SocietyWorks is working to develop the initiative “Social Entrepreneurship for Food Security Support” (SES4Food). The aim is to initiate action around the outcomes and recommendations of the synopsis report “Actions between profit-making and aid: improving social entrepreneurship for food security”, by taking into account and linking with existing initiatives. A first joint meet-up is planned for July 14, 2017 with a select group of 15 participants.  

After the publication of the synopsis report “Actions between profit-making and aid: improving social entrepreneurship for food security” there have been many constructive conversations with and positive reactions from people who are active in supporting social entrepreneurship and/or food security and related fields, and who are interested to jointly seek opportunities to further develop SES4Food.

To set the next step, a first joint meet-up is organized with a select group of 15 participants. Under the guidance of the experienced facilitator Ard Hordijk, selected participants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SNV, Oxfam Novib, Vc4Africa, NABC, F&BKP and Impact Hub, will discover and discuss how to jointly and individually create within the SES4Food movement the best conditions for social entrepreneurs in Dutch partner countries in such a way that it will also be beneficial for your own organization and programs. The overall aim is that social entrepreneurs and their support organizations can work as efficiently as possible in increasing food security.

Mapping Project Social Entrepreneurship for Food Security

Between September – December 2016, SocietyWorks has worked on the mapping of social entrepreneurs in the field of food security in seven Dutch partner countries, commissioned by the F&BKP. This has been done through a bottom-up approach, which resulted in more than 250 social entrepreneurs being mapped, of which over 150 have completed a comprehensive survey on their impact, support and major challenges. You can download the synopsis report including the recommendations written by knowledge broker Evert-jan Quak on the F&BKP website.

The main conclusions of the report are:

• Support organizations and social entrepreneurs are not yet able to find one another easily: the social entrepreneurs mapped by us have limited access to the offered support
• Better access to knowledge, funding, relevant networks and (paying) customers prove to be the most important levers
• The social entrepreneurs and support organizations involved in this project conclude that there are all sorts of possibilities for implementing concrete improvement through self-organization of social entrepreneurs, support organizations and actors in the wider ecosystem.
•  There are many opportunities to better match the offered support with the entrepreneurs so that they can contribute more effectively as actors to food security.