Social Entrepreneurs
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From Dr Iman Bibars ... Why the Arab awakening depends on social entrepreneurs ... Social enterprise is naturally democratic and plays an important role in finding solutions to the social upheaval of the Middle East

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Why the Arab awakening depends on social entrepreneurs ... Social enterprise is naturally democratic and plays an important role in finding solutions to the social upheaval of the Middle East

A protester waves the national flag in front of the burnt out National Democratic Party building of former President Mubarak's ruling party in November 2011. Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP

For two years, I have resisted use of the term Arab Spring to describe the events that have been unfolding in Egypt and the Middle East and North Africa. It is an unrealistic label to use, its application verging on naïve, even lazy, in this situation. Spring is a time where something with strong roots, carefully nurtured, flourishes and grows. We are not there yet; I hope that we may be soon.

What the world witnessed in the initial 18 days of uprising and subsequent political and social developments was a rediscovery of our ability to effect change, a realisation that mass protest is one way to make our collective voice heard.

But just as the myriad causes of that uprising had been entrenched in our society since long before the 25 January 2011, so have we seen in the two years that followed that they will not be solved by demonstrations alone. The voices of Egyptian citizens need to be heard everywhere: in courtrooms, in newspapers, in schools, in religious buildings, in government institutions.

We need processes and initiatives that offer real solutions to our social problems and we need to take responsibility for implementing them ourselves. We are in the middle of what I call the Arab Awakening.

I have been an activist and a campaigner for the rights of the marginalised and oppressed for more than 30 years. When I launched Ashoka Arab World in 2003, it was with a sense of conviction that the region, Egypt especially, was full of dynamic people committed to changing the underlying structural issues that perpetuate endemic problems. I knew these social entrepreneurs were out there; now our regional office in Cairo supports 69 of them in seven countries – and the number is growing.

Social entrepreneurship is by its very nature a highly creative and democratic process. We are dealing with individuals who have identified the root causes of severe problems within their own communities and found outstandingly innovative ways to solve them.

Sameh Seif, a long-time Ashoka Arab World fellow, has made huge strides in reducing a great public health hazard in rural upper Egypt; by designing and building low-cost sewerage systems within communities, he has improved overall sanitation and living conditions for 20,000 inhabitants of the poorest part of the country. This is a vital undertaking, given that, traditionally, the government and international agencies have mainly focused upon improving water cleanliness and sanitation within urban communities, despite the fact that only 29% of Egypt's rural population has access to piped water, compared with 82% of the urban population. In many villages, waste flows directly into holes in the ground, with no preventive mechanisms to ensure it does not contaminate drinking water or land used for growing vegetables. Thanks to Sameh's replicable, cost effective initiative, the reduction and perhaps eventual eradication of a health hazard that clearly contributes to the poverty of the area is realised through the vision and labour of community members themselves; it is sustainable and it is not imposed from the outside.

Ashoka is not a political organisation, but by offering our support to carefully identified members of the community, multifarious in their interests, goals and individual personalities, but all possessed of the same passion for implementing social transformation, we do what politicians should be doing. We facilitate the development of a stronger and more cohesive society by supporting initiatives that bring demonstrable, positive change. Our elected community representatives do not seek personal glory or power. Picture the dedication and singlemindedness associated with being an entrepreneur; now see that imagination and tenacity, that eccentrically endearing quality of being consumed by a project, directed towards social change. You have a social entrepreneur.

All the qualities that are most celebrated in the instigators of the revolution, who stood in Tahrir two years ago and who continue to protest for social and political change, I see in the social entrepreneurs I know. A sense of indomitable pride and the refusal to be stereotyped emanate from Nurredin Amro, a recently elected Ashoka fellow who has established a new kind of learning environment in public school classrooms in the Levant, where visually impaired and full-sighted children learn side by side. First-hand experience of the challenges of integration spurred Nurredin to pioneer his initiative, groundbreaking in a region where up to 95% of disabled children are excluded from mainstream education, often leading to widespread unemployment and poverty.

Likewise, disabled women in the Palestinian territories, doubly marginalised because of the discrimination they face because of their gender and their disabilities, have a formidable advocate in Ola Abu al Ghaib, who has campaigned fiercely and with great success to change entrenched perceptions of them. By raising community awareness of the exclusion they face from the workforce and how it has an impact on their social participation, while simultaneously providing them with specialised training to increase their employability and enhance their own awareness of their capabilities, Ola empowers this group of women to direct the course of their own professional lives boldly, with results that ripple through their communities.

The courage of protesters who face physical harm – clashes with the police, the threat of teargas and, in the case of women, an increased likelihood of sexual assault – for the sake of having their voices heard cannot be overestimated. But equally astonishing is the courage of a woman who challenges taboos and rails against the norms of her society in order to press for the rights of one of the most disenfranchised groups of all: sex workers. In many societies, the existence of prostitutes is a barely acknowledged fact; within Egypt's conservative culture, they face an avalanche of judgment and condemnation, even as it is tacitly accepted that many male customers will partake of their services.

The vision of our Ashoka fellow (who shall remain anonymous to ensure her own safety) is to care for this group of women holistically, educating them on their health and legal rights. She offers practical support to sex workers, increasing their knowledge of pertinent health issues, distributing condoms and providing them with access to socially responsible legal counsel when necessary. Not only is her work improving public health by reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, it marks a fundamental shift away from the traditional characterising of prostitutes as being unworthy of respect or care. It is a radical first step towards the reshaping of social norms, whereby in time it may be understood that by giving sex workers the tools and support to improve their health, their self-image and their legal status, they are also giving them the opportunity to make different choices – choices that they may not originally have realised that they had.

The Arab Awakening has begun, but in the midst of our country's existential crisis it is in danger of being hijacked by powers that want to increase sectarian divisions and promote conflict in order to secure power and change the landscape of our country for the worse. I can think of no better remedy for this disaster than promoting social entrepreneurship.

Two years ago, we called for bread, freedom and social justice. While our politicians squabble about the meaning of these demands and how to satisfy them and our revolutionary champions are torn between paying for them with their safety and retreating into despair and apathy as anticipated change fails to materialise, another group is working to create strong roots that reach down into the fibre of our society so these demands can be met. It is the social entrepreneurs who are working hard to bring about the Arab Spring that we all want to see.