Creative Governance through Social Sector Investment

I found US presidential candidate Barrack Obama’s call for social sector investment as a good example of Creative Public Governance.

According to Obama, while the federal government invests $7 billion in research and development for the private sector, there is no similar effort to support non-profit innovation. He promised that as President, he will launch a new Social Investment Fund Network. This Network will get the grass roots, the foundations, the private sector and the government at the table. It will invest in ideas that work; leverage private sector dollars to encourage innovation; and expand successful programs to scale. Obama will also launch a new Social Entrepreneur Agency to make sure that small non-profits have the same kind of support that the government gives to small businesses.

Among the specific projects that he has in mind are:

• Classroom Corps : College students, recent graduates and retirees mentor young people; engineers and scientists will help make sure the next generation of innovators is educated in America.

• Energy Corps : To free ourselves from energy dependence and to confront climate change, to work on renewable energy projects, to teach folks about conservation, to help clean up polluted areas and to send talented American engineers and scientists abroad to help developing countries promote low-carbon energy development.

• Peace Corps : Double the size by its 50th anniversary in 2011 to reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity.

• USA Freedom Corps : An online network where Americans can browse opportunities to volunteer. You’ll be able to search by category, time commitment, and skill sets; you’ll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities.

• Social service for students: A goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students who perform 100 hours of service a year will be entitled ton annual American Opportunity Tax Credit of $4,000 to make tuition affordable.

In most developed and developing countries, there is a phenomenal growth in the non-profit sector. Many of them have pioneered social innovations that benefited the society immensely. More often than not the next great social innovation won’t be generated by the government but more likely by the non-profit sector. Investment in the non-profit social sector will create new opportunities for all its people to serve, and to direct that service to the most pressing national challenges.

To quote Obama: “We will create new opportunities for all Americans to serve, and to direct that service to our most pressing national challenges. … because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem – they are the answer.”


Talk on Creative Governance
Please email the blogger, Dr.YKK at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite him to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.