Social entrepreneurship and learning: The case of the Central America learning alliance

This paper sets out to analyze social entrepreneurship in the Central America Learning Alliance, in the context of recent literature on entrepreneurship and learning. Drawing on a recent and rapidly growing literature that describes entrepreneurship as a process that is inherently dynamic and experimental, with learning as a core component, we focus on social entrepreneurship in development as a catalyst of social transformation. A case study of a multi-stakeholder network focused on promoting processes of rural enterprise development, known as the Central America Learning Alliance, is used to illustrate social entrepreneurship in the context of the framework for innovation and learning that is developed in the first part of the paper. We conclude that the key concepts underlying entrepreneurial learning have important implications for social entrepreneurship in the context of building dynamic livelihoods for the poor of Central America.