RCE Salisbury - 2020

Social Entrepreneurship and Global Sustainability: How RCEs can Play a Part
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Social Entrepreneurship and Global Sustainability: How RCEs can Play a Part
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Salisbury
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Brittany Foutz
Organizational Affiliation: 
RCE Salisbury, Salisbury University, Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution
E-mail: 
blfoutz@salisbury.edu
Name: 
Brian Polkinghorn
Organizational Affiliation: 
RCE Salisbury, Salisbury University, Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution
E-mail: 
bdpolkinghorn@salisbury.edu
Name: 
Mr. Roberto Orellana
Organizational Affiliation: 
RCE Salisbury, Salisbury University, Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution
E-mail: 
rorellana1@gulls.salisbury.edu
Name: 
Ms. Iye Ogbe
Organizational Affiliation: 
RCE Salisbury, Kennesaw State University, School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development
E-mail: 
iogbe@students.kennesaw.edu
Format of project: 
GoogleSlides, Zoom Recording
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Web link: 
https://www.rcenetwork.org/portal/sustainability-and-youth-leadership-conference
Additional resources: 
This event was for the Sustainability and Youth Leadership Conference with RCE Kano, the Centre for Gender Studies Bayero University Kano, and the Centre for Renewable Energy and Action on Climate Change.
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
No
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Americas
Country: 
United States
Location(s): 
Salisbury, MD
Address of focal point institution for project: 
1101 Camden Avenue, Salisbury, Maryland 21801
Ecosystem(s):
Agricultural, Coastal, Urban/Peri-urban
Target Audience:
Community, Higher, Youth (Informal)
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
The Eastern Shore began the twenty-first century with strong growth across multiple economic indicators. The region gained jobs at double the rate of the rest of the state from 2001 to 2007 while also outpacing the state in net business creation and keeping pace in wage growth. However, there are more people experiencing poverty now than there were 30 years ago. Maryland’s poverty rate is 19 percent higher than it was in 1990 – a year that the U.S. economy entered a recession – and there are nearly 200,000 more Marylanders trying to get by on incomes below the federal poverty line. Nearly every county in the state has a higher poverty rate than it had in 1990. While unemployment rates have continued to decline since the 2008 recession, wages often are not high enough to support a family. However, Maryland has a history of supporting effective programs that help lift people out of poverty. Working together, the state can do even better. Maryland is working strongly to support efforts to address the state’s many unmet needs and invest in the success of all Marylanders.

The State of Maryland has an estimated population of 6,052,177 people based on the most recent US census calculations. When broken down into regional populations, the Eastern Shore of Maryland region includes the following nine counties: Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset. The sparse populated counties of the Eastern Shore of Maryland have a combined population of 454,889 or 13% of the state population.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
SDG 13 - Climate Action



The core area in the region constitutes the “shore counties” or those that reside either within or on the Chesapeake Bay (watershed) and along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. This includes all of the counties in Delaware, Maryland, and nineteen of the forty counties in Virginia. These physical locations are being subjected to the quickest increases in climate change activities and the poorest residents in these locales will experience severe detrimental impact on their quality of life.

SDG 4 - Quality Education



Secondly, the citizens of the Delmarva Peninsula, by and large, have lower levels of educational attainment and lower incomes. RCE Salisbury will focus in part on communities in these areas that experience the highest high school dropout rates where the social reproduction of poverty is endemic.

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions



The most vulnerable members of this region are in the crosshairs of climate change and educational disadvantage. Both will lead to increased social conflict and with limited resources and limited planning the consequences are dire. These dynamics will impact the foundational resources that people and the institutions built on these resources - depending on for survival, security, and prosperity.
Contents
Status: 
Completed
Period: 
November, 2020
Rationale: 
The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is aimed towards 'transforming the world', targeting the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions. The Agenda emphatically expresses the commitment by states to take bold and transformative steps to shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path, while ensuring that no one is left behind. Youth inclusivity has therefore factored as an important feature of the SDGs.
Objectives: 
Aims to achieve the following:

-Develop personal leadership skills among youth to improve prospects and build confidence.
-Improving capacity, competence and efficiency among youth in promoting the SDGs.
-Aiding the skills and capabilities of youth to play a significant role in all aspects of the polity, including leadership, governance and politics.
-Re-igniting the interest of youth in matters of national development; and dispelling the laid-back, lackluster attitude in such matters.
-Increasing youth understanding, awareness and engagement on sustainability and sustainability issues.
-Avail participants an opportunity to make networks and collaborations that will enhance their relevance as leaders, and serve as change makers.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
Project leaders studied the principles and current practices of social entrepreneurship and sustainability. These were found to be the principles of social entrepreneurship:
-Social entrepreneurs apply business and management principles to solving social problems, especially where governments or markets have failed or where there are unmet needs
-Social entrepreneurs emphasize the development of efficient, affordable and cost-effective solutions
Sustainability of solutions
-SDG 17 Partnership for the goals
To solve the world’s biggest problems, we need inter-disciplinary approaches and inter-sector collaboration.
By their very nature, social entrepreneurs draw ideas from diverse fields and have a healthy disrespect for traditional and sector boundaries
Size of academic audience: 
100+
Lessons learned: 
Why People Become Entrepreneurs:
-Be their own boss
-Pursue own ideas
-Pursue Rewards
Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
-Passion for business and their community
-Product/customer focus
-Tenacity despite failure
-Execution Intelligence
Key messages: 
The hybridity in social entrepreneurship creates opportunities for sustainability that incorporates social, economic, and environmental value creation.
Examples of How social entrepreneurs are promoting sustainability globally:
-Mohammed Yunus: Grameen bank
-Stephen Goldsmith: former mayor of indianapolis who used the private sector to provide city services
-Henri Nyakarundi: developed solar kiosks to provide a low-cost sustainable solution to provide electricity and the internet to rural and semi-rural communities in Rwanda.
Essentially, the measurement of performance outcomes of social entrepreneurship is in alignment with these three pillars of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental thus, a linkage between social entrepreneurship and sustainability exists.*
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Direct
SDG 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 
Direct
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Direct
SDG 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 
Direct
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Direct
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Direct
SDG 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation 
Direct
SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries 
Direct
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Direct
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Direct
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Direct
SDG 14 - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development 
Direct
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 
Direct
SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 
Direct
SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development 
Direct
Theme
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Curriculum Development 
Direct
ESD for 2030-Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Developing capacities of educators and trainers 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 4 - Mobilizing youth 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
state: 
Direct
Update: 
No