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KJ
Selections
Living
Deeds: Ashoka
Ken Rodgers (from KJ#53: Just Deeds)
A farsighted
global network stimulates social entrepreneurism worldwide, funding
innovatory grassroots projects that really do make a difference.
"Social entrepreneurs
are not content just to give a fish, or teach how to fish. They
will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."
—Bill
Drayton
Mahatma Gandhi
acknowledged Vinoba Bhave as his mentor. As founder of the Land
Gift Movement, Vinoba walked throughout India to introduce one simple
new idea — land for the poor. Instrumental in the redistribution
of over 7 million acres, he was a "social entrepreneur" even before
the term was invented.
The world today needs as many social entrepreneurs as it can find.
Social problems concerning poverty, health, education, civic empowerment,
and environment around the world seem as diverse as the communities
that confront them, yet governments and international aid organizations
tend to adopt "band-aid" solutions, introducing outside experts
and imported, often inappropriate concepts. Meanwhile, local people
often have sharper insights, more focused expertise and more immediate
priorities, and far more imaginative (and effective) responses.
A modern myth at the heart of the dominant world-view holds that
financially enriching oneself somehow enriches society at large.
Rare are those selfless souls who devote themselves to the benefit
of others, and rarer still are those who facilitate funding for
these social innovators who are actively developing the necessary
tools for change.
In 1980, seeing the need for a "mega-tool" capable of nurturing
and supporting key social entrepreneurs, Bill Drayton (a specialist
in economics, law, and management, with nearly a decade of experience
as a McKinsey and Co. consultant, and four years as Assistant Administrator
at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) founded Ashoka —
a small NGO with wide-reaching aims and an spectacular ability to
raise financial sponsorship. This inspired organization seeks out
exciting local initiatives, providing funding and the invaluable
multiplier effect of a networked base of peer support. Thus the
wheel is turned, and need not be endlessly reinvented.
Ashoka (meaning in Sanskrit 'the active absence of sorrow') was
named for the 3rd century B.C emperor who unified India, renouncing
violence and dedicating his life to social justice and economic
development.
Since commencing its initial program in India in 1982, Ashoka has
elected over 1,200 Fellows, actively promoting new ideas in health,
education, civic participation, environment and economic development
in 43 different countries, including six in Asia (Bangladesh, India,
Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand), and elsewhere in Africa,
Central Europe, Latin America, and most recently, the USA and Canada.
Approximately 150 new Ashoka Fellows are elected each year, through
a rigorous nomination and selection process. Their efforts are networked
through the Global Fellowship’s international and regional
meetings, one-to-one exchanges, the Innovative Learning Initiative
(ILI) or Environmental Innovations Initiative (EII), and a Fellows-only
website.
Through its innovatory "social venture capital" approach, Ashoka
has been allocating around $7 million in grants annually, donated
by individuals, foundations and business entrepreneurs world-wide,
including endowments. No government money is accepted. In 2001,
more than half of revenue came from business entrepreneurs or family
foundations, over a third from foundations and corporations, and
the remaining 10 percent from individual contributions. Operations
continue to expand; Ashoka’s budget in 2002 increased to over
$14 million.
Typically, support is provided to recently-elected Fellows for three
years, depending on their need and local salary standards, enabling
them to focus full-time on implementing their ideas. A relatively
small investment can have powerful impact, as in the following examples
selected from among the 429 Fellows currently changing Asia:
In India, Damodar Acharya set up Concern for Working Children (CWC),
to increase exponentially the number of "child labor-free zones"
in villages throughout the state of Karnataka by eliminating the
reasons for child labor migration to cities, creating "village-as-school"
educational opportunities and putting real political power in the
hands of children. Jeroo Billimoria created Childline, India’s
first 24-hour emergency telephone hotline for street children,
and Saumyadeep Datta created a youth environmental movement called
Nature’s Beckon in the turbulent north-eastern state of Assam,
seeking to transform criminal activities into eco-activism. People
formerly employed by political extremists, timber smugglers, poachers,
etc., can now use their forest-based skills to achieve both community
development and forest conservation.
Similarly, in Nepal, Anil Chitrakar founded Environmental Camps
for Conservation Awareness (ECCA) to train Nepali youth to lead
and educate their communities about environmental protection. Stella
Tamang created free, self-supporting schools that allow girls to
"learn and earn" instead of being forced to find hazardous employment
as uneducated workers in Nepal’s cities.
In Bangladesh, Iftekhar and A. H. Md. Maqsood Sinha established
a solution for massive waste problems in slum areas, and rural soil
depletion, by developing a network of decentralized, financially
self-sufficient composting centers, turning waste into a valued
local resource. Their project, adopted nationally and by UN agencies,
is attracting interest throughout South and S.E. Asia. Meanwhile
biologist Rezaul Haq is creating a new public recognition of wetlands
as valuable resources, boosting local economies and preserving habitat,
challenging the Bangladesh government’s view that wetlands
must be transformed to be useful.
In Thailand, Kumrab Phanthong is encouraging
farmers to move from "Green Revolution" monocultures back to traditionally
biodiverse polyculture, by expanding their farming abilities and
developing new marketing systems. Compatriot Jorni Odochow is reviving
and validating local indigenous language as a key component to community
development. Somsook Boonyabancha, a "public architect," has developed
an effective win-win system for "land-sharing" between urban squatters
and land-owners, providing both new accommodation and commercial
development. In a society where close to two million people live
under the constant threat of eviction, she has developed holistic
strategies that empower poor communities, improving their living
environment and amenities.
In Indonesia, Lusi Margiyani has reconceptualized women’s
rights by focusing on the socialization of young girls, producing
booklets as educational materials and regularly running eye-catching
cartoons in local newspapers. Redefining women's problems as a human
problem, she aims for a nationwide shift in behavior. Suwarni Agnesti
Rahayu (Yayuk) successfully uses the teachings of the Qur’an
to counter violence against women, creating a culturally effective
solution to a serious social problem. Another woman, Sirikit Syah,
is developing independent media watch organizations which also educate
both the public and media workers about media ethics. (Freedom of
the press has existed in Indonesia only since 1998).
In Pakistan, Reaz Ahmed is providing affordable schooling in low-income
communities, through a simple but effective strategy for stimulating
the creation of community-managed private schools. Having set up
more than 600 such schools, he is now working to replicate his system
in other communities in Karachi and elsewhere.
Another Ashoka Fellow, Qurat-Ul-Ain Bakhtiari, who grew up in a
refugee camp in Pakistan and has over 30 years of experience in
community development, is transforming the next generation of community
aid workers, introducing innovatory living-on-site training to allow
deeper analysis of local community needs, rejecting conventional
top-down, theoretical orientation. (NGOs dependent on government
money are locally referred to as "NATO" — "No Action, Talk
Only").
Since 1997, Ashoka has been tracking the effectiveness of funded
programs, and reports that of the Fellows elected in 1991, for example,
85 percent remain active in consolidating and spreading their innovations
after the end of their stipend period, 82 percent have seen other
independent groups replicating their ideas, and 73 percent have
influenced national policies. For 68 percent, Ashoka’s support
made a critical or significant difference.
While the selection process tends to favor activists with a proven
record of long-term commitment, a large proportion of Ashoka–supported
projects are clearly focused on inspiring young people with a new
and more sustainable vision of the future. Though inspiration can
never be institutionalized, Ashoka has formulated a tremendously
effective strategy to empower the future.
Access: www.ashoka.org (a
very comprehensive site, including informative profiles of all Fellows).
See also the superbly presented on-line magazine, Changemakers Journal
(www.changemakers.net), an Ashoka initiative.
And the Citizen Base Initiative (www.citizenbase.org/).
Copyright held
by the author
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