Describing the Social Problem

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来自 University of Pennsylvania 的课程

Social Entrepreneurship

76 个评分

University of Pennsylvania

Social Entrepreneurship

76 个评分

课程 3（共 4 门，Specialization Business Strategies for A Better World）

How do we create innovative and effective solutions to social problems around the world ? This course was designed for individuals and organizations who want to identify and bring about transformative societal change. Professors Jim Thompson and Ian “Mac” MacMillan help you develop both a strategy and a framework for your social enterprise based on their years of experience and expertise teaching social entrepreneurship and advising entrepreneurs. You’ll learn how to define a social problem, understand contextual realities, develop a solution, and plan for effective deployment. By the end of this course, you’ll have a deep understanding of the realities of launching an enterprise, be prepared for every step of the process, and put your social entrepreneurial venture on the path to success.

从本节课中

Module 1

In this module, you’ll learn how to define a social enterprise and develop its basic framework. You’ll gain a deep understanding of the critical importance of research to identify patterns, cause, and context. You’ll master the process of Idea Generation and analyze the successes and failures of others to be better able to attract funding for your social enterprise. You’ll also learn how to examine factors and contexts through Segmentation, and differentiate between Transactional Accessibility and Acceptability. By the end of this module, you’ll have a more clearly defined understanding of the problem your organization wants to tackle and how to fund your project.

Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship7:22

Describing the Social Problem7:32

Idea Generation and Advisory Board17:34

Segmentation for Social Enterprises: Part 115:18

与讲师见面

James D. Thompson
Director, Wharton Social Entrepreneurship Program
Entrepreneurship
Ian "Mac" MacMillan
Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Management

Greetings all.

In this session, we're going to address the fundamental purpose or

issue around which a social enterprise revolves.

And that is the social problem that the organisation is designed to tackle.

So it's title describing the social problem, and

in this session what we're going to do is look at a basic framework with some steps

that we suggest you utilize in describing a social problem,

so that you have a good basis for solution design and implementation later on.

We're going to also look at two cases.

Both based in Africa in this instance and use those as examples for

the process the we articulate here and then the chapter in the book.

So we think about describing a problem.

What we need to do is ensure that prior to committing resources

time effort in a setup of a venture.

We need to identify specifically which social problem the enterprise

is going to be designed to tackle.

We need to gather knowledge and research about the issue and

start to look for patterns,

understanding, causes, some context in other words about to social problem.

So for example we should at the very least, before we commit resources or

substantial resources to something,

be able to answer the following basic question.

Who is suffering from the problem?

What are they suffering from?

When did it start?

Where are they located?

Why are they suffering?

And how many people are affected?

These are the basic questions the early inquisition Into the problem, so

that we can get to some kind of contextual understanding and ultimately causality.

Once we've researched the problem, what we want to try and

do is figure out why it exists?

In other words, what's causing the problem?

So let's think about causality or the causes of problems.

Much like Madison, prevention is better than cure where possible.

So rather than treat the symptoms of a condition or a problem, what we'd like to

do is address the causes, so as to prevent it from occurring.

Take for example typhoid fever in Africa.

Although typhoid fever can be treated with antibiotics, if we want to prevent it

from happening, what we need to do is ensure that what causes typhoid fever is

eliminated or at least reduced to the best possible minimums.

And to do that, we need to improve water and sanitation systems

in a particular environment so as to prevent typhoid outbreaks.

So if we think about the takeaway for this particular section rather than designing

a social enterprise to tackle a problem as it's manifested symptomatically,

what we want to do is first understand what causes the problem and

then design the social enterprise.

So as to treat the causes thereby preventing

the symptoms of the problem from manifesting.

So let's take a look at an example in this particular case Zambia Feeds.

This is the example in the book that we've referred to a number of times already,

the example that goes from beginning to end.

If we think about the problem that the entrepreneur Is concerned about solving or

at least tackling.

It can be reduced to two things.

One, malnourishment and two, unemployment in northwestern Zambia.

So if we think about who is suffering, there are many people, men,

women, children, that are undernourished and underemployed or

unemployed in northwestern Zambia.

These entrepreneurs concerned about this particular region in northwestern Zambia.

What are they suffering from?

Poor nutrition.

In this case if we study poor nutrition, what we discover is that,

the folks there have insufficient protein, or insufficient access to protein.

They have enough starch, they have enough vegetables, but

the core of the malnutrition problem is protein.

So in order to have a healthy diet, one must have the major food

groups including protein, and the access to protein was the problem here.

When are they suffering?

Well this an on going problem, it's daily, weekly, monthly, annually.

Where are they located?

This was a particular area in northwestern Zambia.

Why are the suffering?

Primarily two reasons, low or no income and therefore they were unable or

are unable to purchase protein from conventional retail outlets,

due to poor unemployment or low employment opportunities.

And two is very hot to excess protein in that particular region.

So the soils were not as good as other parts of the country and animal husbandry

was at far lower levels than in other comparable regions of the nation.

How many people were affected?

Well in this particular region half a million to 1 million

were the early estimates based on some government data.

So the problem is described as malnourishment and underemployment.

And then the questions, we have some very early basic answers to

with some insight into what's actually causing the problem.

In this case, low income opportunities and low access to protein.

Let's look at another example this is from East Africa.

And this is Ikotoilets also covered in the book.

Who is suffering?

Folks living in crowded urban populations.

What are they suffering from?

Preventable gastrointestinal diseases.

When are they suffering?

Also, it's an ongoing problem this is daily, weekly, monthly, annually.

Where are they located?

Urban areas in East Africa.

Notice that specifically the urban areas that this entrepreneur is concerned with.

Why are they suffering?

Well fundamentally, there are just poor sanitation systems or

too few public sanitation areas available.

And how many people are affected?

Depending on the size of the considered geography,

anything from one to nine million people in this entrepreneurs area of concern.

Now that we have some basic knowledge of the context and

what's causing the problem, we can think about engineering or designing a solution.

And an organization that tackles causality,

all that's designed to eliminate or reduce the causes of these problems.

And hopefully the impact of the venture is a much reduced

symptomatic expression of these problems.

In other words, we ameliorate,

reduce, or eliminate completely the problems from occurring.

So the key take away for this session is fairly simple.

Before starting your venture, you should be able to describe the problem and

understand the primary cause, or causes of the problem.

And that will set you up for a more deliberate, a better informed,

and hopefully a higher potential outcome organization or

social purpose organization.

That's designed around attending to the causes of the problem

rather than merely treating the symptoms.

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