South Africa Workshop for Social Entrepreneurship - 2008/Reflections/Welcome Address

Ms Marjorie Pyoos, Group Executive – Socio-Economic partnerships, Department of Science and Technology:

Ms Pyoos put forward Government’s view on social entrepreneurship. Because Government is aware of the effects of social prejudice born as a result of poverty and lack of access to basic services, it is also acutely aware of the pressing need for social entrepreneurship within South African communities. Government has stated categorically that it is sincerely committed to achieving its millennium goals with positive results having been achieved in the areas of improved school nutrition schemes, basic infrastructure to poor communities, access to education and the lowering of child mortality rates.

However, Government is also aware that often the mechanisms it uses to devise and implement social programmes fail due to bureaucracy and a lack of funds.

The Complexity of Engaging with Society by Government:

Government is, by nature, a bureaucratic institution with high levels of accountability. It therefore requires that society itself be organised accordingly so that Government is able to interact with it. Society organises itself when its activities are geared toward a particular goal i.e. political change. However, communities only seem to mobilise their interaction with Government on social issues when a social entrepreneur takes up the baton of marshalling society into understanding its problems and then motivating Government for change or intervention.

The South African Government is willing to interact with communities and implement programmes to address social problems but it wants to be guided by successful examples. Recent Government initiatives, which have been used to address social change, have all but failed. Only one, the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has had an impact on communities by providing labour-intensive work opportunities to local communities but once the work is complete the questions remain: “What then….?” “What now…?”

Whilst government is willing to devise and implement programmes geared to addressing society’s problems, society must in turn examine how it uses available resources. Whilst government has committed itself to ensuring better access to clean water, sanitation and housing, society in return must ensure a more responsible attitude towards the use of these resources. Additionally, Government has realised the value of traditional knowledge, particularly in the area of rural health care where traditional medicine has, in the main, been the first choice of rural dwellers when treating basic illnesses. Government is actively engaged in harnessing traditional knowledge across a variety of community activities. This knowledge is being nurtured and harvested to empower communities to find solutions to their particular social problems.

“Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.” (Ashoka)