Subject: Tom Boone of Ashoka commented on Take a Stand Against Poverty by Investing in Women to Save the World

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I recently received a comment from Tom Boone of Ashoka.Org on my recent post Take a Stand Against Poverty by Investing in Women to Save the World.

Ashoka has been featured in this blog under Social Entrepreneur Sites What's a social entrepreneur BY Ashoka,but the truth is that I have not done much with that section.

Anyway, his comment had a good deal of information and insight regarding "HALF THE SKY" and I am sharing it below with some added links and a couple of videos regarding the women he highlights in his remarks.

I was able to read most of an advance copy of this book before Bill Drayton (founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public) snatched it away and ran off with it on his annual 2-week hiking trip to the mountains.

I think this has to be the most important book - not just for women's rights globally but for human rights - published in my memory. Kristof and WuDunn weave together a most compelling story of how culture and customs historically suppress women. They tackle many tough, taboo topics - for example honor killing. But more importantly, they champion the stories of heroic women worldwide wholly committed to changing the many evils of the status quo.

What is more, they posit a kind of general framework theory that the really important advances in human rights that are going to be made in the near future are going to be brought about by these entrepreneurial pioneering women. In essence, that the backbone of the human rights movement and of real change across all societies is going to be a direct function of brave women who give themselves permission to say "NO" to thousands of years of (to most Westerners) unimaginable oppressive cultural customs and who take it upon themselves to lead to a new way. Once you have read the book, it is very hard, if not impossible, to disagree with Kristof and WuDunn's general theme. To wit, the brave women of Iran who took to the streets to protest the results of the recent election.

Among many other "super" women, HALF THE SKY spotlights the following inspirational Ashoka Fellows:

• Sunitha Krishnan (India), founder of Prajwala, a citizen sector organization in Hyderabad, India, fighting forced prostitution and sex trafficking, rescuing women and children from sexual exploitation, incestual rape, sexual torture, and abuse in prostitution. Her organization helps former prostitutes learn vocational skills so they can move into new careers. "Prajwala" means "an eternal flame".

• Sakena Yacoobi (Afghanistan), founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning, a citizen sector organization providing teacher training to Afghan women, educating and fostering education for girls and boys, and providing health education to women and children. Her organization also runs fixed and mobile health clinics that provide family planning services. Sakena holds the distinction of having been Ashoka's first Afghan Fellow. Educating women and girls was banned under the Taliban and is controversial under Islamic law.



• Roshaneh Zafar (Pakistan), founder of Pakistani microfinance lender, Kashf. A former World Bank employee, she was inspired after a chance meeting with Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. "Kashf" means "miracle" and Kashf is indeed fostering a miracle by leveraging microfinance to women to transform the role of women in Pakistani society and bringing about a poverty-free world. To date, Kashf supports 305,038 families in Pakistan, has disbursed $202 million, and has 52 branches nationwide.

I am not alone in my enthusiasm for this book! Last Tuesday, September 15, 2009, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ("UNODC") hosted a panel discussion and book signing with Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn in the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber at UN Headquarters. All 550 seats in the Trusteeship Council Chamber were filled. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered opening remarks. Special recognition goes to Simone Monasebian and Anna Rosario Kennedy of the UNODC for putting together this behemoth of an event.

Five out of five stars. An absolute must read for anyone who cares about women's rights or human rights. A genuine eye popper that moves so fast, tackles so much that has hitherto been taboo and unmovable, and interweaves the unbelievably positive stories of the very heroic women already leading and creating change in a tapestry that is glimpse of a brave and very different, humanitarian new world.

Once you pick this book up, you will not be able to put it down. And once you have read it, you will be moved to help bring about tomorrow. Absolute proof that the glass (or the sky) is half full. We just have to give ourselves permission to make change. Or as Gandhi said, "we must be the change we wish to see."

Tom Boone, Ashoka

Email: tboone@ashoka.org
Site/Blog URL: http://www.ashoka.org

Social Innovation Fund: Social Activists bring the innovation Government brings the funds

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I am trying to find time to get back to this blog and updated my Facebook page to create away of keeping track of some of the resources, especially those at Change.Org. I found two interesting posts over the weekend from Social Entrepreneurship on Facebook. Nathaniel Whittemore on an interview with America Forward on the Social Innovation Fund.

I know that is usually the interviewee one pays the most attention to, but I really liked what the interviewer said about a set of principles being distinct from orthodoxy.

clipped from socialentrepreneurship.change.org

Change.org: Makes sense, and is definitely an evolving expression of progressive sentiment. It seems to me that part of the increasing political pragmatism is a sense that a set of principles can be distinct from an orthodoxy about how to achieve them. No compromising on closing the achievement gap in schools, for example, and an absolute fervor that it is government's job to lead that fight, but an openness to how to get there.

This takes out the ideology as the main point of contention and gets us focused on the problems.

Below is from another Change.org post at Social Entrepreneurship. This time Nathaniel writes about Andrew Wolk and his recent attendance at the Future Trends Forum in Madrid, Spain. This is the type of thinking that is going to be necessary to get thousands, maybe millions of different groups working for the Millennium Development Goals to come together to make a change from the bottom up. While I support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and pushing the developed world to keep their promise I remain skeptical of their resolve. If postive change can be seen by regular people in the developed world so that they start to believe that real change is possible, then we have a far better chance of leveraging political policy.

clipped from socialentrepreneurship.change.org

I left Madrid with two takeaways I thought were worth sharing. The first was a general agreement that we have been too focused on scale by replication, and have not thought enough about scaling ideas. While this is not new for this blog, I heard a new angle on what should be an increased emphasis on collaboration. As one attendee put it, we do not need another water filtration system to solve the world’s clean water access problem; rather, we need to bring everyone working on the issue of clean water together to collaborate and work on a distribution system of the best solutions.

SAHASH INDIA NGO Society

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One of the things that I have been wanting to do with this blog, besides finding the time to write it, was to highlight some of the organizations I have run across that are working on the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations or the Millennium Campaign don't have to worry about being promoted. It is also important to keep in mind that a vast amount of work will be done regionally by small change-agent organizations that most people in the world will never hear about. The Web can make a small change in that. One medium of connection for this blog is the Orkut group End POVERTY / Fim POBREZA. There I connected with SAHASH INDIA NGO:

Hi Sir,
We just started this NGO 3 year ago with youth and are doing well & trying to achieve the MDG's with some legal requirements to work out. As soon as our legal status is completed, we hope we can do better for our society with your suggestions.

What I found fascinating is that a fledgling non-profit can leverage its self on the global stage through Web 2.0 tools. Whether it can do so at great enough scale is the question. Is there a Asian or Indian dgCommunities, ICCO or ComPart through which they could be working for greater collaboration? There does seem to be at least two sites, though neither are Asian or Indian in origin. The first is LinkNGO. They have a demonstration site. Here is the SAHASH (About Us - Welcome)site. The other is at WiserEarth. Here is their link for WiserEarth page Organization: Society for Animal Health Agriculture Science and Humanity - WiserEarth. They both provide important information about Sahash India NGO. They are also fellow Bloggers at SAHASH INDIA NGO.

I know that such levels of collaborative web programs have been created in India through my other blog Creating Economic Opportunity At All Levels. In my view though it is the European organizations such as EUFORIC Europe's Forum On International Cooperation that have the most to teach us about Web 2.0 collaboration. This is where the web could make a substantial difference in making the world a better place.

The work of Sahash India NGO will be at a regional level, but if it is not supported at a national level and we do not support groups like it at a global level, then the viability of reaching the 2015 Millennium Development Goals is highly questionable. It certainly can't be done by only outsiders to the region where the problems exist. It is not simply a matter of getting the G20 to agree, commit and live up to that commitment. A tremendous amount of management and resource organization must occur from the halls of the United Nations and other global organizations to the on-the-ground providers.

Change.org provides many pathways to change

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I recently started doing more with Change.org. I already highlighted the fundraiser page FightAIDSTuberculosisMalaria in previous posts, in this post I want to highlight some of the other pathways one can take. I am just starting, taking small steps.

The great thing about Change.org is that you can work at a number of different levels. You can create your own profile as I did. You can also work at a global level like with the Clinton Global Initiative University. One reason behind this post is to find recruits for this cause. Let me know if you do decide to pledge. That is only the beginning though the Clinton Global Initiative University provides a number of different ways for people, especially young people in college to participate.

One of my areas of growing interests has been Social Entrepreneurship. The Change.org site socialentrepreneurship.change.org provides 10 Ways to Get Involved with Social Entrepreneurship which I am summarizing below.

1. Read
2. Reach Out
3. Fundraise
4. Volunteer or get an internship
5. Advocate: One of the things that often distinguishes social entrepreneurs is their desire not only to remedy a problem, but to change the social landscape that allowed that problem to happen in the first place. The intention of this blog is to provide support through 1,2,3 and 5. I realize that it is only a small contribution, but it sometimes seems that if we could be millions to make small contributions, to just become aware of the challenges, we could make a substantial difference.
6. Go to the source and LISTEN: The most important thing anyone who wishes to create change can do is to spend time with and learn from the communities experiencing the poverty, injustice, and inequality you wish to address.
7. Enroll: Increased interest in social entrepreneurship has prompted business schools like Haas at Berkeley and Kellogg
8. Enter a Competition: A great way to test an idea is to enter a university business plan competition such as the Global Social Benefit Incubator, or even an online competition like ideablob.com or changemakers.net. I have lent online support to these efforts in my other blog before, but should start again.
9. Always challenge yourself: For aspiring social entrepreneurs, or even just those interested the field, it’s as if not MORE important to read criticism like Michael Edwards “Just Another Emperor” and constantly reflect upon your own ambitions. This is one I need to take a look at. I came into this with a particular perspective on business practices and social activism.
10. Start your own organization:
    

Change.org has a whole host of ideas of how to create positive change.

We've tapped into this energy with our Ideas for Change in America, and today we held a press event at the National Press Club in Washington DC to announce the winners of the competition. The 10 winning ideas reflect the diverse interests of the millions of people calling for change across the country, and include ideas for securing universal heath care, LGBT rights, and sustainable green energy. All winning ideas can be viewed at www.change.org/ideas .

- So as the Change.org Team always signs off,

Have a great weekend!

FAO not Schwartz part 2- Opposing Pathways to Ending World Hunger and Malnutrition

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My last post dealt with the global efforts of the FAO to address the global challenge of world hunger and malnutrition. I took my usual public policy wonk approach that the organizational infrastructure and business-like strategy were as important as social relevancy and moral inspiration. The ability of the FAO to conduct evaluations of past activities at an in depth level was as important as its laudable intention to be more proactive in its future endeavors.

There is another level of discussion that goes beyond the efforts of the FAO and United Nation's efforts to the basic philosophy behind the best means of addressing these problems. My inspiration once again comes from the End POVERTY / Fim POBREZA group forums. How we see the problem will influence how we see any potential solutions. One of group's members used a famous bet to frame the debate.

The ongoing debate centers around a bet between Noble Prize winning scientist Paul Ehrlich and the famous American economist Julian Simon. The metric of the bet was the price that five metals reached on the Chicago Stock Exchange in the following decade. Ehrlich claimed that population growth would raise the demand and the price of metals. The metal lost value, and Ehrlich lost that particular bet.

Paul Ehrlich wrote the controversial best-seller the Population Bomb in 1968 which made projections about the catastrophic consequences of population explosion. Ehrlich was trained as an entomologist and has an affinity for systems and seeing the big picture. Ehrlich follows in the tradition of English philosopher Thomas Malthus, who in the eighteenth century posited "his hypothesis that (unchecked) population growth always exceeds the growth of means of subsistence" creating a Maltusian catastrophe. His "Essay on the Principle of Population" also influenced Darwin's theories.

Losing that particular wager did not stop the debate, the question is whether Ehrilich's work on population is still relevant. Taking the affirmative, the blog Yale Environment 360 discusses the matter in The Population Bomb: Has It Been Defused?

The Ehrlichs are sometimes ridiculed because Paul’s original book predicted hundreds of millions of deaths from famine in the 1980s, when we were bailed out by the Green Revolution. But they are right to question the new orthodoxy that technological fixes will always save the day. For myself, I fear that when the Wall Street Journal talks about a revival of Malthusian fears, it reflects a tendency to excuse those guilty of overconsumption, while instead blaming the poor for their poverty and our planetary predicament.

Fred Pearce
Environment consultant for New Scientist magazine

Others are still supportive of Simon, for example Jeffery Goldberg's article in the Atlantic, The Population Bomb That Bombed.

Ehrlich is now leading the Center for Conservation Biology research at Stanford University in California, and still holds to his central thesis: the earth is nearing its limit of sustainability of human life. Ehrlich's current work was featured in Wired Magazine back in March of this year, Population Bomb Author Tackles Cultural Evolution.

My own personal view is an attempt to find a middle path that incorporates both perspectives. Defining the problem as Ehrlich does, but recognizing the viability of Simon's arguments. This blog continues to be against an unfettered free market approach to economics and at the same time support social entrepreneurial efforts incorporating effective business discipline. Ehrlich proposes a Fix For Next Extinction: Educate Women. Where I come somewhat closer to siding with Simon is in applying the solutions. Finding that middle path, however, continues to be an ongoing debate with myself.

Related Posts -

FAO not Schwartz part 1 - Global Plan of Action Addresses a Global Challenge Hunger

FAO not Schwartz part 3 - A World Tragedy Too Long

Change Initiative to Empower Adolescent Girls Investing in the Girl Effect

Social responsibility,seeking the good

Change Initiative to Empower Adolescent Girls Investing in the Girl Effect

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The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre featured an article back on 10/21/08 on the World Bank Launches Private-Public Initiative to Empower Adolescent Girls

The World Bank joined governments and the private sector today to launch the Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI) to promote the economic empowerment of adolescent girls in poor and post-conflict countries...The AGI is being piloted in Liberia through a partnership between the Bank, the Nike Foundation...It will be expanded in the coming year to include Afghanistan, Nepal, Rwanda, South Sudan......Every global company should invest in the girl effect. Economists have demonstrated that it is the best possible return on investment, said Mark Parker, President and CEO of Nike...

Somebody else who was impressed with this campaign was Nathaniel Whittemore. He discusses the power of good design in social ventures and Social Entrepreneurship at Change.org and he was surprised by the video's upbeat tone:

1. How refreshing that the viral nonprofit video of the last few years doesn't have a single picture of war, poverty, disease and death, and its message fundamentally comes down to "the solution may not be simple, but the start of the solution is."

The approach has not, however, been without controversy.

Outreach from Uttrakhand

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The reach of the World Wide Web continues to amaze me. I belong to the Orkut group End POVERTY / Fim POBREZA. The membership is primarily from India with a good number from Brazil (which has by far the greatest number of people on Orkut) and a few from Europe and America. I have credited the Orkut End Poverty group with getting me involved online with this cause before. Today I am highlighting another online connection.

PSSP ("Paryavaran Sanrakshan Samiti” Pati) an NGO, in Uttrakhand contacted me.

PSSP:

Hi, We are Uttrakhand (India) based NGO. We have FCRA registration, could you guide us how we can get fund from foreigin organisation.

They have overestimated my connections and influence. This weblog's objective is to educate myself as much as it is to educate and influence anybody else. One point of ignorance, I don't know what FCRA registration means in this context. I also can't vouch for them. I will though put their information out where I can and let the collective intelligence of the web take over.

Others within the Orkut community have said that they should identify themselves better, which they should, but I could see a situation where a NGO in a remote area, with limited resources was able to use the web to leverage connections across the globe. In order to do so, their connection would have to grow like crystals expanding. They would need others to take up their cause.

Best hearing aid under the sun

Sphere: Related Content I am a member of the group Eco20/20 at Diigo.com.

Fellow Diigo user Joshua Sherk shared this link on 10-14-2008 about Howard Weinstein's goal to build a company that could produce affordable hearing aids for Africans.

HEARING AIDS FOR AFRICA -

A significant problem with hearing aids in Africa is how to keep them in working order. Batteries wear out quickly, and cost about $1 each to replace. That's too expensive for most people in countries where the average wage is about $1 a day.

This is an innovative solution that addresses the challenge of a global health issue.

The World Health Organization estimates there are about 250 million hearing impaired people globally, with about two-thirds of them living in developing countries, yet only six million hearing aids are manufactured each year.

It also finds an environmentally sustainable means of doing so.

"You have these great organizations like the Rotary and Kiwanis and World Vision, and they give out tens of thousands of hearing aids each year," he says. "And after a week, the hearing aid is put in a drawer because the battery dies. That's the weakest link.

"We started with the battery and worked backward. The common factor in most developing countries is sun. So let's use that energy to make something."

What was particularly inspiring was Weinstein's attitude.

Weinstein is particularly proud of the 10 deaf employees he hired to run Godisa. "We had three come to Canada and take an aviation soldering course in Montreal, given in sign language. Then they went to work in industry as part of the course. And industry wanted to keep them, they are so good. Yet they decided to go back to Botswana and train other deaf people."

As for his role, Weinstein insists it's no big deal.

"Any social entrepreneur will tell you, you have to be stubborn and stupid. It's just as simple as that." Jokes aside, he believes perseverance pays off when intellect alone can't get the job done.

DiigoTags: aids hearing solar

See More from EC20/20 »

Change For Today - For Oct 15th - For the World

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The last of of the 6 different ways to make Blogging Day unforgettable that Easton Ellsworth provided in his Action Blog post, is 6. Change.

Decide to care a little more about poverty from now on. When it comes up in conversation, take it seriously. Changing the conversation is the first step toward changing the people in it. Please join us in making Blog Action Day 2008 an unforgettable experience for thousands - maybe millions - of people across the world.

Change for me is taking place through a number of different avenues that I have been exploring over the last year. This blog and my original one have started me thinking more globally than I had before. This blog and my other have also begun exploring the world of social-enterprise, though I have done little on that subject here beyond listing a few at the right-hand column. Both are tools for educating myself, and hopefully benefiting others, and exploring different avenues to bringing about change. That will be a discussion that will go beyond October 15th.

Here are a couple done today:

Using the Web to take action is Change

Adding your voice to a cause is Change

The Social Entrepreneurship Movement Business Smarts Meets Compassion

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This weblog is continuously attempting to find a balance between progressive compassion and business wisdom. I maintain the view that both are needed.

On 9/25/08, Dr. Jeff Cornwall of The Entrepreneurial Mind wrote again on The New Nature of the Social Entrepreneurship Movement.

The perspective we are hearing from our social entrepreneurship students is that they want to tackle one social problem at a time. They are not interested in massive solutions to problems, as they believe that all this does is create big, inefficient bureaucracies.

He cites a post that "challenges how we have conceptualized our past approaches to solving social problems in this world. It clearly echoes what we are hearing from our social entrepreneurship students, from the MakeZen's Weblog:

It struck me soon after how peculiar it was the way the question was formulated: would I like to join them to FIGHT against women violence? Why do we use the word "fight" that implies violence to get rid of violence? FIGHT against poverty, injustice, war etc. is something that we normally hear in the news, in the mission statements of some NGOs, and indeed in the life mission of some social entrepreneurs as well. It surely carries a negative energy and it will strengthen the other opposing energy. I believe it more and more that true and LASTING changes can never take place from a negative state of consciousness because ignorance will grow stronger when it is being attacked!

So don't fight against war, poverty and injustice- rather- work for peace, for fairness and let peace flow through all your actions in order to create true changes! It's possible, even in the most despair situation!

The Entrepreneurial Mind also wrote way back on 4/22/08 that Social Ventures Need to Have Market Relevance.

Social entrepreneur Sam Davidson was offered the following advice from Josh Kelly, one of the founders of a fair trade coffee venture called Higher Ground. Three guys began the dream back in 2002. Now they roast over 89,000 pounds a year and provide a unique fundraising and marketing model supporting the work on nonprofits with several unique blends.

It would be moronic to push an issue in the marketplace if you couldn't be competitive with it.

More on Sam's observation at his blog:

That is why, Dr. Cornwall advises, we call them social entrepreneurs -- they need to be effective entrepreneurs if they want to help their particular cause.

It is getting both to work,especially in larger organizations, that can be the challenge.

Social responsibility,seeking the good

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This blog has expressed a greater affinity with "best" business practices than might be expected by many of a site dedicated to as progressive of a cause as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. A growing belief that governments, at all levels, are not able to innovate quickly and deeply enough has also led to a greater affinity with libertarian concepts, at least on a tactical level. The main mission remains, regardless of frustrations with old ways to dealing with the world's problems, progressive. Progressive though is a loaded word and there will be a large contingency that will take issue with my claiming that label if for no other reason than I claim that a site that supports free enterprise can be progressive.

This blog has posted on the position that big business should and can make ethical investments. Trouble is that we still worry, and arguably need to, when they do.

An earlier post on the Girl Effect revealed an intense discussion between -Erin Erlenborn of ONE, two commenters who expressed concern over the involvement of Nike, and a Nike representative.

On another blog, I argued for taking lessons from some of the management practices of the DuPont Company. The post also reveals again my bias towards MIT as a change-agent organization. But the PERI - Political Economy Research Institute lists DuPont on its Toxic 100 Table, raising the question whether DuPont is making a valid effort in walking the walk and not just talking.

Id21 takes a balanced view on ensuring big business social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a badge of respectability for major companies. But voluntary initiatives to promote socially responsible business practices can never replace protective legislation. Nevertheless, financial incentives would increase their effectiveness and improved inspectorates could encourage small and medium sized firms to improve their labour practices.

So it seems that both the carrot and the stick are needed in working to get businesses to support the Millennium Development Goals.

diigo tags: peri, politics, economics, research, sustainability

Small Interventions = Big Difference is not only doing good work it's also good strategy

Sphere: Related Content I am again reblogging another post by Rav Casley Gera of African Development for the Completely Bloody Ignorant. This time it's UN Millennium Project: small interventions = big difference from 1/12/08.

The UN Millennium Report proposes each country prepare a detailed shopping-list of interventions, from education and health to environmental protection, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Here are some examples:

• abolishing fees for school uniforms
• nitrogen replenishment treatment for agriculture
• free school meals
• breast feeding support with micronutrient supplements
• annual deworming of schoolchildren
• basic health training in villages
• antimalarial bednets
• eliminate health fees for essential services
  
• increase sexual health
• expanding AIDS, malaria and TB treatment, for example achieving the "3×5" target of getting 3 million people onto AIDS treatment by 2005 (the report came out in late 2004)
• slum upgrading
• establishing off-grid electricity sources for remote areas, including solar
• legislation to ensure property rights for women
• campaigns against violence towards women
• appoint science advisors for presidents and prime ministers, getting women into policy processes, community support for tree-planting.

Read Rav's post to get more background information and related articles. What I liked about his post is that many of the interventions can be implemented now by social-enterprise groups regardless of the actions of the UN and world governments. This is not to allow those governments to abrogate their responsibilities, but one of the hurdles to selling the Millennium Development Goals to the person in the street is that most are unaware of them and don't see any benefits either for themselves or those the MDGs are purported to help. Listening to my libertarian leaning psyche, I can appreciate the advice of Marshall Carter, who is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Medical Center. In this video he leads an MIT class through a case study on corporate transformation, highlighting tips he believes are as salient for engineering students as for those focused on business services.

One of those tips is to have early wins. So achieving small interventions successfully will not only help people but it is an important milestone in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The video is under an hour and is a lecture by a engineer/businessperson, but if the world is serious about not only funding but implementing the Millennium Development Goals, people need to start listening. I have to add that I am a bit disappointed that we haven't seen anything else from Rav for the rest of us "completely bloody ignorant", for a while.

How effective is social enterprise? Compared to World Government Inaction?

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This blog does not put all of its faith in the well meaning efforts of those trying to influence world leaders into making the responsible decisions regarding the Millennium Development Goals, and it puts even less faith in those leaders themselves.

Without a doubt, those efforts must be made and governments must be addressed and held accountable, but other (borrowing from Jeffery Sachs) innovative on-the-ground interventions addressing these challenges are also essential. The old models of aid are not only being challenged they are being supplanted by social enterprise.

A recent article from Business & Human Rights Resource Centre on 8/29/08 addressed the question of How effective is social enterprise?

[W]hat is social enterprise and can a business have an ethical dimension? [Township Trades] in South Africagives poor people in a township the chance to develop new skillsThe business[trains] localsto make soap from natural ingredients, which is then sold at market stallsJonathan Bland, the SEC's [Social Enterprise Coalition] chief executive [said] "a social entrepreneur's main aim is to use the power of business to address social or environmental issues and use the profits generated to further these goals Howeverin developing countries, where wages are lowerthere is a danger that social entrepreneurs could be viewed as using the "ethical business" tag to reduce overheads[However] Mr Blandsaid "good working conditions, a fair wage, diverse workforce, and employee empowerment are the bedrock of the social enterprise business" [also refers to Elvis & Kresse Organisation, Divine Chocolate]

Ending World Poverty Through Entrepreneurial Efforts

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My progressive side just wrote about the efforts of Norway's Government Pension fund to flex its ethical muscles against big businesses such as Wal-Mart. I should make clear though that I see still see a free enterprise as the best, though not only means, of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Now I am not referring to the United Nations reports, but to the on-the-ground changes in the countries where they matter. I am also definitely not a Milton Freidman unfettered free marketer either. I have gained a great deal of respect for the discipline, innovation and inspiration of business people and believe that they should be incorporated into the efforts of social-entrepreneurs. I need to do a more expanded post on social-entrepreneurship some time soon.

One particular resource combining a no-nonsense business mindset with social ideals has been The Entrepreneurial Mind. Dr. Jeff Cornwall's latest contribution in this particular area was on 7/23/08 Entrepreneurship as Tool to End World Poverty. I am paraphrasing his post here.

The Social Equity Venture Fund (SEVEN), funded through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, just launched a competition offering $50,000 in funds awarded for the best ideas to develop new indicators and models for investment in emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises. This competition, and its results, are one concrete step in demonstrating the power of entrepreneurship, and business, as a sustainable solution to world poverty. Here is a link to the submission site. which is up until November 15. The second phase of wiki-based collaboration takes place between November 16 and December 15.

Small world, Ayesha Lakhani, who was one of those who introduced me to the Endpoverty by 2015 in India project, left a comment.

Millennium Project Late Start

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This blog is in actuality a learning tool for myself, I am simply making it available to others who are also interested in learning about the same issues. I had gathered a good deal of resources before starting this blog. Those resources helped me find yet more resources on the web including Rav Casley Gera's African Development for the Completely Bloody Ignorant. Rav not only provides even more resources, he does a good job of putting those resources into context. I already blogged (re-blogged?) on Rav's latest post.

In one of his earlier posts, he wrote on Millennium Project: Getting Started. I am going to skip the depressing parts of his post and go to the crux.

The goals remain the most comprehensive and internationally supported development framework ever agreed. So even if 2015 is unachievable, aiming for 2017 seems better than giving up.

This is were my skeptical, fledgeling, libertarian sympathies get mixed with my usual progressive views. I don't believe that governments are going to succeed or even make a true effort to accomplish the millennium development goals. What will be accomplished is greater awareness of the need of the goals and the failure of existing governments to act. I have far greater faith in an increase in social-entrepreneurship in the world by private citizens and organizations. The term non-governmental organization (NGO) seems inane to me. That will not stop me though from supporting positive approaches to bringing the Millennium Development Goals about. Rav tries to look on the bright side and so shall I. Truth is that, despite being positive, Rav also puts forward a pragmatic, dare I say, business-like view of what needs to be accomplished.

So let's pretend that, a little behind schedule, the world is now eager and ready to fund and support the UNMP's recommendations. Where do we start?

1. Every developing country that wants to be eligible for support should prepare an MDG-focussed poverty reduction strategy, a plan to achieve the goals complete with precise costings and measurements of the aid required.
2. Fast-track countries, that are most suitable to receive support, should be identified (more on this below).
3. International agencies should immediately begin working with poor countries to train thousands of teachers, doctors, planning professionals, engineers, and "village specialists" in health, agriculture, forestry, road maintenance and other basic skills. This is to ensure that once infrastructure projects such as new schools and hospitals begin, they aren't messed up by lack of staff, as has often been the case in the past.
4. The "quick wins", cheap interventions proven to be effective, should be implemented in all as widely as possible. It would take just two years, the report argues, to distribute anti-malaria bed nets to all at-risk African children.
5. Middle-income countries like China and South Africa, while they have their own poverty issues, should also be invited to join the coalition working towards the goals for poor countries. While their ability to contribute financially may be limited, they can offer expertise, training and certain key cheap materials - for example, China produces artemisinin, a key ingredient of anti-malaria medicine. (p50-55)

Each of these can be explored more deeply, as can the five separate systems that Rav provides that have recently assessed poor countries' governance and economic policies according to fairly strict standards. I am only going to focus on one though for this post.

• The US' Millennium Challenge Account, an aid initiative launched by the Bush administration which has some of the highest standards , with just 19 of Africa's 54 countries having so far qualified, including Ghana, Mozambique and Niger.

Because it wouldn't be fair to depend on Rav for all the links, here is one to the Millennium Challenge Corporation. It is the government corporation responsible for using the business-like approach to implementing the millennium development goals for the United States. What is of note to my progressive leanings is that this was started by the current Bush Administration, but when I read about it in the press names like Madeleine Albright and Ben Affleck pop-up. This needs to be studies more. What is more notable is the lack of support from Congress. Another resource of this blog is the the Center for Global Development who provides a couple of reports on the subject, Senate Takes Earlier MCC Haircut to Full Out Decapitation and Responsible Appropriation? Another Look at the Senate's MCA Slashing all posted by Sheila Herrling.

Getting the Dragon and the Elephant to work together

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China and India in some ways hold both the promise and challenge of the Millennium Development Goals to a far greater degree than any other countries. They face the challenge of fulfilling the promise for their own people, but they are also developing the economic viability on their own to bring it about. The 8th millennium development goal calls for Global Partnership. Turan Khanna's book calls for global partnership between these two raising economic powers.

CII Karnataka via India Press Release wrote a review on 7/18/08 on Tarun Khanna's book BILLIONS OF ENTREPRENEURS. The author is a Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School.

For the first time since the rise of Western capitalism, entrepreneurs in China and India can ignore New York and London—and still build companies worth billions. Thanks to social and economic revolutions, Asia has captured the best minds and money from all around the world. Billions of Entrepreneurs is a compelling account of how China and India are reshaping business, politics and society around the world.

Tarun said China and India are radically different –one was top down and the other bottom – up. "How they will complement each other when they have two different political and cultural systems is a question to analyse and understand. "

India is argumentative; China is about force. If a road has to be laid, it is laid. In India; you'd have a hundred disputes. But we have to work around these," Tarun said.But Kiran Mazumdar – Shaw said India and China must work together. "How when we have different systems do we turn partners in growth? I reason that we are competing when it comes to marketing and manufacturing, but a great opportunity lies in research. How do we synergise when we are countries with a vast cultural divide? Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

Another perspective on the book is taken by the Harvard Gazette - Economies in Asia: The dragon vs. the elephant. Quoting Tarun:

"I think there's a lot of truth to the characterization by most mainstream Americans and American social scientists that China is winning the 'race,' whatever that means," says HBS professor Tarun Khanna.

But Khanna, who's spent some years comparing the economic development of these two emerging nations and is at work on a book on the subject, cautions that while China has successfully leveraged its governmental structure to attract the foreign companies fueling its manufacturing boom, India's indigenous entrepreneurship is thriving in a way that cannot be ignored.

CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India's development process.