From ASHOKA - What is a Social Entrepreneur?

"The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM

It is Strongheart's core belief that every problem has a solution -- and we instill and nurture that idea in each Fellow. Woven in to the very fabric of the Strongheart Fellowship are the ideals and values of leadership and service to community.

Each Fellow works with a Project Manager from the Strongheart team. Project Managers have extensive experience on the ground in resource-poor areas. Together they will develop a plan for a hands-on project to benefit the community.

Each Fellow will do an assessment of a specific need in the community. For instance, does an area village suffer from unsafe drinking water? Is it in need of a school? Are the rates of HIV in teenage girls increasing in their community?

Following identification of the issue they want to address, they will begin to research possible solutions. Areas of research include finding out what has been done elsewhere in the world to effectively address the issue - along with identifying what resources are already available that can be tapped to deal with the problem.

After targeting the need and researching possible solutions, the Fellow will form partnerships with volunteers, appropriate NGOs, action organizations, or government, business and community leaders where, together, a commitment will be made to address the targeted problem. This is an important step in understanding the incredible power of connectivity and commitment to create social change.

Ongoing interaction with leaders and innovators in a variety of fields that pertain to their chosen project will also be a crucial building block in seeing and experiencing first-hand how successful social ventures operate.

The Fellows will work with their support team to freely exchange ideas, brainstorm 'outside-the-box' approaches, and learn important and powerful new skills – including website development, writing business plans and/or press releases, fundraising, public speaking, and marketing. These are lessons our Fellows might never otherwise have the opportunity to learn but are crucial for effective social entrepreneurship.

Each Fellow then execute their project with the assistance of their Strongheart team. The project will be a “development through enterprise” venture that will empower members of the community in some real way.

The overall philosophy behind the Strongheart curriculum is simple: there are many problems in the world, but they can be solved. Identify a problem and solve it. It is this in-grained philosophy that we feel will set a Fellow decidedly apart from the pack and truly build the maverick leaders of tomorrow.