Smile Together Partnership

What Is the Smile Together Partnership?

Creating sustainable jobs by supporting creative challenges
of social enterprises in developing countries.

Smile Together Partnership project launched in 2011 through SBS Hope TV, a Korean social contribution documentary broadcasting that raised concerns regarding social issues outside of Korea. Individual donors with good faith raised STP funds through this program, and they have been lending helping hands to combat child poverty, hunger, climate change, and various social issues in developing countries.

Our program aims to alleviate child poverty by creating jobs and generating stable income through incubating and accelerating social enterprises. STP supports the establishment and operation of social enterprises based on local communities; and lays the foundation for continuous growth by strengthening their capacity in various fields such as management, branding, marketing, market expansion, and performance management.

WT Foundation is now creating sustainable, community-based jobs with overseas partners established through STP. The sustainable social economy model will be a solution addressing social issues around the world, and social enterprises that have developed through STP will grow into leaders leading the social economy ecosystem in their country.

Specialities

• Fundamental

  Resolving the fundamental issue of child poverty by creating sustainable jobs through social enterprises in developing countries

• Multifarious

  Providing not only financial support but also non-financial support such as consulting, networking, linking resources, etc

• Continuous

  Maintaining close partnership even after project ends

• Familiar

  Meeting partners on site through due diligence to discover and understand them

Approach

Institutions developed through STP will become local hub for the organizations, discovering and developing social enterprises on their own and thereby becoming capable of spreading social impact. Sustainable growth of social enterprises in developing countries will create community-based jobs and become self-sufficient for growth, stimulating internal changes within the local society.

It is our goal to bring about changes in social awareness by creating decent jobs in developing countries and promoting robust social economy ecosystem through such process.

Building Partnerships

We work with partners by asking ourselves; the kind of changes that we can make; each party’s role in the program; and whether we can form a positive partnership. We ask ourselves what the ideal success model is and sort out the key indicator.

Designing Innovative Models

Many factors have to be taken into consideration for social change. We challenge new models, discuss and correct strategies accordingly. Through this process, we carry out and expand models that can continuously create jobs in local societies.

Providing Development Support

With our STP program support, we help the social enterprise in the initial stage to advance to the next level, and those in the early stages to enter the growth stage, and so on. As such, we dedicate our support in developing their capacity, adjusting each enterprise to the best of their abilities. With this step-by-step process, our partners grow into an impactful social enterprise.

Mobilizing Global Resources

Through WT Foundation’s internal programs and global network, we provide resources necessary for the partners’ sustainable growth. We also wish to establish a culture where we can share and return acquired experience and knowledge with the community.

Monitoring & Performance Management

We evaluate performance based on what went as expected, what went well and what didn’t during the program period.

• Was the model appropriate for the local society?
  What are the grounds?
• What were some of the unexpected obstacles?
  What needs to be adjusted for better results?
• What were the actions taken to achieve the goal?
  What was accomplished through such actions?
• Was there sufficient amount of resources supplied to realize our goal?
• Were both short-term goal achievement and long-term goal established in a balanced manner?
• Does the model bring about sustainable social changes?

Creating Landscape for Sustainable Growth

We aim to create an environment where future generations can continuously make a social impact even after the completion of our program. And contribute to creating a landscape for self-growth, fostering competent intermediary organizations capable of self-solving problems within the region.