Desperate Needs and Practical Solutions

Some people are driven to create a better world for their fellow men.  It’s like they have an internal mechanism that propels them into activities that make the world better for the recipients of their vision and work.  They see desperate needs and set about seeking practical solutions to change the circumstances crushing the lives of others.  David Bornstein in his book How to Change the World calls these individuals social entrepreneurs. 

Past examples of social entrepreneurs include people like Florence Nightingale who changed nursing practices and founded the Red Cross.  Ghandi embodies a world changer whose philosophy of passive resistance freed India of colonial rule and inspired Martin Luther King in his passionate pursuit of civil rights in America.

Rather than rely on government to implement effective change in the challenges of poverty, crime, drugs, mental health and other social ills, Bornstein has documented the growth of private citizens and organizations that are responding to these crisis with innovative ideas and solutions.

Grassroots Social Changers

Bornstein met one such citizen, Bill Drayton.   Bill Drayton created the Ashoka Foundation that searches for today’s grassroots social changers, for those persons who were making a difference in the world with their vision and ideas.  Drayton and his team began interviewing people in many countries who were demonstrating new approaches to social ills.

Drayton wanted to find out how these unusual social entrepreneurs developed a strategy for change; how did they develop institutions, and how did they market their ideas for the greater good?

Social Entrepreneurs

Examples of today’s social innovators includes a Bangladesh economics professor who began extending small, collateral free loans for self-employment to some of the world’s poorest people.  Extending “micro-credit” enabled poor families to overcome poverty.  The Grameen bank founded in 1976 pioneered the “microfinance” model that by 2005 had inspired 3100 “micro-credit” programs in the world reaching 81 million of the world’s poorest inhabitants.

Childline is a 24-hour helpline and emergency response system for children in distress.  Childline was begun by a young woman in Bombay where street children lived in abject conditions.  Childline rescues children and is the vision sprung from the needs seen by one social worker.  It has spread to 42 cities in India and had fielded 2,700,000 calls.  Its founder is working to make Childline an international organization with a global help desk for children in distress.

This book is a chronicle of hope in a world often overshadowed by social ills.  Social change is not the venue of government alone.  The power of change rests in individual hands as well.  One can change the world.  Be encouraged and inspired by Bornstein’s book, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, available on Amazon.