The key question for “The Hunger Project” is always: What is missing? Regardless of where they operate, the programs include three basic components:

1. Social mobilization

“To reverse the trend of an entire society, it requires a vision. The vision is the beginning of social mobilization. Changes often start small and then grow and spread to new standards and approaches … Working with advanced collaboration, participants create better self-esteem and confidence, and come to the conclusion that they themselves are the key to a better future.”

2. Genre (Genus)

“A lot of the problems of poverty and hunger in the world is because women do not have the same social status as men in society. If society discriminates against half of its citizens, it means that half the knowledge of this society, commitment and creativity are not explored. Women have better capacity, of course, look for results similar to those of the ‘Millennium Development Goals’, due to their family responsibilities” as well as education and health for their children.

3. Interaction with the local leadership

The programs are democratic “but not always the democratic process reaches the entire population. Citizens have rights that are formulated in the law, but they do not have knowledge, and therefore can not take benefit of it. “In Africa, for example, the program mobilizes people across the village and improve the relationship between citizens, government, political agencies, the village chief, religious leaders and others who in various ways can influence local decisions. “When all are included in the processes, people can make changes and take advantage of opportunities and resources they deserve.“

When I read headlines or stories in Brazilan’s newspaper that tell us do not believe “… that the Family Grant (Bolsa Família) is supporting” and “… that benefits of 12 million families, aims to create a cordon of protection…” I wonder: protection against what? Protection against poverty and hunger?

Twelve million families, is a country, it is more than the population of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, to name a few developed countries that I know well. If the government today are giving away 12 million Family Grant, means we are also producing defects in a large population and we have to live with these measurements for an unpredictable future. Well that’s what happens to the people of those countries that use measures of political and social welfare state.

However, I see a larger number (at least the last three years) of beggars on the streets of Rio. They are adults, children and old people and there is no benefit for them. Are they not starving and living in poverty in the same way as those families that receiving Family Grant? If the answer to my question is that the Family Grant give, at same time, education to the children. As the Government requires that children go to school to give the Grant. In Africa and in India women who are supported by Grameen Foundation and “The Hunger Project”, with initiatives to create their own businesses give their children education without requirement and, further, helps develop the society around them.

Another great benefit to society is that they remain in place where they live and not migrate to the capital.

We can see what is already happening because of developing project Angra 3, In Rio de Janeiro, Macaé. The city is already facing slum and violence. Men, who migrate in search of a better life, often with their families, find nothing. The local government has no capacity to structure his arrival. Solution to this problem exists, if people want to see it. If not, my suggestion is to use the concept of social mobilization, gender and interaction with the local leadership that is used in Africa by “The Hunger Project”.

Your comments are more than welcome!

José Luiz Barbosa

(twitter: http://twitter.com/NegocioSocial/linked-in: http://br.linkedin.com/in/creera)

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About 11 years ago, Dr. Sugata Mitra, cut a “hole in the wall” of the New Delhi office of NIIT, an international IT training company where he headed research and development. The wall separated NIIT premises from the adjoining slum in Kalkaji, New Delhi. In the opening, he put a high speed computer with Internet access and monitored the activities through a camera. Within hours, curious children, aged 6 to 12 with most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English, from the slum began flocking to the machine, exploring it and figuring out which actions yielded results.

Dr. Mitra has demonstrated that if you provide children with an opportunity to learn something, something powerful and relevant and then leave them alone, they learn it. And then, having learnt it, they will own it and share it. He likes to call it Minimally Invasive Education and defines it as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no intervention by a teacher.

In the days and weeks that followed, the most advanced computer users among the curious kids taught their siblings and friends what they knew, and those children taught more children. The kids had taught themselves how to paint pictures, access the Internet, create documents and play games. They used the computer’s programs to learn words in English and listen to stories aloud.  Some of the things that they learned, Dr. Mitra says, astonished him.

He says, the children create their own metaphors. Once when a journalist came up to one of these kids and asked him, “How do you know so much about the computers?” The kid replied, “What’s a Computer”.  They call the cursor “sui”, the Hindi equivalent for needle.  The fact that the Internet is mostly in English does not stop them from accessing it.

With backing from NIIT, the Indian Government, the ICICI bank and the International Finance Corporation of Delhi, Dr. Mitra and NIIT founded the Hole in the wall Education project and setup 250 computers in 110 locations throughout India and later in Combodia. Research shows that the Hole in the Wall users performed as well on computer skills as children who had learnt the same through a formal class, and their engagement and performance in school improved as well.

Mitra, now NIIT’s chief scientist emeritus and a professor of educational technology at the United Kingdom’s Newcastle University, aims to spread this model around the world to boost the learning and life skills of children, particularly those living in poverty and with few educational resources. Where conventional schools are absent or ineffective, the Hole-in-the-Wall Web site says, the hands-off method could be a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning.

Visit The Hole in the Wall website

Can kids teach themselves? Dr Mitra at TED

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From Bogota, Colombia

Happy Colombian Social Business Day! Latest trend in Colombia too? Not at all, because, as Professor Yunus understood it, Colombia has a tradition of social entrepreneurship and more broadly of corporate social commitment deeply embedded in its history. Colombia is not only one of the countries in the world with the biggest number of entrepreneurs but also the country that has a noteworthy number of corporate foundations, among the oldest in Latin America.

A study published in 2006 on CSR in Colombia explains that the influence of Catholic Church and the import substitution policy, focused on the internal market, have reinforced the social role of the companies. More recently, it seems that the context of conflicts in the country further promoted the entrepreneurial spirit; and will for creation, for action but also for constructive social practices from the private firms. One key word here is “Negocios inclusivos” (Inclusive businesses).  This expression includes the economical models with a social purpose, no matter the type of structure, that integrate the base of the pyramid communities in the value chain.

2 indicators of the growing dynamism of Colombia on these issues:

-          The first Latin-American Grameen Creative Lab (GCL) was launched this year in Manizales, town in the region of Caldas, as part of the holistic movement for social business. “…this will be a very interesting pilot project, not only for Caldas, for all of us, everywhere” (Prof. Yunus).  As Felipe Tibocha, member of GCL, explains, the coffee region has suffered a lot from the collapse of the coffee price. 62% of the population lives with less than $2 per day. GCL Caldas wants to support entrepreneurial initiatives through programs of microcredit and social business. One project: launch a coffee store chain supplied by small farmers and employing students.

-          Colombia is the first country to launch at a national level the UNDP program « Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) ». 13 national case studies and a national GIM report will be published. In March 2010, Bogota welcomed a regional summit to promote the implementation of inclusive businesses and to start building a regional network of experts and stakeholders (international institutions, social enterprises, NGO, universities, public administrations, consulting firms, communities)

Next step: the exploration of projects on the field! Starting  by a few days with Sergio Arango, Ashoka fellow founder of Espave, who works with and for the communities of the Atrato river in the region of Choco.

* The study Aportes y Desafios de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial en Colombia

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Ever dreamt of seeing the world – expenses paid? Well here’s your chance.

If you see yourself as an enterprising individual who would like to travel the world and help out in local communities, Your Big Year, could be just what you’re looking for.

Your Big Year is a free competition to encourage global citizenship and social responsibility through enterprise. It is the biggest official event of Global Entrepreneurship Week and it’s now open to applicants. Winners will be given the opportunity to meet World Leaders, celebrities and inspirational entrepreneurs. They will live in different communities, learn leadership skills and join volunteer projects – from teaching children in South America to conservation work in Asia. They will be given the tools and support to share their experiences via the global media.

Chris Arnold, of Your Big Year, said: “This is truly a prize that money can’t buy, and we anticipate huge interest from across the globe. Our two winners will experience the trip of a lifetime, get the opportunity to fulfil their potential, develop their enterprise skills and stimulate their entrepreneurial spirit.”

For more details – and to register your interest – visit www.yourbigyear.com.

Smaller Earth, based in Liverpool, UK, is the host company behind Your Big Year with support from Global Entrepreneurship Week and Enterprise UK.

Entrants must be18 years or over and be available to attend the finals week in Liverpool, UK, from 13-21 November 2010.
Travel, accommodation and living expenses will be paid.

www.yourbigyear.com

For further information, contact Suki Pardesi on +447710360913 or s.pardesi@smallerearth.com

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About TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Under the same umbrella, TEDxGardenCity, where x=independently organized TED event, is slated to be held in Bengaluru, India on 12th July 2010. At TEDxGardenCity, TEDTalks, video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

TEDxGardenCity

Themed around “World, India and You”, TEDxGardenCity will bring together leaders, thinkers and activists who everyday strive to positively change and contribute to the ever changing Indian landscape. Spanning domains like Entrepreneurship, Activism, Education, Development at the Bottom of Pyramid, et al. TEDxGardenCity will discuss our role as citizens in the development of the world as a whole and seek to answer -

How can we engage the unemployed to participate in India’s growth?

Do business and empathy go hand in hand?

How do we provide healthcare to the poor?

How can we connect to and celebrate every individual we know (and don’t know)?

How to be a storyteller?

What are the innovations set to revolutionize the world?

Speakers

TEDxGardenCity features an array of innovators from the world of literature, healthcare, green energy, sports, entrepreneurship, etc. with individuals like Mr. Rohan Bopanna (India’s #2 Ranked Singles Tennis Player), Mr. Kallol Borah (Founder, HeadStart Network), Mr. Solomon JP (Country Head, Ashoka India), Dr. G. C. Sekhar (Director, L V Prasad Eye Institute), Mr.Rajiv Kuchhal( Founder, Infosys BPO, Angel Investor in DesiCrew) Mr. Dilip D’Souza (Author, Journalist) , Mr. Kiruba Shankar (Former Director, Sulekha.com and Founder, kiruba.com) and many more.

For detailed speaker profiles, please visit:

www.tedxgardencity.com

www.facebook.com/TEDxGardenCity

Registration

Registrations for TEDxGardenCity are now open. Limited seats are available. To register for the event, redirect your browser to www.tedxgardencity.com and click on the “Register to Attend” button. The event is strictly non-profit and a nominal charge of Rs. 250 per head is levied.

Date and Time: 12th July 2010, Beginning 8:30 AM

Venue: No. 132, A. E. C. S. Layout, IT Park Road, Bengaluru

Karnataka, India – 560037

For more info: Visit www.tedxgardencity.com

Licensee and Curator

Akash Raman
+91.9739.204.172
akash@e4si.org

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

TEDxGardenCity, where x=Independently organized event, operates under a license from TED. All Rights Reserved

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From Kolkata, India.

Terra Indica is a social business selling design products, especially wooden sculptures and furniture. It is a « social business » according to Yunus definition, as all the profit is reinvested in the company in order to increase its social impact.

The aim ? Insertion by work of youngsters from the streets of Kolkata. Arman is famous in the company because his ID says that his birthplace is « in the street ». More than a third of Terra Indica employees are like Arman, hired through local NGOs. They come and learn ebenistery,  as well as English, Bengali and mathematics during daily lessons.

It is not only about ebenistery, but also about personal development, through sport – most of them belong to a rubgy team – and complementary studies in the specialization they want.

The company is only five years old but did already a great job. “Our mission will be accomplished when bigger companies will try to steal our boys; or, better, if they go away and found their own companies”. Says the cofounder. But those achievements are played down by the company. You can find only a few words about it on their website. “We want the people to buy the products because they like them, and not because of compassion.”

The challenge is to combine social impact and quality. The product must be as good, or better, than the product of a similar company without any social mission. It is a choice that goes against what many social businesses, especially in the fair trade sector, do. Generally they raise the price and justify it by the good done to small producers. The consumer doesn’t by only the product, but also the social impact.

But Terra Indica is more pragmatic and doesn’t try to use generosity of consumers. They avoid the “cliché” of a company selling lousy products that you should purchase because they have a good impact – Unicef postcards. In a way, it is coherent with the idea of a social business which uses mechanisms of the market instead of donations. Consumer is a consumer and not a donator. He wants to buy a product at the smallest cost and do good to himself, not to small producers of street orphans.

But this line is questioned but the emerging “social goods” considered as products that you can buy and sell. Donator is no more a donator but a consumer, even if what he does is the same – give money. Now he is a consumer who pays for a counterpart : the social impact produced with his money. You can now offer as a present a microloan on Babyloan. It is also the idea of the social stock exchange evoked by Yunus in Building social business. Investors do not expect a financial return on their investment, but just “the pleasure of doing good”, which is therefore considered as a priceable and exchangeable item.

Should a social business include its social impact in its image and in the setting of its prices? Definitely. As social impact is becoming a traded good, why not include it as a quality of your product, if your enterprises is having social impact? The problem then is how much costs social impact. There the idea of a social stock exchange comes : at least it will allow us to know how much we are ready to pay for “the pleasure of doing good”.

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Christophe Plais is a French entrepreneur who launched Terra Indica, a social business based in Kolkata. The company sells wooden sculptures and furnitures and employs young adults who grew up in the street. The company is only four years old, but it already has prestige contracts, like designing the French consulate.

For Christophe Plais, being a foreign entrepreneur settling in India is not easy. “Implantation is very long. It is difficult to obtain precise information and to know who you can trust. Ethic of work is different and the rhythm is slow, which can be frustrating. But here you can find an enthusiasm and opportunities that doesn’t exist in France.”

With time, he found the way to cope with this difficulties “First, build a team with Indians and listen to their advices. Second, be very patient.” Besides, being a foreigner can be an asset. “Although getting the visa and the resident status is hard, but Indians make it a point of honor to welcome you the best.”

The main thing he learnt from his collaborators is that “In Rome, do as the Romans”. But Christophe Plais brought many Western style things to the company, like the French habit of drinking black coffee or proposing to his employees to build a rugby team. “Rugby is an excellent management tool which allows to solve relational problems in another context and to meet and spend some time together outside the company.”

His Indian associate, Apurba Banerjee, is also convinced by this East and West cocktail. “This exchange will be replicated more and more, as Europe has a growing need for man power, and Asia a growing need for skills.”

And you, would you launch a business with a foreigner?

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After his best-sellers Banker to the Poor and Creating a World Without Poverty, Muhammad Yunus brings a new contribution to the social business concept with his latest book Building Social Business. Professor of Economics, founder of the Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Yunus is regarded as the Founding Father of microcredit and social business as a concept (”non-loss, non-dividend company dedicated to achieving a social goal“). In order to enrich the debate on social business and its definition, it seems relevant to examine more closely what Yunus wants to tell us about this concept that may revolutionize the struggle against against poverty within the capitalist system.

As its title suggests, this book deals with the issue of social business in terms of construction. An opportunity for Prof. Yunus to introduce himself as the founding father of this “discipline”. In 1983 he founded the Grameen Bank which allowed thousands of poor people of Bangladesh to gain access to the credit, mitigating financial exclusion (today, 8 million customers, 97% are women). Even better, the author explains that Grameen Bank is very « profitable »… for its poor customers who are also shareholders of the bank and therefore get some dividends. Now a serial entrepreneur, Yunus has launched many similar projects since then in different areas such as healthcare, social exclusion, telecommunications, access to drinkable water or energy. From CEOs of big industries to famous academics, Yunus has also succeeded in gathering a growing community around the Grameen projects and the concept of social business.

Grameen Social Businesses

(Chapter 2,4,6 and 8 )

The chapters dealing with the creation of Grameen social businesses are very interesting since they demonstrate how these companies were launched on the ground. Here we can read the story of the JV (Joint-ventures) Grameen – Danone, Veolia Water, BASF, Intel … After telling us how he managed to rally multinational firms’ management teams to his cause (without too much difficulty), Mr. Yunus explains how they researched innovative business models to solve specific social issues. These chapters are very useful as they describe the tough challenges faced by each project. The rising price of milk with the example of nutritious yogurts for children Shokti Doi (Grameen Danone) in Bangladesh. Or in the case of Grameen Veolia Water, convincing the villagers of Goalmarie (50km from Dhaka) to pay for access to purified and drinkable water. Not an easy mission when you know that these people have never been charged for drinking water … AND that the water they have access to is contaminated with arsenic, causing cancers and skin lesions in the long term!

Tips to launch your own social business?

(Chapter 3)

This is the book’s core chapter: inspiring the readers to create social business and give them the « tricks of the trade ». From our point of view, it is the less interesting and the less informative part because the author recalls the basics for creating a « traditional » business: making a business plan, starting with a small-scale project, attracting talent, finding the good partners, fundings … While reading these lines will help the would-be entrepreneurs brush up their basics of entrepreneurship, this chapter does not contribute much to the concept of social business. It just highlights – and this may be its role – the fact that social businesses face the same challenges as traditional businesses. We note however some useful  ideas for future social entrepreneurs: increasing access to infrastructure for the poorest, adapting technologies used by rich people to meet the needs of the poor (such as Grameen Telephone ladies), or ensuring that the poor become shareholders of the company (qualified by Yunus as Type II Social Business).

A framework for social business

(Chapter 5 and 7)

These two chapters are critical because they address the need for a framework and a favorable financial environment for social business to ensure their development in the economic system. Indeed, the social businesses launched by Pr. Yunus (understand business with a social objective, making profits, but non-dividend) do not correspond to any existing legal structure. The author chose a for profit structure – rather than non-profit with commercial activities – for each Grameen social business in the absence of any appropriate status. The shareholding structure has been preferred because it allows to issue shares and attract potential investors who do not  expect any return on investment – for example foundations or NGOs.

Then Pr. Yunus addresses the idea of creating an appropriate status for social business (we will discuss this issue in a series of articles to come). Talking about recent status created in Great Britain and the United States promoting social enterprises, Yunus is not completely satisfied: whether in the case of the Community interest company (CIC) or low-profit limited liability company (L3C), this entities still allow the payment of dividends (whereas this aspect is at the heart of social business concept according to Yunus). Finally, Professor Yunus raises very interesting questions with regard to social business: should we make tax exemptions and tax breaks for social business, should we create Social Investment Funds dedicated to social business, and what about a Social Stock Exchange in order to trade shares issued by social business?

Criticizing the father

What we do criticize in this book is the constant allusion to projects labelled « Grameen » when it comes to illustrate the social business concept. Reading this book, the reader may feel that social business could be summed up to Grameen initiatives. While we love Yunus’ hyperactivity and activism, we find that the professor is erecting himself as a totem of this emerging field. Though each science implicitly elects its founding fathers, it seems essential to leave room for debate. Here we regret the virtual absence of references to other similar projects in order to show that social business is a « revolution in progress », not only a “cult” around a charismatic guru and his Yunus Center.. What is at stake ? Reaching a definition of social business and create the conditions for its development. Building social business, and not freezing it in stone.

Links to check

Grameen Veolia Water

Danone Communities

Grameen BASF

Yunus Center

Grameen Creative Lab

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Concept

Micro Home Solutions is a multi disciplinary social enterprise in India (New Delhi) whose prime objective is to provide economically viable housing solutions for under-served populations, starting with India and for communities around the world. They aim to bring low cost, hi-design housing opportunities to the urban poor on innovative financial terms suitable to them. The approach is to introduce sustainable design and adopt microfinance like principles to facilitate access to quality housing.

“Today in India, there are 82 million urban poor households living in informal settlements or rendered homeless..We provide hi-design-low-cost solutions to them on their own terms”

Founding

‘Micro Home Solutions’ is based on the following founding concepts to achieve the above objective

Affordability – designing products and interventions that are economically accessible to
communities and respect their livelihood patterns and opportunities.
Community – adopting tools and mechanisms to ensure people own, design, and manage their habitat. Mobilizing community institutions and groups of individuals to come together to govern their own living spaces. For us, working with community is the starting block and finishing end of our approach and element that drives sustainability.
Design – bringing better design to location & communities where it’s never been, but where it is needed the most. Taking each location as unique and designing the best possible standard of living with an opportunity for the household to improve it over time. Designs will need to be insightful, innovative and environmentally conscious.

Rakhi Mehra and

Marco Ferrario are the founding partners of ‘Micro Home Solutions’. Read more about them and their team of advisors

here.

Projects

DHS – Design Home Solution, Mangolpuri. Delhi

Aimed at providing clients of home-improvement loans access to technical design assistance .
Design assistance will influence self-building practices and contribute to better quality of living for the urban poor families.

Policy Advisory

Acknowledging that the urban poor households are highly segmented, our policy advisory research and writings are aimed at ensuring shelter for all (instead of home-ownership for all). Offering implementers and policy makers a portfolio of housing solutions- includes access to shelter for every target segment, including rental housing, dormitory solutions, rent to ownership models.

Incremental Rural Housing, Tanjore

Aimed at providing the poorest of the rural poor with incremental building approaches, with an opportunity to enhance it overtime.

Modular Shelter, Delhi

To bring innovative design, building practices for temporary and permanent shelter in Delhi to accommodate homeless during the winter, summer and monsoons. Attempting to introduce a business model through user-chargers to make the running of such shelters operationally sustainable.

This post is sourced from our India partners, EkSochh.com, a one-stop portal on social entrepreneurship in India.

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When dealing with the issue of Internet and new technologies, it appears frequently than people who were born during and after the birth of the Internet have not only gained strong skills in using new technologies but also developed different social behaviors. These  “Digital Natives” may have a different relation to society, information, institutions and cultural production. (See video)

Click here to view the embedded video.

As mentioned by Sunil Abraham (Center for Internet and Society in Bangalore), this is a subject of great interest among the Think Tanks whose target is to influence legislation regarding the Internet (CIS India, Berkman Center, Stanford CIS …). These influential groups have cut-and-dried positions on copyright law, on censorship, broadband policy…etc. Then they find young people (glorified as « digital natives »)  who agree with them to support and legitimize their positions. In other words, the concept is instrumentalized by these groups to activist purposes.

“We believe the truth lies somewhere in between”

This concept of Digital Native is not completely artificial; Today, some young Internet users known as cyber-activists also consider themselves as digital natives. This aspect is now part of their identity. Besides, Sunil Abraham explains that the number of young cyber-activists is getting higher. Why? Many institutions have gradually forgotten to deal with young people. Particularly non-profit organizations like NGOs that were known to be a socialization space and a playground for young people involved in social matters. “Today, this sector is getting more professional and welcome less students ; conversely, we see too many MBA ». In short, the non-profit sector has become more conservative and risk averse ; whereas Internet allows young activists to express themselves and to act freely.

Educating the Digital Natives ?

This concept has also aroused many interests from the educational community as a whole. Indeed, teachers and researchers see in Digital Natives a new challenge in the way they teach knowledge to these new generations, who communicate through social networks, “consume” media on the Internet and consider their smartphones as an extension of their body.

Find out more about Digital Natives:

• An article written by Mark Prensky (in 1991) on the difference between ‘Digital Natives” and “Digital Inmigrants”
  

• The Wikipedia article on Digital Natives:

Digital Native (Eng)

• A comprehensive Wiki on the subject. Lots of links and the opportunity to participate in the debate (unfortunately, this « arid » platform is mainly for teachers, parents and researchers …)

http://www.digitalnative.org/wiki/Main_Page

• The blog of Harvard Law on Digital Natives

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/digitalnatives/

• A survey conducted by the Center for Internet & Society (CIS Bangalore) and Hivos

Digital Natives with a cause ?

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