Community wealth is the lifeblood of a community. It is a crucial component needed to start and sustain programs that improve the community’s capacities and older persons’ quality of life. Although public, private, and social sectors may seek to contribute to the community, often their separate efforts are not sufficient to address all community needs efficiently and promptly.
Leveraging the unique skillsets, knowledge, and resources of each sector through cross-sectoral partnerships often results in more innovative and sustainable solutions to deal with social challenges. In addition, it promotes a culture of giving back and cooperation in the community.
- Collaborate with anchor institutions (e.g., hospitals, universities, businesses) to identify areas of employment, associated issues of concern and conduct related trainings to hire local community members.
- Identify ways in which these institutions can enhance local business and income-generation activities. Take advantage of the permanency and size of these institutions to set up supply chains of goods and services that can be provided by local businesses, see Case Study 3.1a.
- Create platforms convening private, public and social sectors, such as co-labs intiative in Singapore that encourages cross-sectoral partnerships in addressing social issues and co-creation of solutions for greater impact.
In Ban San Klang, Thailand, Mae Suai district Hospital, Wiang Suai Health Promoting Hospital, and the non-government organization FOPDEV are important anchor institutions that support local traditional businesses. For example, the Traditional Herbal Medicine Group that comprises of 80 members from 29 villages. Tapping on the interest of the older people in Mae Suai in herbal medicine, FOPDEV works with the hospital to purchase herbal products and trains members to produce their herbal medicine.
There are platforms for the group to sell their products through community events organized by the hospital and university. Support from these anchor institutions provided a group with a constant source of revenue and greater reach. The herbal medicine group in turn gives back to their district by selling their products at a lower price and sharing their herbal garden as a communal property.
- Ignite a culture of philanthropy and social responsibility in the community through regular fundraising and donation drives. Encourage/engage institutions and individuals to donate and volunteer for charitable acts by educating them on the gravity of the issues needing their contribution and the envisioned impact.
- Work with wealth management firms or family offices to support a social cause, nudging them to pledge or commit to pool funds to address community issues.
- Form a network or pool of organizations that are willing to be tapped on for immediate help during emergencies, see Case Study 3.1b.
In Don Kaew, Thailand, a smart network was created by the local government comprising of public organizations in the area, such as colleges and universities, hospitals, and private sectors such as shops, local business, and hotels. This network is mobilized to secure necessities for community members during trying times. The picture above is the Raya Hotel, a 5-star hotel in the area, a member of the network, which was tapped to provide food to the Subdistrict Administrative Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The diversity of the network allowed the Don Kaew sub district government to quickly respond and reach out to older persons during the pandemic.
- Set up community structures such as community trusts or community foundation that would enable community members to collectively manage community funds gathered through philanthropies, see Case Study 3.1c.
- Appoint a board of independent, diverse, and cross-sectoral members to ensure community stewardship of funds and property. Proper structures, routines and processes should be established to help ensure good governance of community funds.
- Invest or circulate community funds in the form of micro-loan services or matched savings to community members or small local businesses to aid them to succeed or bounce back
For example, the Community Foundation of Singapore was set up to encourage and enable philanthropy in Singapore. The foundation not only raises funds, but also match donors’ interests with related programs to fund and manage their funds by experienced professionals. With their deep understanding of local issues and evolving needs, CFS identifies gaps and opportunities in the community to foster more effective giving, while engaging charity partners to identify programmes of high impact.
- Identify unmet and emerging social needs that can be provided through the model of a cooperative or enterprise. Cooperatives are often democratically run by members, thus promoting local ownership and wealth creation.
- Collaborate with universities, public and private sectors to create incubation programs where aspiring entrepreneurs and cooperatives can be mentored and access resources to accelerate their formation, see Case Study 3.1d.
- Utilize structures that has been set up in the community to manage community funds, for example, such as community trust to secure micro-loans that would help the social enterprise or cooperative.
Set up through cross-sector collaboration, the raiSE Incubation Programme aims to catalyse the implementation of selected solutions and development of early-stage social enterprises (SEs), supporting them in going to market and successfully securing their initial customers. Participants receive one-to-one coaching from business mentors over six months, capacity-building workshops and get access to networking events.
Formation of partnerships among the community, public, private, and social sectors result in greater efficiency of the community in responding to crises and social needs. These partnerships facilitate the building and sharing of skills and competencies from different sectors resulting in better provision of social services in the community (CC14).
By taking advantage of the size and permanence of anchor institutions, the community can gain a consistent stream of revenue (IC12), access to skills trainings that both can contribute to community’s development. Finally, igniting a culture of philanthropy and social responsibility in the community through regular conduct of fundraising, donation drives, and formation of social enterprises can promote Sense of Community (CC4) and a more compassionate and equitable community culture.
from javascript
from javascript