Is Globalization Shaping Social Sector in Poor Countries?

Interestingly, when we look at the 3 most common economic trends in globalization - foreign direct investment, labor migration and international business, we actually find parallels from social sector trends in poor regions. It's no surprise that we'll read more about them from now.

1) Wealthy donors and investors predominantly from the west have been expanding their philanthropic activities and social enterprise investment to poor countries. There is interest among them to find large-scale solutions to complex social issues, and this is no longer confined to global institutions and foundations.

2) Top talents with university and MBA qualifications flock to work in poor African/ South Asian countries. Decades ago, it would be hard to believe that reverse migration could happen among other professionals beside social workers. A mixture of opportunities and hype about BoP business and social entrepreneurship is increasing their number.

3) MNCs have begun to venture into poor countries, influenced by popular research findings about emerging/ aspiring middle class there. Those that could afford the risks don't want to be left behind in seeking long-term growth opportunities. They start talking a lot more about pursuing profit and social mission as a new form of corporate social responsibility.

These trends in general are favorably reported by the media but it's too early to fully understand the positive and negative impact on poor countries right now. There are plenty pitfalls that we know of and can try to avoid right now like donors/ investors who solely dictate the funding conditions and program goals, professionals who cling on to their notion of business model and scale without much understanding of local culture and environment, or MNCs that hype about social impact but really care more about profit and fail to engage local citizens to create meaningful social change. Decades from now, we might talk about these parallels from social sector in poor countries as common as if we talk about FDI, labor migration and international business in the mainstream media now, but those are the pitfalls that we really don't want to be trapped in.