Teacher Staff Mobility an der Malmö University, Schweden
Geschrieben von "Redaktion" am 26. August 2010 | Abgelegt unter Lehrende im Ausland
nraven@fb4.fh-frankfurt.de
Malmö University, Sweden
Wintersemester 2009/2010
A printout from Malmö University’s website www.mah.se
Start > News > News 2009 > New welfare systems can be developed through social entrepreneurship > 2009-12-21
New welfare solutions are needed when the economic uncertainty increases. That was claimed by Professor Nicole Göler von Ravensburg from University for Applied Sciences in Frankfurt when lecturing at Faculty of Health and Society in November.
What is social entrepreneurship then?
I am interested in peoples will, power and ability to participate in the development of their own and others lives. The social entrepreneurship can be described as a development of the welfare sector, Jonas Christensen says. A social entrepreneur sees a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organise, create and succeed in making a social change.
Jonas Christensen at Faculty of Health Society, Malmö University has invited Professor Göler von Ravensburg as a part of the existing Erasmus exchange between the universitities in Malmö and Frankfurt/Main.
Professor Göler von Ravensburg has worked as volunteer and consultant at cooperatives in South Africa and Germany for twenty years. She also lead a Research Institute for cooperative studies at the University of Marburg. Her current research focuses on cooperative theories and on how cooperatives can be used for small and medium-sized businesses, the social sector and the education area.
I have a deep belief that welfare reforms must be entrepreneurial based, she says.
Professor Göler von Ravensburg argues that new welfare strategies are needed to create social security.
What is significant of a social entrepreneur?
The social entrepreneurs have a unique capacity for bridging the divide between welfare and corporate world, Professor Göler von Ravensburg says. Through physical and social change they can give disused public assets new use. Often they live close to where they work and are able to encourage risk-taking and creativity in poor neighbourhoods.
According to Professor Göler von Ravensburg the social entrepreneurs manage projects based on local employment and support. They are more interested in developing people and places than structures. In the eyes of social entrepreneurs the business sector is an ally in this work.
Professor Göler von Ravensburg also talked about what social entrepreneurs can do better than local government and enterprises.
Social entrepreneurs can create more sustainable employment and be more flexible to changes in supply and demand. They can mobilise local knowledge, solidarity, self-help, volunteers, initiative and economic means.
Professor Göler von Ravensburg gave some examples of social entrepreneurship from Germany, related to care of children and the elderly, school cooperatives and creating jobs.
Among the audience were some representatives from the Mooms Theatre and students involved as volunteers in an association working with local environment issues. Those from the Mooms Theatre considered themselves to be community entrepreneurs through their unique cultural work. The students pointed out that there are difficulties to succeed as a social entrepreneur, you need to have a position and a large network.
Professor Göler von Ravensburg were in Malmö for five intensive days during which she among other things gave lectures to social work students on Social Management and met the heads of the faculty and the departments, researchers and international coordinators.
Germany and Sweden are in some way differently organised but both are welfare societies with similar legal norms and facing the same challenges, she says. I have got a good picture of how far the work with social entrepreneurship in Sweden has come. The program has been an interesting mix. Entrepreneurship is a not so well-known and implemented concept in a social context. It cannot solve all problems but it can be used far more and could contribute to the emergence of new professional roles within the social sector.
Text: Mikael Matteson
Malmö University, SE-205 06 Malmö, Sweden Phone:+46 (0) 40 – 665 70 00
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