Social enterprise: partnership for sustainable change

This paper addresses social enterprises as strategies for engaging community resources for sustainable change. In this context, the negotiation of indicators of change in communities and agreement on the indirect and cumulative signs of sustainable progress become critical components for effective risk management as well as for sustainable change. How do we arrive at agreement on change outcomes? How can we be assured that change can be sustained? The paper looks at how The Smith Family is addressing these questions as part of a risk management strategy for piloting a community based intervention targeted at indigenous high school students in WA. It also shows how the key characteristics of sustainable rural communities from the Sustainable Rural Communities Project, NSW Premier's Department were adapted in making decisions about partnerships for sustainable social change with a steering committee of local stakeholders.