From Resource-Based to Capability-Based Approach: Reframing the Social Enterprise’s Poverty Intervention Perspective

Poverty remains a widespread and persistent global challenge despite notable socio-economic progress in recent decades. Although absolute poverty has declined significantly, its continued prevalence in developing and underdeveloped regions keeps poverty alleviation central to governments’ development agendas. However, the rise of neoliberalism and the decline of the welfare state have increasingly limited the scope of state-led interventions. As government capacities diminish, the responsibility for tackling poverty is shifting toward the nonprofit and private sectors. In this evolving landscape, social enterprises have emerged as key players in addressing complex social issues such as poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion. Given its multidimensional nature, social entrepreneurship offers a powerful and sustainable mechanism to empower the poor. But much of the academic research on poverty interventions remains narrowly focused on income-based measures. This paper addresses this gap by employing Amartya Sen’s capability approach to explore how social entrepreneurship interventions can enhance individual capabilities and freedoms. A conceptual framework grounded on this approach is proposed and illustrated through the example of a social enterprise focused on capability generation. It is hoped that by empirically testing this framework, an effective social enterprise based poverty intervention model can be developed. The findings are expected to inform policy and legislative efforts and support progress toward the UN’s first, eighth, and tenth Sustainable Development Goals.