{"title":"Investing in People and Communities for Social Change: Lessons from Social Enterprises in South Africa","authors":"R. Kajiita, Simon Murote kang’ethe","doi":"10.1080/10428232.2020.1732271","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Irrefutably, many countries of the developing world continue to exhibit economic investments culture primarily premised on maximizing profit and accumulating wealth for oneself. Through this phenomenon, inequality has been glaring, with rich individuals becoming richer, while the majority poor continue to languish in poverty and their human dignity being highly compromised. South Africa as a country battling with pernicious legacies of apartheid presents such a good example. The country experiences a high level of gender inequality, poverty, a culture of violence, and unemployment of women and youth. In the awake of these predicaments, we need to question the dominant exorbitant profit-making investment approaches that undermine people’s dignity, freedom and self-value. This paper presents findings from social enterprises to gain insights and lessons on doing business differently. The findings are presented using a conceptual framework abbreviated as ‘SISTER’; S – Service; I – Integrity; S – Sustainability; T – Teamwork; E – Excellence; R – Respect. The study emphasizes that, investing in people has to take a paradgim shift by adopting distinctive models aganist the current capitalistic philosophies. The paper emphasis on focusing on peoples' values, capabilities, talents and cultural richness to generate wealth for societal and individual development, and thus lessening the ramifications associated with self-centredness of economic investment.","PeriodicalId":44255,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Progressive Human Services","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2020-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10428232.2020.1732271","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Progressive Human Services","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2020.1732271","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOCIAL WORK","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
ABSTRACT Irrefutably, many countries of the developing world continue to exhibit economic investments culture primarily premised on maximizing profit and accumulating wealth for oneself. Through this phenomenon, inequality has been glaring, with rich individuals becoming richer, while the majority poor continue to languish in poverty and their human dignity being highly compromised. South Africa as a country battling with pernicious legacies of apartheid presents such a good example. The country experiences a high level of gender inequality, poverty, a culture of violence, and unemployment of women and youth. In the awake of these predicaments, we need to question the dominant exorbitant profit-making investment approaches that undermine people’s dignity, freedom and self-value. This paper presents findings from social enterprises to gain insights and lessons on doing business differently. The findings are presented using a conceptual framework abbreviated as ‘SISTER’; S – Service; I – Integrity; S – Sustainability; T – Teamwork; E – Excellence; R – Respect. The study emphasizes that, investing in people has to take a paradgim shift by adopting distinctive models aganist the current capitalistic philosophies. The paper emphasis on focusing on peoples' values, capabilities, talents and cultural richness to generate wealth for societal and individual development, and thus lessening the ramifications associated with self-centredness of economic investment.
期刊介绍:
The only journal of its kind in the United States, the Journal of Progressive Human Services covers political, social, personal, and professional problems in human services from a progressive perspective. The journal stimulates debate about major social issues and contributes to the development of the analytical tools needed for building a caring society based on equality and justice. The journal"s contributors examine oppressed and vulnerable groups, struggles by workers and clients on the job and in the community, dilemmas of practice in conservative contexts, and strategies for ending racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, and discrimination of persons who are disabled and psychologically distressed.