Social Development Precedent: WITNESS

For my social entrepreneurial organization example, I chose WITNESS.
Witness is an international human rights organization that uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. By partnering with local organizations, Witness brings the power of video advocacy to their existing campaigns.
Witness provides online and on the ground training to locals(stratedgy of incorporating video to their cause, campaigning, editing, recording..), as well as video camera equipment. After the local organizations capture the stories of the community, then the video footage is reached to Witness which tries to carry the message to the people who have the power  and the authority to take action and make change.(government officials, members of the congress)
In recent years Witness has also become a part of citizen journalism with the 'the Hub', the public website that anyone can upload videos of human rights violation to share with the world.
In the past 18 years, Witness has trained 900 people in 80 countries and worked with 20 non-profits.

If you would like to get a short introduction to what they are about, watch this 1 minute video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a_-Eq8OoCI&feature=player_embedded

Design for Social Impact by Aaron Sklar and Sally Madsen

I have recently read an article called "Design for Social Impact" by Aaron Sklar and Sally Madsen (IDEO) which talks about the principles designers need to have to achieve success in human-centered design.
Their list goes on like this:
1.Start with empathy
2.Design for communities
3.Take a systems view
4.Make appropriate trade-offs
5.Prepare your team
I agree with their approach, I believe empathy and direct connection to others definitely help the cause and help the designers come up with fresh ideas. Also the design team should always see the big picture.(the system of operations) How the product will fit into the community, how they can be trained to use it, how it will be distributed and what happens when the design team leaves.
I encourage designers to read it, and learn how designers have adapted to the field of social entrepreneurship.