Development workers have been looking for ways to creatively solve the ills and the problems of society for the past several decades. Thankfully, with the advent of social entrepreneurship, social innovation is now a big and growing part of development work all over the world. New strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations have been established using this framework of innovation. The education, health and community development sectors have also benefited from this.
Open source, which is also referred to sometimes as crowd sourcing, may be partly credited for the popularity of social innovations. When lots of people come together and they brainstorm for solutions, they end up solving a number of problems that seem insurmountable at first. The purpose of these innovations is not for profit, but for pursuing the social good. It also overlaps with government, public policy and even with the non-profit sector.
Social innovations have impacted several areas for the better. The following areas have been improved due to social innovations
Public Services. Governments are coming to realize the importance of providing healthcare to their citizens. Through social entrepreneurship and innovation, public services are becoming more accessible to citizens. Various technologies are being used for this purpose. So, as a result, more and more people come to rely on the health care provided by government.
Social entrepreneurship and business. Social services are becoming more available to those who need them. The good thing is, they are no longer provided using a dole out framework. Instead, people are coming to realize the importance of being responsible for themselves and not just to rely too much on the offered aid.
Collaboration across different sectors. Solving social problems cannot be done by lone crusaders. Instead, more and more people, organizations and sectors are becoming involved. Through collaboration, more and more aspects of the problems are identified, analyzed and subsequently solved. More minds at work means that more aspect of the problem can be addressed. This cannot be done by a single player or a solo crusader. Collaboration certainly makes social innovation more effective and efficient.
Diffusion of innovation. With the interconnectedness of the world, more and more people get to know about the innovations in one part of the globe. When people learn about them, they become challenged and they also seek to implement similar ideas.
Social problems take on different forms and gravity. But with more and more social entrepreneurs and innovators diffused around the world, these social problems can be solved one at a time.
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