"The way NGOs work to achieve development is old fashioned”, “an important share of the money I donate does not reach their recipients”, “the money I donated never reached the project it was supposed to help”. I am tired of listening to these phrases knowing that they are true. They all show some of the basic inefficiencies of the model used by traditional NGOs which lacks transparency. However, it should not be understood that we are advocating for the end of a cooperation model that has been growing since WWII. That would be totally unreasonable. If we compare the number of NGOs approved by the Socio-Economic Council (Consejo Economico y Social) in 1946 and 2003 we will see an increase of 2309. In addition, this number sky rockets if we take into account local and regional NGOs. Thus, if the number of approved NGOs has increased so much it might mean that these NGOs are serving the purpose they were designed for. Chances are that traditional NGOs have had a real impact in the developing world.
However, the way to work on development issues is changing. The social, educational and above all, the technological development experienced in the last decades requires the modernization of the development field. In our opinion, NGOs continue to be necessary but in order to be able to face modern challenges we must make way for social enterprises as key vehicles for development practitioners.
In previous posts we have already discussed the role of social enterprises. However, for those that did not had a chance to read it, the concept of social enterprises is summarized as follows. A social enterprise is an enterprise with the main objective of creating a social impact. Nevertheless we should not forget that these social enterprises need to be economically viable. That being said, it should be made clear that social enterprises do not seek profit; they seek for a comparative advantage they can commercially exploit in favour of a determined social group. By this we mean that social enterprises aim at ameliorating the living standards of the community with which they engage. Social enterprises are a way of including those that best understand the problem in the development of a solution. Some examples of successful social enterprises are: Integra-e, Grameen Danone, or Coofund; which is the key element needed for our project to succeed.
When I first thought of creating “Mas Por Ellos” I wasn’t familiarized with the meaning of social enterprises. However, I saw little chance of running a viable project if “Mas Por Ellos” depended solely on donations. Some questions were continuously on my mind: Why don’t we develop enterprises in Kenya or Spain and reinvest some of the profit into development projects which can have a social impact? Why don’t we give the unemployed, either in Kenya or Spain, a job so that they are able to develop more social projects?
I was determined to seek a solution to make “Mas Por Ellos” sustainable in the long-run, a solution which enabled me to diversify the risks faced by “Mas Por Ellos”. In addition, this innovative solution could potentially be very attractive for those that have lost faith in traditional NGOs.
After a lot of thinking I thought that the only feasible way to make “Mas Por Ellos” sustainable in the long run was for it to be based on the development of social enterprises. This will enable the diversification of risks since “Mas Por Ellos” will not only depend on donations. Moreover, Social enterprises will enable Kenyans to be involved in the development of their own community. Finally, this mew model might be a feasible alternative for those who do not believe in the work of NGOs. But above all, it is a way of tackling the root of the problem and not just alleviating its consequences.
It is important in order to understand the concept of social enterprise to understand our project but also to understand how traditional NGOs are changing. Traditional NGOs are based on a model that although useful in some settings, does not provide long-term solutions. One could even argue that they can make recipients dependent on their intervention. However, it is equally important to understand how NGOs and social enterprises can and should coexist in the development field. As aforementioned, we do not advocate for the end of traditional NGOs as we understand that their work is totally necessary in determinate settings. For instance, their work becomes essential in situations of extreme poverty or humanitarian emergency. That been said, when we are faced with a society that already has some resources and in which the production fabric has started to grow, it’s time for the NGO to step aside. In that moment of initial and fragile development what is needed is the provision of tools and guidance which empowers local communities to participate in their own development. This is where the initiative of “Mas Por Ellos” fits in. We aim to develop a network of social enterprises that will hopefully become a driver of development. The network will also work as a link between its members and as a nexus for the community. This project will exemplify how the summation of small efforts can cause a big impact.
In conclusion, our project takes the work done by NGOs in the last decades as a point of reference but aims at modernizing the model of intervention so that long run sustainability is achieved. We bet on using the network of social enterprises as the driver of change. The ultimate goal of the network, that will also be economically viable, will be to promote development of the region via the effort of Kenyans. The orphanage, the secondary school and the health centre will all be sustained thanks to the development of this network of social enterprises. This meaning that the ones that will be maintaining these services will be the same members of the community who benefit from them. They will feel proud of their own achievement.
