Conclusion Some Insight for Forward-Looking Initiatives

This chapter ends the book with some insight into how the issue of economic empowerment can be approached without the destruction of the social economy. In both chapters based on the fieldwork, we witnessed how social networks are important for finding the means of earning an income. This was more critical for women as community stakeholders (women as pillars of the extended family network and the immediate community). In my forthcoming publication with Jennifer Olmsted, we have looked into the ways low-income women are an indispensable part of the social safety net. This theme is implicit rather than explicit in this book. Here, however, some in-depth interviews will be included to shed light on how social economy, and more specifically social entrepreneurship, is an important building block for improving the lives of millions of Iranians.