an Eldis Resource
Adolescents and civil engagement: social engagement and young people
Examining worldwide practices of youth social entrepreneurship
Authors:
S. Maak
Publisher:
Child Rights Information Network , 2007
The term “social entrepreneurship” has emerged as a recognisable field in development work with young people. This growing interest began in the 1980s with the emergence of two schools of practice that aimed to invest in young people to promote positive social change and innovative solutions that can be sustained and replicated. This study aims to trace the origins of the concept of social entrepreneurship and how it has been applied in the work of the some of the key international agencies and NGOs that promote it, and to review its implications for the mandate and work of UNICEF with adolescents and young people.
This study particularly focuses on youth and highlights the importance of “social entrepreneurship” in contributing towards the development of critical skills and competencies of young people to positively engage in society, exercise leadership and become involved in social change. This study further aims to show how these achievements of holistic development will allow young people to contribute to the development of their own communities and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The paper provides an overview of social entrepreneurship as it currently exists, outlines the ways in which young people are involved, demonstrates the ways in which young people are contributing as social entrepreneurs to UNICEF’s goals, and provides guidelines to support and scale-up youth social entrepreneurship interventions. This positive youth development approach advocates for young people to achieve their full potential as the best way to prevent them from engaging in risky behaviour. For the purpose of this paper the term “youth social entrepreneurship” will refer to young people aged 10 to 24.
It concludes by outlining UNICEF’s programmes on youth social entrepreneurship in ninecountries around the world, namely: Angola, Botswana, Belize, Brazil, the Caribbean, Kosovo, Moldova, South Africa and Thailand. Further to this it introduces some of the NGOs and their youth social entrepreneurship programmes such as the Ashoka Fellowship and Peace Child International’s ‘Be the change’ programme.
