Bill Drayton on Social Entrepreneurship: share your thoughts here, East Asia!

This passage from Ashoka Founder/CEO Bill Drayton (see below) is just the kind of spark we need to start some constructive debate amongst our Change it - Asia! group! I enjoyed reading Drayton's words on teaching the four main skills of "empathy, teamwork, leadership, and change making". It seems to be a clear, straightforward path in the direction of positive change and, from my own Western viewpoint, I'll agree with him 100%. But can Drayton's system of 'educating for change' be applied here amongst East Asian societies in particular? I wonder what our Change it - Asia! group members have to say about it...

Looking at things from a Japanese perspective, we might consider the most famous collection of Japanese poems and creative works called "The Manyoshu" for a bit of insight. Upon inspection of the Manyoshu's volume of 10,000 passages, only one author by the name of Yamanoe Okura aimed to address the issue of poverty. His 8th century work "Dialogue on Poverty" was a rare (and courageous) effort to raise awareness of suffering by disadvantaged groups in Japanese society. Seeing as though only one of the 10,000 works took the initiative to look poverty square in the face, this work by Okura is symbolic of a country which has struggled to move beyond Overseas Development Aid and begin taking a more 'hands-on' approach to global poverty relief efforts. If we are going to begin teaching the necessary skills for young Japanese change makers to grow from, it sounds like a matter of policy for the Japanese Education Ministry to look into...but nevertheless, it all starts with policy-oriented learning. And thus, we need a translated version of this article, Mr. Drayton. If you please!

Well, that's enough from my end. Now do any of you social entrepreneurs and civil society members from East Asia feel Mr. Drayton's words ring true? Please let us know your story. If these skills are not openly encouraged or taught in your community, how did you move into the field of social entrepreneurship and become a change maker after all?

Happy to hear your comments, thoughts, and ideas!

Jason Hutson
Change it - Asia!
Hope 81 Founder
www.hope81.org

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"The World Needs More Social Entrepreneurs"

Tuesday March 30, 2010
by Bill Drayton (as posted on The Conversation Blog on the Harvard Business Review website)

Given all the problems our world faces — in teaching, technology, health care, or finance — we need many more social entrepreneurs and change makers. Progress against these problems will be intolerably slow if only 3% to 5% of world's population thinks they can solve them.

We need to teach our youth that they can help people; that they can lead; that they can make lasting and important change in their communities and across the globe. Society, employers, educators, and parents need to recognize that our kids' successful personal and social development must start with a mastery of several complex skills — empathy, teamwork, leadership, and change making.

Any city or country that doesn't help its youth master these basic skills is finished, its companies and institutions disadvantaged. Education can no longer be solely about information transfer. The three R's are useful, but they're not the foundation for success in this new world, where change is accelerating exponentially.

In particular, all young children must grasp and practice empathy, critical for understanding how not to hurt others and how to contribute effectively when the rules of a changing society are not so obvious. And children and young adults (ages 12 to 20) must master the full complement of skills listed above. Without those skills, they will not be able to survive in a world where teams are replacing hierarchies, and where only those who can contribute to teams' change efforts will be valued...

Continue reading: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/03/the_world_needs_more_social_entrepreneur...

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