Understanding the value chain approach to creating community social enterprises

John Paul Abaincia

Social Enterprise or SE refers to a group or institution doing actual business, where those who benefit most are not only the shareholders but also the community. It generates income that can support community well-being considering social and environmental concerns for sustainability and addressing poverty reduction.

Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) is a Philippine non-profit that primarily supports partnerships and programs that build, promote and scale-up social enterprise. In partnership with PEF, CODE-NGO facilitated workshops to capacitate communities and civil society organizations (CSOs) to study and organize social enterprises (SEs) that could create income for communities in five (5) provinces, namely: Camarines Sur; Ifugao; Pampanga; Guimaras and Zamboanga del Norte. This 5-month project (from May to September 2014) comprised a series of consultations and workshops on the value chain approach to developing enterprises, the government’s Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) Process, formerly known as Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) and how communities can advocate for the inclusion of support for livelihood and SE projects in their municipalities’ priority anti-poverty projects through the GPB and the LGU plans and budgets, and PEF’s support program for the development of SEs in “5 Cs”: cacao, cane sugar, coconut, coffee, and climate smart agriculture. Two hundred fifty five (255) farmers and community leaders, local entrepreneurs, CSO leaders and government representatives were oriented on these topics.

An important component of these series of workshops was the SE concept proposal writeshop.  Participants were asked to clarify the product they wanted to develop and to do an SE stakeholder analysis in their respective municipalities. They also received orientations and links to product development opportunities, technical assistance and funding windows that they may access from various government agencies like the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science & Technology (DOST), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), as well as from private institutions like PEF or local business enterprises.   

The participants also saw the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) or Bottom-up-Budgeting (BUB) process as a platform to advocate government funding for livelihood projects for their local communities. Livelihood projects funded under the 2013 and 2014 GPB cycles were reviewed, providing them ideas for monitoring these funded projects, as well as pushing for more responsive projects for the upcoming 2016 cycle.   .

Most helpful for the participants in these series of workshops was understanding the value chain approach to developing SEs. Value chain analysis focuses on barriers and potential in the growth of an enterprise from different levels, starting from providing the inputs for a product up to selling the product to the consumers. It provides a framework for CSOs and farmers groups to engage and bring together SE stakeholders and resources from government, business, non-profits and trade schools in a municipality or area to clarify their roles in the value chain and possibly collaborate to support the development of enterprises.   .

The key is to be able to bring these sectors and their resources together to truly create income and address poverty in our communities. 

John Paul Abaincia was the Project Assistant for CODE-NGO’s “Bottom-Up Budgeting for Social Enterprise (BUB for SE)” Project.