This blog is in response, but not limited to,senior studio research 2010 for humanitarian design curriculum building,
classes in Social Entrepreneurship Ateneo 2009 and
History of Industrial Design Fall 2008.
What are my purpose and passion in life? What am I good at doing? What makes economic and financial sense for me? What are my three most important values in life?
We had to answer these questions for our first assignment and post it on our Google E-group so that everyone could access it. Some people shared their views during the last class. I like how we began with defining ourselves and declaring our positions. How would you answer them? Figure out what's happening inside before you try to change what's happening outside.
People's living habits and behaviours fascinate me. I believe that I am here as an instrument of peace and try to live to it. With the skills and opportunities that I have been graciously given I search for areas where I can efficiently make maximum positive and effective impact.
I am good at visualising and expressing. Making visual aids of concepts or thoughts is something that comes easy for me. I enjoy designing ways to make information and experiences more accessible to people. Education, democracy and interaction with nature's gifts are things I dream and want to help every human being enjoy. Understanding and assembling people is another strength I have due to my experiences with and curiosity in the people I encounter.
Economic and financial sense to me goes beyond supplying oneself with necessities for the day. It is more sustainable if everyone in the world had an opportunity to earn as much as they worked. With the money people earn they should be able to support themselves and their dependents living comfortable but environmentally low-impact lives. It makes economic and financial sense for one to have the freedom to choose what to spend on, but must come with social responsibility and compassion.
At this point in my life I value relationships, honesty and security in all ways, shapes and forms (emotional, physical and financial).
Our class started on 27 June 2009 and will go on until October but I won’t be here for all of it. It is a laboratory course on social entrepreneurship that meets weekly on Saturday afternoons for three hours. Approximately 20 of us sit around tables arranged in a U, a format I always favour because it is ideal for discussion. We have a comfortable, well-lit and air-conditioned room. I share pens with and sit next to my mother who is the one with a strong vision for change in our province of Bicol, Philippines which we'll hear about soon. Our first class also started on a more emotional note that I had expected, thanks to our professor, Arnel Casanova. Soon after introductions we all realised the room was filled with likeminded, ideal and hot people! Yes, hot. We were all burning with a passion to make things happen! Three successful students from the previous year shared their insight and spread yet even more enthusiasm throughout the room.
Big words
I expect a lot from this class and my interaction with it given that I only have until the end of August. With an emphasis on business and logistics, I know that I am starting at zero. My understanding of Social Entrepreneurship is so romantic and therefore very young and soft. I want to know the ugly, tough side. I want to know why it's still a growing thing, what battles it fought and are currently fighting, who its enemies are and how to negotiate if not befriend them.
The first reading material is a book with a very straight-forward title : How to Change the World by David Bornstein. ‘Ok...right...’, thought I, ‘this is a big one’. We’re on the right track. I’m going through it slowly and although it is easy reading, I stop at every other page to look up new vocabulary like ‘artesian’ and ‘microcredit’. Those words triggered questions. I found myself flipping through my pocketsize Oxford and then getting a vague but quick understanding on how wells work through Wikipedia and reading all about the Grameen Bank thanks to Google. Despite it being a very distracting a slow process, it’s exciting! Hey, that’s why I’m here. Just watch: this blog will become a glossary for the ABCs I missed out on! I think this will be a step in solidifying my understanding of Social Entrepreneurship.
As I’m reading this in bed, this is a book that does not allow me to slouch. I want to sit up straight, wake up early the next day and needless to say, change the world after having your breakfast.
Notice how in the last paragraph Social Entrepreneurship is capitalised. (I wonder how many times I will write Social Entrepreneurship/ Entrepreneur/ Enterprise in this blog, lets call it all SE.) WHAT IS IT??? Here are some definitions:
Social Entrepreneurship
Is an activity or starting a business to solve a social problem – A. Casanova on our first day of class
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. – Ashoka
Is a form of leadership that maximizes the social return on public service efforts while fundamentally and permanently changing the way problems are addressed on a global scale. Social Entrepreneurs employ a wide variety of creative approaches and practices from diverse academic backgrounds, artistic disciplines, and professional sectors in order to develop and implement pattern-breaking solutions for previously intractable social problems in ways that are sustainable and scalable to a larger population. – Reynolds Program in SE, NYU
And if you really want to get into it and see other facets, try this article :
Before I even knew what a SE was, I spent the summers of my high school years with passionate idealists. For three years I have been attending Peace and Conflict Resolution Workshops for Youth in Asia during the summer for about a month. The prevalent quote was Mahatma Gandhi’s: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. These workshops took place in Dharamsala (India), Mindoro (Philippines) and Godavari (Nepal). Imagine small, personal groups of about 35 diverse individuals from the host countries and an international selection of youth. Participants included, but were not limited to, leaders in their communities in rural Mindanao (Philippines), an artist, a chairman of a young NGO in Nepal, high school teachers, a self-deemed Tibetan activist and European students. During discussions we found creative ways to share information and sat in circles on plastic chairs, on the mats of a classroom floor or amongst huge rocks by a refreshing river. We were classmates and roommates. We shared dreams, big dreams. We had conversations that resonate with me until this day. I only realise now that I spent these summers with people all driven by the same spirit of a social entrepreneur. A name I prefer that fits both my workshop friends and current classmates is a name our professor addresses us by and that is: Changemaker.
This blog has been resuscitated from its dormant state. Welcome it back. What used to be a class requirement for the History of Industrial Design class I took in the 2008 Fall Semester is now a space for my own learning. This summer I am taking part in the Social Entrepreneurship Laboratory course at the Ateneo School of Government. So far it has been an inspiring experience but I am treading unknown waters. I take this opportunity to make a bank of information for myself as learn more about this new and exciting field!
Screen shot of what this blog used to look like, the last post
