Social entrepreneurship, co‐production, and post‐disaster recovery

Post‐disaster recovery requires co‐production, i.e. citizens' inputs are essential for successful community recovery to occur. Citizens contribute to post‐disaster recovery by volunteering, taking on consultative and decision‐making roles within their communities, and directly participating in post‐disaster reconstruction efforts. Without meaningful contributions from citizens – the intended beneficiaries – unilateral efforts from public officials and authorities will inevitably fail. This study shows that social entrepreneurs can thus play a critical role in spurring post‐disaster recovery by facilitating co‐production. We focus on the role of social entrepreneurs after disasters and center around one rural village, Giranchaur Namuna Basti (GCNB) in the Sindhupalchowk district of Nepal. Specifically, we use the case of Dhurmus Suntali Foundation's Namuna village project in Giranchaur following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 as a quasi‐experimental set up to examine the pivotal role that social entrepreneurs play in promoting voluntary activities, community engagement, and participation in post‐disaster recovery efforts.