Intra self-sufficiency is the ability of a socio-economic unit to meet certain of its own needs without external assistance. The focus is on self-reliance within the socio-economic unit for those needs, aiming to produce or provide necessary goods and services internally. For example, a socio-economic growing its own food, generating its own energy, and recycling its waste.
Inter self-sufficiency involves a network of socio-economic units that collectively achieve self-sufficiency through mutual support and exchanges or trade in goods and services. The focus is on collaborative self-reliance among two or more socio-economic units, where each unit contributes different goods or services to the network. For example, regional food systems where different farms specialize in various crops and trade outputs to ensure food security for the entire networked region. In the same way, industrial networks can be formed across socio-economic units in which businesses form symbiotic relationships, such as by using each other’s outputs as inputs for their industrial processes.
Intra self-sufficiency and inter self-sufficiency can complement each other. Intra self-sufficiency provides a baseline of resilience for a socio-economic unit, ensuring that the unit can function independently in case of disruptions. As well, it ordinarily provides for the basic needs of the population. Inter self-sufficiency adds an additional layer of resilience through resource sharing, namely exchanges of goods produced from raw materials of a socio-economic unit, and mutual support, which can help all the involved socio-economic units in the relevant network. Exchanges of services is also possible.
Intra self-sufficiency encourages efficient use of resources within a socio-economic unit, reducing dependence on external supplies. Inter self-sufficiency allows for the optimization of resources, say in the form of processed goods, across a network of socio-economic units, where excess resources from one unit can be used by another unit, enhancing overall efficiency. Consider farming, as an example. For the purposes of intra self-sufficiency, farms might grow diverse crops and manage their irrigation and energy needs from resources available within the socio-economic unit in which the farm is located. Various farms from adjacent socio-economic units may also take part in inter self-sufficiency ventures or collaborations. A community or network of farms may specialize in different crops and trade with each other to meet diverse dietary needs for different socio-economic units.
With this in mind, intra self-sufficiency can promote innovation within a socio-economic unit as enterprises within the unit seek to develop ways to meet important needs internally, and certainly the basic necessities of life. Inter self-sufficiency would allow for specialization, where enterprises in different socio-economic units focus on what they do best and trade in what they produce best. With collaboration and fair exchanges they can also rely on other enterprises from other socio-economic units for complementary goods and services for their business needs, leading to higher efficiency and innovation across all the socio-economic units.
The result is that building intra self-sufficiency fosters a sense of independence for people and enterprises, and provides basic necessities of life, while inter self-sufficiency builds cooperation across socio-economic units, which is done by creating networks of trade and support that can enhance socio-economic cohesion and collective well-being across all the involved socio-economic units and their people and enterprises.
A common example would be sharing renewable energy sources and even storage, which is critical to balancing supply and demand for energy (particularly electricity) more effectively. One socio-economic unit may be in a better position to establish as solar farm or have a dam. Another socio-economic unit can utilize excess capacity and outputs for its energy needs.
