Health and environment mission in social enterprises

In terms of priorities, the Tabang Bikol Movement has prioritized two significant sectors of interest in organizing social enterprises among disaster survivors, for which the non-government volunteer organization was established in 2017. These are health and the environment, which are primary United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) that came to comprise the cornerstone of the TBM’s HEAL (Health, Environment for Alternative Livelihood) program in community organizing.

With the entry of the Social Entrepreneurship Development (SED) project, the HEAL as a socio-economic program for disaster survivors took on a more strategic framework, not just livelihood as temporary relief, but as a social enterprise with a social purpose to address a specific social challenge. Therefore, social enterprise has emerged as a significant force in addressing societal problems through approaches aimed at creating sustainable solutions.

It all began with the poor health and ruined environment of hundreds of families who lost their homes, hectares of agricultural farm produce, livestock, and other property in the aftermath of the destructive Typhoon Nina on Christmas Day 2016 in various parts of Camarines Sur. TBM volunteers led the Yero Pako region-wide campaign that mobilized hundreds of donors and teachers, and a full-page Appeal for “tabang” was published free in the Manila Times and Bicol Mail, calling for more food packs and roofing materials for families with completely damaged homes.

It took an ecosystem of committed people to raise more than 700,000 pesos from Mariners alumni abroad, Bicolanos in Manila, and in other parts of the country to be able to purchase thousands of galvanized roofing, lumber, and nails on discounts from local hardware for immediate shelter needs. Everywhere, the environment of ruined houses, flooding, and polluted stagnant flood waters in many rural and urban neighborhoods in Camarines Sur aggravated the problem of delays in the delivery of social services. That provided the environmental intervention as a response to the disastrous typhoon.   

Shortly after, the widespread incidence of dengue threatened the health of hundreds of families, especially among the poor disaster survivors. There were more than ten reported deaths, mainly affecting children, older people, and persons with disabilities. Hunger stalked many poor barangays where government food rations were slow in coming. With the Department of Agriculture Region 5, TBM distributed 300,000 tubers of citronella plants that helped repel dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Distillation of oil extracted from citronella has become a viable health and environment-based social enterprise for the People’s Organization of Disaster Survivors (PODiS) in Canaman, Camarines Sur.

Definition and Role modeling

A study by the Social Entrepreneurship Programme of the British Council (2015) acknowledged the increasing awareness of social enterprises as a vibrant and growing sector that can help resolve a wide range of social and economic development challenges. However, more concrete models and examples of sustainability and resilience are needed.

A unified definition of social enterprise is better grasped with a concrete business model or operations to see the broader social impact, not just the provision of a livelihood. The Institute of Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA), an advocacy training NGO based in the Ateneo Loyola, defines SE’s social enterprise for inclusive and sustainable development: a social enterprise with people with low incomes as primary stakeholders (SEPPS). A SEPPS is a “social mission-driven wealth creating organization for social, financial, environmental cause,aimed at poverty reduction/alleviation or improving the quality of life of specific segments of the poor, and has a distributive enterprise philosophy.” This is the poverty-focused definition of social enterprise.

This definition of social enterprise aligns with the TBM framework for sustainable social enterprises if one is to work for meaningful societal change.  A debate persists about what MSMEs are and what social enterprises are.  There are operational differences between social enterprises and MSMEs that distinguish them. We can draw insights about two types of services unique to social enterprises. These are “social inclusion services” (health, education, water) and “transformational services” (organizing people experiencing poverty and building their capacity).

The fact that several Asian countries have successfully passed social enterprise legislation is a cause for optimism. Their experiences should serve as a catalyst for us to push for a similar law. Countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and South Korea have laws that define social businesses as entities whose primary goal is to address a social or environmental issue, and which reinvest a minimum of 51% of their annual profits towards this mission.  These laws explicitly support the development of the ‘social power of social enterprises to address social challenges and ensure inclusive growth.’

With social legislation, the government recognizes social enterprises as practical strategies and vehicles for poverty reduction and economic growth that can help improve the quality of life among the poor and marginalized. It may not solve poverty and inequality completely, but it is social power, at the very least.