Identifying And Managing Dilemmas For Sustainable Development Of Rural India

In this paper, we present a method for identifying conflicts (Dilemmas) that have zero-sum solutions among the three aspects (Drivers) of sustainability, namely, social (people), environment (planet), and economic (profit) values. We develop the value proposition that is anchored in sustainable rural development by converting these zero-sum solutions to positive-sum solutions. Rural development is difficult, and it must be initiated from within the communities with the involvement of local people. We hypothesize that social entrepreneurs can serve as the proverbial lynchpin between the rural population and other agencies (government, non-government, banks, and industry). Hence in this paper, we use the constructs of a dilemma triangle and spheres of sustainability to propose a method to identify and manage dilemmas associated with creating a sustainable eco-system. We use example of a village in India to illustrate the method and to develop the value proposition for the village. The focus in this paper is on the method, rather than the results per se.