Institute For The Future

De-Colonizing Social Innovation

Rod Schwartz, CEO of ClearlySo, recently wrote an article for Social Edge entitled, “Are the Only Innovations in Social Entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon?”  Needless to say, Rod’s comments have promoted impassioned debate.  But I would take his insights even several steps further.  As the social innovation field matures, it must be careful to avoid the same pitfalls as mainstream philanthropy, which continues to struggle with inclusion of poor people, women, people of color and other under-represented groups.  And the problem is not just with the over-representation of so-called "Anglo-Saxon countries" in developing nation social innovation.  Although it's not politically correct to mention in this so-called "post-racial" era, the same holds true for the field in the U.S.  Often the innovators who get the most attention, and funding, are those who are the most tech-savvy and socially connected to the mainstream.  

But in both low-income countries and in low-income U.S. communities, some of the most compelling innovations come from poor or under-represented people themselves.  For example, how often is it recognized that microfinance and giving circles are ancient indigenous finance tools throughout Asia and Africa that have been spreading through the globe through migration for centuries, long before they became the most current "new" trend?  Similarly, as Van Jones formerly founder of Oakland-based Green for All and now a special advisor with the Obama Administration notes in his writings, the African American community has a longstanding environmental activism tradition although there continues to a variety of barriers to inclusion in the mainstream movement.  

Such grassroots efforts often go unrecognized at best or appropriated at worst by those with more access to power and resources, ironically perpetuating the very power imbalances and inequities that the social entrepreneurial movement is meant to address—a sort of neo-colonial social innovation power structure.  And this is not just a matter of equity but the impact of the entire social innovation field is undermined when everyone's potential contribution, especially those most directly affected by the world's accelerating social and environmental decline, are excluded from society's efforts to resolve them.

The Institute for the Future in Palo Alto is planning a conference to address engagement and inclusion in social innovation called Community Engagement 2.0 (http://www.iftf.org/node/2680).  Our hope is to convene technologists, under-represented social innovators from the North and the South, and social investors to address how technology and other tools can be used to promote inclusion and more impact in the social entrepreneur industry.

In the U.S. context, as the Obama Administration attempts to scale-up the social entrepreneurial field's impact with its Social Innovation Fund, it must be careful to recognize the industry's challenges with equity and inclusion and provide incentives to help it address them.  And this is not just a domestic issue, as many of the U.S.'s unheralded social innovators are from poor immigrant and other communities with Latin American, Asian and African origins that have much teach the field.  On the ground, social innovation has always happened in a transnational network with innovators from multiple levels of society creatively exchanging and mixing ideas from various countries.  In this context, the entire assumption that innovation only trickles down from rich to poor people or nations is backward and unproductive.  Innovation trickles up too and the sooner we recognize it and break down these divides, the better off the field will be.

Recognizing the multi-centric nature of innovation is particularly important in the Great Recession's aftermath.  The U.S. will find that that many of the development techniques innovated in low-income countries will become increasingly relevant in low-income U.S. communities, as suggested by the growing use of microfinance and bartering networks.  Inclusive social innovation is needed now more than ever to rebuild our global economy and promote more sustainable communities.

Jackie Copeland-Carson

Research Director, Institute for the Future

Founding Chair, Pan-African Women's Philanthropy Network