Social Entrepreneurship in the Aftermath of War: The Case of Youth Groups in Northern Uganda

Social entrepreneurship in post-conflict developing countries has received little academic attention despite its proclaimed potential to address social problems and enrich poor communities. Drawing on a case study of youth groups in northern Uganda, this paper examines the resource mobilization practices of social entrepreneurs operating in a context of extreme resource scarcity and a plethora of challenges arising in the aftermath of war. Drawing on the concepts of social entrepreneurship, bricolage and group-based entrepreneurship the paper delineates six features of group-based social bricolage that characterize their activities: group mobilization around ruptures; engaging and disengaging donor organizations, embracing the community, adopting multiple activities, using idle physical and human resources, and redeploying old cultural beliefs and practices. The paper underlines the importance of understanding the spatiality and temporality of the post-conflict context that these practices of social entrepreneurship are embedded in.