GSIF09 Social Innovation Lab 1

GSIF09 SUMMARIES

Social Innovation Lab 1: Changemakers Series: Guts, Nuts and Bolts!

Thursday, 1 October

• John Hardy • Kenny Low • Urooj Malik • Zainudin Nordin

Facilitated by • Penny Burtt

There needs to be regional cooperation in order to provide sustainable growth in the area of the Greater Mekong. The benefits of regional cooperation are:

- Improved physical connectivity

- Foreign direct investment inflows and

- Financial stability

There is a perfect storm of seasonal droughts, floods and salt water intrusion. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is concerned about environmental impact of economic growth in the region because there is an unprecedented loss of biodiversity. In addition, one of 10 families will be displaced if water levels rise by one meter and a one-degree increase in temperature can diminish crop yields by 10 percent. There should be an institutional mechanism for the environment to help monitor, evaluate and track developments around the region.
Root causes of environmental degradation:

- Primacy of economic growth

- Corruption

- Lack of awareness of the need for sustainability

- Inadequate resources

- No solutions for trans-boundary problems and

- Poor compliance and enforcement of laws and policies

Using bamboo is a diverse and sustainable way of life. Through traditional techniques, the Green School built a unique bridge to connect to the village. They promote the idea of green teachers and green classrooms because it is not about climate control, but about controlling the climate. The school supports everything local and has respect for the land and involvement of the villagers themselves.
In order to sustain a social enterprise, one needs to pick out something that is marginalized in society and add value to it. Thereafter, it enters the mainstream market in order to earn substantial revenue that can exceed expenses. As long as it is a good idea, and one has the strong commitment to see the idea through, one can sustain a social enterprise. With self-belief and the passion to make a difference in the world; by working with people on the ground, getting ideas from them, it is possible to sustain a social enterprise.

Download GSIF09 Social Innovation Lab 1 - Summary.

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“GSIF gives aspiring social entrepreneurs opportunities to learn and share on social enterprise and innovation with people from all sectors. It challenges everyone to create positive social change in their community. Only through a collective effort can we achieve the social impact required to create a better world for the current and future generations.”

Jet Li, SIP Distinguished Fellow

“This economic crisis will create a broad range of the poor and near-poor who will fall between the cracks of our social security net. The effort of Social Innovation Park in finding creative solutions to society’s many challenges is a commendable one, as its multi-fold achievements will go toward nurturing and strengthening the social capital of this country. What I like about the process in community building is observing how the SIP champions are spending a significant amount of time in exploring and fixing solutions together. For me, this is the most humanising expression of participatory governance.”

Claire Chiang, SIP Fellow

“GSIF 2008 was an excellent learning experience for me. I would like to define GSIF as the sea of opportunities. It identifies the seeds of positive change around the world and the activities within the Forum germinate the seeds into trees of positivity. There are tremendous networking options for social entrepreneurs and vast source of knowledge for researchers.”

Amit Wanchoo, SIP Fellow

"Being awarded SIP Fellow encourages CityCare in the work we do. SIP has strong connections to Schwab Foundation and this exposes social enterprises like ours to the global community of innovative do-gooders."

Tan Ye Peng, SIP Fellow

"GSIF is a fantastic platform for social entrepreneurs and those who aspire to be social entrepreneurs. Great opportunity to network, inspire and be inspired by some of the best people in this field. I am very proud of Penny for this initiative and the amazing people behind her. I am very blessed to know each one of them and call them my friends."

Veronica Colondam, SIP Fellow

“DBS has been a strategic partner of GSIF since 2007. We are encouraged to see significant progress in social entrepreneurship and feel privileged to be part of the SE eco-system to make a positive difference in society.”

Lim Chu Chong, Managing Director, DBS Enterprise Banking

"GSIF 2008 was an eye opener for me. The enthusiasm of the various participants to develop businesses which address social causes and at the same time being viable was truly motivating. It gave me a lot to think about – it was not just the topics discussed, but also the people that we met. The experience was unique."

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