J. Scott Orr runs m.America.gov, a version of the America.gov website designed for cell phones and other mobile devices.
John F. Kennedy was right; it is all about what you can do for your country.
In fact, Kennedy’s famous words were never truer than they are today as democracies the world over are turning to their citizens, their businesses, their nongovernment organizations, their charities and saying, okay, who’s got ideas?
In the United States, President Obama has devoted $50 million to his Social Innovation Fund to encourage eureka moments in the minds of Americans. It could be new ways to help schools save money, to grow small businesses, to reduce carbon emissions, whatever. The point of the program is that when ideas strike, they should be supported, exploited and replicated.
David Cameron, the newly-minted British prime minister, has a similar idea. He calls it the Big Society and its goal is to empower social entrepreneurs by getting Westminster out of the job of micromanaging and into the job of promoting public involvement in the creation of what he calls “communities with oomph.” His Big Society rules are simple: “If it unleashes community engagement – we should do it. If it crushes it – we shouldn’t.”
Social innovation and social entrepreneurship are hardly new. But with democracies the world over facing ceaseless challenges, economic and otherwise, these concepts are gaining new currency. And it’s not just from the Obamas and the Camerons of the world; many individuals have taken to the task without prodding from politicians or governments.
Among the best known is Muhammad Yunus, who was 25-years-old and studying in the United States under a Fulbright fellowship, when a revolutionary idea struck him. Returning to his native Bangladesh, Yunus began offering small-businesspersons, mostly women, small loans at reasonable rates of interest. Yunus’ micro-credit idea was so successful it was copied around the world and earned him a Nobel Prize and a U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But social entrepreneurship need not have such lofty aims. Take, Cláudia Sofia Marques Rodrigues, the president of the Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity, who is promoting new ways of protecting women. Working strictly through grassroots channels, Rodrigues was instrumental in gaining passage of a new law in Cape Verde that protects women from gender-based violence, creates shelters for victims and funds education and prevention programs.
So, sure, Democracy is about governments that derive their power from the people, but it is also a social partnership that carries responsibilities for all. And now, more than ever, governments are seeking out innovators, risk takers and non-linear thinkers to point out new paths.
This spring, First Lady Michelle Obama was speaking at the Time 100 Most Influential People Awards in New York City, when she turned to the pressing need for social innovation and entrepreneurship. “There are few times in history when the saying ‘we are all in this together’ would be more applicable than now,” she said.
