Developing Capacity for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Reduce Poverty and Hunger Suresh Babu Program Leader & Senior Research Fellow IFPRI

Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Promising approaches to international development that could speed up the process of hunger reduction and poverty alleviation Entrepreneurial spirit improves innovation, effectiveness and impact of intervention programs Social and policy entrepreneurs are unfortunately in very short supply

Capacity for Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship and innovations do not replace public sector interventions but rather help improve their effectiveness and increase their impact. Global Level: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) National & Local Level Success Stories: –Regular mobilization of parliamentarians on poverty issues –Bangladesh: micro-financing for poor rural women –Tanzania: Integrated nutrition program to reduce infant mortality and child malnutrition

Paradigms of Capacity Development for Social Entrepreneurship Policy Entrepreneurship: Scaling up local program successes to large scale national programs Influence policies of multilateral aid agencies Guide the national systems towards developing specific strategies through innovation or adoption Program Entrepreneurship: Design and implement innovative poverty and hunger reduction programs Youth and youth leaders / leaders of farm organizations Business Entrepreneurship: Use business principles to implement social innovations Three sets of social business entrepreneurs

Approaches to Developing Capacity for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship University-Wide Approaches: Blends real world experience with classroom education – Cornell University Application of knowledge for sustainable development & policy analysis Business School Approaches: Approach problems of poverty and hunger from the perspective of large scale entrepreneurship for and among the poor – Duke and Oxford Developing Local Leadership: Decentralization increases the need for skilled and innovative local leaders and program managers Panchayat Academy

Challenges for Building Capacity for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Re-orient education systems toward problem solving and entrepreneurship education Identifying and encouraging policy entrepreneurs at national levels Scaling up of innovative interventions using social entrepreneurship

Concluding Remarks Achieving poverty and hunger reduction goals of MDGs and beyond requires new approaches, skills, innovation and new set of players Emerging models of capacity development for social innovation and entrepreneurship need to be scaled up and mainstreamed Capacity building and nurturing can make a difference Thank you!