Q&A with Paula Woodman: British Council's approach to social enterprise and development

Capacity4dev (C4D): Why is the British Council an interesting actor in the area of social enterprise and development?

Paula Woodman (PW): The British Council’s approach to international development and social enterprise is rooted in our cultural relations approach. All our work is delivered in order to support a friendly knowledge and understanding between people. We have extensive and long-standing programmes in over 100 countries worldwide and are known for ‘being there’ in good times and in bad. Through this history, we are well placed to share and discuss social enterprise in a wide variety of political and social contexts while recognising important issues and opportunities in the countries we work. The British Council provides a trusted and credible brand for fruitful dialogues concerning social enterprise and we are also able to make concrete connections to other programmes we run for example in education, community leadership or civil society.   

C4D: To what extent is the social enterprise programme of British Council scalable/replicable? What makes your approach interesting to learn from?

PW: The British Council’s Global Social Enterprise programme takes an ecosystem approach. This is an infinitely scalable and replicable approach which means that we seek to enable a variety of local stakeholders to adopt and innovate in the future of social enterprise in their country. An independent evaluation of our programme found that 29% of policy makers engaged in our programme have gone on to deliver concrete policy changes in support of social enterprise. Other key stakeholders include education providers, business advisors and civil society infrastructure, and of course corporate partners. The British Council seeks to provide collaboration and capacity building opportunities to all of these, often focused on the delivery of a specific output such as the delivery of a boot camp for social entrepreneurs. Our Global Social Enterprise programme is already in 27 countries and is growing quickly thanks to a mix of the British Council’s own funding, contracts and partnership income.

C4D: Could you tell us about the recent Think Global Trade Social report?

PW: The Think Global Trade Social report provides a compelling assessment for the role that business with a social purpose must play a key role if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Specific analysis is offered regarding achievements against the Millennium Development Goals, the size and growth of different global financial flows, the relationship between income inequality and growth, and the Sustainable Development Goals themselves. The report by the British Council, the World Bank and Social Enterprise UK was launched to coincide with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Further reading:

British Council Think Global Trade Social report on social enterprises and SDGs

British Council Global Social Enterprise programme and newsletter

Voices & Views:Supporting Social Enterprises to Reach SDGs