Social Innovation vs Social Activism

I was born in the civil war, luckily towards the end of it so all that has been imprinted in my childhood memories is a vague image of the bomb shelter close to our house in Karm El Zeitoun, Lebanon. 

Wars never end, especially if they end without a victor. Wars live through the memories of those who survived them and through the direct and indirect impact they have on people's livelihoods, the infrastructure and the economy of the country. Growing up after the civil war presented me with plenty of opportunities to witness how the core grievances that led to the war, manifested themselves in various ways, ranging from massive protests, public space bombings, targeted assassinations, and political inaptitude and corruption. 

As a freshman in college, I finally was outside the radar of my parens and I could take the streets, shout out loud, demand changes, and express my frustration with the status quo. Eighteen years after the civil war, the country was still suffering from a weak political system run by sectarianism, clientalism, and nepotism. The social and economic system that has been developed served only its architects and failed to provide equitably for all citizens. The educational system was in shackles,  with the majority of families having to send their children to private schools if they were to have a better future, and even that was sometimes not enough to prepare students and integrate them into the job market.

I was proud of being a social activist, someone speaking out and active in making a difference. As the naive teenage years went by, I learned how to assess the impact of my actions, and realized that being a social activist is not only by protesting, blogging, and complaining about the system. One has to offer alternatives. As a teacher, I had realized that telling someone that their method is wrong will not help them correct it, instead you need to teach them how to do it right, provide them with an alternative, one that proves itself to be better than the current practice at hand. 

This was the epiphany that enlightened me to the fact that the solution lies within social innovation rather than mere social activism. It is important to point out here that the two are not mutually exclusive, for a social innovation is definitely one form of social activism and social activism can be innovative.

So where does social innovation outperform traditional social activism?

The answer was always in front me, in fact a few minutes from my house and at a location where I spent hours benefiting from the youth program that Arcenciel offered. 

Arcenciel defines social innovation as:

Social entrepreneurship refers to the practice of combining innovation, resourcefulness and opportunity to address critical social and environmental challenges which the government or usual economic actors are not or cannot meet. 

The objective of a social enterprise is not maximizing its profit but striking a balance between its income generating activities to ensure financial sustainability, and the social and environmental impact of these activities. Social entrepreneurship incorporates the following four dimensions:

• ·       Democratic governance and beneficiaries involvement 
• ·       The sustainable business model 
• ·       The aim of creating a social or environmental impact 
• ·       Innovation ("Make different") 

Under these principles, Arcenciel was active in promoting and advocating for the rights of people with disabilities (PWD). They had been doing so for years by establishing a responsible fiscal enterprise that catered for the needs of PWD while at the same time generating profit through catering services and equipment to those who suffered from temporary injuries. 

I could have taken the streets all day and all night, and could not have been able to offer the PWD any breakthroughs through my fists in the air and my damaged vocal chords.

Arcenciel is not the only social enterprise who is addressing social issue in Lebanon without depending heavily on philanthropy and donations. I will list only a few of the successful and operating social enterprises in Lebanon. I encourage you to check their websites/pages and be inspired by them to see how you too may have an innovative solution in your bag that can help address a social issue, not only in Lebanon, but wherever you are in the world. 

• Mommy Made: Women empowerment and employment through catering
• AltCity was designed from the bottom up to help facilitate, mobilize, encourage, and support high impact entrepreneurship and innovation in Lebanon and the region. Here are some of the things that guide our work.
• Lamba Labs Beirut Hackerspace(LLBH) is an interdisciplinary collaboration that provides an open, accessible community space focused on the sharing of knowledge and hands on learning.
• Seeqnce is startup accelerator that is constantly seeking to provide mentoring and guidance to startups in Lebanon. 
• eTobb whose mission mission is to improve access to healthcare by building the largest network of top doctors in the region and making it accessible to the public through a phone application and a website that seek  to empower people with medical knowledge to help them make more informed decisions when it comes to their health. 

The list could go on forever and is a work in progress so please feel free to suggest other social enterprises that are worth adding to this list. 

Twitter summary: Do not settle for simply being a social activist, be a social innovator. Offer sustainable solutions to social problems.  

Sources:

http://www.nabad-arcenciel.org/2013/03/arcenciel-and-social-entrepreneurship.html