white nurses and no black nurses, Veronica was requested to fill the post to make the team more representative of the community. The position was challenging to say the least, as this centre was attempting to respond to burgeoning needs that were already way beyond the capabilities of the health authorities. Information was being gathered as fast as possible, and the centres provided the services of counselling, testing, and providing information – yet no medication was supplied. Although HIV/AIDS sufferers could talk to the personnel, no prevention programmes were in place.
Public hospitals were not helping AIDS patients, telling them that there was no known or available medication for the disease – in some cases not even headache tablets were prescribed for the patients. A stigma of shame and dishonour shrouded HIV/AIDS patients and many were literally cast out of their communities. The progression from the HIV-positive stage to full-blown AIDS was rapid because of this frustration and rejection by families and lack of resources and care available, and in the years 19931994, Veronica realised that the impact was becoming enormous. What disturbed her
42
most was to see individuals who had been locked in a house by their relatives or friends, left with little or no human contact. This saddened her tremendously.
Veronica decided to perform a survey in 1994 at the information centre where she worked to find out the extent of individuals being ‘locked in’ at home – approximately 1200 responses were received. They found that there were a number of people with chronic conditions (not just HIV/AIDS – but also conditions such as a stroke, paralysis or arthritis) who were being locked in houses whilst their relatives went to work during the day. Some were left from early in the morning till late in the evening without talking to anyone, or receiving any form of care, and in some cases school children would return in the afternoons to open up the house. Most families couldn’t afford home care or medication, and in many instances not even food to nourish these patients. Of the 1200 responses received from homes with family members who were sick, it was found that only seven of these cases were HIV/AIDS related – that is, seven people whose condition had progressed to full-blown AIDS, and were bedridden because of it.
Veronica proposed a home-based care initiative to the local council, but it was rejected on the basis that there was no policy or budget in place. Her research findings disturbed her and she found her work extremely stressful. She was the only black person in the office, as such identifying much more with those affected in her community, having to watch people deteriorate in health to the point of death – and they were dying alone. She questioned what good she was able to do as a counsellor, counselling people to be open to their families about their disease and yet watching them get rejected by the people to whom they were opening up and sharing their situation.
The ‘last straw’ that drove Veronica to finally take action was a particularly disturbing event for her. A young man came staggering into her office, full of sores, and consequently fell over and passed out. Once resuscitated and cleaned up, he was taken to social workers who took him home to his pensioner mother. He had last visited a hospital three months prior to arriving at the information centre. Veronica made arrangements to visit him again – this was the start of the home-based care initiative. 43
5.2.2 The Action Plan Veronica left her post in the public sector to start a home-based care initiative in 1995. She took with her seven young women (18-23 years old) to help in the initiative, telling them that they would look for people like the one who had passed out in the information centre. These women had been leading risky lifestyles as far as HIV/AIDS was concerned and were asking Veronica for advice about alternative lifestyles, and she saw an opportunity. At this stage, the seven HIV/AIDS sufferers that she knew of from the survey were unable to do anything for themselves.
Although Veronica saw the need for HIV/AIDS to be destigmatised in the community, she did not want sufferers of other illnesses to be excluded from the programme. In fact, they discovered that dealing with the range of ailments would help to destigmatise both the pandemic and the work they were doing, as they would be seen as helping all those in need of health care and not just one particular group. Veronica and her team would go to any place where they were needed to work with the sick and handicapped. In doing so, they would often come across more patients in need of care, such as relatives who were suffering from various conditions.
At the time, Veronica did not realise the enormity of her task. She thought it would involve no more than first aid application, washing and cleaning of the patients and referring them to hospital. They would often find people had not visited the hospital yet and were in many instances without food or money. Public hospitals were not providing much in the way of medication, nor materials such as bandages, nor counselling – making it very difficult to refer patients for their respective needs.
The project office is now based at the ‘Diens Sentrum’ or Service Centre in Mamelodi (owned by the Dutch Reformed Church). A building used as a training centre has been provided by the Department of Health nearby to the offices. There are a total of 45 people volunteering at Tateni. Included are six trained nurses, a social worker and the rest are home carers – 10 of whom have the qualification of “social assistants”. The majority of their work is done in Mamelodi township, even though it started in the centre of Pretoria. Tateni is now trying to refer clients to other organisations where possible if the patient is not in Mamelodi. They also work in peri-urban areas
44
outside the township, where people live on smallholdings or plots. Patients are mostly black, although white patients have also been treated by the home-carers.
A consortium has been formed between the Pretoria Sungardens Hospice, Tateni Home Care Nursing Services and HospiVision (STH consortium) to train home carers as “social assistants”, and the programme has been accredited by the relevant Sectoral Education and Training Authority (SETA). A further employee has thus been recruited to help with the curriculum and focus on the SETA requirements. Eighteen hundred people have been trained in home-based care to date. Applicants are screened for literacy and charged a small fee for their transport to practical training. However, if a trainee is HIV-positive, their transport costs are paid for by Tateni. Those trained move on to work in old age homes, clinics or are employed by local doctors, and one or two have expressed interest in starting their own home-based care projects.
The social workers deal with orphaned children, but since there are so many orphans, they cannot all be referred to the Mamelodi SOS Children’s Village (a local NGO with whom they work closely). Tateni has held life skills courses for orphans in the school holidays to try to equip the children in these situations, and also help with applications for social grants.
5.2.3 Funding At the start of the project, no funds were available as it originated from voluntary action in recognition of a need. Veronica and her helpers went to anyone they could to find resources such as old sheets and newspapers for bandages. Some suggested she seek funding and this proved to be one of the greatest challenges. In approaching colleagues and the private sector, many could not understand why Veronica would concern herself with the dying, those who “had no future”. This was “a tough pill to swallow” – but it made her all the more determined to educate people. She phoned and wrote to many, but received little interest. Eventually in 1996 the project was given a donation of R20 000 by the Pretoria Trust. This only funded some materials and travelling costs for Veronica’s helpers. She took money from her retirement package to fund her helpers’ travelling and training costs. This fund was tapped into whenever necessary.
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Funds are still lacking, and most of those working at Tateni help with fundraising activities in some way. This was observed in that both staff members and trainees helped to sell cakes baked at the Tateni premises, and in that they were also encouraged to ask various contacts for donations in a fundraising initiative. Some of the employees have to go without payment for their work at times. The majority of project funding is now supplied from the Department of Health and from various donors, institutions or individuals – publicity has helped in this regard. Small supplements to funding are achieved through the sewing and baking activities.
5.2.4 Public Sector Support Veronica had left the public sector to fulfil a need which could not be meet in terms of the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic – recognising that there was little support for her concerns at the time. However, interest levels picked up somewhat in 1997, when an HIV/AIDS conference was to be held in Geneva and the South African Government had to send delegates to make a presentation on initiatives in place to address the support and counselling of those suffering from HIV/AIDS in the community. After having many of her proposals rejected by the Department of Health, Veronica received an invitation to come and tell government officials about her project. She refused, saying that it was better for them to come and see her project, knowing that first-hand witnessing would leave a far deeper impression. A delegation of two people was followed by a delegation of four, and finally a group of 25 people from both the National AIDS Convention of South Africa (NACOSA) and the Department of Health came to see what was being done at Tateni. The group was addressed and then divided up to visit the homes of the patients being cared for at the time. On their return, Veronica saw a very emotional response to what they had seen as they talked about it – some even crying – as they expressed their disbelief as to how Veronica and her team had done this alone. A NACOSA representative went to the Geneva conference with a report and slides of the work being carried out at Tateni. Four hundred and eighty projects were presented, only one from South Africa. The Tateni project was rewarded as one of the top best-practice models.
As a result, Tateni was granted R44 000 by the Department of Health in 1998. Veronica attended many meetings and symposiums and lobbied the government to action regarding the care of HIV/AIDS patients. Her list of activities was used by the 46
Gauteng Department of Health as an endorsed best-practice policy of home-based care and Veronica presented this model to various groups and government departments – more as an orientation than a project initiative. This helped create awareness about HIV/AIDS as a ‘silent disease’, one which cannot be treated adequately in hospitals.
5.3
Khulisa3
Khulisa is a non-profit organisation addressing the issue of crime in South Africa through the implementation of social crime prevention programmes in prisons and communities. The approach to crime prevention is holistic, addressing a variety of issues such as crime prevention and intervention, rehabilitation of criminals and reintegration of ex-offenders into communities. The founder and Managing Director of the organisation is Lesley Ann van Selm, who has been an Ashoka fellow since 2001.
5.3.1 How the Project Started Lesley Ann has always run her own businesses and is always looking out for new opportunities where she sees a need. She started her career after school with “repping” jobs, after which she moved into the marketing field. Her first milestone project was the 1980 ‘black designers awards’ (which she initiated), whereby winners were sent overseas on study scholarships. Lesley Ann became involved in various other projects as needs arose, such as a catering business in Soweto, travel shows and consumer advisor bureaus.
Lesley Ann describes herself as a very creative person. Prior to 1997, she had been working with a cultural historian, Credo Mutwa, helping to document literary works primarily dealing with traditional folklore – and during this time had been particularly inspired by his cultural knowledge and story-telling abilities. In 1997, she was working on a Telkom-backed project in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Education, the objective of the project being to impart life skills and enhance
3
Information concerning this case background comes from interviews with the social entrepreneur (L.
van Selm, interviews, 18 July and 11 August 2003), unless otherwise indicated.
47
relationships and understanding between those of differing cultural backgrounds through story-telling activities. If successful, the programme was to be used in Curriculum 2005 – but it was first agreed that it would be piloted in two correctional facilities – the Walter Sisulu Child and Youth Care Centre for children awaiting trial and Leeuwkop Prison in northern Johannesburg. At the time, there were no suitable programmes in place for children awaiting trial (van Selm, 1999).
During the pilot programmes, Lesley Ann and her co-workers “had a sense that something magical was happening. The inmates were transforming the world around them. They were taking responsibility for what they were doing with their lives – even if it could only be for relatively fleeting moments in such a limited environment. Their perceptions of the stories dictated the way things worked for them. It was through this experience that we, and they, realised the enormous capacity to change the attitudes and therefore the circumstances of young offenders” (van Selm, 1999:4). The project grew and became known as Khulisa, which is Zulu for ‘let the young child grow’.
5.3.2 The Action Plan With more than 50 000 offenders between the age of 12 and 25, and up to 85% of released offenders returning to crime within six months (Benjamin, 2003), Lesley Ann saw a door of opportunity to develop crime-combating programmes. Khulisa now comprises four programmes that are run in the Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces (Khulisa, 2003):
1. MIB (Make it Better) Community Development and Youth Leadership Programme – Prevention This programme is run using out of school youth leaders to mentor and coach youngsters in the community. The objective of the programme is to introduce the youth to activities such as sport, games, drama, peer drug counselling and HIV/AIDS support groups – all representing various alternatives to crime. The programme involves both training and implementation of skills in community projects. Some of the trained youth leaders are selected to run the MIB courses in other areas, and help out in some of Khulisa’s other projects.
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2. New Directions Diversion Programme – Intervention As part of the child justice bill, minors may be sentenced to a diversion programme as opposed to imprisonment. Khulisa runs a court-accredited 15-week diversion programme that focuses on life-skills training, community service, parental development and post-programme support. Participants’ performance is monitored and reviewed.
3. Discovery Rehabilitation Programme - Rehabilitation This is a year-long programme run in prisons which focuses on creative writing, personal transformation, group therapy and vocational skills development. The material takes the participants through a journey of self-discovery, during which ideas of making amends to victims, families and communities are also explored.
4. Destinations Offender Reintegration Programme – Reintegration Khulisa links ex-offenders who have completed the rehabilitation programme to various employment opportunities provided by business partners and funders. A casemanagement approach is used, whereby participants are individually assessed, monitored and mentored, and provided with ongoing support after release.
In its initial two years of operation, Khulisa had run 280 workshops in several prisons. Some of those who went through these workshops now hold positions of responsibility in the prisons, and others have been transferred, or released. The ‘personal transformation’ programme has been developed in consultation with specialists from the University of South Africa (UNISA), and the Khulisa 12 month self-guided therapy course is being prepared for use in prisons in England, Scotland and America (van Selm, 1999). In South Africa, Khulisa works with a range of communities, from township and rural communities to prisoners and correctional services groups. The majority of the programme attendees are black or coloured.
Khulisa employs over 30 ex-offenders at their offices in Craighall Park, Johannesburg. Helpers around the offices include individuals who have served sentences for rape, murder and hijacking – all of them have completed the ‘Discovery’ rehabilitation programme, are now being given a chance to prove themselves as contributing members of society. To help change community 49
perceptions of ex-offenders, Khulisa does presentations to businesses to rally support for employment opportunities, often using their own industrial theatre to convey their message.
5.3.3 Funding As a non-profit organisation, Khulisa currently receives sponsorship from various sources including corporate trust funds, international governments and embassies and some large aid organisations. Their list of donors include well-known funding organisations such as the United Nations, USAID and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. However, the majority of the donors are international and it is Lesley Ann’s belief that their ability to produce facts and figures to show that Khulisa’s programmes “work” are crucial in attracting funds.
Funds are raised on a project basis, and the government currently pays Khulisa to run training programmes for correctional services personnel. Currently, about a third of Khulisa’s funding comes from government, and approximately two thirds from international donors.
5.3.4 Public Sector Support Having worked with the correctional services since its inception, Khulisa has a fairly strong partnership with the public sector – this was observed in the relationships that Khulisa services have with correctional services personnel. The evidence of successful programmes has resulted in the government paying for certain programmes to be run within prisons, as well as the contracting of Khulisa to train correctional services staff – focusing on HIV/AIDS educators, offender rehabilitation and peer counsellors. The cost incurred to the public per prisoner per year is approximated at R32 800, whereas the cost of rehabilitation and reintegration as estimated by Khulisa is R20 000 over an 18-month period (Benjamin, 2003).
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6
CASE ANALYSIS4
The case analysis is addressed in four parts. The first and second are introductory, relating the cases firstly to the entrepreneurship model (Figure 2) and examining the common understanding of the term ‘social entrepreneur’ as identified in the interviews. In the third part, the impact of social entrepreneurial projects on surrounding communities is considered, and in the fourth, the projects’ sustainability is considered.
6.1
Positioning the Cases in the Entrepreneurship Model
As discussed in Section 2.2.6, although social entrepreneurial ventures fall primarily within the voluntary sector (or at least originate in this sector), it was expected that the cases under investigation would most likely extend into other sectors. The blurring of sector boundaries (CCSE, 2001; Fowler, 2000) and the need for partnerships between sectors implies that few social entrepreneurial projects will fall solely within the voluntary sector boundary.
The three cases under investigation have been positioned on the entrepreneurship model in Figure 4. The positioning of the cases represents the origin of each of the projects in terms of the sector, and the current positions which represent the interactions or partnerships of each project with organisations in other sectors, as well as their dependence on these sectors for income or support.
4
Information contained in the case analysis comes from interviews with the social entrepreneurs (T.
Mulaudzi, interviews, 8 July and 21 August 2003), (V. Khosa, interviews, 14 July and 23 August 2003), (L. van Selm, interviews, 18 July and 11 August 2003) unless otherwise indicated.
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Figure 4: Positioning the Cases in the Entrepreneurship Model
Private Sector
Public Sector
Commercial Entrepreneurship
Public Entrepreneurship Veronica Khosa Lesley Ann van Selm
Trevor Mulaudzi
Veronica Khosa Trevor Mulaudzi
Lesley Ann van Selm
Social Entrepreneurship Voluntary Sector
Trevor Mulaudzi – MC Trevor Consultancy Veronica Khosa – Tateni Home Care Nursing Services Lesley Ann van Selm - Khulisa
Trevor Mulaudzi (MC Trevor Consultancy): This project originated in the voluntary sector – so called ‘civic action’ taking place to fill a gap that had arisen in public sector service. Yet, the non-profit project is currently subsidised by a profit-making initiative (The Clean Shop) – positioning the case within the overlapping section of the private and voluntary sector boundaries. The broader organisation, MC Trevor Consultancy, is a non-profit / profit hybrid and the situation could be defined as one of ‘complementary social entrepreneurship’. This was described in Section 2.2.4 as one in which an organisation “engages in an economic activity which does not directly result in a positive social outcome, but the benefits are used to cross-subsidise a development activity”.
Veronica Khosa (Tateni Home Care Nursing Services): Originating in the voluntary sector, and still operating as an NGO, Tateni operates primarily as a voluntary sector organisation. However, there is still a reliance on government funding and the use of a government building for their training centre and the position has therefore shifted somewhat into the public sector to indicate this
52
support. The position also overlaps the private sector boundary to show the presence of small profit-making initiatives such as baking and sewing, which supplement donor income.
Lesley Ann van Selm (Khulisa):
Again originating in the voluntary sector, Khulisa draws primarily on the citizen base and donor funding as an NGO. However, they are becoming more reliant on government income as they are facilitating training courses for members of the correctional services. This organisation is therefore also somewhat of a hybrid in nature, but does not yet overlap into the private sector.
6.2
The Origin and Migration of Social Entrepreneurs
From the positioning of these three cases in this entrepreneurship model, it can be seen that all three of the organisations originated purely in the voluntary sector. All three of the ideas generated were civic action responses to gaps that arose from inadequate public sector action to social problems. However, the three social entrepreneurs all moved from one of the other sectors into the voluntary sector to respond to the problems at hand. Veronica moved from her work in the public sector (Department of Health), Trevor moved from the private sector (geologist) and Lesley Ann moved from her work with the Department of Education (public sector). It is thus interesting to note that after moving to the voluntary sector, each of these individuals gravitated back towards the sector in which they were operating before they started their social entrepreneurial ventures. This may be indicative of the networks that are in place from previous working environments, or the familiarity of that particular environment which draws the individual back towards the sector. The movement towards the other two sectors highlights the importance of interactions, support and partnerships with the other two sectors.
6.3
Understanding of the Term ‘Social Entrepreneur’ in the Community
Given that the term ‘social entrepreneur’ is a relatively new one, and that the definitions vary in the literature, the question was put to the majority of the respondents as to what they understood by this term. The two Ashoka employees (expert interviews) and the six Ashoka fellows (social entrepreneurs) could all provide a response to the question. However, of the ten further respondents who were 53
asked (co-workers of social entrepreneurs and recipients of services), only three could give a description of what they understood by this term. The other seven had not heard of a ‘social entrepreneur’. Of the three who could give a description, all of these worked fairly closely with the social entrepreneurs themselves. The definitions that the social entrepreneurs gave were as follows:
The strong themes that arose from the responses of the six social entrepreneurs in their identification of a ‘social entrepreneur’ included the following: Willingness to commit to a community project without the expectation of financial gain Desire to change the circumstances and welfare of people Identification of needs in the community and meeting those needs Development of a sustainable solution to social problems Other ideas mentioned were the creation of solutions with minimal resources – “making something out of nothing”, the need for tenacity – “getting up after each kick” and the necessity of drive and passion for the given cause.
The individual pictures all build towards the understanding of what social entrepreneurship is – and this is to be expected as social entrepreneurship is a broad topic. It is also likely that as Ashoka fellows, each of these individuals’ responses were influenced by their contact with Ashoka and Ashoka’s definition of a social entrepreneur.
In discussion with Njogu Morgan, Ashoka’s Venture Programme Manager, a useful definition of social entrepreneurship was discussed: “Social entrepreneurs find unique ideas to address social problems in a systemic way” (N. Morgan, interview, 30 June 2003). From Ashoka’s perspective, emphasis is placed on a “pattern changing idea” that will address issues from a methodological point of view – the systemic nature of the solution enabling replication in different environments and social settings. Njogu commented that many projects initially seem to be “issue driven” in that they address a particular societal problem. In the process, however, fundamental questions about society are raised (such as government structures, the value of life, democracy etc.). Addressing of the underlying issues drives systemic change. This is depicted in Figure 5. 54
Figure 5: The Drive for Systemic Change
Questions raised about: Social
Problem
Entrepreneur
o
Society
o
Governments and Democracy
o
Value of life
o
Systems
Source: Developed from interview with N. Morgan, 30 June 2003
It is useful to put each case into context in this way, as the diagram helps to identify the initial problem at hand whilst pointing to the systemic issues that need to be addressed. It also highlights the complexities that arise in the addressing of social problems. Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8 depict the drive for systemic change in each case study.
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Figure 6: Trevor Mulaudzi: The Drive for Systemic Change Questions raised about: Trevor Mulaudzi
Poor
Poor
Township
Township
School
School
Attendance
Sanitation
o
Educational System
o
School Maintenance
o
Education Budgets
o
School Fundraising
o
Community Hygiene
Here, the initial problem encountered by Trevor was poor school attendance in that children were found to be loitering outside the school grounds. On investigation, this led to the discovery of the apparent source of the problem, which was the state of the township school sanitation (the “primary issue” according to Trevor’s conversation with pupils). In attempting to address this problem, wider issues concerning the educational system and budgets, and the maintenance of schools, needed to be looked at, as well as the capacity of township or rural schools to engage in fundraising activities to address sanitation issues. Another concern raised was the standard of hygiene practices in communities, which impacted directly on the attitudes and behaviour of the school children.
Figure 7: Veronica Khosa: The Drive for Systemic Change
Questions raised about: Lack of Veronica Khosa
Support for HIV / AIDS Sufferers
o
HIV / AIDS Stigma
o
Public Health System
o
Value of Life, Dignity in Death
o
Community Knowledge
o
HIV / AIDS care & potential for improved lifestyle
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In this case, Veronica was initially confronted by the lack of care and support in place for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. The tackling of this problem resulted in the raising of questions about the stigma attached to the pandemic and the rights of those who were suffering to be cared for and maintain dignity in their life and death. The public health system was lacking in support, and knowledge of care for HIV/AIDS sufferers was not prevalent – thus questions were raised about systems that could address the issue at hand. Community knowledge was another broader concern that needed to be addressed in order to have significant impact on the problem.
Figure 8: Lesley Ann van Selm: The Drive for Systemic Change Questions raised about: Lesley Ann van Selm
o
Criminal Rehabilitation & Stigma
High Crime
o
Public Correctional Services
Rate
o
Crime Prevention in Communities
o
Emotional Intelligence of Offenders
In addressing the problem of the high crime rate, Lesley Ann has had to deal with systemic issues such as the correctional services’ approach and capacity to handle the criminals and rehabilitation, and the issues at the root of the problem such as youth drug problems and gangs in communities, and the concept of ‘emotional intelligence’. The drive for systemic change has had to take on both a preventative and restorative approach in addressing the issues at hand.
These diagrams create a visual picture of the issues that really lie beneath the surface of the initial problem that is encountered by the social entrepreneur. They draw attention to the systemic issues that need to be addressed in order for a sustainable, long-term solution to be found. Optimal solutions will take all of these factors into account (and those identified in each of the cases are certainly not exhaustive), thus driving an overall systemic change that in turn addresses the initial problem.
What this in fact highlights, is that the social entrepreneur can by no means attempt to solve a social problem completely. Through initiatives and partnerships, certain 57
symptoms may be addressed, and even systemic change implemented to drive a different approach. This may result in some alleviation of the problem and perhaps a change in the manifestation of the problem. However, the problem cannot be ‘solved’ as such to a point where it no longer exists – the issues at hand are far too complex.
6.4
The Social Entrepreneur as an Evangelist
It has been established that one of the key aspects of a social entrepreneur’s character is their commitment to a vision for social change: commitment that overcomes obstacles or hindrances which may otherwise get in the way of achievement (Thompson, 2002; Thompson et al., 2000; Leadbeater, 1997). In this sense, one can come to understand the social entrepreneur as someone with a powerful vision, a strong belief in his or her vision, and the will to see societies changed through this vision.
The question may be asked as to how one person’s vision, and their passion for that vision, is transferred and taken on by others so that attitudes and behaviours are changed in the addressing of social problems. The task of the social entrepreneur can be seen as that of an ‘evangelist’ in their surrounding communities, winning over potential partners or donors and recipients of their services to take on their vision. The hope is that changed beliefs or attitudes result in a corresponding change in behaviour (if we assume that underlying beliefs drive behaviour) – the ‘conversion’ experience. For example, Trevor Mulaudzi has a vision to see a high standard of sanitation and hygiene standards maintained in township schools – a vision about which he is so passionate that he has given up the security of his regularly paid position as a geologist in order to make it a reality. His time is taken up in the evangelism of school principles and teachers, school children, and members of the private and public sectors to take on this vision and make it their own.
From the case studies, it appears that the goal of the social entrepreneur is not so much that vast numbers receive the benefits of their own or their organisations’ direct services (for example those that receive home care or schools that have sanitation programmes in place), but that large numbers hear their message, are converted, and take on the entrepreneur’s vision, thus causing the message to spread further. It is not the intention that the social entrepreneur or their organisation supplies every need that 58
arises in their attempt to address a social problem. Rather, as the issues regarding systemic change are raised, partners, employees and recipients of the services help to address the drive for systemic change in a holistic manner. This is evident in the case of Khulisa: as the message of crime-combating is spread, and the results of their projects witnessed, so prisoners, community members, correctional service employees and partners take on the vision of change and in turn influence attitudes and beliefs in their own surroundings. As the head training nurse at Tateni commented regarding the changing of attitudes: “Mostly those who have trained here go out and spread the ‘gospel’ in schools and churches” (E. Ngwako, interview, 22 July 2003).
Those who are taken on board by the social entrepreneur as employees or even volunteer workers can be seen as the ‘disciples’ - a band of followers who take on the vision and help to supply the necessary services as well as communicate the vision to the community in which they work. In starting her home-based care project, Veronica Khosa drew together a group of unemployed women who would help her to provide the service offered. Their commitment to Veronica’s vision was evident in that they were all volunteers with no promise of an income – finding resources such as newspapers for bandages to help those in need.
It has been mentioned that social entrepreneurs use stories to communicate their vision or mission (Leadbeater, 1997), using ‘parables’ to convey a message which helps to communicate the vision. This was evident in Trevor Mulaudzi’s telling of stories about how germs are transferred and quoting passages from Scripture in a humorous way to convey a message. Lesley Ann van Selm’s launching pad for the criminal rehabilitation idea was the creative storytelling methodology with which she had worked alongside Credo Mutwa (See Section 5.3.1).
The picture painted here helps to set the context for the social entrepreneurial projects as their impact and sustainability are considered. The ultimate goal is that as the message ripples through the community, there is a broader impact on societal systems as people witness and experience the changed attitudes and behaviours and in their own communities.
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6.5
Impact of Social Entrepreneurial Projects in Communities
The first research question considers the impact of the social entrepreneurial projects on surrounding communities. In this section, project impact is evaluated in terms of four identified dimensions of impact, and the impact of each of the three cases is compared according to the identified dimensions with the use of a radar chart. Finally, the factors which contribute to this impact are discussed.
6.5.1 Dimensions of Project Impact
It is difficult to measure the impact of the projects, although this has been attempted for the sake of comparison through the identification of four dimensions of impact, and the evaluation of these dimensions from the qualitative information available. The dimensions identified are (1) change in attitudes and behaviour, (2) idea expansion, (3) creation of employment, and (4) impact on national policy. Once identified and discussed, these will be compared in each of the three cases with the use of a radar chart (Figure 12).
6.5.1.1 Change in Attitudes and Behaviour
Changes in attitudes and behaviour are fundamental to the way in which the social entrepreneurs attempt to address a problem in society – of fundamental importance is changing the way in which the problem is viewed and the way in which it is addressed. Trevor Mulaudzi has a vision of changed attitudes towards school hygiene and sanitation, a turn-around in schoolchildren’s hygienic habits and behaviours, and ultimately increased school attendance. Veronica Khosa wants to see changed attitudes towards HIV/AIDS sufferers, that the disease is destigmatised and the sufferers cared for by their communities. Lesley Ann Van Selm’s vision is to see attitudes changed in a number of areas regarding crime – for example the attitudes of convicted criminals to break in the cycle of recidivism, community attitudes which regard crime as an acceptable career option, or attitudes in the community towards employment of rehabilitated criminals.
6.5.1.2 Idea Expansion: Ripples, Replication and Multiplication
The expansion of the social entrepreneur’s idea refers to the spread of the ‘message’ or vision, and its effect on the broader community. Anu Pillay, the regional representative for Ashoka Southern Africa, commented that in their search for social 60
entrepreneurs, Ashoka is looking for those with “sustainable, high impact projects – those which will have a snowball effect” (A. Pillay, interview, 03 July 2003). As such, the organisation is not just sponsoring one project, but one project that will affect many people both directly and indirectly – and often resulting in additional projects arising from the initial idea. This points towards the ultimate goal of seeing resultant impact on a national scale, which would be facilitated through the implementation of systemic changes that need to be made to alleviate the problem at hand.
This idea expansion can take place in a number of ways. As the project is initiated in one particular environment, so there is a ripple effect of the idea from the individuals affected (recipients of the service, employees or donors) into their immediate surrounds. There are also instances in which the idea and project is replicated in a different environment, and the same ripple effect occurs in the surrounds of that particular replication. Finally, there is the possibility of idea multiplication, whereby the initial idea is not sufficient to address the problem at large and different projects or ideas are generated to ‘fill the gaps’. This concept is shown in diagrammatic form in Figure 9, Figure 10 and Figure 11 which represent each of the different cases in consideration. The idea implementation is represented by the solid inner circle, the outer broken circles representing the ripple effect of the message into the immediate communities.
Figure 9: MC Trevor Consultancy – Idea Replication REPLICATION
Ripple Effect
School 1
School 2
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School 3
In the case of the school sanitation programmes, Figure 9 shows the replication of the initial idea in different communities. The idea was initiated in one township school, and is being replicated up to 30 additional schools (each of these replications having been initiated by Trevor Mulaudzi) – without significant variation in each replication from the original idea.
Figure 10: Tateni Home-Care Nursing Services – Idea Replication
SATELLITE REPLICATION
Northern Province
Ripple Effect
Mpumalanga Province Mamelodi Township
Figure 10 shows the case of Tateni Home-Care Nursing Services, which comprises one project, based in a single community. Although deliberate replication has not taken place, what one could call ‘satellite replication’ is a possibility, as two of the students that have been trained by Tateni have expressed interest in starting up similar projects in other provinces (V. Khosa, interview, 16 July 2003). However, the operation of these satellite projects could not be confirmed by Tateni as the organisation has lost contact with the students concerned. This highlights the issue of effective organisational structures which are useful in terms of administrative purposes, as well as enabling support mechanisms for potential multiplication or replication of projects. This is discussed under the consideration of the sustainability of social entrepreneurial projects, in Section 7.5.1.3. 62
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Figure 11: Khulisa – Idea Replication and Multiplication
MULTIPLICATION Destinations Offender Reintegration Programme
Ripple Effect
New Directions Diversion Programme
Discovery Programme
MIB Community Development and Youth Leadership Programme
The Khulisa case is somewhat more complex, as shown in Figure 11. Not only has the original idea (the Discovery rehabilitation programme) been replicated in various institutions, but the idea has also ‘multiplied’ or expanded to include three other programmes, which are addressing systemic issues such as crime prevention and exoffender reintegration. These programmes are in turn replicated in different environments, with the use of additional resources. Each project is funded as a separate entity, and the necessary funds are resourced on a per-project basis.
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The ‘idea expansion’ that takes place as the vision is communicated through various mediums, and the resultant behavioural changes are very difficult to measure quantitatively. However, some numbers can be measured as an indication of idea expansion – such as the number of people receiving direct service, those trained by the organisation concerned, or those that have implemented a particular programme. These numbers are indicative of how many have come into contact with the idea, allowing for a platform for idea expansion.
In considering the different models as represented in Figure 9, Figure 10 and Figure 11, it is evident that idea expansion can occur in a number of ways – from a simple project replication to a complex model of both replication and multiplication. The Khulisa model is the most complex and extensive in the expansion of the original idea, giving rise to more of a ‘webbed’ structure. This is perhaps an indication of the stage of the project progression, as will be discussed in Section 7.4.3.3, where the support structures have been put in place to address a number of issues surrounding the issue of crime – from prevention to rehabilitation and reintegration.
6.5.1.3 Creation of Employment
The creation of employment is an indirect benefit of a social entrepreneurial project, rather than a specific goal. Organisations require people to carry out their mission, and so people are also critical in the world of the social entrepreneur. This dimension of impact of social entrepreneurial projects is especially critical in South Africa, where the unemployment rate is very high (2000 estimate at 32%) (Torres, 2001).
The employees may take on the vision of the social entrepreneur and commitment to the cause is often required – especially if a salary is not guaranteed. This was evident in the Tateni case, which was initiated by Veronica Khosa drawing a group of unemployed women together to start her home-based care project. No money was available for material resources, let alone monthly income and travelling allowances. These women had been hanging around the AIDS information centre where Veronica was working for some time, asking her questions. Their willingness to take on a home-based care project without any assurance of income is an indication of their commitment and Veronica’s inspirational leadership qualities.
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In believing in the cause or vision of the social entrepreneur, employees may contribute to the spreading of the message (and thus idea expansion) within their work environment and community. This was particularly true in the case of Khulisa, whereby employees expressed amazement in the changes they had witnessed in their work. When questioned on Khulisa’s success, a social worker commented on the Diversion project – “it’s amazing, it speaks for itself” (E. Stander, interview, 24 July 2003). An ex-offender now working for the organisation said that he would not be the person that he is today if it was not for Khulisa – he would probably be back in prison (B. Khazi, interview, 24 July 2003). Rehabilitated ex-offenders who work for Khulisa are walking testimonies of the work that the organisation has done to change attitudes and behaviour – such as the example of Simon Kunene, who was a third time recidivist before encountering the Khulisa programmes, and is now in his fifth year of working with the organisation, presenting the perils of a life of crime to youth and prisoners alike.
6.5.1.4 Impact on National Policy
In Figure 5, it was shown that in addressing social problems, questions are raised regarding the systems that surround a particular issue, and often it is these systems that need to be changed in order to effectively address the problem at hand. Anu Pillay compared the role of social entrepreneurs to that of NGOs (and thus NGOs are often formed around them) in that their tasks arise as a result of a gap created by projects that don’t have the required impact (A. Pillay, interview, 03 July, 2003). This can be seen for example in the case of Veronica Khosa’s home-based care project, which filled an existing gap in that the public sector neither had systems nor capacity to address the issue of home-based care. In addressing the problem at a systemic level – that is creating new systems or changing existing systems to address the issue, the manifestation of the problem changes (A. Pillay, interview, 03 July, 2003). New knowledge is often acquired in this process, and the creation or changing of systems has the potential to provoke a national policy response.
Ultimate success for a social entrepreneur would be to effect systemic change on a national (and perhaps even international) level. Proven success at a localised, handson level can generate much support from all sectors which will enhance the likelihood of a national policy response. However, it must be remembered that attention of the 66
public and private sectors can often be swayed by issues that are considered of high political or economic importance, thus affecting the ultimate impact of a particular project on national policy. For example, HIV/AIDS is currently seen as a much more pressing issue for South Africa than the issue of school sanitation – and in the former case the public and private sectors would be under more pressure to create solutions and fund projects because of the level of impact on the public, and on the economy.
6.5.2 Comparative Impact of Cases
The three cases have been compared in a radar chart as shown in Figure 12. A chart with the four axes representing the four dimensions of impact has been used with a scale of one to ten as an indication of the measure of the impact in each particular case:
Figure 12: Comparative Impact of Cases
Change in Attitudes and Behaviour
Impact on National Policy
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Idea Expansion
Khulisa Tateni MC Trevor Consultancy
Creation of Employment
These measures are estimates used for the sake of comparison – as it would be difficult to accurately measure the impact of each project on the surrounding communities in a scientific or absolute manner. It is important to remember that these measures are used only for the sake of comparison and the scale of one to ten does not 67
by any means imply that a score of ten is the maximum possible in the generalised case. Thus, the Khulisa case for example which has a score of 10/10 in three out of four dimensions does not imply that they have achieved ultimate success in all of these dimensions, but only that they have been rated the best of the sample in each dimension. For further information as to how these scores were reached, see Appendix F.
A brief commentary is given regarding each of the dimensions of impact:
Change in Attitudes and Behaviour: This was evident in all three cases, Khulisa
having the highest score because of the strong testimonies of ex-offenders now working for the organisation and the supporting views of these sustained changes from the majority of the interviewees.
Idea Expansion: MC Trevor Consultancy and Tateni scored considerably less than
Khulisa in this dimension. If one refers to Figure 9, Figure 10 and Figure 11, it is clear that Khulisa does have the most extensive network as far as this expansion is concerned (comprising both idea replication and idea multiplication). Tateni’s ‘satellite replication’ has not been confirmed, and MC Trevor Consultancy’s replication is still in its initial stages. Yet in all three cases, the ‘ripple effect’ from each of the projects is evident.
Creation of Employment: MC Trevor consultancy scores the lowest of the three cases
here as a smaller proportion of those employed is ‘employment created’ – only the 11 parents who are supported by The Clean Shop. Khulisa scores an 8 because of the employment provided by the organisation as a whole – currently there are 35 full-time employees. There are almost 60 ex-offenders who have sustained employment in the last three and a half years, yet this may not necessarily be classified as ‘creation of employment’ as these people have been channelled to the private sector to fill open positions. Tateni is rated the highest with a score of 10, because of the accredited training that they have provided for over 1800 people – which gives rise to opportunities for employment, as well as the current employment of 45 people which are all ‘created positions’.
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Impact on National Policy: MC Trevor Consultancy scores a zero here as the project
has yet to make national impact, in spite of numerous attempts to gather support from government departments such as the Department of Education and the Department of Population and Welfare. On the other hand, the Department of Health has adopted the best practices used by Tateni as their own for home-based care, as well as sent public sector servants for training at the organisation. The best practices have also been incorporated into the UNAIDS summary book of best practices (UNAIDS, 1999). However, the implementation of the best practices is limited by the capacity of ground-level organisations and governments – and the implementation has thus been limited in South Africa. Khulisa has had the biggest impact, gathering much support from the correctional services and now training correctional services members at their premises. Their projects are currently expanding into three other provinces from their Gauteng operations.
6.5.3 Factors Contributing to Project Impact
The factors contributing to the impact of the previously described social entrepreneurial projects have been divided into two categories – the characteristics of the social entrepreneur and the resources that they have used, which have proved useful in achieving the given impact.
6.5.3.1 Entrepreneurs’ Characteristics
The entrepreneurs’ characteristics will influence the impact that the social entrepreneurial projects have on the surrounding communities in that their characteristics will affect their relationships with the people who surround them. Thus directly affected will be changes in attitudes and behaviour, and the creation of employment – and indirectly their idea expansion and the national impact that the project may have. In all three cases, interviews with community members and coworkers revealed that the social entrepreneurs have strong visionary characteristics, that they are risk-takers, and that they come up with creative solutions – without letting obstacles get in the way of their paths. They prefer to see obstacles as challenges and have good networking and communicating skills. These findings concur with the literature (Bornstein, 1998; Thompson, 2002; Leadbeater, 1997).
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A few additional key characteristics exhibited by the social entrepreneurs have been identified, which are seen as valuable in their contribution to the project impact. Each of these identified characteristics adds to the inspirational effect of the person on the people around them – causing attitudes to change, inspiring others to take on similar jobs or projects, creating a ripple effect of changes throughout communities and potentially driving systemic change in the long run. These characteristics include being resourceful, alert to opportunities, integrity, representative of a parental figure, and ‘hands-on’ in approach.
Resourceful: All three social entrepreneurs exhibited resourcefulness in their
undertakings, whether this came to acquiring people, materials or funds in fulfilling their vision. Trevor drew on the medical knowledge of his wife – a doctor - to learn more about hygiene and sanitation, and used every possible avenue to find out about correct toilet cleaning materials and hygiene procedures. Veronica drew unemployed people off the street to help in her endeavours, and used whatever she could find for materials – such as newspapers and old sheets for bandages. Lesley Ann drew on resources such as her husband for financial management, a creative storyteller for the development of her materials and an organisational development practitioner to help put effectiveness measures in place.
All three entrepreneurs drew on some of their employees’ or trainees’ experience to motivate others in taking on the vision (for example those with HIV/AIDS at Tateni or rehabilitated prisoners at Khulisa). Each one is also, in varying degrees, using some form of profit-making endeavour to supplement financial income (such as The Clean Shop, Tateni’s sewing and baking ladies, and Khulisa’s training of correctional services personnel).
Alert to Opportunities: Each entrepreneur displayed the ability to identify
opportunities that could further their projects goals and used them to the benefit of the project. Leadbeater (1997:79) has referred to this quality in describing social entrepreneurs as “visionary opportunists”. An example of this was Veronica’s request for members of the health department to “come and see” what she was doing as opposed to just handing over the information that they were requesting for their
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overseas conference. This opportunity led to a real turnaround in the attitudes of various key players who would support her in the future.
Similarly, when Trevor was recently invited to a presentation of Anglo Gold’s financial results (directors included), he took the opportunity to request the time for a short presentation about his business at this meeting. He proudly presented the work that The Clean Shop had been doing at the three hostels, challenging anyone present in the meeting to “find one smelly toilet in the hostels” and report it to him. The opportunity was used to present the work that he is doing in the community and to mention the funds needed for support. Those present seemed impressed, and requested a funding proposal – which Trevor forwarded to them the same day.
Integrity: Many co-workers and recipients of the projects’ services mentioned this
aspect of the social entrepreneurs’ character. It seemed important to them that the person was of the same character in any given situation – whether tired, stressed or even in their personal lives. A teacher at Wedela Primary School said of Trevor: “He’s very generous, always wearing a smile. He comes close to people. He never changed – he’s always the same” (M. Moletsane, interview, 30 July 2003).
Integrity is also critical in the Khulisa environment – where ex-offenders are employed and encouraged to exhibit integrity in their newfound freedom. Bongani Khazi, an ex-offender working for Khulisa, mentioned integrity as a key ingredient for success of the organisation. “Walking the talk” and “doing what they teach” are important especially when ex-offenders are used to teach in drug and crime rehabilitation programmes. Although co-workers did not use the word “integrity” to describe Lesley Ann in a direct manner, she was described as “fair” (T. Hackland, interview, 1 August 2003), implying a degree of integrity in her person. Lesley Ann herself emphasised the importance of integrity in the environment in which she works.
Representative of a Parental Figure: This quality was more predominant where the
social entrepreneur was female and referred to as a “mother figure”. In both the Tateni and Khulisa cases there was very much a sense of general outcasts in communities receiving love and care from the members of these organisations. Simon Kunene, a 71
three-time recidivist and rehabilitated ex-offender employed at Khulisa described Lesley Ann as one who treats them as a family, involving herself in personal things, such as problems at home – “She looks after us out of love and parenthood” (S. Kunene, interview, 24 July 2003).
William Mathebula is a Tateni patient, and has recovered from being bed-ridden to living a relatively healthy life. He currently visits schools to encourage HIV/AIDS awareness. Of Veronica he said: “She is like the mother of all in the location” (W. Mathebula, interview, 24 July 2003).
Having a Belief System: Perhaps this characteristic under-girds the visionary
characteristic. Each entrepreneur expressed some sort of belief in the greater good – whether it was a religious belief or a belief in humanity. Trevor uses Bible passages to talk to school children about hygiene, for example Deuteronomy 23:12-14, which is a passage giving instructions to the Israelites regarding ablutions and keeping the camp clean, lest God turn away from them (Trevor relates this passage with humour and compares this to the school grounds which need God’s protection). His co-workers know that his belief system forms a strong part of who he is, and the activities he engages in (W. Moloto, interview, 30 July 2003). As a school deputy principal commented – “He is a God-fearing man, and takes himself to be serving God more than man, he is committed to that” (V. Mapoma, interview, 30 July 2003). Veronica acknowledges that as a human being she feels insufficient in her work, and that perhaps it is “God’s will” that she is where she is. Lesley Ann, on the other hand says she is not particularly religious, but has a strong belief in humanity.
The entrepreneurs’ commitment to their beliefs was evident in their actions. A sign of commitment is evident first of all in the willingness to take risks – both Trevor and Veronica both left their paid jobs to start a project for which they had no funding or support. Lesley Ann did the same, although hers was a more gradual exit from other entrepreneurial ventures. All gave of their time, energy and in many cases, money. Veronica, for example, used money from her retirement fund when there was nowhere else to turn. This commitment contributes to the ripple effect of the idea and the change in others’ attitudes towards the cause.
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‘Hands-on’ in Approach: Every one of the three social entrepreneurs is hands-on in
approach when it comes to their community projects. Their co-workers know them well, and on observation, the relationships in some cases seem more like friendships than manager/employee relationships (and in some cases friends or family members have come on board to help out in the organisation, such as Lesley Ann’s husband, or Wright Moloto who Trevor knew from the geology field). There was no ‘ivory tower manager’ image present in any case – but rather a fully involved and committed individual who spent time working at the ‘coal face’. Thus, most of the members of the communities in which these entrepreneurs worked all had knowledge of the person’s character and those that did not had at least met with the individual. If it wasn’t for Trevor’s profit-making business, he says he would be visiting schools every single day (although he does envisage fewer visits required as particular programmes become more self-sufficient) – and when he does, he participates ‘boots and all’ in cleaning the toilets. Veronica is out visiting patients in the community on a regular basis between fundraising and board meetings or administrative activities. Lesley Ann was described as a “workaholic” – instead of just being a figurehead at Khulisa she is still actively involved in material development and presentation.
This hands-on involvement of the social entrepreneurs means that they are visible role models within communities. This is seen as having an inspirational effect on the surrounding people, which contributes to changes in attitudes and behaviour, and also helps to draw people into the organisation or project.
6.5.3.2 Resources Mobilised
Certain resources used by social entrepreneurs that contribute to the impact of the project on the surrounding communities were found to be common amongst the cases studied. Predictably, a lack of funds came up as one of the major hindrances to progress of the projects – but this was to be expected considering all of the community projects are positioned primarily in the voluntary sector. (However the ability to attract funds, which is an aspect of sustainability, is discussed in Section 7.5.1.1) The resources considered here are knowledge, role models, materials and time, networks and communication, and family support.
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Knowledge: One of the factors contributing to a change in attitude and/or behaviour is
that of knowledge gained by an individual or group. In all three cases, a primary objective was to allow people to see issues from a different perspective. Trevor imparts knowledge (using resources such as Bible passages and humour) to educate principals, teachers, parents and pupils about the importance of hygiene – and its effect on health. An example given by Victor Mapoma, Deputy Principal of Wedela Primary School, concerning the realisation of the importance of hygiene by the Wedela teachers was the fact that if children did not wash their hands after using the toilets, their schoolbooks became a primary transport mechanism for germs (V. Mapoma, interview, 30 July 2003). This information, as well as presenting photographs of the conditions of toilets in the schools to teachers and parents, provides a shock tactic for Trevor in driving people to action.
Veronica imparts knowledge through both words and actions – providing training for their home-carers, life skills courses for orphaned children, and talking to the families of chronically ill patients about their care. The fact that Tateni has become well known in the Mamelodi community has helped to destigmatise HIV/AIDS sufferers. Because of their all-round approach to all chronically ill patients, they have not gained a label of the “AIDS helpers” but rather as a caring group of people who help the community.
At Khulisa, the focus is to develop emotional intelligence both within the community and amongst convicted criminals. This requires knowledge – the difference in this case is that the knowledge is acquired through a self-discovery or reflective process rather than a didactic approach to teaching.
Role Models: In addition to the social entrepreneur being viewed as a parental figure
in the community, members of the organisation also actively participate as role models in their environments. In each case, role models of people who have been victims of the social issue at hand are used for training purposes. Yet, they are not always role models in the simple sense of the term – but those who have made mistakes, learned from them, and now serve as powerful examples having had first hand experience of a particular situation. Khulisa uses ex-offenders in all of their training programmes – and peer drug counsellors to counsel those with drug problems 74
in prisons. Bongani Khazi, an ex-offender now working for Khulisa, described the use of role models as one of the keys to its success. He commented on the trainers in the drug and prison programmes: “What if those people had never committed the crime – would they be as effective? No, people will listen to those who have been there. For example, me – I know the consequences” (B. Khazi, interview, 24 July 2003). An offender in the Johannesburg maximum security prison, giving feedback in a peer drug counselling programme commented on his group leader: “He’s an inmate like me who encouraged me to quit. I feel good about Clarens. I was smoking dagga and wasn’t even thinking to quit. I thank Clarens for what he has done to me and others.” (Johannesburg Medium C Prison, observation, 31 July 2003). Khulisa strongly discourages the use of marijuana in their programmes as, in many of their rehabilitation programmes, offenders have linked their use of this drug with the committing of crimes. (K. Swanepoel, personal communication, 15 October 2003).
Tateni uses HIV/AIDS sufferers to talk to community groups such as schools and churches. Trevor uses employees from The Clean Shop (who were previously unemployed and without a matric qualification) to talk to school children and warn them that they too could be cleaning toilets if they don’t pay attention and make sure that they attend class regularly. This is an interesting use of the role model as a resource in that it provides an example of what not to do, rather than encouraging others to follow in the same footsteps.
Materials: All projects require materials of some sort (which in turn require funding)
– whether it is medical materials, books, building materials or any kind of facility in need, and this is where the entrepreneur’s resourcefulness comes in use. Where programmes such as training courses are run, programme material is a key ingredient. This was highlighted particularly in the Khulisa case where an ex-offender described the material used as excellent, and very different to anything he had seen (B. Khazi, interview, 24 July 2003). Both ex-offenders commented on the material used in that it played a key role in their changed attitudes and behaviour.
In the Tateni and MC Trevor Consultancy cases, use of training material was mentioned, but did not seem as key to the changes in attitudes and behaviour as in the Khulisa case. Yet, in these cases other material resources were key to the 75
organisation’s operation, such as medical or food supplies (Tateni), or cleaning materials (MC Trevor Consultancy). In the latter case, The Clean Shop operation enables the supply of cleaning materials, as well as the opportunity for schools to raise funds for their own cleaning materials. The ability of the schools to acquire cleaning materials for their sanitation programmes is currently an inhibiting factor to the success thereof.
Networks and Communication: The ability to build networks is a known trait of the
social entrepreneur (Thompson, 2002). As the drive for systemic change becomes more apparent in the addressing of the social problem, so networks and partners become increasingly important for the social entrepreneurial project. With networks in place, the extent of both the problem and the systems that surround it may be addressed from a broader base. The ability to network with relevant partners and donors, and to adequately and inspirationally communicate their vision, is critical. The three social entrepreneurs interviewed all displayed good communication skills albeit in a completely different manner from one another. This was not so much because they were particularly eloquent, but because they were passionate about the work they were doing and were able to convey the enthusiasm or the determination with which they work.
Networking and communicating within all three sectors is important, as this can generate both funds and moral or material support for the social entrepreneurial projects. Each project displayed varying degrees of interaction with the other sectors (as indicated in Figure 4).
Family-based Support: Trevor, Veronica and Lesley Ann all received some form of
family-based support in their endeavours. Trevor’s wife fully supported him when he left his secure job as a geologist on the mines and understood his desire to see children attending school regularly – their children were attending private schools at the time, so there was no direct benefit as such for the family. When Veronica started her home-care initiative in 1995, her son was living at home and not employed at the time. He was initially reluctant to get involved but in time became a pillar of support as he performed administrative and messenger tasks. Lesley Ann’s husband acts as a consultant to Khulisa, helping with funding and financial management – this is a 76
critical support mechanism in her work as she manages the direction and operational aspects of the business.
6.6
Sustainability of Social Entrepreneurial Projects
When considering the research questions in Section 3, it was mentioned that the success of the social entrepreneurial project comprises both the project impact and the project sustainability. In Section 1.4, impact was defined as the influence of the project in the given environment, whereas sustainability was defined as the ability of the project to maintain impact on the surrounding communities in the long-term. The sustainability of each project will now be compared, and the factors that contribute to sustainability will be considered. It is useful to refer again to Figure 1, where an optimally sustainable project is depicted as having an exponentially increasing impact, whilst the input of the original organisation’s resources levels off.
6.6.1 Factors Contributing to Project Sustainability
In light of the definition of sustainability as shown in Figure 1, one can envisage what a sustainable project would look like in each of the three case studies. Khulisa would maintain a steady training input with various bodies such as the correctional services, earn a steady income from this endeavour to finance their activities, and correctional services members would ‘spread the gospel’ within the prisons – enabling a change of attitudes and behaviours accordingly. Tateni would develop their fundraising activities to generate more income, perhaps using their patients or families of patients to contribute in some way, and in the perfect world the effect on national policy would create a network of support and financing to further the concept in many other communities. Trevor would gain support from the Department of Education and the private sector, and eventually create self-sustaining school sanitation projects that rely on income from selling the various items that The Clean Shop supplies. Yet, this of course is the ideal state of sustainability, and all three cases have some way to go in this regard.
Four factors have been identified from the cases that are seen to contribute to project sustainability. These are (1) the ability to attract and generate funds, (2) the formation of partnerships, (3) an effective organisational structure, and (4) the ability to attract
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people and skills. Once discussed, the three cases will be compared in each dimension of sustainability on a radar chart (Figure 13).
6.6.1.1 Ability to Attract and Generate Funds
Lesley Ann summed up the feeling of all the social entrepreneurs in one concise comment: “Funds are a hell of a burden”. This is without doubt the biggest difficulty for those operating in the voluntary sector, filling the gaps where the public and private sector cannot – or will not. Certainly Khulisa seemed to generate funds with the least difficulty. Lesley Ann attributes this to the help of her husband, who keeps tight accounting control and supplies the business acumen to put proposals together, as well as the proof that they have that their programmes work. Khulisa uses independent evaluators to evaluate their programmes, and this is key in raising funds. Most of their funding is currently received from overseas donors who need to know that what they invest will generate social capital in return – evidence generates hope. On observation, Khulisa as an organisation certainly does have more of a professional, business-like atmosphere, and Lesley-Ann’s objective is to see it “run like a business”. As the correctional services training opportunities increase, so this will help with generating of funds and hence sustainability.
Trevor seemed to experience the most difficulty in attracting funding – as has been acknowledged, toilet cleaning does not tend to attract much interest. Aside from the difficulties, institutions such as embassies have been approached in the past, and one in fact was willing to help. The Danish embassy would contribute R15 000 each to 15 schools, on the condition that each school show their commitment with their own contribution of R5000 (resulting in the total requirement of R20 000 per school being met). In all his visits, it took Trevor 13 months to find 15 schools willing to contribute R5000. Apart from the fact that it took so long for Trevor to find these schools, the embassy could not give Trevor the money as an individual – and he had not registered (or planned to register) as an NGO. Although these structures can be cumbersome at times, it does help to have them in place when it comes to funding. But there is great potential for fund generation in this case. With a profit-making business in place to support the community projects, and with the encouragement for schools to become self-sustaining through the sale of materials from The Clean Shop to the community, fund generation may be a more viable option than fund-raising. 78
In Tateni’s case, funding is on the increase from the government, largely because HIV/AIDS is such a high priority in terms of social issues for South Africa (yet they experience tremendous delays in seeing the promised funds arrive in their bank account). However, it must be remembered that ten years ago when Veronica started to look for funding, questions were asked as to why anyone would want to invest in people who were going to die. Now, in spite of increased funding, Tateni still has vast needs such as a building that they can call their own and so become more visible in the community. Veronica admits that there is perhaps a lack of knowledge in the organisation as far as financial management is concerned. An opportunity to generate income arose in the training of public servants in home-based care – more for orientation than implementation purposes. Although there was an agreement to pay for Tateni’s services, the money still has not been released for payment. Strong administrative systems and business negotiation processes would be a real advantage in situations such as these, yet are lacking in this instance because of the context and nature of the work
6.6.1.2 Formation of Partnerships
The enormity of the social issues addressed in each case, and the drive for systemic change that results, often cause the entrepreneur to realise that they cannot take on the challenge alone. Although social entrepreneurs do enjoy operating independently, their networking ability and opportunistic nature contribute to the formation of partnerships when crises arise. Tateni works with organisations such as SOS Children’s Village to help address the burgeoning problem of AIDS orphans, and is a member of a tripartite consortium “STH” (Sungarden Hospice, Tateni and HospiVision) which is involved in training the home-carers to become accredited ‘social assistants’.
Khulisa partners with organisations such as the National Institute on Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO), The President’s Award and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) whenever an opportunity arises or resources are in need. Of course, partnership is crucial with regard to the public sector so that members are engaged in a supportive rather than antagonistic structure.
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MC Trevor Consultancy does not have any partnerships in terms of sponsorship for their community work as yet, but partnerships in the profit business The Clean Shop are crucial – with Anglo Gold for example, which may even lead to funding for school sanitation projects in the future. Partnerships with the schools themselves – principals and staff – are key in getting the sanitation projects in place.
From the positioning of each of the cases in the entrepreneurship model (Figure 4), and the interaction that occurs between the sectors, the importance of partnerships between the sectors is apparent. These allow for sustainability in the long term as the partners get on board with the entrepreneur’s vision, help to spread the message, and create structures and opportunities within which the individual or organisation can operate and develop ideas.
6.6.1.3 Effective Organisational Structure
A common factor amongst these cases was one of a flexible organisational structure, in accordance with the literature (Leadbeater, 1997). Perhaps this is common when organisations are under-resourced and the employees become ‘jacks-of-all-trades’, attending to needs where necessary and shuffling themselves appropriately to fill gaps. This is in alignment with the opportunistic nature of the social entrepreneurs. They tend to avoid rigid structures and red tape, looking out for opportunities where their organisation can mould itself to fit the need. Tracey Hackland, who has consulted within the banking, information technology and NGO industries, said of Khulisa’s organisational structure: “It’s the most fertile organisation I’ve ever been involved in. It’s very dynamic, flexible and responsive. This can be stressful as one is constantly on the run. Not everything is bedded down, but the inherent strength is the response to need.” (T. Hackland, interview, 1 August 2003).
As the attempt to address social issues starts to drive systemic change, so the entrepreneurs start to realise the enormity of the task, and in many cases further ‘problems’ arise as a direct result of the one they are tackling. Tateni for example started with home-based care, and has now moved into supplying food and material needs for patients, encouraging prevention of the illnesses through community talks, and looking after HIV/AIDS orphans in the community. Khulisa started with offender rehabilitation and moved into crime prevention programmes, diversion programmes 80
for juvenile offenders, drug and HIV/AIDS counselling in prisons and schools, and providing support networks for rehabilitated offenders. In order to address the burgeoning needs that are encountered, a flexible structure is crucial for timely response.
The provision of an all-encompassing support system by these organisations is important for sustainability. For example, a support network for rehabilitated or rehabilitating offenders who have served their sentences is critical in ensuring that they are not tempted to return to a life of crime. In covering the full spectrum of prevention, diversion, rehabilitation and reintegration, a more water-tight system is provided in the addressing of crime and recidivism on the whole. Support structures can enforce and sustain changes in attitudes and behaviours, increase employment and impact further on national policy, thus improving impact in the long-term.
Although the organisation may start with a very flexible structure, as time progresses, the need for a more formalised structure increases in order for the organisation to be effective. Systems and procedures need to be in place for administrative purposes, for record keeping and for measurement (as the business adage goes – ‘you cannot control what you cannot measure’). Even registering as an NGO may be cumbersome to the independent social entrepreneurs, who are often put off by procedural issues and lengthy board meetings, but this does help in situations such as applying for funds. Good administrative procedures result in higher efficiency and can only help the entrepreneur in the long run. The need for this formalised structure was confirmed as an issue of key concern for Ashoka as an organisation sponsoring social entrepreneurs (A. Pillay, personal communication, 26 September 2003).
6.6.1.4 Ability to Attract People and Skills
All organisations struggle in some way in finding the right people and keeping them, and this is no different in the case of social entrepreneurial organisations. This is especially true in the case where salaries are not guaranteed and current employees are in search of a more secure position.
Tateni home-carers are in the position where a salary is not always guaranteed, which is a concern for the organisation. Although they encourage those who are trained to 81
move on to greener pastures, as they know they cannot be home-carers forever, they are aware that ‘young blood’ is always useful for bringing in new ideas and skills, and higher energy levels.
Lesley Ann makes sure her employees are paid well – paying higher than any public sector salaries for her social workers for example. The organisation is funded relatively well, and the objective is to ensure that the best people are employed to make the programmes work. However, Lesley Ann admits “money is not everything in this sector”. Some of her employees were attracted to the business because “it works” – encouraged by the results and the opportunity to make a real difference in their careers.
At present, all of the employees of The Clean Shop are paid staff and therefore it has not been difficult for Trevor to recruit. Some of the cleaning employees are quite highly qualified for the position (matric level) but struggle to find employment elsewhere. Yet, as he admits, there is a gap in skills as far as business management is concerned. He feels he could attract the right people if he had sufficient funds.
People make up an organisation – and it is important to get the right people to fulfil a particular mission. Sustainability will be improved through commitment of employees to the cause as they have a substantial contribution to make regarding project impact.
6.6.2 Comparative Sustainability of Cases
As was the case for comparative impact of cases, a radar chart with a scale of one to 10 is used to represent the relative sustainability of each of the three cases in Figure 13.
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Figure 13: Comparative Sustainability of Cases
Ability to Attract People and Skills
Ability to Attract and Generate Funds 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Formation of Partnerships
Khulisa Tateni MC Trevor Consultancy Effective Organisational Structure
Again, a scale of one to 10 is used as a relative scale for the sake of comparison of the cases, and not as an absolute measure. Appendix G provides a summary of the scores given for each of the factors in each of the cases. A brief commentary is given regarding each of the aspects of sustainability:
Ability to Attract and Generate Funds:
Khulisa is the most successful in terms of attracting and generating funds, because of their factual approach in proving that their programmes ‘work’ – resulting in good relationships and an extensive network of donors. Their partnership with the correctional services also helps to generate funds for training. Tateni and MC Trevor Consultancy are not as successful in this regard, although Tateni is supporting a social issue which is high on governmental agenda at current and thus is profiting from some of the national budget for HIV/AIDS.
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Formation of Partnerships:
Khulisa has the most extensive network in place with regards to partnerships, especially with other NGOs, donor agencies and the public sector – thus managing to form a wider support system around the issues that they are trying to address. Tateni does have a few partnerships in place, but it is felt that these could be further exploited, as well as better terms negotiated – especially with the public sector as they are struggling to get hold of the funds promised. MC Trevor Consultancy only has a form of partnership with schools and to some extent the private sector in terms of the work provided by Anglo Gold for The Clean Shop. The barrier of the social issue not being an attractive one needs to be broken down in order to gain support from all three sectors.
Effective Organisational Structure:
This comprises both a flexible organisational structure that is able to respond timeously to needs, as well as one with structures in place to enable the accurate monitoring, measuring and controlling of business activities. All three organisations are flexible in nature, although when it comes to the more formalised structures, there are considerable differences. Khulisa is visibly ahead – even the smart offices in the Johannesburg northern suburbs are evidence of this, as well as formalised information packs that are handed to interested visitors, and evaluation reports which they have commissioned for their donors and potential donors to peruse. Tateni has some structure as a registered NGO with a board in place. MC Trevor Consultancy on the other hand is relatively well structured when it comes to The Clean Shop, but community activities have no structured approach or formalised record keeping, and no NGO has been registered, making fund-raising difficult.
Ability to Attract People and Skills:
Having measures in place to show the difference that the organisation makes, as well as paying salaries helps to both attract people and skills in these environments. Khulisa has both of these prerequisites in place, paying market-related salaries and higher to attract the right people. Tateni attracts people in terms of the training that they will receive, but struggles to keep them on without the promise of a steady income or a career development path. MC Trevor Consultancy has attracted people for The Clean Shop operation and the school cleaning jobs – but in both cases wages 84
are offered to people who would otherwise be unemployed. In both Tateni and MC Trevor Consultancy’s cases, there are business skills that would help immensely with their projects, but the organisations would struggle to attract skills in this regard.
6.7
Comparison of Impact and Sustainability
It is useful, having considered both the impact of the social entrepreneurial projects on their surrounding communities as well as the potential sustainability, to compare the two radar charts and comment on the correlation between cases. In Figure 14, the two charts are juxtaposed for comparison:
Figure 14: Comparison of Impact and Sustainability
Change in Attitudes and Behaviour 10
IMPACT
8 6 4 2
Impact on National Policy
Idea Expansion
0
Khulisa Tateni Creation of Employment
SUSTAINABILITY
MC Trevor Consultancy
Ability to Attract and Generate Funds 10 8 6 4 2
Ability to Attract People and Skills
0
Formation of Partnerships
Effective Organisational Structure
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In comparing impact and sustainability for all three cases, Khulisa was seen to be the best of the three cases in every aspect except for creation of employment as a dimension of impact. Tateni followed after Khulisa, outperforming MC Trevor Consultancy in most instances except in the cases of changed attitudes and behaviour and idea expansion (dimensions of impact) and the ability to attract people and skills (factors affecting sustainability).
This comparison shows that Khulisa currently has a higher impact on its surrounding communities than the other two projects, and is likely to be able to sustain the impact in the long run. This does not necessarily mean that the ‘Khulisa idea’ is fundamentally better than the others, but rather that certain resources, structures or methods of approach that are being used are contributing to the projects’ success.
The regional director of Ashoka, Southern Africa believes that the differences in approach, especially when it comes to the way the organisation is run, or the partnerships and networks that are in place, are often results of race and background (A. Pillay, personal communication, 26 September 2003). In this sense, Khulisa is at an advantage with Lesley Ann having had a privileged upbringing in apartheid South Africa. She would as a result have had better education, perhaps more confidence in dealing with business relationships, and a more extensive network to probe in pursuing partnerships.
6.8
Project Progression: Social Entrepreneurs and their Teams
In the study of each of these cases, it is helpful to consider the typical progression of a social entrepreneurial project and compare the different stages at which each project may be in this progression. The stage of the project will affect the level of impact that the project has on the surrounding communities.
The progression encapsulates the critical steps of idea formation, the gathering of people (teams) and resources (such as skills, knowledge or materials), which then allow the problem to be addressed through application of resources, and the creation of networks or partnerships to drive systemic change.
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Figure 15: Stage Progression of Social Entrepreneurial Projects
Skills Transferred
Problem Witnessed
Idea Generated
Team and Resources Gathered
Symptoms Addressed
Systemic Change
Partnerships Formed
Systemic Problems Identified Social Entrepreneur
Social Entrepreneur and Team
Increasing Impact
MC Trevor Consultancy
Tateni
Khulisa
Current Position of Each Project
Figure 15 gives an outline of the stage progression of social entrepreneurial projects according to the three cases that were investigated. The social entrepreneur first encounters a social problem, and then generates an idea to address the issue (the birth of the idea or vision may have various influences such as Lesley Ann van Selm’s use of story telling from Credo Mutwa), but generally the vision itself is their own. Next, the social entrepreneur (the ‘evangelist’) gathers people around them (the ‘disciples’) to assist in addressing the problem (such as Veronica Khosa drawing a group of unemployed women together to start home-based care), and gathers any necessary skills that they might be lacking (such as Trevor Mulaudzi’s search for information on how to clean toilets). This stage is followed by a simultaneous operation of skills transfer between team members and the social entrepreneur (often with the use of ‘parables’), the addressing of the symptoms of the problem (caring for those in need), and the identifying of the broader systemic problems that need to be addressed in order to establish firm solutions.
In addressing the symptoms of the problem only, an immediate need is met to fill a gap that exists in society, but it is by no means a long-term solution. For example, 87
providing home-based care to the sick is fulfilling an immediate need, but the broader systemic issues such as the HIV/AIDS stigma, the state of the public health system or lack of community knowledge about the pandemic will need to be addressed in time to generate a long term solution and extensive impact in the community.
Each project has been positioned on the continuum as an estimate of where it is in the stage progression. Khulisa is most advanced in terms of having formed a number of partnerships and driving systemic change in areas such as the correctional services, community networks and child justice. Tateni is not as far advanced – although partnerships have been formed, the systemic change is still fairly localised. MC Trevor Consultancy has formed partnerships only with schools and much still can be done in terms of private and public sector partnerships to drive systemic change. The more advanced the project is along this continuum, the higher the impact on surrounding communities in terms of change in attitudes and behaviour, idea expansion, creation of employment and national policies.
6.9
Summary
The analogy of the social entrepreneur as an ‘evangelist’ has been used to convey the role of the social entrepreneur in a community – the social entrepreneur has a vision for social change, and a message which he or she desires to spread throughout the community. The message is first shared amongst a small group of ‘disciples’ who are gathered to take on the vision and help with the practical implementation thereof. And so the message spreads – causing beliefs, attitudes and behaviour to change, with the ultimate goal of seeing the message transform not only the immediate community but also communities further afield – nationally or even internationally.
The aim of this research report was to determine the impact of social entrepreneurial projects on the surrounding communities and to identify the factors, including resources, required for the success of these projects. Figure 16 is a summary diagram representing the findings of the research.
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Figure 16: Summary Diagram of Research Findings
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The success of the projects comprises the aspects of impact and sustainability. From the case studies, the four dimensions of impact have been identified as change in attitudes and behaviour, idea expansion, creation of employment and impact on national policy. The impact is affected by the social entrepreneur’s characteristics, and the resources used in mobilising the project. Sustainability is affected by the project’s ability to attract and generate funds, the formation of partnerships, the effectiveness of the organisational structure and the ability to attract people and skills.
With regard to impact, it was found that the Khulisa project exhibited the greatest display of changed attitudes and behaviour, idea expansion and impact on national policy. The high impact in these areas can be attributed to the use of role models in the Khulisa programmes, an emphasis on integrity, and the resourcefulness of Lesley Ann van Selm in the use knowledge and materials in the project and forming partnerships and networks to create a full support structure.
The Tateni project had a higher impact than the other two cases with regards to the creation of employment, with the highest number of ‘newly created’ positions in the
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organisation (45 people), and the provision of a SETA (Sector Education and Training Accreditation) qualification those completing their training courses. This impact can be attributed to the networking that Tateni has done in bringing in partners to perform training as well as networking and securing resources from the public sector such as the buildings which are used as training facilities.
With regard to sustainability, Khulisa was found to be the most sustainable project in that they had the least difficulty in attracting and generating funds, had formed a number of partnerships, had a more effective organisational structure (in that it was more structured and had more administrative processes in place), and in attracting people and skills.
It was noted that the levels of impact generally correlated with the levels of sustainability for each of the three cases. Although Khulisa was shown to have a higher level of impact and sustainability, the result points to the use of various resources, characteristics of the social entrepreneur, and the progression stage of the project – rather than the Khulisa idea being fundamentally better than any of the other case ideas.
In the measuring of impact and sustainability it is important to remember that there are other factors that may affect the projects if one looks at the ‘bigger picture’. The MC Trevor Consultancy case scored low on impact and sustainability, but the problem of bad sanitation practices in schools is not a popular one for discussion, thus making it more difficult for the formation of partnerships. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS and crime issues receive a lot more press coverage than school sanitation, and their direct effects on society are more visible. One must also take into account that the educational or cultural background of the social entrepreneur will affect their abilities to lead and manage an organisation as well as their ability to network, communicate and form partnerships.
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7
CONCLUSIONS
The subject of social entrepreneurship is clearly a complex one – from defining the term to the implementation and evaluation of social entrepreneurial projects. There are a number of definitions of the subject in the literature; definitions according to activities (Thompson, 2000) or characteristics (Leadbeater, 1997; Thompson, 1999; Thompson et al., 2000) of social entrepreneurs, or outcomes of social entrepreneurial activities (Thompson et al., 2000). For the purposes of this report, social entrepreneurship has been closely aligned with civic innovation as Fowler (2000) describes it. As depicted in the entrepreneurship model in Figure 2, social entrepreneurship originates in the voluntary sector although, with the blurring of sector boundaries, activities may overlap into the public and private sectors. This definition or understanding of social entrepreneurship is broader than some descriptions of the subject, in which it has been related more specifically to non-profit organisations that take on a profit-making initiative in order to become more sustainable (Boschee, 1995; CCSE, 2001).
This research was limited to the study of three cases, all of which were social entrepreneurs as selected by Ashoka, according to the organisation’s own criteria (the person and the idea are checked in terms of novelty, creativity, entrepreneurial quality, social impact of the idea and ethical fibre). Thus, generalisations to the greater population of social entrepreneurs or social entrepreneurial projects are limited. However, some conclusions regarding social entrepreneurship and its potential application in communities may be drawn from this sample as the in-depth case studies allowed for insight which can contribute to the knowledge base surrounding the subject of social entrepreneurship.
From the findings and analysis of this research, social entrepreneurship is concluded to be viable in providing sustainable solutions to social problems. Given the current context of South African communities, with high crime rates, high levels of HIV/AIDS and unemployment, educational deficiencies and an increasing gap between the wealthy and the poor, alternatives or additions to the traditional and inadequate model of social welfare are in desperate need. These should not only be sought in the public sector – which cannot be solely responsible for resolving these
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problems – but in all sectors, as the boundaries merge and partnerships across sectors become more and more common. Social entrepreneurship is an alternative response to social problems which originates in the voluntary sector, yet requires the necessary support from all three sectors.
Although the literature reflects various definitions of social entrepreneurship, there is not much written regarding factors that contribute to the success of social entrepreneurial projects or comparative studies regarding the impact or sustainability of these projects. It was the intention of this study to identify the impact of social entrepreneurial projects on surrounding communities and to identify factors required for the success of these projects.
From the cases studied, it is clear that social entrepreneurs can play a key role in community development – their contribution in various areas of need having resulted in transformed opinions, attitudes and even policies related to the social issues that are being addressed. In concluding this study, the factors that stand out as contributing to the impact and success of social entrepreneurship may be identified as innovation, the social entrepreneurial ‘champions’ themselves, and the use of ‘first-hand experience’ in the ongoing struggle to change social perceptions, traditions, attitudes and behaviours.
Key to social entrepreneurship is innovation – as it is key to the subject of entrepreneurship itself. Innovative ways of addressing social problems are necessary – these may not solve the problem at hand, but can change the way in which the problem manifests in society. Each of the cases studied reflected this innovation in the way problems were addressed: the ideas were all original in the sense that they were not copied from other social projects – from the use of a profits from a cleaning company to clean up school toilets, to home-based care for the sick in a township community, to the rehabilitation of criminal offenders through the use of creative story-telling techniques. By contrast, the setting up of a soup kitchen, for example, would merely be a replication of a welfare idea copied in millions of other locations all over the world – without a necessary impact or sustainable solution to the problem of hunger.
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Social entrepreneurs who champion social entrepreneurial projects seem to share characteristics which contribute to their vision and passion for a particular purpose. They are leaders, drawing people in through this vision and determination, and overcoming any obstacles in their way by keeping this vision alive, and influencing the teams that surround them. They are not afraid to get their hands dirty, leading by example and relating to members of the community as family members rather than mere recipients of their organisations’ services.
Each of the cases studied made use of the powerful tool of role models – people who had first-hand experience in overcoming particular problem who would share their situation with others facing similar issues or circumstances. This has the effect of transforming any educational forum or opportunity for knowledge transfer into something that is not considered mere ‘lip-service’ but a vivid example of a changed attitude or behaviour for others to look up to.
The stages of progression of each case varied, thus affecting the level of impact of each case on the surrounding communities. The social entrepreneurs would start with an idea to address a problem, still needing to gather teams and resources, transfer skills, address any further symptoms, identify the systemic problems at hand, and form partnerships to drive systemic change. The organisations studied were flexible and responsive, in agreement with the literature. Yet the importance of establishing formalised structures and procedures is highlighted as key to the sustainability of these projects. As the original idea expands, so effective organisational structures are required.
An interesting observation was the way in which social entrepreneurial ideas expand in communities. There is always some sort of ripple effect of an idea as a project impacts on the immediate community through activities and word of mouth. Idea replication occurs as a result of the organisation replicating the idea in other
communities, and idea multiplication is a result of new ideas being implemented to address either secondary problems encountered in the community or different manifestations of the social issue at hand. A combination of these effects is likely to result as a social entrepreneurial project grows and ideas expand to provide a supportive network of activities addressing a particular problem. 93
It is concluded that social entrepreneurs can provide a means for sustainable solutions to social problems. This may not mean that the problem is eliminated, but problems may certainly be alleviated and the manifestations somewhat changed. For example, the Tateni project has not eliminated by any means the HIV/AIDS problem, but patients are cared for in Mamelodi and lives are enhanced, while awareness of the pandemic has increased – thus hopefully impacting on infection rates. The Khulisa project has not by any means eliminated the problem of crime in South Africa, but has provided a means for prevention of crime, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of criminals into communities, thus alleviating some of the symptoms of the problem. The MC Trevor Consultancy project is only in the beginning stages of its project progression, but in a few schools the sanitation problem (which was negatively affecting school attendance and thus impacting on the educational system) has been alleviated – now giving rise to the manifestation of another problem – which is that of sustainability, in that these and other schools need to maintain the sanitation standards at a certain level with few resources.
These projects are all community-based and have stemmed from innovation arising from the voluntary sector - ‘social entrepreneurship’. These social entrepreneurs need support from all three sectors – private, public and voluntary – in order that they might be identified, their profiles raised as role models in society, and supported with the necessary mechanisms or resources required. It cannot be expected that public sector social services and non-profit organisations be solely responsible to support the needs of the community. It is evident that solutions can be found from within the community. However, these are likely to have greater impact and sustainability if supported by all sectors.
94
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APPENDICES APPENDIX A: THOMPSON’S ‘SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MAP’
Source: Thompson (2002:430)
99
APPENDIX B: BREAKDOWN OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research Questions 1.
Breakdown
Importance
Sources
What is the impact of the social
What are the abilities of the social
The impact on the
Social entrepreneurs,
entrepreneurial projects on the
entrepreneur?
communities can be
co-workers, clients,
surrounding communities?
What has changed in the
assessed to identify whether
surrounding community
community / individual with the
social entrepreneurship is a
members, external
project in place?
viable / successful avenue
information
What is the effect of the project on
for community
surrounding people and
development
environment? How far reaching is this impact – has there been a change in any policy? 2.
What factors, including resources, What resources are required with
Resources required for
Social entrepreneurs,
are required for the success of
success will be identified
co-workers, clients
social entrepreneurial projects?
regard to: Systems
and will be useful in
Networking and contacts
determining the success of
People
social entrepreneurs in the
Time
future and where social
Funding
entrepreneurs require help
Knowledge
or support
100
APPENDIX C: CASE SELECTION
Name
Project
Trevor Mulaudzi
MC Trevor Education and Consultancy Environmental (School sanitation)
Veronica Khosa
Lesley Ann Van Selm
Sector
Race
Community
Pros
Cons
Black
Township and rural schools, broad range
-
Very hands-on in approach, high energy and enthusiasm Could be interesting comparison with others to see why battling to get support Very important issue for SA currently Very committed individual
-
Only white candidate Very efficient, businesslike operation Seemingly high proven success
-
Tateni Home Care Nursing Services
Health (HIV/AIDS patient home-care)
Black
Khulisa
Education (Crime prevention, criminal rehabilitation and reintegration)
White
Township and periurban communities, primarily Pretoria area Township, rural, prison communities
-
-
-
101
-
-
A lot of focus on profit making business, which subsidises schools work Not that systematic in approach, no record of schools visited Distance from JHB Distance from JHB
Very busy, not particularly forthcoming in discussion
APPENDIX C cont.
Flick Asvat
Mandla Mentoor
Burgrado Edutrade
Soweto Mountain of Hope
Education (Mentorship)
Coloured Township schools originally, now moved to private sector Environmental Black Township – Soweto
-
-
-
Beulah Thumbadoo
Masifunde Sonke
Education (Literacy)
Indian
Higher level – but ‘non readers’
-
Could be interesting to see why things went awry
Very creative projects running, helpful person Well recognised in SA community, works with govt and Jane Goodall High tenacity – was without income for 13 years Difference in type of project, more focused on advocacy
-
-
13 projects running, may be encumbered by detail
-
Not working directly with community Project has been railroaded by govt – original vision not implemented Not hands-on in project
-
-
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Moved on to own business, now in private sector Seems very negative about original project, dealings with govt and funding
APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW PROBE QUESTIONS
The interviews began by firstly asking questions regarding biographical details – short questions to start the process, allowing the respondent to be at ease.
1.
I’d like you to tell me about the project you’re involved in.
2.
Could you describe the community in which you work?
3.
What do you understand by the term ‘social entrepreneurship’?
4.
Do you think that social entrepreneurs can make a difference in this community? (If yes, in what way, if no – why?)
5.
Do you think that social entrepreneurial projects implemented in this community have been successful? (Reasons for success or non-success will be requested.)
6.
What kinds of resources have been used in order to get the social entrepreneurial projects going?
7.
Which resources have been lacking?
8.
Which resources have been most helpful?
9.
How much involvement have the different sectors (private, public, voluntary) had and what roles, if any, have they played in this project?
10.
How is the project being funded?
11.
How do you see the role of the Ashoka organisation in the project?
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APPENDIX E: RECORD OF INTERVIEWS AND COMMUNICATION
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public: List of Interviewees
No.
Date
Name
Position
Comments
1.
30 June
Njogu
Venture Programme
One interview
Morgan
Manager
Anu Pillay
Regional
Two interviews (pre
26
Representative for
and post case
September
Southern Africa
interviews)
2.
03 July
Social Entrepreneurs Interviewed but not Selected:
No.
Date
Name
Position
Comments
1.
14 July
Flick Asvat
Social Entrepreneur:
Moved from public
Burgrado Edutrade /
sector schools
Altered Attitudes
mentoring to private sector business
2.
3.
15 July
17 July
Mandla
Social Entrepreneur:
Two interviews (pre
Mentoor
Soweto Mountain of
and post case
Hope (SOMOHO)
interviews)
Beulah
Social Entrepreneur:
ERA has been taken
Thumbadoo
Easy Reading for
over by public sector,
Adults (ERA)
Beulah now moving on with other projects
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MC Trevor Consultancy: List of Interviewees and Observations No.
Date
Name
Position
Comments
1.
8 July
Trevor
Founder / Managing
Two interviews
21 August
Mulaudzi
Director
8 July
Tyronne
Principal, Reakgona
Observation only to see
Mocumi
Primary School,
sanitation programme results
2.
Fochville township 3.
4.
5.
6.
30 July
30 July
30 July
30 July
Wright
Manager: The Clean
Co-worker in profit-making
Moloto
Shop
division
Victor
Deputy Principal:
Wedela Primary School
Mapoma
Wedela Primary
implemented a sanitation
School, Carletonville
programme with Trevor’s help
Mpho
Teacher: Wedela
Moletsane
School
Oarabile,
Students at Wedela
Xolisa,
Primary School
Zingaphi,
(Grade 6)
Noluthando 7.
30 July
Virginia
Parents, Wedela
Employed at Wedela to keep
Lebitso,
Primary School
bathrooms clean (salaries
Agnes Mooka 8.
19 August
currently paid by Trevor)
Trevor Du
Planner: Facilities
Personal communication – by
Plessis
Management
telephone
Department, Gauteng Department of Education 9.
20 August
Fanie
Representative:
S.J. Appelcryn – Department
Appelcryn
Community
of Population and Welfare
Empowerment and
Personal communication – by
Capacity Building
telephone
105
Tateni Home Care Nursing Services: List of Interviewees and Observations
No.
Date
Name
Position
Comments
1.
14 July
Veronica
Founder,
Two interviews
23 August
Khosa
Coordinator
22 July
William
Patient, Mamelodi
2.
Mathebula
Recipient of homebased care, recovered from being bed-ridden to talking at schools about HIV / AIDS
3.
22 July
Albert
Patient, Mamelodi
Mahlangu
Recipient of homebased care
4.
22 July
Khabo Riba
Tateni Home-carer
5.
22 July
Euphodia
Tateni trainer of
Registered Nurse,
Ngwako
home-carers
retired
Rita Mabusela
Tateni Social
6.
22 July
Worker 7.
22 July
Patients
3 Tateni patients visited in Mamelodi – currently receiving home care
8.
9
James Chauke
Ex Tateni Trainee
September
Working at UNISA AIDS information desk Personal communication – by telephone
106
Khulisa: List of Interviewees and Observations
No.
Date
Name
Position
Comments
1.
18 July
Lesley Ann
Founder and
Two interviews
11 August
van Selm
Managing Director
24 July
Bongani
Ex-offender, Khulisa
Khazi
employee
2.
3.
24 July
Elza Stander Manager: Khulisa
Qualified Social Worker
Social Services 4.
5.
24 July
31 July
Simon
Ex-offender, Khulisa
Kunene
employee
Manus
Unit Manager,
Correctional Services
Lategan
Special Care Unit 1
Johannesburg Maximum Security Prison
6.
31 July
Peer drug
Prisoners
Johannesburg Medium C
counselling
Prison (maximum security
group
for juvenile offenders) Presentation by group as to effects of programme
7.
1 August
Tracey
Contracting to
Background in psychology
Hackland
Khulisa to formalise
and organisational
and develop
development, focus on
Diversion
impact and measurement
programme 8.
19 August
Nico
Police Station
Station received overseas
Snyman
Commissioner:
funding to implement
Meadowlands,
Khulisa youth programme
Soweto
in community Personal communication – by telephone
9.
13
Kotie
Educationalist:
Personal communication –
October
Swanepoel
Khulisa
by telephone
107
APPENDIX F: COMPARATIVE IMPACT OF CASES
Change in Attitudes and Behaviour
Impact on National Policy
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Idea Expansion
Khulisa Tateni MC Trevor Consultancy
Creation of Employment
The reasoning behind the ratings given for each dimension of impact in each of the three cases is outlined herein:
MC Trevor Consultancy Change in Attitudes and Behaviour: 8/10
Change in attitudes and behaviour is evident in the schools that have taken on a sanitation programme. If one considers that certain ablutions witnessed at schools visited by a member of the Department of Population and Welfare were in such a state that a shovel was needed to start cleaning them out (S.J. Appelcryn, personal communication, 20 August 2003), conditions have changed as a result of changed attitudes and behaviours. On observation, ablutions visited at both Wedela and Reakgona Primary Schools were spotless, and pleasant to visit – and members of the school staff were extremely proud of these conditions. Both teachers and children at Wedela Primary School reported decreased incidents of sickness – such as stomach aches and headaches – once improved hygiene practices were in place. Many of the children were willing to bring toilet paper from home (as the school could not afford this) after being educated about the dangers of using any other objects, which 108
included stones and newspaper amongst other things. The children now feel free to go to the toilet any time, whereas before they would wait until the last moment, or try not to go at all. Xolisa, a Grade 6 pupil, said they are now proud of their school and have learned that “cleanness is next to goodness”. Teachers are no longer afraid of going into the school ablutions, and can now lead by example whereas previously, they would supervise any sort of cleaning from a distance (M. Moletsane, interview, 30 July 2003).
Idea Expansion: 5/10
Only approximately thirty of the one hundred schools that Trevor has approached (via the principals) to implement cleaning programmes have in fact taken on the challenge. Of those that have not, reasons include financing problems and, Trevor believes, embarrassment of the state of the ablutions in the school and suspicions of Trevor’s motives. One principal accused Trevor of wanting to remove the ‘solid waste’ from his school ablutions and take it home, thus bewitching all his school children.
The principals, according to the Department of Education, are in fact responsible for keeping the school clean – but they also recognise that this is often an unfair expectation because of budget limitations (T. Du Plessis, personal communication, 19 August 2003). Nevertheless, of those thirty schools that have implemented a sanitation programme, and if one assumes that an average of one thousand pupils attends each of these schools, this implies that approximately thirty thousand people are being affected by these projects at any one time (considering the yearly progression of pupils through the school). There is some indication that children do talk to their families about what they have learned (Wedela Primary Grade 6 pupils, interview, 30 July 2003), and parents are also suitably impressed when they visit schools with clean ablution facilities (M. Moletsane, interview, 30 July 2003).
The rating given (5/10) is largely due to the ripple effect of each project, and project replication in different areas. However, the ripple effect is somewhat inhibited because the subject matter (toilets and hygiene) is not one which is regularly discussed in passing – it is likely that HIV/AIDS or crime are discussed more regularly in South Africa as there is more visible and far-reaching effect into the communities under consideration. 109
Creation of Employment: 5/10
The Clean Shop currently employs two hundred and eighty five people in total – although one could argue that these employees merely took over from other cleaning contracts that were in place before them. Trevor’s company (The Clean Shop) currently funds a total of eleven parents to clean in schools – parents who were previously unemployed. This is a relatively small number, but could grow by a considerable amount were more schools to take on a sanitation programme and develop a method for self-funding. So in this sense, there is potential for further creation of employment on a bigger scale – but support and partnerships will be necessary with both the private and public sectors for this to come about.
Impact on National Policy: 0/10
Trevor’s sanitation programmes in township schools have not yet had national impact. He has tried a number of times to get in touch with provincial governments to gain support and input with no success. He has speculated that perhaps as a black person, there is mistrust on the part of the government of black people taking on community projects – but at the same time his realisation is that “People don’t take the issue of toilets seriously. They’re sitting in offices and don’t automatically think about toilets. Government officials visit the schools, have tea, and leave. But they do know they are smelly.” Thus he recognises that although the problem is a recognised one, there is little action in place at current because of the lack of popularity of the subject.
Proposals have been forwarded to the public sector in the past – for example to the Department of Population and Welfare. At the time, Mr Appelcryn who was involved in poverty alleviation projects and the mobilisation of projects in communities put forward a recommendation to the Department of Education regarding Trevor’s work. His comment was “Trevor impressed me as a person with knowledge. He had information regarding chemicals and was looking at hard stuff. He was concerned about the kids, not focused on making a profit. He’s not a ‘fly by night’” (S.J. Appelcryn, personal communication, 20 August 2003). Yet, somehow, the proposal was ‘lost in the system’ and Trevor is still knocking on the doors of various members of the public sector to rally support.
110
Tateni Home Care Nursing Services Change in Attitudes and Behaviour: 8/10
Tateni’s work in caring for the sick serves as an example to those in the community that the suffering also deserve a life of dignity and respect. There is the example of William Mathebula who has been a recipient of home-based care – he was once bedridden and is currently mobile and talking about HIV/AIDS in schools and churches. This is one representation of Tateni’s positive results in the community. In 1995 he was moved after an operation from the Pretoria Academic Hospital to Hospice as he was told there was no chance of his wounds healing. In his 6 months at Hospice, he was bedridden and started to suffer from severe depression. After eventually being allowed to go home to his family where he was expected to die, Tateni heard about him and started to care for William. He initially sent them away – not wanting anyone to come near him for fear that they might contract this disease that he knew little about. He thought if he didn’t die of the disease, he would die of loneliness and depression. But through their persistence, care and support, William is now living a relatively healthy life eight years after being told he had but a few months to live. One of the biggest hurdles that he had to overcome was to accept that he was ill and deal with the reality of the situation – and this was encouraged by Tateni home-carers (W. Mathebula, interview, 22 July 2003).
In the community, there has been an increased awareness in general towards HIV/AIDS, which is not because of Tateni’s work alone. As people come closer to the reality of the disease with relatives and family members being affected, so it becomes difficult for them to continue in ignorance. There is still a stigma that surrounds the pandemic, but more people are becoming open in talking about it and accepting their HIV positive status. Tateni has helped to destigmatise the disease somewhat as they have treated all chronically ill patients equally, and have broken down barriers to go and care for people in the community who had literally been discarded.
In the Mamelodi community, families who have been helped by Tateni are changing their attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and its victims. Many community members have given verbal feedback to Tateni employees in appreciation for the help they have received. Some help to contribute in the way of old clothing to support orphans (K. Riba, interview, 22 July 2003). 111
Idea Expansion: 5/10
Currently, Tateni cares for approximately 60 patients who are attended to three times a week, approximately 100 patients who are attended to once or twice a month and approximately 200 orphans are monitored and helped where needs arise. About 1800 people have been trained in home-based care, and the orphans with whom Tateni comes into contact have been taken through short life skills training programmes in their holidays. This gives some idea of the ‘ripple effect’ from this Mamelodi project.
The expansion of Tateni’s vision and mission is seen in those who sign up for training courses (no recruitment is necessary), and those who are referred to the organisation through family or friends. One could argue that this is because the needs of the community are so urgent, and Tateni does provide material support for many (patients are not required to pay for services –nor are they asked; only donations willingly received). The possible satellite replication of Tateni’s home-based care project as indicated in Figure 10 has not been confirmed, only reported that two of the extrainees of the Tateni programme have been interested in starting up projects in two further provinces.
Creation of Employment: 10/10
As a NGO, Tateni currently employs 45 people, which includes 30 home-carers, nurses, a social worker and administrative staff. They are paid from the funds raised, but are not always guaranteed a salary depending on the current level of income. It is not certain how many of the 1800 trained home-carers went on to find employment, but some have found positions in day clinics or in social work, and one has moved on to work in an AIDS information centre at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria (J. Chauke, personal communication, 9 September 2003). Since the Tateni course has become SETA (Sectoral Education and Training Authority) accredited, this opens up avenues for further recognition and will hopefully open doors for further training or employment opportunities.
Impact on National Policy: 8/10
Veronica’s work has had an impact on national policy at least in terms of ‘best practices’. Government departments have recognised her work and taken on her 112
guidelines for best practices regarding home based care, but unfortunately do not have the resources to implement such a programme at a national or provincial level. Nevertheless, Tateni now receives funding from the Government and is supported by local authorities with facilities such as Tateni’s training centre, which is based on the Mamelodi Local Authorities’ premises. Contributing to the impact that Tateni has had, is the priority that HIV/AIDS is gaining as the pandemic has an increasingly devastating effect on the people and economy of South Africa.
Khulisa Change in Attitudes and Behaviour: 10/10
A strong testimony to changes in attitudes and behaviour are Khulisa’s ex-offenders now working at Khulisa’s offices. Most of those within the prison walls see a life of crime as a glorified one where riches are gained – and with the high South African rate of recidivism, on release most of them will find themselves back within the four walls of prison in a matter of time. Even in the township communities, a criminal may be seen as a hero by peers (S. Kunene, interview, 24 July 2003). So to see young men turning their backs on this lifestyle and taking on new responsibilities is evidence of a real turn-around. Of course, this is not easy, but it would seem that the supportive network which they find, and the year-long self-discovery programme run in the prisons has a profound effect on these peoples’ lives. The programme was described as “very motivating and building” (B. Khazi, interview, 24 July 2003) or as Simon Kunene commented “I started to think about what went wrong. It was strategic thinking about how you grow up, and your parents and the times when things went wrong. It’s about emotional intelligence… it teaches you to be positive but many criticised. But I developed a vision and became a good example to those who were trying to walk the same path.” (S. Kunene, interview, 24 July 2003).
Change in behaviour was mentioned by two of the correctional services members at Johannesburg Maximum security – one mentioned that their stress was lessened in their working environment through the work of Khulisa, and another spoke of less fighting and an increased aptitude of the offenders in conflict handling. Khulisa has reported an 80% success rate (drug-free testing) in their peer counselled groups (van Selm, 2003).
113
Khulisa has developed life-skills programmes that have been run in schools, where teachers have reported a noticeable change in attitudes. “The children love it and teachers see changes in the especially problematic children for the simple reason that they feel seen and heard, and have a chance to express themselves”, says Tracey Hackland, who is helping to formalise and develop the Diversion programme (T. Hackland, interview, 1 August 2003).
Changes in attitude and behaviour within the correctional services are evident with a transition from the idea of not just custody, but to a rehabilitation of the criminal – a true ‘correctional service’. Lesley Ann is of the opinion that the demilitarisation of the prisons heralded this, and the new philosophies will take time to permeate throughout the ranks. So Khulisa cannot necessarily take credit for these changes in attitudes, but fully supports them and appreciate correctional services’ participation and support. It would seem that the correctional services do recognise the value of Khulisa’s programmes, having witnessed changes, and they are now sending members to receive training from the organisation.
Idea Expansion: 10/10
In the interviews performed for the Khulisa case, interviewees mentioned a ripple or ‘snowball’ effect on at least three occasions. Elza Stander, the social worker felt that there were far-reaching effects –often invisible - and that support groups were still active even after ‘Making it Better’ programmes were completed in communities. Manus Lategan, a correctional services member at Johannesburg Maximum Security, felt that some very positive results could be seen in the prison, but believed it would ‘ripple over’ to the others and this would take some time as the programme had only been running for five to six months. Tracey Hackland’s experience of the Diversion programme was that children who had completed it wanted to bring friends and that the programme effect “just ripples out”. (T. Hackland, interview, 1 August 2003.)
Other than that of interviewees’ experiences, the numbers of people who have been ‘touched’ by Khulisa programmes is extensive: Prevention:
186 youth leaders trained, collectively reaching 40000 children
Rehabilitation:
620 prisoners trained in six years 40 peer drug counsellors reaching 300 prisoners 114
140 HIV / AIDS peer educators reaching at least 400 prisoners each (totalling 56 000 prisoners) Intervention:
320 children referred to the Diversion programme in one year 96% of the children’s criminal records have been withdrawn
From Figure 11, it can be seen that within Khulisa, ideas are both being replicated in different environments as well as multiplied. Thus a more holistic and complex structure has been formed in order to address crime from differing perspectives (rehabilitation, prevention, diversion and reintegration).
Creation of Employment: 8/10
As an NGO, Khulisa employs 35 people within the organisation. As part of their reintegration programme, they rally support from the private sector to employ some of the ex-offenders after their transition period at the Khulisa offices. Of the 76 exoffenders tracked from Leeuwkop prison, and those who have kept in touch with Khulisa, 58 have sustained employment in the last three and a half years (i.e. 76%). However, those ex-offenders that are employed by the private sectors may be merely filling open positions – rather than having employment positions created by an organisation.
Because of the current success that Khulisa is experiencing in seeing changed attitudes and behaviours, the organisation is growing. As it expands nationally, further employment is created and ex-offenders are prepared for employment in the future.
Impact on National Policy: 10/10
Khulisa’s ideas fall in line with the current rehabilitation philosophies of the correctional services. The fact that Khulisa has been requested to put training courses together for the correctional services regarding HIV/AIDS programmes, restorative justice and reintegration means that Khulisa’s programmes have had a significant impact at least at regional level, and as the organisation expands into other provinces, it is likely that the impact will be national.
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APPENDIX G: COMPARATIVE SUSTAINABILITY OF CASES
Ability to Attract People and Skills
Ability to Attract and Generate Funds 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Formation of Partnerships
Khulisa Tateni MC Trevor Consultancy Effective Organisational Structure
The scores and the reasoning behind the ratings given for each factor of sustainability in each of the three cases is outlined herein:
Ability to Attract and Generate Funds: MC Trevor Consultancy
4/10
Tateni
7/10
Khulisa
10/10
Khulisa is quite far ahead in terms of attracting and generating funds. Their hard factual approach in proving that their programmes worked has helped them earn credibility with donor organisations. They are also starting to generate funds with correctional services training programmes.
Tateni has attracted funding through their hands-on approach to home-care in the Mamelodi community. They do have the current advantage of attracting funds through HIV/AIDS being currently placed high on the Department of Health agenda. Fund generation is coming into play, but on a very low scale.
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MC Trevor Consultancy has the disadvantage of not being a particularly attractive community project. The struggle to attract funding centres around this issue, and the fact that the organisation is not registered as an NGO, has hindered donor funding in the past. Fund generation is taking place through The Clean Shop, however funds generated are only covering a total cost of R6 600 per month to employ eleven teachers at various schools, thus limiting the potential broader impact.
Formation of Partnerships: MC Trevor Consultancy
6/10
Tateni
8/10
Khulisa
10/10
In this instance, MC Trevor Consultancy is again at a disadvantage because of the lack of attractiveness of the project. However, partnerships are still being pursued, both in the public and private sectors to help address school sanitation issues. Both Tateni and Khulisa have established partnerships with other organisations, and it is felt that this opportunity could be further exploited. Because of the independent nature of social entrepreneurs, and their hands-on involvement limiting time spent in meetings, formation of partnerships is not necessarily high on the agenda.
Effective Organisational Structure: MC Trevor Consultancy
4/10
Tateni
6/10
Khulisa
10/10
Again, Khulisa comes out ahead with regards to an effective organisational structure. It is flexible and responsive, as well as focused on administrative professionalism and credibility. There is also structure in the sense that the organisation is a registered NGO and has to operate within certain guidelines. Yet it does have the disadvantage of perhaps being too flexible and quick to respond, thus not bedding down systems and structures as well as possible. Tateni also has the benefit of some structure as a registered NGO, but is perhaps not as quick to respond, and does not have as formalised procedures or systems in place. The focus of MC Trevor Consultancy as an organisation is shifted towards to the profit-making business at this time, with the necessary structure and systems in place. The community project initiative is run quite flexibly, and can be depicted as more of a one-man-band organisation with The Clean 117
Shop forming the support structure on the side. Trevor does have a flexible approach when it comes to the community projects, grabbing opportunities as they arise and contacting schools on his travels around the countryside – there is no particular structured approach in these contacts. There is place here for a more structured and formalised approach which would help with gathering support and putting partnerships in place, as well as receiving funding.
Ability to Attract People and Skills: MC Trevor Consultancy
5/10
Tateni
5/10
Khulisa
10/10
Skills seem to be drawn most effectively by Khulisa, given the credible reputation that they have – and some of the publicity surrounding the organisation has helped in this regard. Tracey Hackland, for example, contacted Lesley Ann after she had seen her in a magazine article, as Lesley Ann had been awarded the Elizabeth Arden / Elle magazine Visible Difference ‘Woman of the Year’ title. Although Khulisa pays well, this is not necessarily the draw card – especially with in the voluntary sector as people want to know that they are making a difference. In this sense, measures again come up as a key contributor.
Tateni does attract a number of people for their training programmes, but struggles to keep them on. The home-carers do sense that they are making a difference in peoples’ lives through the appreciation that is shown – but there is always the attraction of moving into a position with a secure and steady salary. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these people are from areas of poverty, and do not always have the choice of pursuing a steady income.
MC Trevor Consultancy will struggle somewhat to attract the necessary people and skills, again because of the lack of attractiveness and publicity of the project, lack of funding and perhaps to some extent the lack of measures of effectiveness of the project.
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