Social Enterprise Development for Communities

      The Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development (LSEED) is one of  DLSU-COSCA’s  major  vehicles in   supporting the establishment of  10 social enterprises in partner urban poor communities, building capacities of promising urban poor women and out-of-school youth on social entrepreneurship (SE) and enabling communities to develop "Champions" on SE, spur the growth of more social enterprises and help create jobs and offer more livelihood opportunities

       Series of   community  workshops  were  facilitated to further deepen  understanding  of  community  representatives  on social  entrepreneurship.   COSCA  facilitated  the  conduct  of  a  community  workshop  on August  26, 2016  to discuss  organizational  development  (OD) related  topics  such as  conflict management and participatory planning.   The community members heard stories of  a number of community- based organizations (i.e. cooperative, social enterprise, volunteer group,  and association) and  arrived at a common understanding of various organizational  structures emphasizing on the  following five important aspects:  1) vision and mission statement,  2) registration, 3) leadership (scope of responsibilities), 4) policies,  and 5) communication lines.  To level off on concepts, mission and vision statements were defined in the   language that is easily understood by the community members:

       The women and out-of-school youth understood conflict management  as a process that provides an open space for  parties in conflict, in order for them to level-off and arrive at a decision that is mutually beneficial for both parties.  Community members were made aware of the relevance of conflict management  to OD.  Conflict, when properly managed,  challenges and prompts organizations to build stronger foundation especially in the areas of communication/coordination, planning/visioning, and capacity-building.  Participants  went through  simulation and  scenario building  activities for them to better appreciate  the conflict resolution process and the following stages of  conflict  management, viz:  (1) Latent where members  are not yet aware of the conflict,  2) Perceived Stage  where members are aware that a conflict exists;  3) Felt Stage  (with stress and anxiety );  4) Manifest (conflict is open and can be observed ); and 5) Aftermath (outcome of conflict , resolution or dissolution.

       The concept on participatory planning was introduced to the participants and was defined as a process where all stakeholders are given opportunity to share their ideas, thoughts, knowledge to enable them to come up with doable plans for their organization.  The following specific steps were identified as follows:  1) Identification of local needs, particularly that of the rural poor;  2)  Collection of basic data;  3) Formation of working groups;  4) Formulation of the objectives;  5) Deciding the strategy;  6) Ensuring feasibility; and  7) Preparing the work plan.

       Community members had  the following important takeaways,  after the  series  of   workshops,  lecture sessions and  scenario building on cases related to conflict management, visioning, and planning :  1) Importance for  organizations  to have   clear communication among members;  2) Democratization  of authority from the officers to all members;  3) Regularity of meetings to build trust and understanding;  and  4) Effective planning.

       Mothers like  Marilou, 36 years  old from partner  urban poor community  of  Leveriza, Manila recognizes  the relevance of  her participation in the  series of  LSEED community  workshops in the attainment of  her  dream -  for her  children to finish  their  studies  and for  her to be able  to  invest  in a restaurant business from  a small store that  she  has at present.  Nanay Malou responded when  asked  about  her  dream and  the relevance  of  the  LSEED community workshop, “ Oo,  malaki kasi nangangarap akong magkaroon  ng malaking  negosyo.   Mapagtapos ko ang mga anak sa pag-aaral at makapagpundar ng negosyo katulad ng restaurant.”

• LSEED puts emphasis on social value (DOCX)
• Scaling up social impact through LSEED (DOCX)