SUSTAINABLE UNIVERSITY-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP: ENACTUS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP BEST PRACTICES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Enactus is an international network of university students that initiate educational outreach projects undertaken in more than 1,600 university campuses in 36 countries offering the opportunity to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise. The social entrepreneurship initiatives under Enactus introduce concepts such as market economics, personal and financial success and business ethics to marginalized groups and communities. Against this backdrop, this descriptive-documentary study attempted to determine the profile of best practices in educational outreach projects of Enactus teams in the various HEIs in the Philippines and probed into the effective use of entrepreneurial action to empower people to improve their livelihoods in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way. These social entrepreneurship projects, ventured in the provision of livelihood to marginalized sectors like rebel-returnees, housewives, out-ofschool youth and indigenous people featuring best practices relative to manufacturing and marketing of innovative and organic products in addressing of social problems through entrepreneurial action and meeting the triple bottom-line requirements of social enterprises – people, planet and profit. These projects involved the process of seeing opportunities, taking action and enabling progress towards ensuring quality of life and standards of living of their intended beneficiaries.