What is a social enterprise?

Objective
Encourage an awareness of social enterprises among high school students, emphasising the local solutions to global issues emphasised by many social entrepreneurs.

Background
While most young people are familiar with the names of multinationals and popular brands, an awareness of the understanding and role of social enterprises needs to be carefully fostered. Social enterprises form the backbone of any vibrant community, with individuals working as sole traders or setting up small organisations to provide an income but also a product or service that contributes to social or environmental wellbeing. These range from organic grocery stores and organic box delivery, to fairtrade cafes, to producers, wholesalers and retailers of ethical products and services, all trying to make a living and work to the social good at the same time. A key inspiration for these social entrepreneurs comes from a sense of global responsibility combined with a commitment to local activity.

The project was commissioned and mainly funded by Development Education Project with match funding from Chorlton High School.

Activities
This project brings social entrepreneurs and social enterprises into the school sphere to communicate the benefits of working in this sector, to emphasise the global to local connection and to share their experiences in setting up and running an enterprise. The project uses innovative engagement practice, working with Chorlton High students to create short films about the social enterprises. The project also aims to integrate with the students’ own enterprise activities to encourage them to bring a social and environmental consideration into their projects and look into how the social enterprises in their community could help them.

The project resulted in a short film, presented and directed by the students, It's not all carrots... They also produced a series of short clips interviewing social enterprises at a conference.

Krata has produced a 'What is a social enterprise' lesson plan for other schools to use in running this project.

If you would like this project to come to your school or just to find out more, please contact Jessica Symons