Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development

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Who we are

The Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development supports rural communities to defend and protect their rights using a community development approach which aims to create spaces for communities’ voices to be heard in decision making process at a local and national level with a particular focus on the voices of women and youth and to engage in development alternatives including economically and environmentally sustainable small and medium scale enterprises.

Our Success Stories

We investigate and publish reports
- SESDev and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), investigated and published series of reports on respecting communities rights particularly on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): June 2014 No End to Exploitation - the rights of communities palmed off, the impacts of SIFCA's operations on communities in Liberia; April 2015 Hollow Promises: An FPIC assessment of Golden Veroleum and Golden Agri-Resource’s Palm Oil; December 2015 Respecting Rights? Assessing Oil Palm Companies' Compliance with FPIC Obligations
We expose unclear and deceptive provisions in MOUs
- In September 2015, SESDev and FPP managed to enforce the need to convert unclear and deceptive ‘provisional’ Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to comprehensive and clear ‘permanent’ MOUs in the final decision of the RSPO complaints panel and has requested Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) to comply.
We create awareness and provide training
- SESDev also with FPP and Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) have produced posters and a training manual on FPIC in November 2015.
We create platform for rural communities' voices
- SESDev, with support from FPP, provided space for communities whose customary land has been grabbed for oil palm plantation by MOPP to initiate a process of respecting their customary rights in 2016. SESDev, through Lush, provided space for communities in Sinoe County to attend TFA2020 second Liberia country workshop in August 2016 where they submitted a position statement along with other fortunate communities from other counties.
We initiate community-based investment programs
- SESDev, through FPP, has initiated a pilot project on community based investment program with a tribal group whose rights has been violated in Maryland county in 2016.

Recent Publications

PREPARING IN ADVANCE FOR POTENTIAL INVESTORS

This guide provides recommendations for how advocates and community leaders can best support communities to prepare for and, if they so wish, engage in empowered contract negotiations with investors seeking to use community lands and natural resources for their businesses.

COMMUNITY SELF-IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

In 2014, the Erstwhile Land Commission developed a draft Field Guide for implementing the processes for the legal recognition of the land rights of customary land owing communities in Liberia. The draft Guide contains the procedures and processes of identifying customary communities and their collective land holdings...

Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) And RSPO Complaints

This report is published by the CSO-Oil Palm Working Group through Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development (SESDev) with the support of the Rights and Resources Initiatives (RRI). The views presented here are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by the agencies that have generously supported this work through the Rights and Resources Initiatives, nor all the partners of the Coalition.

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