One Water One World A Social Phygital Revolution

Description

The Grand Societal Challenges are complex issues that have large scale impact on people, communities, countries and the planet as a whole. Recognizing the need for collaborative efforts between all stakeholders to achieve sustainability; the United Nations developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015; of which SDG6 addresses the need to provide Clean Water and Sanitation.

Access to clean drinking water, which is a must for hygiene and wellbeing, has been a global concern. Several measures are being taken to address this problem at a national and international level. This book is the outcome of a longitudinal research spanning over five years and addresses the issue of how paucity of safe water can be solved using innovative technologies and practices. The book reveals how JanaJal, a social enterprise operating in India as a prosocial and for-profit entity, demonstrated stewardship behaviour by following nine socially innovative practices that advance knowledge on social innovation research in social entrepreneurship using past theories as theoretical support. These innovative practices when combined with digital technologies succeeded in making safe water accessible to all in an affordable manner; especially to underprivileged sections of society. The innovation spearheaded by the water entrepreneur ensured economic viability and sustainability while using emerging technologies due to which he has been able to successfully lay the the foundation of a social phygital solution that is a combination of digital tools leveraged to make safe water available in its physical form to people in an equitable and sustainable manner.

This research which is useful for policy makers, practitioners, academicians and youth seeking self-employment or entrepreneurship opportunities as a career path is an attempt to take forward the conversations on an intersection between Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability.