Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Social Progress Index - An Effective Tool for Social Entrepreneurship?


The Social Progress Index (SPI) is designed to measure national well-being.  In the field of social entrepreneurship, is using this tool the way to guarantee success in pursuing social ventures?  I think it’s an effective way to find the true areas that need improvement in each country in order to raise the overall well-being.  While the results of the index cannot be completely comprehensive, taking a sample of the population and surveying basic human needs, nutrition, foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity provide a broad base to come as close to accurately assessing true well-being.  Each of these categories go further in looking at specific components that would contribute to that area of life.  What I think is successful about the social progress index, is that it does not factor into economics, which can easily lead us astray in determining well-being or happiness. Instead it looks at areas such as: personal rights, access to basic knowledge, shelter and others –which provides the opportunity to survey each area using qualitative means.

Yes, there is still a lot of room for the immeasurable and the SPI cannot provide all of the information it sets out to collect, but it is a good start.  What does it mean for the social entrepreneurs?  To create a product or policy that will benefit the society, the SPI can lead innovators and entrepreneurs to the direct areas that would be of most benefit to the well-being of the country –as determined by the SPI.  This could create a more systematic and possibly more effective way for innovations to accomplish the positive change that they are created for. 

Is this the best tool available today for social entrepreneurs?
Will this serve as a more effective way to address the needs of societies today?

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