By Dr. Arundhati Ray
Social entrepreneurs around the world are demonstrating that families are a crucial resource for leading social change. The four social innovators featured in this issue work on four different continents, and in distinct areas of social need. But at the core of each strategy is the conviction that families must be enabled to take on an active, constructive, decision-making role.
It is only very recently that the idea of families as a resource for leading social change is gaining currency. The history of social change programs has amply demonstrated that solutions crafted and imposed from the top by distant officials and professionals have very limited impact.
Government and citizen sector organizations (CSOs) now acknowledge that two characteristics are crucial for tackling social crises. First is a democratic "bottom-up" approach, where the community is a partner that provides essential design and operational inputs. This is vital for projects to be appropriate and to get community buy-in.
Second, in order be sustainable, the intervention must have a strong social capital component; that is, it needs to energetically leverage the resources represented by the norms and networks in a community that promote collaborative action. 1
Yet, while public and private interventions are increasingly incorporating these two factors, they have generally failed to recognize that the family – the fundamental unit of society and of social capital 2 – is, potentially, a powerful agent of change. The work of social entrepreneurs all over the world has unequivocally demonstrated that the family's collaboration in shaping a solution is crucial for a range of social problems.
There are compelling reasons for taking into account the power of families. If an issue involves a family member, then the family has the deepest stake in formulizing and implementing a resolution. The family network can offer a rich pool of resources in the form of emotional support, care and social collateral.
