Tajikistan’s authorities have started developing law on social entrepreneurship. The first introductory meeting of the Working Group set up to develop the social entrepreneurship law took place in Dushanbe on October 20.
The Working Group was reportedly set up on October 2 and its members include members of Tajikistan’s lower chamber (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament, representatives of President’s Executive Office and public associations.
The Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR) says the Working group members and international partners have stated that the elements of social entrepreneurship are contained separately in program documents and the country’s regulatory legal acts.
However, they are not conceptually fixed in a single document. Therefore, the development and adoption of the social entrepreneurship law is considered an important and timely initiative.
Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of organizations, which vary in size, aims, and beliefs. For-profit entrepreneurs typically measure performance using business metrics like profit, revenues and increases in stock prices.
Social entrepreneurs, however, are either non-profits, or they blend for-profit goals with generating a positive “return to society.” Therefore, they use different metrics. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
