Full Economic Citizenship

What is Full Economic Citizenship?

Full Economic Citizenship (FEC) is one of Ashoka’s global initiatives enabling an environment where every citizen has the opportunity and the capacity to exercise his or her economic, social and cultural rights. To achieve FEC, a citizen must at a minimum have access to the essential products and services – food, water, housing, energy, health, education, financial – required to enable their activity as a consumer, producer and holder of assets.

Housing initiatives:

Over one billion people live in urban slums in emerging countries, with 500,000 more joining them each week. With a current market size of at least US$424 billion and significant housing deficits in most countries, affordable housing constitutes a new frontier for business and a major opportunity to improve people’s lives. FEC's Housing For All initiative is building affordable housing markets around the world. At the same time, it is pioneering major alliances between companies and citizen sector organizations committed to sustainable and scalable housing solutions. Ashoka's Housing For All Initiatives currently operate in India, Colombia, Brazil and Egypt.

Health initiatives:

Having access to healthcare is a basic necessity and is required for a person to be a "full economic citizen." Ashoka's Healthcare for All initiative, part of the Full Economic Citizenship program at Ashoka, was created to explore and catalyze new, innovative models for bringing healthcare who do have have access to traditional healthcare markets. To explore FEC's Health For All initiative, click here.

Hybrid Value Chains

Hybrid Value Chains leverage the strengths of business and social actors. They are collaborations that redefine value in game-changing ways, with each side clearly understanding (and willingly accepting) the risks and rewards. HVCs are designed to generate win-win alliances, authentic value propositions and multi-faceted returns on investment.