Integrating the experience of social entrepreneurs from around the world with academic research at Stanford University.
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The Program on Social Entrepreneurship is a joint program of Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Haas Center for Public Service. The program’s administrative functions are housed at the Haas Center and CDDRL helps to inform fellowship selection, and the program’s design and delivery.
In 2011, the Program on Social Entrepreneurship (PSE) was launched at CDDRL to provide social entrepreneurs - creative and determined global leaders, human rights defenders, and advocates for gender justice - the opportunity to spend an academic quarter in residency at Stanford University. The program also responded to the growing student interest on campus to engage with practitioners inside the classroom and with the field of social entrepreneurship more broadly.
The social entrepreneur fellows (SEERS Fellows) lead institutions that advance social, economic and political change. SEERS Fellows hail from both the developed and developing world and are nominated through the program's Global Practitioner Council - an advisory board of 17 leaders who are actively working in the social entrepreneurship field - and a trusted network of organizations.
Building a tangible bridge between academia and practice, the program exposes students to new models of social change through innovative courses and provides practitioners the opportunity to build their individual and personal capacities as social change leaders.
The program also benefits from the guidance of the Faculty Advisory Council, which is comprised of 15 faculty leaders drawn from across the university who are exploring dimensions of social entrepreneurship in their research and practice.
The program is led by Faculty Director Deborah L. Rhode, the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession at the Stanford Law School. A lawyer and long time advocate for gender equality, Rhode's prominent voice as a researcher and academic successfully led the effort to create Stanford’s Center on Ethics. Rhode is also an affiliated faculty member at CDDRL and has been involved in the program from its inception serving as a faculty primary investigator.
The program is managed by Sarina A. Beges who serves as CDDRL's associate director working to support the center's growing practitioner-based programming, which includes the Draper Hills Summer Fellows program. Beges comes to CDDRL from the Synergos Institute in New York where she identified and supported a network of social entrepreneurs across the Arab world.
The program also benefits from the teaching expertise of lecturer Kathleen Kelly Janus, who leads the core course for the program (IR 142). Janus is an attorney who has spearheaded numerous social justice initiatives in the Bay Area.
SEERS Fellows spend the academic quarter - 10 weeks - in residence at Stanford to reflect on their own work, pursue research projects, broaden their professional networks, and co-teach a course on social entrepreneurship. The course - Social Entrepreneurship and the Advancement of Democracy, Development and Justice (IR 142) - is the foundation of the program and is offered to undergraduates in the winter quarter in the form of a service learning class where students work together with social entrepreneurs on specific projects to advance the fellows' organizational capacity.
Some examples of SEERS Fellows projects include: working to help refugees realize their rights in Latin America, improving literacy for children in underprivileged communities in the U.S., and training women to use sustainable water technologies in Africa.In the fall, another course - Law 508 - is offered to the graduate community at the Stanford Law School where social entrepreneurship is examined through the lens of legal change.
SEERS Fellows use the remaining time on campus to advance their own professional objectives, to contemplate their next steps as social change leaders and to connect to the broader Bay Area philanthropic community. SEERS Fellows leave the fellowship with tangible projects that advance their professional work and students gain the practical experience of working on projects for a non-profit organization.
In 2013, the program introduced an undergraduate student fellowship, providing an opportunity for a Stanford student to work with a global or local SEERS Fellow over the summer. SEERS Fellows have also worked with other units on campus to provide summer fellowship placements for exceptional Stanford undergraduates.
In September 2014, CDDRL partnered with the Haas Center for Public Service to move its core administrative functions to a more student facing institution on campus that values engagement with the practitioner community. The program also fits in very nicely with the Haas Center’s public service pathways in social entrepreneurship and community engaged learning.
The program welcomed its first group of SEERS Fellows to Stanford in April 2012. Each class is composed of three talented social entrepreneurs working globally or locally to advance social change. Since that time the program has welcomed three additional classes of SEERS Fellows. The most recent class arrived in January 2014 and are all composed of locally based social entrepreneurs who are together working to raise literacy rates in public schools, hold international institutions accountable for their abuses, and defend the rights of women and girls across the state of California.
Winter 2015
2015
Project #1. San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center – Resource Assessment of Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Programming (with Katie Albright):
Project #2. At the Crossroads – Develop an “I think you can” Fundraising Event (with Rob Gitin):
Project #3. At The Crossroads – Leadership Development (with Rob Gitin):
Project #4. Center for Young Women’s Development Strategic Planning Project (with Lateefah Simon):
Project #5. Food Security Storyboard Needs Assessment Project (with Kennedy Jawoko):
Project #6. Food Security Storyboard Background Research Project (with Kennedy Jawoko):
2014
Project #1. Global Women’s Water Initiative Case Study (with Gemma Bulos):
Project #2. Global Women’s Water Initiative Impact Field Data Analysis (with Gemma Bulos):
Project #3. Global Women’s Water Initiative Crowdfunding Campaign (with Gemma Bulos):
Project #4. Accountability Counsel Case Study (with Natalie Bridgeman Fields):
Project #5. Accountability Counsel Documentary Film (with Natalie Bridgeman Fields):
Project #6. Accountability Counsel Alternative Revenue Project (with Natalie Bridgeman Fields):
Project #7. Reading Partners Research on After-School Programs (with Michael Lombardo):
At present there is no open application process to the program. The program's Global Practitioner Council and partner organizations help identify and invite dynamic practitioners to participate in the entrepreneur-in-residence program. Nominations are reviewed by the program team and perspective social entrepreneurs will be invited to submit a formal application and supporting materials.
Sept. 2014: Program on Social Entrepreneurship finds new home at the Haas Center
Dec. 2013: Award-winning social entrepreneurs to join Stanford this winter
Apr: 2013: Head of Stanford Technology Ventures Program joins faculty advisory council
Mar. 2013: Tackling development challenges in Africa, three social entrepreneurs join Stanford community
Sept. 2012: Using law to promote social change, three social entrepreneurs join CDDRL community this fall
July: 2012: Kavita Ramdas appointed as Ford Foundation representative in New Delhi
Mar. 2012: Four social entrepreneurs to join Stanford research community this spring
Sept. 2011: Kavita Ramdas joins CDDRL's new program on social entrepreneurship
If you are interested in learning more about the Program on Social Entrepreneurship, please contact Program Manager Sarina Beges at ssbeges@stanford.edu.