This thesis is organized into three sections. The first three chapters provide
important contextual information about the motivation for this study, the people and
organizations involved and the literature which situates it in the field. The next two
chapters form the analysis section of the thesis. The first analysis chapter uses a typology
of social entrepreneurs provided by Zahra et al (2009) to help understand the actions of
individuals within social enterprises. It then explores how these individuals define both
the term ‘social enterprise’ and themselves. The second chapter in this section explores
the central question of how the social enterprises in the study currently conceive of and
act on human rights rhetoric. At the same, time it explores the extent to which there may
be a need to address rights issues in the water sector in Northern Ghana through
examining the political implications of water access in the region. The third section of
this thesis is comprised of the conclusion, which poses some ethical questions about
social enterprise and human rights, expounds upon the need for a rights-based approach
to social enterprise, explores what that might look like and provides suggestions for
future research.