It is possible to make poverty history, provided, we follow some very basic and fundamental rules to life.

There is enough resources in the world, to meet all the essential needs of all living beings including human beings. But there is not enough to meet the greed of human beings. Animals have a level playing field - they kill when they are hungry and never save for the future. But man is greedy to amass wealth and save enormously for the future.

If we should make all transactions transparent on the web, through a single genuine bank account for all and ban currency circulation; then, there will be total transparency and accountability and most problems of greed would get exposed; and the very fact that others would come to know of your greed, as all accounts are transparent would deter people form indulging in greedy practices.

This is one sure way, poverty can be made history. Everyone would try to make an honest living and contribute to the growth of society and self.

WE DON’T CREATE JOBS, YES SUSTAINABLE FUTURE MAKE POVERTY HISTORY, NO EXCUSE 2015 HUMAN Network INDIA: IT’S OVERVIEWS AND OBJECTIVES HUMAN (Healthy Universe for Man Animal & Nature) Network INDIA is an action Network and Capacity Builder of socio-entrepreneurial NGOs (Local, National, Regional & International). HUMAN Network INDIA a major group dedicated to Sustainable Livelihoods Development in rural India in community level with the active involvement of socio-professional NGOs that at present is working in eastern India as first generation campaigner of Millennium Development Goals of UN esp. MDG 1 & 2. HUMAN Network INDIA mainly deals with the REGP (Rural Employment Generation Programme) and sustainable livelihoods for slum dwellers in cities with the active involvement of Micro level Income Generating Clusters and building capacity for NGO governance at Local, National and International level. HUMAN Network INDIA is generating employments through Peer Motivational Programmes, knowledge exchange opportunities for Capacity Building, Project Planning, Funding and Implementation within NGOs and open source ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) concern to achieve MAKE POVERTY HISTORY, NO EXCUSE 2015 through Micro- Enterprise Cluster Development Programme at no cost. Our Business Model is related to the focus of competitive market-based strategies for low-income micro-clusters with a mission towards Sustainable Future in the different steps required to bring a solution to end-client stockholders including product/service, development, production, distribution, and marketing/communication. HUMAN Network INDIA has taken up a time bound programme to maximize the REGP to eradicate extreme poverty hunger, no excuse 2015 for Micro-Enterprise Clusters, at least one SHG (Self Help Group) should be in every village with the support of world class micro enterprise cluster development tools like SI (Self Identification) PI (Product Identification) IK (Indigenous Knowledge), AT (Appropriate Technology), TQM (Total Quality Management), IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), CM (Carpet Marketing) and “HUMAN” brand being materialized through online open source action guidance from various UN (United Nations) programmes like UNDP,UNCDF,UNV,WFP,UNEP, research and training institute like UNITER, UNRISD, other UN entities like OHCHR,UNU, specialized agencies like UNESCO, FAO,WIPO, IFAD, UNIDO and partners like OneWorld, DevelopmentGateway, Paris21, OV and local universities like BCKV (Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya)& JU (Jadavpur University)

The projected area of HUMAN Network INDIA is as follows 1) Micro Enterprises /Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger MDG-1 2) Rural Education/Achieve Universal Primary Education MDG-2 3) Rural Health/Combat Malaria and other Diseases MDG-1 4) Non-Conventional Energy/Ensure Environmental Sustainability MDG-1 5) International Water/Ensure Environmental Sustainability MDG-1 HUMAN Network INDIA will use the process to support initiatives that promote both capacity development and projects, which increase incomes and link with local communities to the global economy to achieve sustainable future. Mission & Vision Sustainable livelihoods will be achieved with the support of Eco-friendly Agriculture and Micro Enterprise Cluster Development tools followed by PI, IK, AT, TQM, IPR & CM where it is hardly combat the poverty for a hunger & gender-free globe “No Excuse 2015” to have a Sustainable Future by their own. HUMAN Network INDIA wants to have its network in such a hard way to take income generation activities followed by pro-poor policies for at least one SHG in every village of India. It should be not only in touch with collective form but also every people in that respective area would enjoy sustainable livelihood to journey a short.

Please contact: Prof. Partha Kumar Mukhapadhyay, Mr. Devapriya Dhar, Mr. Dev Anand, Mr. Pinaki Mukherjee, Md. Jahangir Hossian, Mr. Asit Chatterjee & Mr. Mrinmoy Das 68, Abhay Vidyalankar Road, Kolkata 700060, West Bengal, India; Block A-1820, New Super Bazer, Delhi-33. Mobile: +91-9433390233, +91-9830632218, +91-9231824912, +91- 9831800576, +91-9434403265, +91-9830878390 & +91-9433294312; Fax: 91 33 28370169 Email: humanindia@hotmail.com Website: www.humanindia.org [under construction] Links: www.millenniumcampaign.org www.oneworld.net www.undp.org.in/un www.unvolunteer.org www.developmentgateway.org www.unido.org www.paris21.org www.fsdinternational.org www.civicus.org www.idealist.org www.wateraid.org www.bellanet.org www.wbcsd.org www.changemakers.net HUMAN Network INDIA Updated on 28.02.2006

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY Through Enterprising Bengal – “HUMAN” Model (Micro Enterprise Cluster Development Programme)

Poverty Eradication Direct Programme An Overview

Bengal, the province, extending from Darjeeling in the lap of Himalayas in the north to Sagar Island at the southern end on the coast of the Bay of Bengal has a unique position on the map of India. She also occupied the top position among the provinces of India in respect of rich heritage and diversity of folk cultures and customs. Bengal gave birth to many illustrious persons and other numerous luminaries who glorified Bengal well as India on the international forum. Bengal also occupied the topmast position in the fields of Trade and Industry. But all those are of the bygone days! Now, the Bengal, reduced in size due to partition and stripped off all her past glories, is gasping for breath under heavy odds. The surrounding eastern regional states, which so long dazzled under the glare of light from Bengal, have also been elbowed into humble positions. Unemployment is the most burning problem of the state of Bengal. This is getting deep-rooted into the society and generally assuming a malignant character creating law and order problems and eating into the very moral and aesthetic values. Unfortunately very little attempts have so far been made to combat this threatening problem since independence. Bengal like all other parts of India is a villages oriented state. About 76% of the population here lives in villages. But, of late, there is a trend among the village people to live their rural hearths and habitations and flock to the cities and towns in search of employment and livelihood. This inflow of large number of people from villages to cities and towns is jeopardizing the economic and social structures of both the rural and the urban areas. It is also revealing the extreme dismal picture of the villages, which it is thus an imperative necessity that special attention and importance must be given towards development of the villages. That’s why if the villages prosper the cities and towns and will also thrive automatically. But the reverse is not true. With the mood of cogitation we have chalked out ‘Bengal Model’ – an all around development programme for the rural Bengal which is as detailed below: Nearly 50 percent of the world's hungry live in India, a low-income, food- deficit country. Around 35 percent of India's population - 350 million - is considered food-insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum energy requirements. Bengal – a State has 19 Districts (Rural & Urban). It has 341 Blocks and within it 3358 Gram Panchayats. If we want to eradicate poverty upto a standard limit, we have to reach deep into the villages and try to solve their problem with the direct involvement of the villagers. So we have tried to come up with this model.

If we can think of one NGO at the Block level i.e., 341 NGOs at different Block of Bengal. This NGO should have its three years registration, three year old Bank Account and three years Audited Balance Sheet. It should have an Executive Body with atleast one-third as female members and all should be have class ten std. education. 60% of the general members should be below the age of 30 years. The NGO should have its own Land and Building and all together the asset value of Rs. 300,000/- (Rupees Three Lakh only). The advisory members should be in such a position that they are either a Primary school teacher or equivalent to that. The NGO to have atleast three salaried staff (part time or full time) of one Science graduate, one Commerce graduate and one general stream graduate. If any NGO can fulfils those criteria, they may be entitled to get a loan of Rs. 25,00,000/= (Rupees Twenty Five Lakh only) under margin money scheme from different Govt. agencies. Our duty is to interact them to build their capacity by various means. Thus those 341 NGOs can give direct employment to approx 86,273 men and women directly and many others indirectly through action programme of Micro Enterprise Cluster Development programme under the framework of Pro-poor Polices. 1 NGO at the Block Level can look after (nurse) 10 NGOs at the Gram Panchayat (just think every Block has 10 Gram Panchayats on an average).

When we talk about 3358 Gram Panchayats in West Bengal, they also should fulfill the criteria set for Block Level NGO but some relaxation has been given for those. In case of salaried staff instead of graduates involved, XII std. pass can be approved. The asset value of Panchayat Level NGO should be atleast Rs.1, 25,000/= (Rupees One Lakh Twenty Five Thousand only). If any NGO fulfill those criteria, they may be entitled to get loan under margin money scheme of Rs. 10,00,000/= (Rupees Ten Lakh only) from different agencies under REGP (Rural Employment Generation Programme). Thus those 3354 NGOs at Panchayat Level can provide direct employment to 3,66,062 men and women and many more indirectly.

Thus the total investment of Rs. 420,65,00,000/= (Rupees Four hundred Twenty Crores and Sixty Five Lakh only) can fetch employment opportunities to 4,52,335 Nos men and women directly and many more will be benefited. If any investor comes to Bengal and invest Rs. 50 Thousand Crores and provide employment to 1 Lakh, whereas the involvement of mere 1% to their investment, we can provide employment to 4.5 times more. Foreign investors will employ very selective candidates whichever they wants to do whereas in our model, we don’t demarcate the sectors from where we select, as it is known “ The Heart of Bengal still lives in Villages”.

HUMAN Network INDIA First Generation Campaigner of Millennium Development Goals, UN Please contact: humanindia@hotmail.com Portal; www.humanindia.org (under construction)

"WE DON’T CREATE JOBS, YES SUSTAINABLE FUTURE"

Hi David, I'd like to point you to one of the finalists of our Market-Based Strategies competition: "The HealthStore: Using Micro-Franchising to Improve Access to Life-Saving Medicines." This is a fabulous model, and one that you might want to look at for your food store idea. Even though the Foundation is focused on health care, the principles on which their model is based might suit your especial needs. Here is the link: http://www.changemakers.net/journal/300508/displayfec.cfm?ID=71 Good luck! Kalpana

I have lived a nd worked in the South Bronx in New York all my adult life. The poverity here is tremendous and hunger is a real and constant event in this community. The price and quality of food in this community is horrendous and the rates of heart disease and diabities is staggering. Very successful models exist for community based food cooperatives throughout the world and there are at least two food co-ops here in nyc (in Brooklyn and Manhattan) but these arelocated in affluent communities where people buy high end, organically grown, gourmet food. Much of this communityrelies on food stamps. People here are not lasy, just very poor, disabled and unskilled. We want our purcahsing power to go further and in doing so change the course of the social direction of the community. We are envisioning a store front operation and a community garden and we envision this being a membership driven program. there are about 10 of us commited to making this happen as it would be a milestone event in a community that has more in common with people in th edeveloping world then Manattan I am open to all suggestions, help, guidence and prayers to help accomplish this effort. My thanks and hopes for peace go with you...

Hi,

We are a group of people working towards achieving universal primary education in India. As a part of this, we have been supporting some schools that are capable. We realized that , education in itself is not sufficient . If we could provide some way to alleviate the people from poverty, it would become a sustainable model. We are brooding over offering some vocational courses also, along with education , to bring the kids out of poverty. In one of our schools, we have seen children making good paper bags that could be used by shops/ commercial establishments. The quality of the product seems to be good, however the cost price is not competitive. There are some more art pieces like flowere vases etc which seem marketable. Now, the question in front of us, is how to market them. Since all of us are new to enterpreneurship, we are in a fix as to how to establish the supply chain.

Would be great if you can give suggestions, on how we could proceed. Thanks Srilatha Kappagantula

Hi! I’m megha kochhar , a third year student of B.A.Hons. economics at shri ram college of commerce, delhi university. I plan to do an MBA starting 2006 but my eventual aim is to become a social entrepreneur. It may seem a bit immature but I’m sending my plan details to you. I read about your organization during my search on the net and found some very interesting ideas of enterprises put up for rating on the changemakers site. I would be very obliged if you could spend some time going through this mail and give me a feedback on this idea as well as suggestions I could incorporate. So here goes…..

I’d like to start an NGO for rehabilitation of women starting with about 15 ladies ; and an institutional setup of a building , certain teachers , transport arrangement , food , clothing and their basic needs , essentially – either- self financed or through a soft bank loan. The aim of this program is primarily providing these women a safe haven and catering to their basic needs. But what the NGO plans to do with a long- term perspective is to free these 15 odd women from the vicious tangles of poverty and give them a life of dignity, permanently i.e. their empowerment being the prime concern. For this the NGO adopts the market strategy of taking up 2 or 3 manual labour intensive activities wherein raw materials are locally available and setup costs are not too steep. These could be for instance:

1. laundry which a guesthouse or motel might have outsourced. 2. setting up a newspaper distribution agency. 3. nursery for greens and potted plants. 4. tiffin service for neighbouring offices. 5. block printed bedsheets and cushion covers which could be distributed via a tie up with bigger NGOs like CRY and HELPAGE India.

Also funds shall be invited from volunteer donors/sponsors while offering them the following benefits:

# tax rebates on the donated amount # transperancy with respect to donated funds. # full information via an annual report of accounts and inviting them for sessions at the NGO. # easy donation through cash. # a small token in the form of a monthly dividend from the activities undertaken by the NGO.

Also the NGO would ^ get a rating and registration from a centralized body. ^ appeal to the govt. for reciprocal subsidies especially for establishment expenses and raw materials purchased by the NGO for production.

Through this , gradually, I’d like to do my bit and standby the motto that “ social entrepreneurship is not giving a person a fish a day and neither is it merely teching people how to fish: it is infact working at the grassroot level to revolutionize the whole fishing industry”.

Along with this I’ve posted a few queries which I need to know in order to better this plan:

1. is an NGO allowed to take cash donation to make it like a voluntary disclosure scheme? 2. is there an organization –consisting of govt. officials, IMF, World Bank members and NGO heads that rates other NGOS? 3. can I invest the NGO earnings in mutual funds or the stock market or real estate business for chances of speculative gain or is an NGO supposed to be risk averse? 4. is corporate sponsorship possible for an NGO and if yes what are the general terms and conditions like? 5. what other more contemporary activities can be taken up in this NGO? 6. I would like to incorporate two more things in this model but I don’t know how to go about it,,,,,so suggestions are more than welcome: # if the women bring along their children can we have healthcare facilities for them? # can the money so generated be used to sponsor education of these children?

Eagerly awaiting a response.

Dear Ms. Fatima,

Many thanks for your valuable queries. We are answering according to your questions:

While reading your application you listed as one of your challenges the land’s scarcity for setting up composting plants inside the urban area. You said that usually this land is provided by the public sector and that might be the difficulty. What other sources for land have you considered or could you use?

Compared to other cities, Dhaka is a land hungry city and availability of land for decentralized composting is a major challenge. Initially, in 1995 we managed to use (free, without any rent) a piece of land inside Dhaka city owned by Lions Club (an international philanthropic organization) located in Dhaka to experiment with our concept of community based decentralized composting model. After seeing its success, Public Works Department (PWD) and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) of the government willingly supported us with a number of vacant lands (150 m2 to 400 m2) located within Dhaka city. Here, motivation of public sector to let us use their land was to reduce their burden, cost and enhance their image. Later after demonstration effect of Dhaka city, other small towns were encouraged to let other private operators to use their vacant lands for similar projects. Here the public sector remains the owner of the land, they are only allowing others to use the land for composting purpose. After having proven model of composting system and ensured market of compost, private operators outside Dhaka city (outside Dhaka land price is reasonable) are procuring land for compost plants as a long-term lease basis and even in some instance purchasing land from private owners. Recently, Waste Concern has also come into a long-term lease arrangement with a private landowner for its 8-ton capacity composting plant in the fringe of Dhaka city. Most recently, harnessing the benefit from the sale of carbon using Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Venture of WWR and Waste Concern is purchasing a 7 hector privately owned land for the purpose of establishing a 700 tons capacity composting plant in the fringe of Dhaka city.

There was a common perception by the government officials that there is no land available inside the city to accomodate decentralized compost plant. To challenge this wrong perception with the support from RUDO/USAID-South Asia, Waste Concern conducted a survey in 1998 to varify whether there is enough land for composting. Study showed that even with one of the highest density Dhaka city, it has enough unused/fallow government land to accomodate community based composting plants inside the city.

Would it be possible to establish partnership with individuals or private companies that own land where composing plants could work and in exchange pay them a fee or allow them to have a percentage of the income? At present there are no such experiences of partnership between individuals or private companies that own land. But, composing plants being replicated in other cities are having the experience of Municipal Owned and Privately Operated (MOPO) experience where municipalities has constructed the composting facilities with the technical support from Waste Concern. Municipalities (land owner) are sub-contracting this community composting plants to local NGOs or private sectors in exchange of royalty. We believe in near future partnership between private landowners with individuals or private companies may take place in Bangladesh.

Also, what do you think the best strategies to commercialize the compost are? Why do you consider that the public sector should be the one in charge?

We never considered the public sector to be in charge of marketing of compost. Public sector can create conducive environment for marketing of compost by positive agriculture policy where compost and enriched compost are promoted by tax incentives or subsidy. Instead of marketing compost by ourselves, we established partnership with an experienced private chemical fertilizer marketing company having extensive network of sales center all over the country. Map Agro a private sector markets two types of compost one is fine raw compost and another is enriched compost (enriched with chemical nutrients based on crop and soil type). Map Agro markets it product by Alpha Agro. This compost became very popular among farmers because they have to invest less and can grow more with enriched compost and in the long run it helps their soil to regain its organic matter and improve soil structure. Here, it should be mentioned that fertilizer marketing is based on credit basis and trust. Local dealers of fertilizer sales the fertilizer on credit basis and farmers repay back as soon as he harvest his crop and this whole trade is based on trust and experience shows that farmers repayment is very much satisfactory. Could not other agents intervene in this process? What about private companies interested in Social Corporate Responsibility projects? At present apart from one single private marketing company, Waste Concern is trying to involve more private companies to market its product all over the country. Initially, private both the Map and Alpha agro were not interested to market compost project, because it was not a conventional product. Later, Waste Concern motivated the owner of Alpha Agro to deal in compost product, which brought financial benefit as well as enhanced corporate social image as they were marketing an environment friendly product. Initially Waste Concern came into a contract of 200 tons per year in the year 2000, today Map and Alpha Agro are demanding 50,000 ton of compost per year from Waste Concern.

Finally, one more challenge that I’d add is related to all health requirements and benefits that employees working in the composting plants must comply with and receive. Do you receive any special support from the health ministry of your country or the appropriate government authority for this matter? How do you ensure that employees work under healthy conditions while they’re at the plants?

Initially all the workers previously dealing with waste recycling were exposed to mixed waste with chance of potential toxic or infectious waste inside it. In our compost plants waste is not mixed with other commercial, industrial or clinical waste with potential danger. Waste is collected through house-to-house waste collection system from the community, where each and every household under the service pays monthly charge (US $ .25 to .30 per month/ households/month). Field workers and waste collectors regularly motivate the community people to segregate their waste into organic, inorganic and toxic fraction. Waste coming to the composting plant is only coming from the households and vegetable markets not from any healthcare facility or industries. No, we did not receive any support from the ministry of health regarding health issue. In the compost plant Workers are provide with protective groves, boots and mask to give them protection from any possible germs. Compared to previous working condition these workers has fewer occupational hazards during activities carried out inside a composting plant. Waste Concern provides regular health check-up for the workers. Waste Concern has been monitoring the health of its workers directly involved in composting plants. Workers directly in contact with waste are provided with proper training on identification of waste, proper hygiene & washing and housekeeping of the composting plant. So far, accept minor cuts and one incidence of broken limb of a worker, no health hazards were found in the workers.

Greetings,

Anitchka raised some questions (re-pasted here) about what drivers are needed to change behavior among low-income people in the bottom of the pyramid. The answers to those questions depend a lot on how you're engaging with the BOP and what skills and resources they already have. There are many excellent organizations in this group that have taken action and shown innovative ways of engaging with the BOP. What I can do is look at these questions from one perspective and one approach and discuss what is working for us.

The World Bank recently reported that there are three key variables that low-income people need to fight poverty. 1. economic opportunity 2. empowerment 3. security http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVERTY/Resources/WDR/overview.pdf

This report supports the concept of market-based solutions to poverty alleviation.

Although it is somewhat difficult to define opportunity, empowerment and security and even more difficult to state what levels of each of these variables a person needs in order to rise from an oppressive, impoverishing situation, I've found that this study provides a useful framework for evaluating the way we engage with low-income/BOP individuals.

Our goal is to teach low-income individuals to become micro- entrepreneurs. We help low-income immersion Spanish tutors (other languages to come) become online tutors ("Low-Income Tutors Sell/Teach Online Lessons at http://www.SpeakShop.com"). We provide them with audio/videoconferencing tools and an open, global marketplace for selling their services. To ensure tutors have opportunity, empowerment and security, our approach is multi-pronged:

1. Education/Training - the website is easy to use and translated for the tutor, but training is still needed to ensure a level of proficiency and comfort before a tutor ever speaks with an actual customer. We also provide basic business and marketing training and advertising templates that tutors can customize. We've found that once tutors start controlling their wages and earning higher incomes by running their own online businesses, they become more entrepreneurial -- or, quite possibly, an entrepreneurial human instinct kicks in.

2. Empowerment - For their interaction with us, we ensure empowerment by making it possible for them to control their online business. They set their own rates and hours and they are held accountable for the quality of their work through public customer feedback. We also constantly seek feedback from tutors and keep very open lines of communication. We also support them when customer service issues arise. They gain empowerment by seeing the results of their efforts. When customers are happy, they sign up for more lessons, tell their friends about their tutor and tutors make more money.

3. Security - Normally, tutors are expendable, low-wage laborers hired on and let go based on the ebbs and flows of tourism. The current Hurricane aftermath in Guatemala illustrates the precariousness of depending on tourism for your living - natural disasters, poor weather, violent activity are just some factors that often destroy tourism. Tutors who teach online can reach thousands...millions...of people across borders. They can control their schedules and rates, which means they do not have to give up other jobs to ease into entrepreneurship. Also, we don't charge them, which eases concerns and barriers to participation.

4. Economic oportunity - The Internet democratizes access to economic opportunity. Millions of customers are suddenly available where there were none. It is very important to have a receptive market for the product or services you sell. Fortunately, tutors have a service that plenty of people want to buy: learning Spanish from a great teacher and having the opportunity to interact with a human being in another country. We provide the website, tools and marketing to ensure tutors have a ready ecommerce opportunity.

Saludos and thanks for the discussion,

Cindy

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October 12 '05, 9:10 How do we generate behavioral change in the BOP and all other agents engaged with it? Poste by: Anitchka Avdotya, Educacion Services Consultant

Dear all,

All new processes happening within the BOP have brought new challenges for our current economic models. One of these challenges is changing behaviors within the low-income communities and those who want to make business with them, serve them, or just approach them. What do you all think would be the main driver that could lead to a behavioral change of these communities, individuals, corporations, and other agents engaged in this process?

For the BOP, would the driver be education? If so, what do you recommend other organizations to do in order to make education and its delivery to communities in an effective manner and with a noticeable impact? Or would it be economic development? Would people change once they see their income increase?

For businesses, are we talking about profits only? Or are companies just trying to comply with some Corporate Social Responsibility? Or is there any hope that with new economic models and opportunities, businesses shift their way of engaging with the BOP?

What do you think? Thanks, Anitchka

Mark,

Thank you for outlining this outstanding initiative.

As the Founder of the Integrative Federation, it is encouraging to learn what a small group of like-minded catalysts has done already to help achieve bottom-up integrative improvement as outlined at http://www.integrative-thinking.com .

I look forward to learning more and hope we will be able to collaborate in some way in the near future.

Graham

Below is background information about a soon-to-be released study on "digital donors" as a stimulus to free market reforms and asset-based self-help initiatives in developing countries.

The Sabre Foundation/Whitehead Foundation-sponsored paper -- "New Catalysts for Sustainability: A Global Opportunity for Digital Philanthropy" -- has been about a year in the making. It is set for Saturday, October 15 publication.

The white paper explores how philanthropies can extend challenge grant offers via the Internet to leverage new asset endowments for local nonprofits, including local scholarship funds that expand access to learning in troubled areas of the world.

We hope participants in Changemakers will find the ideas of interest. A copy of the full, newly-updated report is on the web at http://tinyurl.com/dovec. You'll see highlights below on ways that a new generation of digital grants can generate asset commitments poor communities.

Actual projects incorporating strategies set out in the white paper are now under way in Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan, where Openworld has been helping to launch land grant and microvoucher initiatives. Background and links are at the www.openworld.com web site.

We look forward to your review and to any upcoming communications.

Best,

Mark Frazier www.openworld.com 202.257.2574

===========================

FOR RELEASE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2005 Press Contact: Mark Frazier - 202.257.2574

SABRE FOUNDATION WHITE PAPER EXPLORES CHALLENGE GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR LAUNCHING SUSTAINABLE GRASSROOTS SELF-HELP INITIATIVES

Donors can offer digital donations -- gifts in electronic form -- for leveraging policy reforms and "land grant" endowments that benefit grassroots groups in troubled areas, according to a white paper that distills findings from an 11-month research project on global trends in digital philanthropy.

Entitled "New Catalysts for Sustainability: A Global Opportunity for Digital Philanthropy," the white paper describes a new challenge grant approach for philanthropies to encourage communities around the world to launch self-funding systems that expand grassroots access to learning, health care, and job opportunities.

The research effort, conducted by Mark Frazier under the sponsorships of the Massachusetts-based Sabre Foundation and Brussels-based Sabre Europe with funding from the Whitehead Foundation and private donors, proposes that current forms of digital donations such as free software and online reference materials be extended to include microscholarships for eLearning and microvouchers for health care resources.

"These new forms of giving can spread grassroots access to valued education and health information resources around the world, much as microfinance innovations have brought private capital within reach of tens of millions of small and new entrepreneurs," said white paper author Mark Frazier, President of Openworld Inc., a nonprofit Washington-based group that specializes in design of self-funding information technology ventures in emerging markets.

Given the rapid plunge in telecommunications costs and the rise of new online payment systems, the white paper notes that it is now possible for philanthropies to extend their reach by offering digital donations on a basis that can catalyze self-funding nonprofit initiatives even in remote areas of the world.

The white paper notes that expanding bandwidth enables philanthropies to bypass cumbersome and corrupt bureaucracies, and to target resources in ways that reach local nonprofits directly. By combining digital technologies with such traditional devices as scholarships, land grants, and challenge grants, local nonprofits can seize opportunities to break out of dependency upon current external subsidies and charitable giving.

The report charts detailed practical steps that can be taken by philanthropies and their non-profit clients. It notes that philanthropists can offer bundled digital donations to reward communities that agree to make local nonprofit groups beneficiaries of land grants, and that commit to new liberalizing policies raising the value of these stakeholdings. The land grant strategy builds upon the successful examples of U.S. government land transfers to universities following passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, and of land grant endowments now benefiting universities in Thailand and the Philippines.

Key factors in choosing areas to receive digital donations can include local agreements to:

- remove outmoded telecommunications regulatory constraints;

- introduce transparent eGovernment systems that simplify startup and operating procedures for business and social entrepreneurs; and

- adopt land registry reforms that can substantially raise property values and attract inflows of diaspora and other private sector investment.

"Normally, advocates of these changes have had limited leverage, because tangible gains from adopting reforms often take time to reach the public," said Frazier. Digital donations offer a means for community residents to experience a wide range of benefits with little or no delay.

Moreover, the white paper notes that vesting highly-regarded nonprofit groups with ownership interests in “greenfield” land grants can establish a growing asset base for local self-help initiatives, expanding the services they provide to communities as liberalizing reforms take hold.

"Large rises in land values can be generated by introducing titling reforms and other needed economic policy innovations on properties held by nonprofit groups," said Frazier. "Planting seeds for 'open world zones' modeled after the freeport policies of Singapore and Dubai can result in enormous asset creation for microvoucher funds and for active local self-help groups.”

In addition to laying out the framework for catalytic digital donation strategies, the white paper provides "toolkit" resources in its appendices that can be put to immediate use by philanthropies and local nonprofit groups interested in launching replicable and scalable sustainability initiatives.

Frazier noted that moves to offer digital donations on a challenge grant basis may help to open a new era in philanthropy, in which donors promote the long-term sustainability of recipient organizations around the world rather than continuing dependence upon external subsidy.

An advance review copy of the final Sabre Foundation-sponsored white paper is available for downloading at http://tinyurl.com/dovec (an 80-page report in Adobe Acrobat format).

The following web pages provide background on Openworld (www.openworld.com) initiatives implementing the white paper strategies, including microscholarship and land grant projects in Sri Lanka and Kyrgystan:

- Horizon Lanka Microscholarships (www.microscholarships.org) - Kyrgyz eCenter Initiative: Academy for Educational Development and Openworld with USAID support (http://tinyurl.com/88hfe)

“What type of investment is needed to spread the market-based strategies that benefit low-income communities? What are the right expectations for social and financial returns? What changes are needed with regards to legal frameworks and national policies to enable the right kind of investment?”

A crucial dimension of the Artisan-Owned Direct Distribution Model is the way in which stock-inventory is financed in order to qualify the village-based producer group to be able to sell direct to retailers via Internet and DHL/UPS International.

Due to the onerous banking system, and due to restrictive tax and legal conditions, and especially due to the costs associated with soliciting grants and loans, we were forced to innovate a completely new mechanism for providing the necessary financial infusion in order to insure the success of any artisan enterprise.

Again, we are more than happy to provide and recommend this model for the productive use of our fellow artisans and producers throughout the Third World.

http://www.artcamp.com.mx/AODDM/SEFI/ Social Enterprise Financial Instrument

Best wishes to all persons of good will from Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico!

http://www.artcamp.com.mx/TA/taxco.html Taxco del Alarcon

Dear Colleagues,

Anitchka Avdotya has raised some basic questions.

Education is a very broad term but I would tend to put education for living sustainably in our world as the first priority. More specifically, we could begin with training in planning and organising based on our current scientific understanding of the human mind.

This training can be very low in cost and be delivered quickly through existing educational institutions and community organisations by employing current technology.

It could incorporate the many practical tools brought forward in entries in this competition and other such tools known about by entrants.

A web-based framework for offering these tools that embodies a new "bottom-up" economic model is outlined in the Integrative Improvement Institutes Project entry.

Organisations interested in joining the Integrative Federation but are inhibited by the price of the learning modules and templates offered at www.integrative-thinking.com may obtain a single copy of each at whatever price the organisation certifies it can afford. Arrangements for obtaining multiple copies are negotiable with each organisation.

Graham

Dear all,

All new processes happening within the BOP have brought new challenges for our current economic models. One of these challenges is changing behaviors within the low-income communities and those who want to make business with them, serve them, or just approach them. What do you all think would be the main driver that could lead to a behavioral change of these communities, individuals, corporations, and other agents engaged in this process?

For the BOP, would the driver be education? If so, what do you recommend other organizations to do in order to make education and its delivery to communities in an effective manner and with a noticeable impact? Or would it be economic development? Would people change once they see their income increase?

For businesses, are we talking about profits only? Or are companies just trying to comply with some Corporate Social Responsibility? Or is there any hope that with new economic models and opportunities, businesses shift their way of engaging with the BOP?

What do you think? Thanks, Anitchka

Following up with the same topic on challenges, started by Fatima, I'd like to address the following question to the eRECICLAJE project, and also those projects which have faced or are facing the same challenges.

Felipe, the innovative way of creating employment generated by e-RECICLAJE seems to be a great tool to fight poverty and environmental concerns.

However, now that your organization is in the scaling up stage, new challenges rise. Among those, the protection of basic labor rights is key in the development of possible expansion strategies. Do you have an especial plan to ensure that child labor rights will be respected as well as basic labor rights of all workers engaged with your organizations?

Thanks, Franklin

Dear A. H. Md. Maqsood Sinha and Iftekhar Enayetullah,

Let me congratulate you for such great idea. While reading your application you listed as one of your challenges the land’s scarcity for setting up composting plants inside the urban area. You said that usually this land is provided by the public sector and that might be the difficulty. What other sources for land have you considered or could you use? Would it be possible to establish partnership with individuals or private companies that own land where composing plants could work and in exchange pay them a fee or allow them to have a percentage of the income?

Also, what do you think the best strategies to commercialize the compost are? Why do you consider that the public sector should be the one in charge? Could not other agents intervene in this process? What about private companies interested in Social Corporate Responsibility projects?

Finally, one more challenge that I’d add is related to all health requirements and benefits that employees working in the composting plants must comply with and receive. Do you receive any special support from the health ministry of your country or the appropriate government authority for this matter? How do you ensure that employees work under healthy conditions while they’re at the plants?

Thanks and I hope you keep up the good work!

Dear Colleagues,

This is in response to the folowing questions from the Changemakers Team.

“What type of investment is needed to spread the market-based strategies that benefit low-income communities? What are the right expectations for social and financial returns? What changes are needed with regards to legal frameworks and national policies to enable the right kind of investment?”

There can be no one "right" kind of investments and expectations in an absolute sense as that would imply somebody setting a standard of what is "right" for all circumstances and all people. However, we can suggest a direction in which we all could go.

In my view, the most rewarding direction is from the bottom-up - to formulate, express and communicate the demands for goods and services that would, in the opinion of the people directly affected, most improve their well-being in a balanced, integrative way now.

As regards social and financial returns we need to adopt measures and time-frames appropriate to the circumstances not impose the usual short- term approaches based on "return" to money providers (shareholders/donors).

Legal frameworks and national policies need to adapt to this bottom-up, integrative improvement approach.

This bottom-up demand-based approach would clarify the opportunities and reduce the costs for money providers.

Kind regards,

Graham Integrative Improvement Institutes Project

Greetings,

I wanted to comment upon how impressed I am by the wealth of knowledge and the entrepreneurial spirit that came across as I read each essay submission. It is an honor to serve and to be associated with such an august group of social entrepreneurs!

I would like to take a few minutes of your time to provide additional information regarding Redux. Redux provides reentry gateway services to parolees and ex-offenders who have been recently released from prison and jail. Upon release they are mandated by their Parole Agents to attend our "Orientation Seminar". We distribute a twelve page community resource guide which contains hundreds of agencies providing resources and support (food, clothing, shelter, employment, churches, medical, substance abuse treatment programs, etc.) located throughout the community.

We have representatives from various Federal, State and County agencies provide "Benefits Overview" presentations. The Human Services Agency provides immediate food stamp benefits. The Department of Public Health provides immediate medical and dental benefits. The Social Security Administration describes how to apply for SSI, Supplemental Security Income, and SSDI, Social Security Disability Income. The Department of Rehabilitation provides various programs for the developmentally and physically challenged. The Department of Labor and the Employment Development Division provides various employment and educational/vocational training opportunities. The goal was to present the available resources to the ex-offender in a simplified and unified manner.

Our primary goal is to support them in achieving self-reliance, self- sustainment and reintegrating back into the community. The best way for them to keep out of trouble and from recommitting another crime is for them to find work. With a regular income the ex-offender can find a place to live, put food on the table and begin to turn his/her life around. Unfortunately, most people look down upon this ever growing segment of society and are not willing to employ them. Redux's "Ready2Work" program acts as an intermediary, a buffer of sorts between the employer and the employee who is actually a subcontractor to Redux. Redux bonds them through the Department of Labor, Federal Bonding Program, and we go out into the community and find work for them. Although we don't charge our clients (ex-offenders/parolees) a fee we do extract an administrative surcharge directly from the employer. The employer pays Redux and we in turn pay our subcontractors.

For example, we recently entered into an agreement with a large nationwide moving and storage company to provide ex-offenders as furniture movers. They will call in the morning as say we need ten movers for the day. We supply the ready labor and they pay us $12 per hour for the service, and we pay our moving subcontractors $10 per hour. Keeping $2 per hour per subcontractor to help offset any administrative processing and placement costs.

After reading our entry "Parolee/Ex-Offender Employment, Housing, and Reentry Gateway Services", for more detailed information regarding Redux and its programs please read on.

Per Bureau of Justice Statistics as of September 2005, there are currently more than 2.19 million Americans who are incarcerated in our country's prison system with America's youth as the fastest growing population incarcerated. A total of 6,889,800 (4,073,987-probation and 774,588- parole) under adult correctional supervision with Texas and California leading the nation in number of adults supervised in the community. To put global incarceration rates into perspective, their are 8,750,000, people currently incarcerated throughout the world and while the United States only accounts for 4.6% of the world's global population, it is the number one country in terms of incarcerated populations accounting for over 22% of the world's global incarceration rate; incarcerating on average 1,348 males and 123 females per 100,000 of its citizenry even though crime is at an all time 30 year low with violent crime constituting only 4.6% of arrests in the U.S. At least 95% of all United States prisoners will be released from prison at some point.

The average cost of incarceration to American society is $60 billion annually or $22,000 per individual nationwide and a high of $36,000 per individual in California. The leading states in terms of incarceration rates are: California, Texas, Florida and New York. In the last five years alone, the California parolee population has quadrupled. More than 125,000 adult parolees are now returned to California communities each year whereby California now has over 20% of the United States parolee population. The average characteristic of a typical California parolee are: median age is 37 consisting of 89% males and 11% females whose race is 32% White; 26% Black; 38% Hispanic and 5% Other. The parolee's commitment offenses are 26% persons; 29% property; 33% drugs and 12% other. The offender returning to the community is confronted with a number of challenges in becoming a member of that community which range from economic and psychological obstacles to sociological barriers often without family support (families do not generally welcome ex-convicts back with open arms), and with the stigma of discrimination and a prison record. In order for the ex-offender to successfully reintegrate back into the community and lead a crime-free life they require: a safe place to live, a good job, a loving mentor, healthy relationships, a changed heart, a welcoming church (being spiritually grounded is helpful), freedom from addiction, healed relationships with family and friends, repairing harm done to the offender's victims, earning the good graces of the community, access to medical and mental health services and restored disenfranchised citizenship rights. To support crime-free lives, ex-offenders must be able to secure housing and find employment in their communities. This is Redux's primary focus. Working with ex-offenders Redux has learned many lessons one of which is that they need to have short-, medium-, and long- term objectives that contribute to the realization of their goals. Meaningful employment can provide a stabilizing influence by involving ex- offenders in pro-social activities and assisting them in structuring their time, improving their self-esteem, and meeting their financial obligations. Ex-offenders with stable jobs that provide an adequate income are less likely to commit further crimes. Pertaining to the ex-offender worker, our studies indicate that most employers who had hired ex- offenders in the past experienced positive results with them as employees and that employers are motivated by skills and labor shortages when they consider hiring ex-offenders. One of the first barriers an individual faces when released from prison/jail is housing. Most ex-offenders lack the financial resources or personal references necessary to secure housing in the private housing market; and federal/state laws bar many ex-offenders from public housing and government assisted housing programs. Additionally, there is a lack of access to transitional housing programs for ex-offenders returning to the community. Transitional housing programs ease an ex-offender's reentry into the community by providing a short term place to live where they can build up enough resources to secure more permanent long term housing. As a result many individuals go to homeless shelters when they are released from prison/jail. The first months out of prison are also a high-risk, high-need period for housing and other services. A recent study by the Bureau of Justice found that parolees who entered homeless shelters after leaving state prisons were seven times more likely to abscond during the first month after release than those who had some form of housing. Accomplishing prison reform through offender reentry initiatives is not a new concept to either the field of corrections or to court systems at any level of government. Both have historically provided variant programming and sanctions in an effort to change behavior and have enacted or improved policies or rendered legal decisions in order to reform institutional operations. The potential, however, has yet to be fully demonstrated. At the same time, it is clear that the attainment of further prison reform through offender reentry programs has become the catalyst toward court- corrections partnerships, particularly in the context of drug and reentry court initiatives and the maintenance of greater offender accountability. Yet recently, the concept of offender reentry is spurring a spirit of cooperation between courts, corrections and other justice partners to the realization of a mutual goal toward greater prison reform. Redux is currently seeking to strategically leverage and maximize the value of discrete local, state, federal, and private sources (foundations and grants), direct traditional and non-traditional funding opportunities to support reentry initiatives, working towards self-sufficiency as a corporation, by generating and coordinating various funding streams using a variety of projects and programs, human resource employment contracts, call-center projects and any other future revenue streams Redux can develop, such as:

Text from President Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address: "Tonight I ask you to consider another group of Americans in need of help. This year, some 600,000 inmates will be released from prison back into society. We know from long experience that if they can't find work, or a home, or help, they are much more likely to commit more crimes and return to prison. So tonight, I propose a four-year, 300 million dollar Prisoner Re- Entry Initiative to expand job training and placement services, to provide transitional housing, and to help newly released prisoners get mentoring, including from faith-based groups. America is the land of the second chance - and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life. I have opened billions of dollars in grant money..."

There are many gaps in the current corrections system's ability to provide services to ex-offenders transitioning from prison/jail back to their communities. Many of the barriers that prevent ex-offender's successful transition back to their communities can be addressed by improving the current system so that existing resources are available systematically and delivered in a coordinated fashion among multiple agencies. Implementing system reforms that emphasize collaboration between agencies serving ex- offenders can greatly improve the services ex-offender's receive. Additionally, legislation requiring some level of post-release supervision for ex-offenders that incorporates the use of validated assessment tools and treatment services is needed to address many of the gaps in the current system. Successful transitions of ex-offenders into the community benefits everyone. An ex-offender who succeeds in establishing connections and a support system in their community is less likely to commit further crime and increase their ability to live crime-free lives.

As Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, "A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens, but by how it treats its criminals", and Mahatma Gandhi said, "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." It's time that we deal with the millions of ex-offenders across the United States of America and worldwide, and fix this abominable problem. After all "If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes the same village to take that wayward child and bring him/her back into the fold."

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully submitted,

Joe Ciappina

Even though Artcamp's AODDM submission describes the model we have worked on for many years, trying be successful by marketing directly to retailers overseas, I am concerned that most people (unless they are artisan groups) will not understand. For this reason I wish to provide some examples of the kind of templates that we intend to make available to rural producers.

The AODDM proposal declines gross outside financial input as NOT necessary because the AODDM should be profitable for the village producer groups and it is the profitability of the AODDM that ought to be its engine.

http://www.artcamp.com.mx/Ventas/Vendedores/ http://www.artcamp.com.mx/Ventas/FairTrade/ http://www.artcamp.com.mx/Ventas/Fundraising/ http://www.artcamp.com.mx/Ventas/Silver22-a/ SALES LETTER TEMPLATES

http://www.artcamp.com.mx/shop/ AODDM SHOPPING CART PEWTER JEWELRY

http://www.taxcosilver.aoddm.com/ AODDM SHOPPING CART ABALONE SHELL JEWELRY

http://www.maj.aoddm.com/ http://www.maj.aoddm.com/aoddm/shopadmin/ AODDM SHOPPING CART .925 SILVER JEWELRY

http://www.artcamp.com.mx/faqretailers/intro.php FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS MODULE

These links are provided as real-world examples of what we are talking about with the Artisan-Owned Diect Distribution Model and the degree to which the AODDM is ready to be applied to charge a commercial revolution.

Best wishes and congratulations on many worthy projects described here!

Dear John

Thank you for your acknowledgement. With our ongoing activities that consume so much time it has been difficult to look into other distribution avanues. So far we have formed 50/50 joint ventures since we are dealing in poorer countries and local partners do not have the full financing required. Therefore we heavily discount the machinery, training and installation to make it work. You are very correct that we need a "partner with a bank or finance NGO". We have been moderately successful with the World Bank as a finalist in the "Development Marketplace Awards 2005" a Laureate winner for this coming November "Tech Museum Awards", listed on "Global Giving" and waiting replies from IFC and Verde Ventures/UNDP.

This has taken up much time to source the above and make applications along with building and intalling machinery as well as contining research and development on other grass fibres and reeds.

John Daniels

This is a very clever proposal. Have you looked into the idea of setting up a franchise network? The benefits of using a franchise model for growth would be that you can use local knowledge and local entrepreneurs, build local business (which would multiply the economic benefit of your model) and would allow you to expand faster with much lower capital requirements and a lower overhead. Ideally you would partner with a bank or finance NGO who would provide the capital your franchises would need. I think you would probably keep control of the manufacturing but franchise the sales and construction element.

Questions Posted by: Milton James, Elyons Thank you for your interesting questions. 1.) Key reasons that led to this idea: a.)The idea that our natural environment does not have many rectangular and ninety degree angle structures and that perhaps, the natural environment for man should be based on spherical trigonometry rather than lineal geometry. b.) There is a need world-wide for decent simple affordable housing. c.) That in fact this is the very simplest and strongest structure kknown to man. d,) That the concept is based on a molecular structure that is naturally ocurring and is identified as a Platonic Solid.

2.) What makes me think it can work? a.) Experience...I have built several of these structures and lived within and withstood hurricanes in Hawaii. b.) It can work because it is a good and beneficial idea with many inherent advantages. c.) There is a desperate need for something like this to work.

3.) Do I expect that my clients will be willing to pay for all the costs of developing the communities. Yes, in fact I do, why should they not pay? It would still be more affordable than other options! The clients would be employed by us as builders and would be paid exceptionally well so they can afford to pay for the facilities. The primary clients would be those that are employed and willing to buy the houses and transfer skills to others. By starting this way, we have a very reasonable opportunity to be sustainable. There is also a housing subsidy provided by government for the poorer citzens and this can be used as most of the payment with top-off financing available to qualified applicants.

4.) Would I expect help from government or other sources to finance the creation of additional facilities. The concept would be to alleviate poverty through profit with the development of enterprise and enterprise through development. Nevertheless any and all help would be welcomed from whatever source. Ultimately the concept must be self sustaining.

5.) Do I think this idea can be spread globally? Sure, why not? If we can demonstrate a more sane way of living and using resources into the 21st century that focuses on productivity instead of consumerism and we actually live in communities that produce a large quantity of our basic requirements in food and energy, wouldn't we all want to live like this?

6.) What are the key factors that would allow this to happen? a.) The demonstration of a sustaianable smart modern African digital eco- village. b.) The recognition that we need to use and embrace all the best practice technologies such as biogas, solar applications, photovoltaics, waterless sanitation, organic gardening, permaculture and indoor kitchen gardens.

7.) What are the steps for making this sustainable? To make this sustainable, everyone has to be a winner and everyone needs to profit. Therefore we need to create a model, a blueprint for replication of a sustainable and successful SMADEV (SUSTAINABLE SMART MODERN AFRICAN DIGITAL ECO-VILLAGE)

Questions

Dear John,

Thank you very much for your entry in the Changemakers competition. We read with a lot of interest about the technical innovation of ABT and its potential to provide affordable housing solutions to large populations, and would greatly appreciate to better understand some aspects of your model.

From the consumer standpoint, how does it compare to a basic cement house in terms of cost, durability and ability to expand one’s house incrementally, in addition to the environmental benefits? Have you already conducted market-research with local communities to ensure that the material and design are culturally appropriate and desirable? An expert in affordable housing was mentioning recently how important it was to be able to build houses for low-income communities that do not shout “I am a poor people’s house”.

From the affordability standpoint, are you planning to develop any financing solution though local micro-finance organizations or to leverage government subsidies for social housing? How easy would it be to meet government requirements and bid for government projects? You may want to provide additional information about your initiative by posting an entry in the discussion forum or submitting a revised entry in the competition before Sept 29th: www.changemakers.net Looking forward to hearing from you,

Kind regards,

The Changemakers Team

Answers

Thank you for your inquiries!

Compared to concrete the benefits to the consumer are easily demonstrated. 1. At least 45% less expensive. 2. At least 75% faster to erect. All houses are in kit form. A 90m² home can be erected in less than 5 hours with a crew of 4 unskilled helpers and one supervisor. 3. Since the interior walls are self supporting they can be relocated with ease, allowing internal walls to be moved to accommodate living changes. The exterior wall panels are locked from the inside, this can be unlocked and relocated to expand the home when needed without major load bearing changes. Then additional walls that are standard ex-factory load bearing walls can be added with window and door cut outs already installed. Each kit home comes with a floor plan for expansion. 4 x 5 foot panels will sell for approximately 10 to 15.00 USD each. No other material is required except for the paint finish or concrete parge (stucco). 4. The homes are hurricane and earthquake resistant and do not break down over time. Will last indefinitely with a minimum of care/maintenance.

Market Research has been conducted in Nigeria and South Africa for shelters and because of the solid appearance and style has been accepted.

In Turkey and Romania model homes are being prepared for next Spring. At each location a modest and an executive home will be erected. Since the costs are so low it is possible to build a house for low income peoples that has the look and quality of an upper middle income home.

We are currently working with the South African. Nigerian and Sudanese Housing Ministries to begin subsidised housing projects next year.

In Romania and Turkey certain agricultural regions are working on a plan of wheat straw for buildings (homes, barns, storage buildings, etc.).

In each jurisdiction building code approvals are in process. The panels are approved in Germany, USA, Canada and England.

John Daniels ABT Insulpanel

Additional Support Information

Builder Benefits

Product Features Builder Benefits 1. Speed of Installation Save at least 25% in time, enhancing builder profits by reducing overhead and carrying costs during construction, and bringing income-producing buildings on-line faster. 2. Excellent Thermal Properties Lower utility bills through highly thermally efficient wall and roof panel assemblies. Higher profitability. Lowers portion of building costs devoted to more costly, larger HVAC systems and time consuming insulation. 3. Exceptional Acoustical Properties Excellent marketing features -- competitive advantage for high quality demising walls and floor to floor noise control. Reduces need to invest in sound deadening materials that reduce profit margins. 4. Superior Fire Transmission Rating 2.5 + hour rating for vertical wall assemblies and a 1.5 hour rating for horizontal ceiling and roof assemblies. Substantial savings in drywall costs in multi-family and commercial construction projects. 5. Superior Structural Properties Good flexibility in structural design. High racking strength for wind and earthquake loading. Fewer recalls after completion of projects due to elimination of stress cracks from settling. 6. Environmentally Safe Excellent marketing feature appealing to increasing numbers of environmentally conscious consumers.. Fewer problems associated with disposal of non-biodegradable waste from construction sites. No off gassing - no harmful airborne particles. 7. Competitive Pricing A savings in construction costs that can translate into a savings for your customer and/or increased profits for you. Significant savings from labor reduction.

Consumer Benefits Product Features Consumer Benefits 1. Speed of Installation Potential of reduced costs to purchase a home. Can be living in a new home sooner. 2. Excellent Thermal Properties Lower utility bills through highly thermally efficient wall and roof panel assemblies. High insulation performance substantially reduces annual utility costs. Lower portion of building costs devoted to HVAC and insulation. More comfortable living. 3. Exceptional Acoustical Properties Reduces need to invest in sound deadening materials. Reduction of noise between rooms and floors provides a more silent, comfortable living environment. 4. Superior Fire Transmission Rating 2.5 + hour rating for vertical wall assemblies and a 1.5 hour rating for horizontal ceiling and roof assemblies. Greater satisfaction and comfort knowing personal safety is enhanced. Lower insurance rates. 5. Superior Structural Properties Improved personal safety with less potential for structural damage from tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. Superior long-term appearance -- elimination of stress cracks from settling. 6. Environmentally Safe The ABT Insulpanel System uses renewable agricultural resources (wheat straw) which provides several specific ecological benefits: - Creates additional income for farmers. - Provides a practical use for what has been a waste by-product of wheat farming - Helps to conserve forest resources by reducing the use of dimensional framing lumber by up to 90%. Healthier family environment with natural products - no off gassing - no harmful airborne particles.

Hello there, Just a note to add to my entry. I have been working on the matter for a number of years. While having met many within the industry over the years, I have been told that I am working at the end-game, where the amount of money within the industry would be enough to realise its potential. However more importantly for me would be the demonstration effect in the developed world. Were people who have never engaged with the developing world could begin to do so, then perhaps there may emerge many new ideas, from sources that have been somewhat ignored up to now. As my entry is brief, compared to the amount of work that I have done, I would like to make it clear that there is a lot of work to be done, in that the demonstration effect is to start people thinking. I have had to invent many ideas, theories and approaches to develop this into a workable idea. Incentive structures, legitimacy of institutions, rules of engagement, adhering to economic principles and concepts, etc. all have to be engaged with, in order to bring about effective and positive change on a scale that can really make a difference. The acceptance of the concept of a new Global Public Good, if accepted (which it has by the GPG taskforce), would have to have the commitment and resources of the various interested parties to come into production. To this end stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors will have to meaningfully engage without narrow remits and preconceptions. As with the development of other GPGs, there will have to be a commitment to develop the good, and as such the entry that I have made will be little more than another drop in the ocean without the necessary follow-up and commitment.

Dear Changemakers Team,

Thanks again for your questions.

How do we ensure our network is able to provide high quality products? Product design and development is a growing part of our program. We have built a relationship with Aid to Artisans and have received excellent advice from them on design and marketing. One of their best recommendations to us was that we build relationships with professors at design schools or college design programs such as RISD, Mass College of Art, FIT and URI. Their idea was that we would be an excellent class project for the students. We plan to work with Aid to Artisans and other arts and business development NGOs to utilize their expertise in product development.

We continually communicate with our customers about what products they like best, and what they want to see more of. Then we relay the information to our product providers, and place orders for new products accordingly. We keep abreast of fashion trends, and order styles and colors that are current. Some of our product providers also sell their products in Europe, and they have been able to tell us which items are most popular there, which so far has translated very well to the American market (for example, the recycled rice bag backpacks, which are extremely popular in Europe, are also TEN’s second bestselling item)

Because most of the sources of our products are NGOs with limited business expertise, part of our product design process includes helping our source NGOs improve their operations. This includes everything from how they source materials, to managing inventory over time, eventually stockpiling items for which they expect the greatest demand. When we have adequate funding, a Head of Product Development will oversee this effort.

Your first question addresses the fact that consumers do not primarily make their purchase decisions based on philanthropic merit. If is for this reason that we are not using the more common retail models of internet sales and/or brick and mortar wholesaling. We chose the direct sales/home party business model specifically because the model allows us to create an environment in which people are motivated to buy our products because of their philanthropic concerns. We create this environment and bring the issue of sex-trafficking to the consumers instead of waiting for them to come to us. Therefore, while we agree that product design is an essential part of our business and we want new and repeat customers to desire our products, we believe that our growth primarily depends on recruiting new party hosts.

One additional comment. As we add new sources we add both new products and new marketing opportunities. For example, we are currently talking to DEPDC (in Northern Thailand) about creating a new line of products for TEN. When these products are available we will be able to contact our old hosts and their guests not just with a new line of products, but a new philanthropic opportunity.

Kind Regards,

Sarah Symons

Executive Director, The Emancipation Network

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Dear Sarah,

Thank you very much for your entry in the Changemakers competition. We read with a lot of interest about the approach of the Emancipation network that addresses the critical issue of human trafficking, and its innovative marketing strategy.

Looking back at the initial difficulties faced by the fair trade movement, how do you create a strong customer base that will buy repeatedly not just for philanthropy but because they enjoy your products? How do you ensure that the network is able to provide high- quality products that meet clients’ needs and preferences in terms of design and style?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

The Changemakers Team

Hello,

I thank you for the special interest you have taken in my entry registered for this competition. The answers to the questions you raised are as follows:

* How do you collaborate or compete with organizations working in the same field such as RIN or IIMA’s Grassroots Innovation Initiative? How does your work differ from theirs?

RIN and the grassroots initative of IIM-A ( I am not sure if you are referring to SRISTI or NIF or both) identify individuals at the grassroots level who have developed innovatons. These organisations handhold such individuals till their product is ready-to-sell. Naveen Gram steps in here. It enters into agreements with such individuals or manufacturers to market these innovations in Naveen Gram's area of operation. It does these independently without any agreement with RIN or NIF or GIAn, though they are aware of it.

Based on my work experience at RIN I observed that the biggest challenges many of these innovations face is marketing. And trying to sell them through NGO or civil scoiety route is not the best way to do it. These innovations will have to face market realities and behave in the way commercial market players behave. Naveen Gram was founded on this premise, to be a commercial organisation to promote such innovative technologies.

All technologies selected by Naveen Gram till date have been chosen from those incubated either by RIN of NIF. In case Naveen Gram does not get enough products from these organisations then it will identify select small enterprises to promote their technologies.

* How do you value farmers’ intellectual property when they come up with an idea for a new product? Is there any compensation scheme in place?

Naveen Gram does not manufacture any of the technologies it only markets. Also, it does not operate in the area of converting an idea into a commercial product. It feels NIF and its associate GIAN, RIN and other organisations like them can handhold and convert an idea into a prototype to a ready-to-sell product. These organisations take care of the IPR and related benefits to the individual farmers. Naveen Gram provides a platform to sell and therefore make money for the manufacturer who has bought the technology or directly to the innovator who makes more and more money by selling more and more. In case a farmer with a product idea approaches Naveen Gram, it will direct them to RIN, NIF or GIAN.

* What type of financing is currently available to initiatives like yours?

Naveen Gram has been started as a private limited company with an authorised share capital of Rs. 100,000. The initial fund was invested by me in the capacity of the promoter. I have also borrowed funds from family and relatives for this initiative. Naveen Gram has a mark-up for the products it sources and sells in the market. It aims to earn money through this mark-up. Additionally, Naveen Gram is also approaching individuals and Venture Capitalists who will be interested in picking up stakes in the company for investments in it. Naveen Gram plans to increase its share capital by Rs. 10 lakhs in the next 3 months and is in the process of talks with various individuals to invest, though no investments have been forthcoming as of date.

Please feel free to revert for clarifications, if any

Sincerely

Anil Pansari

Dear Anil,

Thank you very much for your entry in the Changemakers competition. We read with a lot of interest about Naveen Gram Agrotechnologies and its mission to serve rural markets, and would greatly appreciate to better understand some aspects of your model.

* How do you collaborate or compete with organizations working in the same field such as RIN or IIMA’s Grassroots Innovation Initiative? How does your work differ from theirs? * How do you value farmers’ intellectual property when they come up with an idea for a new product? Is there any compensation scheme in place? * What type of financing is currently available to initiatives like yours?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Kind regards,

The Changemakers Team

In world today, the nutritional needs of the low-income communities had become a case study, mostly in the war deserted areas of the world. Thereby causing the giving gorvenments more greves seing its citizenry dieng of malnutritions/hunger.

I deemed it wise that social enterprenuers to come and act as benevol in these areas of social investments and its like; Fishing, farming/farm produce, animals/ wild-life, whose are the fundamentals or natural means of providing foods for the needies.

In this integrating world of today, great social investments which is now withnessing around over like medicene san frotier, in the foremost to save life of the infected /unhealthy children of the world. The low- income populations can benefit in this kind ventures either by gorvenmental organisations or through social individual worker or enterprenuership.

I agree with the following comments of John Berger:-

"My advice for social-investors would be to place a high value on local knowledge. But let’s take the micro-credit model further."

In this regard I have been impressed by the approach of Blue Orchard Finance s.a. at http://www.blueorchard.ch/en/home.asp and Garrett Wyse's visionary project "Ethical Finance Forum" in this competition.

Stephanie - You pose some questions I have also been pondering over the past year. As a matter of background, I am a businessperson with only limited non-profit experience. If you wanted to know how to evaluate or finance a for profit business I could answer those questions easily as I have dealt with such questions for the past 15 years. But over the past year I have asked the same questions from the framework of an emerging non-profit business, The Emancipation Network. Ill give you some of my current thoughts but I would love to hear opinions from others.

How should investors evaluate a social-investment? That’s a very difficult question. Most of the projects in this competition involve markets and customers that are well outside the scope of understanding for most investors. You mention the example of micro-credit. I was recently at a speech by Muhammad Yunus where he went into detail on how he created micro-credit. His early critics were obviously wrong, but to me it is the underlying reason why they were wrong that was my most important lesson-leared from his speech. His critics were wrong because Yunus understood his market and customers and their capabilities much better than the critics. My advice for social-investors would be to place a high value on local knowledge. But let’s take the micro-credit model further. Let’s say its 1976 and you as investor have 100% confidence in Yunus and Grameen. What investment return should you expect – and should Grameen even seek for- profit investments? Grameen is currently 94% owned by its customers and has lent over $200 billion. Would Grameen have done even more if in 1976 a venture investor funded it in return for say, 20% ownership? I think it is likely that if in the early years Grameen was run more like a business that needed to keep their investors happy they would not have accomplished as much as they have. Another lesson-learned from Grameen is that not all great sustainable social ventures need or even should be financed by investors seeking economic returns.

There are clearly trade offs involved in any social-venture that is seeking funding. Is it best to grow slowly and use very little capital – thus keeping the “profits” dedicated to the underlying cause? Or can you better maximize the social benefit in the long term though additional, but expensive, capital? Just like for profit investing, investing in social venture will be as much art form as science. I would not be surprised at some point to see for-profit business created to help investors analyze and select social ventures.

In formulating the approach called "Integrative Improvement: Sustainable Development as if People and Their Physical, Social and Cultural Environments Mattered" over the last three decades I continually test its validity against the questions and comments people raise about various issues and practical difficulties they have with achieving sustainable development for all.

The questions and comments raised by our colleagues on 25 September are typical of the ones I have considered previously so I would like to offer a response to them. Here is an extract of the questions and comments:-

"Which are the specific actions that Social Entrepreneurs should implement to help our communities gain benefits from all the new processes."

"Let’s fill the bottom of the pyramid with relevant products and services."

"We have to facilitate and develop alliances between big enterprises and the excluded."

"I don’t see the distribution of wealth happening, and it is clear that the vertex will do business with the bottom…but how can the opposite situation take place? I don’t see the recognition of potential and real opportunities for the base to participate in the negotiation."

"We all have to get together and reflect."

"I am sure that if we unite, we will have enough strength to positively influence this process of change for society." "A good start would be to work with the language in which this statements are introduced." "How do we empower communities so this process does not end up in the traditional vicious cycle? What criteria should we use to not become the “Troy horses” that bring negative situations that seem to be good?"

"What enterprises can receive our help and based on what criteria?"

"What subjects should be considered so the poor can have better access?"

"How to make multinationals transfer resources to the poor and not the opposite?" "Which should be main interest in this midst?"

"How can we create income opportunities for the poorest?"

"The question then becomes in how do we take this strategy forward without loosing the basic purpose/meaning of our core mission/work?"

"For this reason, we need to think about why and how to implement the market-based approach, and how to create partnerships with the business sector so our solutions can help millions of people."

My response is to suggest everyone think about any successful relationships and interactions(personal or organisational) with which they have been involved. Would we all agree that we had a common basis for communication with others involved?

My experience has been that a common basis for communication is essential so training in tools to achieve this is the basis of the Integrative Improvement Institutes Project submitted for this competition.

"This is the right time for social entrepreneurs to take action in finding solutions for low-income communities, making sure that their work will bring great benefits to their communities, ...."

"We, the entrepreneurs have the challenge to build the appropriate structures and mechanisms to generate that link between the market and the excluded. We have to facilitate and develop alliances between ... enterprises and the excluded."

"We all have to get together and reflect."

Yes indeed it is a sublime pleasure to be here!

Thanks.

My comment: we need to demonstrate successful economic models that work in the third world village setting and that do NOT require any inputs from overseas. Trying to talk people with money into giving you some is not going to provide the employment we need to have our communities be solvent.

I am stressing the fact that the need now is to *demonstrate* successful economic models, and not only describe them as a project funding appeals.

It’s been wonderful to read all points of view and recognize those facts that make evident the key challenges faced with the development of new processes for the BOP. For this reason, I agree with Beatriz in asking everyone to stop and think together how can we solve these problems.

We all know this process is taken place in one way or another and for this reason, we need to make sure, the poor will not keep facing economic injustice and looking at their resources move on to the rich, surviving with less than $2 per day and also facing a lack of guarantees on the wealth distribution process.

However, we must recognize that currently, communities are marginalized, underserved, and without opportunities for a better life. Basically, their economic rights are being ignored. For this reason, we must create strategies that solve these problems and as Dagmar states, our role as Social Entrepreneurs is critical.

If we want low-income communities to have access to economic tools, markets and economies of scale, it’s indispensable to work in creating commercial collaborations between the social and businesss sectors. These collaborations could have some negative consequences if communities are not included in its creation and implementation, reason why, social entrepreneurs must be actively engaged and participate in these processes, particularly, because Social Entrepreneurs are leading huge networks and communities of low-income populations, and are the ones who understand their needs better, are trusted by them, have built distribution channels, are unstoppable, and are experts in creating highly impact development strategies.

This is the right time for social entrepreneurs to take action in finding solutions for low-income communities, making sure that their work will bring great benefits to their communities, through commercial collaborations with SOME businesses that are also looking for mutual benefits and not only their own.

The question, I’d like to raise is: Which are the specific actions that Social Entrepreneurs should implement to help our communities gain benefits from all the new processes.

I have the impression that we need to make an effort to understand each other better. The market development world and that of social development are not two separate worlds. The divide is fake. However, those who are leading one sector or the other, generally see each other as foes. There’s a lack of trust that allow us to interact and not working on building that trust is irresponsible. Leaders don’t lose, as always, the poor are the losers.

I’m going to say what might seem a heresy to the social sector: Those who are leading this discussion are on top of the pyramid. Together with business entrepreneurs, we monopolize financial capital, social capital, knowledge, and speech. Powerful people are the ones discussing these issues, and we’re not agreeing at all.

Apparently, this appears to be an ego discussion. The social sector feels aggravated to the lost of control over the “poor” speech. It adopts a defensive position that impedes to see the opportunity. On the other hand, the business sector, with some arrogance, is stepping on in the social sector without taking into account structures and with high hopes on the new paradigm (Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid – CK Prahalad). It’s actually walking as an Elephant inside a crystal product store. It’s financial capital disposition allows it to do so and its schools are not aware yet on how to help it. For the people, the poor, we need to work together.

ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES I believe that as a responsibility with the planet, the top of the pyramid needs to decrease its consumption radically (see http://www.noconsumo.blogspot.com). But this being an important discussion, it belongs to another debate that will be developed on top of the pyramid.

However, the poor, the BOP, must be provided with several services and products. Globalization has made evident the existing debt. Water, energy, nutrition, education, health, capital, justice, governance, technology, housing, culture, and entertainment… are part of the agenda owed to two thirds of the world’s population. Problem that is now global.

Paradoxically, this -being a global problem, will be resolve to some extent, locally. And there, it’ll be a space not only for transnationals but also for local economic agents.

On this matter, we must -more than resist to the great enterprise speech, develop our entrepreneurial imagination and apply it to serve the poor and enable them to serve each other. If both sectors don’t act due to ideological differences, first, there would not be an improvement in the poor’s life style, and secondly, capital would continue to be transferred only to the developed world.

Hence, I suggest to stop thinking about transnationals and let’s reflect about all we could do to develop the BOP market. I suggest (this graphic concept has been developed with Peruvian painter Luis Garcia Zapatero) turning the pyramid up side down, and creating an opening on its former vertex in order to build a sand clock (see graphic at www.peruenrumba.blogspot.com). Let’s fill the bottom of the pyramid with relevant products and services. This, my dear friends, is an image that all of us (or at least most of us) might like better.

I’m glad to have found this website, created by a wonderful team of people who are making sure that common wellness gets to all and breaks the culture of the monopoly of goods, production and the most important one, knowledge. It is fabulous to have this space where we can share knowledge and experiences worldwide, definitely a step in the right direction. Since 1987 we work to integrate women to development because they are being left behind. In fact, all social problems start when a woman becomes pregnant, and she does no have the right conditions to do it, for example, if she is a teenager, she does not have education and is undernourished, etc.

Statistics show that families with women with higher education levels, will have better living conditions. I started microfinance programs for women in Panama and I am founder and Director of MIBANCO (My Bank), a commercial bank where the beneficiaries of the loans become stakeholders. Today the bank has more than 20,000, most of them, low-income people. It’s clear that without the entrepreneurial tools and without a link to the market we will not be able to include the excluded in the wave of development. We, the entrepreneurs have the challenge to build the appropriate structures and mechanisms to generate that link between the market and the excluded. We have to facilitate and develop alliances between big enterprises and the excluded.

Hello everyone, Gustavo, thank you very much for putting into right words the emotions and thoughts that this topic generates in me.

It worries me that we become accomplices…it is true that this process will occur, but we can decide, set postures…express our selves, so far this sounds like if we had a magic solution.

I don’t see the distribution of wealth happening, and it is clear that the vertex will do business with the bottom…but how can the opposite situation take place? I don’t see the recognition of potential and real opportunities for the base to participate in the negotiation. Is this more about little mirrors of colors? I know that Pablo will tell us all that we are in charge of making these changes, and it is true. But why can’t we all sit at the same table and RE MEET each other from the perspective of respect and awareness of everybody’s realities.

We all have to get together and reflect.

Partners,

I thank Ashoka for giving me opportunity to meet you, and I am sure that if we unite, we will have enough strength to positively influence this process of change for society.

Thank you, Gustavo, for shooting, I share the same idea, this is getting worse day by day. I believe that the new society will be born due to these processes and that this is the right way to maximize local and worldwide productivity and production. Currently, there are no guaranties yet of who and how these processes of appropriation and distribution of the new wealth will be.

I believe that we need to start to accumulate public value instead of private, at least as a backup of our actions and transactions. The globalization and localization process and empowerment to individuals are processes that I believe are happening at the same time and they become stronger mutually. This can create polarizations that will generate civil wars that are still unknown and that are will be invisible for some time.

Dear friends, I would like to present some topics to start a debate about the pyramide’s base, after attending a conference in Mexico, that is related to the topic of this Changemakers competition (particularly b/c it’s open to private and social sector).

From the workshop in Mexico, I have developed several questions about BOP. A good start would be to work with the language in which this statements are introduced.

The title “Bottom of the Pyramid” deserves to be analyzed. This concept is introduced in a way that it’s totally unengaged with the same process that created a bottom in the pyramid. It’s presented in such way as if it’s an establish fact already. I think that we need to make clear why there’s a bottom and which are the issues that help expand it. On the other hand, we need to be careful with euphemisms to denominate the poor. It’s not the same to say “making business with the poor” than “making business in the BOP”. I believe that this last phrase is not a casualty. From the geometry perspective, you could conclude that the top vertex exists and will always do if there’s a big extensive bottom that supports it. Good to considerit, don’t you think?

During the workshop, the statement “the poor are an opportunity” was mentioned on several occasions. NO, the poor are not an opportunity. They are the evidence of our own society’s failures. They’re the face of the injustice we’ve built. If the poor are an opportunity, then to generate opportunities is to create more poverty. Even in some cases where the poor have been benefited, transfer of resources from the poor to the rich has taken place (for example multinationals). Our work then, is to push the transfer of resources from rich to poor. Multinationals have a lot to give back. Wealth does not come spontaneously; usually it’s extracted from the poorest sectors.

On several occasions, there were mentioned great things people can save or invest while making $2 per day. We can’t content with this. We need to be please when these people have a decent income. $2 per day, should embarrass us.

“The world would not be sosteinable if everybody could consume or have what the minority currently has. This cynic reality is worth of discussion. We’re saying, “Guys, sadly you arrived late. You can’t hope to live a life like ours. You lost”. And what if we said that we’re willing to have not that good life so they can live better? The salvation of our planet is implicit in a brotherhood’s utopia. Then, what’s Social Entrepreneurs’ role on these issues? I think this is a critical subject. We need to accept that the BOP matter is strong and will take place. I suggest a series of questions to open up the discussion: How do we empower communities so this process does not end up in the traditional vicious cycle? What criteria should we use to not become the “Troy horses” that bring negative situations that seem to be good? What enterprises can receive our help and based on what criteria? What subjects should be considered so the poor can have better access? How to make multinationals transfer resources to the poor and not the opposite? Which should be main interest in this midst? How can we create income opportunities for the poorest?

This seems to be a discussion space -for a long time needed, and I think that is important that it’s developed among very knowledgeable people from the social sector, given the quality or their insights. When reading some of the aforementioned opinions, it’s very difficult to support one or the other, possibly due to the fact that both make sense. I think that all of us agree that market-based approaches represent a great opportunity for the social sector and for this reason we need to take them into account. The question then becomes in how do we take this strategy forward without loosing the basic purpose/meaning of our core mission/work? With not doubt, it’s very important to considerate the microfinance example. The fact that we talk about a Microfinance Industry, that has grown during the past 20 years and served millions of people, indicates that the concern about accessibility to financial services by the poor, has been taken care of in a quite efficient way. On this path, however, several mistakes –operational and strategic, have been executed. When several international organizations saw the potential of microcredit and focused their approach on market strategies, they allocated their resources to professionalize the sector and make NGO’s self-sustainable. However, in this process, several NGOs lost their path and became commercial banks with their same practices and vices, which resulted in the lost of their missions and disengagement of their target population. Nevertheless, several other organizations did professionalize without losing their mission, developing quality products, and making financial services much more available to the poor. Now, 20 years later, we must present solutions that improve those models and transfer benefits from NGOs to the poor. That’s our mission at own capital Bankomunales. However, we recognize the importance that microfinance market-based approach has brought to millions of people and there are several successful cases that prove it. For this reason, we need to think about why and how to implement the market-based approach, and how to create partnerships with the business sector so our solutions can help millions of people. For this, we need to establish our clear mission as Social Entrepreneurs.

I am so happy to find myself in this company of this qualified community.

The posts in this forum are very good. Every single one of these is valuable and ought to be taken into account. I think individuals and institutions with a desire to invest, loan, or donate funds to help the marginalized populations, would do well to read this series of intelligent interventions based upon on-the-ground non-virtual real-world real-life experience. A potential donor should be recommended to digest material of this nature before being encouraged to offer to aid any third-worlders.

A grassroots initiative, defined beyond the framework of outside aid, will eventually be the one that takes the cake! The language of philanthropy and assistance needs to be defined by leaders of the civil society of the South

The top-down approach is NOT qualified to come up with any solution to the increasingly desperate situation rural Mexico has become with globalization Yet I feel sure that this is a prize that can be seized, if we are clever.

Fully-functional village-based cottage-industry direct-to-the-retailer; marketing via UPS and internet is what we bring, and offer it to other village artisan groups. There are no strings attached. On principle, we make available the Artisan Owned Direct Distribution Model (AODDM).

My advice for those who want to donate or invest in the Third-Worlders, is to look around and find some people you really like. Underwrite their acquisition of own-inventory so they can market products with their copy of the AODDM Shopping Cart and inclusion in global AODDM master sales systems.

The AODDM does not want or need any donation or investment, because it is a profitable operation in its own right based on the transformation of raw materials by skilled village labor into valuable products for retail niches

Where an investor with good intentions finds some people he or she loves, a Social Enterprise Financial Instrument may be issued to support the local artisans production of its stock inventory ability to direct-sell products.

http://www.artcamp.com.mx/AODDM/SEFI/ Social Enterprise Financial Instrument (SEFI)

Stephanie,

As you indicate, this is indeed a big subject.

A short answer is invest in physical, social and cultural infrastructure to facilitate meeting the demands of low-income communities as formulated by bottom-up local groups that follow sound integrative planning and governance processes.

A longer answer is given in the following extract from a paper about the Integrative Improvement Institutes Project (a copy of the paper is available on request to integrative@optusnet.com.au):-

"Integrative Thinking™ > Integrative Governance™ > Integrative Improvement™ > Integrative Capitalism™ > Integrative Democracy ™ Linkage

54 This linkage is perhaps most readily explained by considering some broad questions and answers about the practical implications of the Integrative Improvement approach.

55 Why would adopting the Integrative Improvement approach benefit companies? a) Planning, production, marketing and distribution costs would be reduced because demand based on meeting the rapidly changing needs and wants of end-users would be known accurately before planning, production, marketing and distribution of goods and services took place and customer satisfaction would be monitored quickly, accurately and automatically. b) Competitiveness and revenues of existing and start-up businesses would improve because end-users would have their demands satisfied well. This would encourage repeat business, increased numbers of customers for existing businesses and the growth of new businesses stimulated by seeing the success of those following the Integrative Improvement model. c) Good governance in businesses, based on stakeholder engagement, trust, accountability, responsible behaviour and transparency at all times in all organisations involved, would counter the current tendency to poor governance in government that adds to business costs. There would be less need for regulation and embedded tools such as Decisionality would help ensure compliance so there would be fewer opportunities for delays and corruption.

d) Adopting Integrative Improvement would address the main concerns expressed in the following extract from “Regional perspectives on 'Sustainable Livelihoods and Business” on the website of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development at http://www.wbcsd.ch/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp? type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTMwOTY.

"The highlights from these regional dialogues are summarized in this brief report. They have been organized around the analytical framework presented in "Doing business with the poor: a field guide", which looks at SL [Sustainable Livelihoods] business models through the lens of 13 basic business questions. The questions that generated most discussion and input from participants were: • What are the motivations to doing business with the poor and how do we operate a mindset shift inside the company? • Do we understand the real needs of the market and do we have the right product to offer? • How do we finance the investment, ensure that our product / service is affordable and that payments are collected? • How can we improve our supply chain? • How can we replicate or scale up succcessful business models? • How can we reach our customers? "

56 How would adopting the Integrative Improvement approach help ensure that the type of development promoted is appropriate for poor communities? a) The end-users/citizens of these poor communities would learn how to negotiate the change from what they have to what they want and build and govern their organisations in a way that quickly and inexpensively formulates and communicates their demand for goods and services to potential suppliers. b) Among these goods and services would be the public goods such as basic health services, justice and security that their governments are in the best position to supply. The Integrative Improvement approach would help poor communities engage more effectively to achieve these public goods.

c) Businesses from within or without the poor communities would operate with good governance from the outset and therefore be well-attuned to meeting the changing needs and wants of those and other communities. 57 How would adopting the Integrative Improvement approach help ensure better governance in business, government and civil society organisations?

a) All involved would be trained in NEW Integrative Thinking so all in an organisation would have a common basis for communication – fundamental for success in any enterprise.

b) What constitutes good governance is addressed directly in templates that are used for preparing governance policies common to all organisations so organisations would have a common basis for communication with other organisations – another basis for success in any enterprise.

c) Tools to ensure compliance with these policies are embedded in the policies.

58 How would adopting the Integrative Improvement approach lead to Integrative Capitalism?

a) Capitalism has many definitions but its main features are a free market for goods and services, private ownership and control of the means of production, distribution and exchange of goods and services except for public goods and services which are provided by governments or in conjunction with governments. (At present, capitalism is distinguished by a tendency for people to regard our world as a world of parts that have to be managed into a stable state and from one stable state to another by managers who are trained to think unintegratively rather than integratively – the way nature, our brains, bodies and minds tend to function.)

b) Integrative Capitalism retains these main features but enhances their operation by treating people and our physical, social and cultural environments as a self-organising whole.

c) More specifically, adopting Integrative Improvement would improve the operation of the market by clarifying demand quickly and accurately and by improving governance of organisations to meet that demand. Individuals and organisations would tend to think and act integratively. This would tend to improve their creativity and performance and hence enhance sustainable development.

59 How would adopting the Integrative Improvement approach lead to Integrative Democracy?

a) The integrative basis and self-organising structure of Integrative Improvement and the tools embedded in the Integrative Improvement approach would help achieve individual and organisational integrity, stakeholder engagement, trust, responsible behaviour, accountability and transparency so the need for regulation and government intervention would be diminished.

b) The voice of civil society and businesses would be clearer and more structured so governments would be better informed and better able to integrate the views of all in their decision-making and actions.

c) All would have a common basis for communication – the essential ingredient for any successful enterprise including democracy. Our currently disparate democracy would become Integrative Democracy!"

Stephanie,

Thanks for bringing up this discussion topic.

You made a great point about the value of a self-sustaining market-based approach in generating impact.

From our perspective at Speak Shop, capitalism can be one of the most powerful forces for positive change. People are intrinsically motivated when their actions and hard work deliver positive results. But when hard work is not adequately rewarded or even when the value of the work is subsidized by well-meaning charity, the return on investment decreases. And often, low-income people lack the power to change their circumstances. It could be that they can't move to a more modern area, or they have a limited customer demand, or they can't fight against unfair working conditions and pay.

Low-income people constantly face geographic, political and economic barriers that prevent them from seeing an adequate return (eg, sustainable living, health for their families) on their own investments (eg, hard work, education, etc.).

We believe that Internet technology is creating these opportunities on a massive scale because it can connect buyers and sellers around the world - it brings new entrepreneurial opportunities to people in underdeveloped locations. It can also be scalable and low-cost - providing a great formula for high returns on investment. Coupled with the right human resources, the Internet is a revolutionary tool against poverty and its related ills.

Luzette raised the issue that low-income people often do not have the opportunity to develop their educational levels, and that prevents them from progressing. That is absolutely very important - education.

But what I want to point out is that what is happening all over the world today is that even educated people with bona-fide marketable skills, such as experienced Spanish language tutors in Guatemala, do not have the opportunity to achieve financial stability no matter how hard they work. Despite having something great to sell, they are impoverished. This is because no matter how hard they work, they are not able to access more customers and to control their own wages. The Internet can correct this. It can eliminate many layers of middlemen, giving financial control to the low-income seller. It is also a massive source of customers.

All of this is not to say that the Internet is the solution to every problem or feasible everywhere. Even if it is the right solution for a certain group of people, you also need to provide the right support to bring low-income people online and enable them to participate in the global market. The Internet coupled with market opportunities truly can bring millions of people out of poverty if used correctly. The point is that it is one area that investors should continue to invest in.

-Cindy

CREDIT WITH EDUCATION FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION AND HEALTH CARE. OPIC- TOGO Dear Atiamon Komia,

I agree with your statement that Education is critical to achieve a strategy that truly helps low-income communities develop economically and socially. However, it would be useful, if you could point out the factors that have indicated through out the years that credit and savings are not sufficient tools for changing and improving communities, and also highlight the key tools that need to be implemented so communities can be changed and improved.

Moreover, I'm interested in learning the details on your core operations model. Do you only focus on education and work as consultants for the banks already created, or do you intervene in the creation of the banks and selection of their employees? Are you involved in the distribution of credits as well? Why do you consider that your model works better than the traditional credit system? What is the main difference with the other systems? Do you think it could work in other countries?

Thanks a lot for your work and I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Dear Joseph,

Thanks for sharing your ideas in this competition and show us how creative one can be to help communities develop in a sustainable way.

I'd be interesting to know which were the key reasons that led you to come up with this idea and what made you think it could work?

Also, from the operational side, if you envision the creation of a Village that includes communal facilities for everyone, do you expect your clients to be willing to pay for ALL the costs that building those facilities would need, or do you expect to get help from government or other sources to finance the creation of these additional facilities?

Do you think this idea can be spread globally? If so, what are the key factors that would allow that to happen? Also, if you’re planning to make this project sustainable, what do you think all the steps to make it sustainable are.

Thanks for transforming communities and sharing your creativiness with us.

What ADVICE would participants give to potential INVESTORS in the field who seek to maximize the impact and effectiveness of their investment? What sectors critically need financing? What type of financing is needed? What are the right expectations for social and financial returns? What changes are needed with regards to legal frameworks and national policies to enable the right kind of investment?

So often we are reminded of the need for solutions to global poverty, and numbers are overwhelming: rate of infant and maternal mortality, malnutrition, illiteracy, clean water and decent housing, plummeting life expectancy…. but the question of what to do for the greatest impact remains.

One of the main virtues of “market-based” approaches is their capacity to self-sustain, independently of government policies or donors’ agendas. Not to say that this is a panacea as some situations are just too dire to effectively leverage market-forces, but the model can apply across sectors and countries. Some initiatives focusing on critical goods such as education, healthcare, water, etc. may also be able to adopt a hybrid model based on subsidies from government/donor grants on one hand, and revenues generated by the venture on the other. One of the most eloquent examples of a market-based model that benefits low-income communities is the micro finance industry that is now serving more than 50 million micro entrepreneurs around the world. However, it has also faced skeptical and critical voices ranging from “it is unethical to charge positive interest rates to the poor” to “it will never be a profitable venture” since its beginning. Creativity and persistence to remove the inevitable challenges along the road are needed to develop these new ventures.

We would like to take advantage of having a critical mass of already 60 entrants in the competition to engage in a discussion about the financing needs to spread “Innovative market-based strategies that benefit low- income communities”. Even if these initiatives have the potential to be financially self-sustaining, there is a critical need for funding at different stages including seed financing for initial development and infrastructure investment, expansion financing to enable scaling up and replication, and often some kind of micro financing at the client level to facilitate the acquisition of products and services by low-income families (such as rural micro finance, housing micro finance, micro insurance schemes, etc.).

This is of course a huge topic but we would love your thoughts and experiences, even one or two sentences. And if we could together influence funding patterns for the field…

Stephanie

Luzette,

I agree with you that the matters you mentioned should be incorporated into the mosaic.

Summarising, these matters are:

a) technology; b) good customer service and complete access to several choices of products and services; c) better relationships based on trust between consumers and suppliers; d) the limited educational level of low-income communities and the challenges entailed by it especially when it comes to implementation and dissemination of solutions; e) the uniqueness and high level of difficulty of distribution access to low-income community markets.

These, ethical behaviour and other matters embodied in the concepts of Integrative Capitalism™ and Integrative Democracy™ are addressed by the Integrative Improvement Institutes Project for the dissemination, refinement and implementation of Integrative Improvement™: Sustainable Development as if People and Their Physical, Social and Cultural Environments Mattered.

Accordingly, may I suggest the addition of the following to the mosaic:-

Factors: Poor governance

No common basis for communication Existing top-down approaches to development

Principles: Radical change of training in planning and governance

The Solutions Mosaic mentioned in the competition framework, embraces a very comprehensive description of some characteristics that distinguish low-income markets from traditional markets (factors), and patterns that have emerged from practical applications that are meant to inspire and guide the innovation process in the future (principles).

However, in the quest to refine the proposed framework, I’d like to raise the question of whether or not is relevant to include other factors and principles that have great impact in low-income community development and should be considered as well.

With the advancement of technology and its great impact on human evolution, we’d be missing our objective, if we did not to consider it and its use for the common good, as a critical principle to provide solutions to low-income communities. Would not technology help create innovative solutions for unique problems?

Moreover, in order to be able to proactively spread scalable businesses and social solutions within low-income communities, it’s indispensable to implement a principle based on providing consumers the decorum of good costumer service and complete access to several choices of products and services (even better designed and with higher quality than those offered to other economic segments). This would build a better relationship based on trust between consumers and suppliers.

From the factor’s side, I’d propose to consider as a key characteristic of low-income markets, the limited educational level of low-income communities and the challenges entailed by it, especially when it comes to implement solutions and spread them around.

Finally, exploring the uniqueness and high level of difficulty of the distribution access to low-income community markets, would enrich our dialogue as well, given that this is one of the biggest challenges for this process and most of the time, the main reason for businesses not to reach out to these communities. I’d be very valuable to know what other people think about the suggested Solutions Mosaic and what their thoughts are on the new proposed principles and factors.

Would anyone else like to suggest a new principle or factor too?

Thanks!

JUNTAR COMPETENCIAS O PERMANECER EN EL DIVORCIO

Juan Infante (jinfante@bansep.org)

Tengo la impresión que necesitamos hacer un esfuerzo por comprendernos mejor. El mundo del desarrollo del mercado y el del desarrollo social no son dos mundos separados. Esa división es falsa. Sin embargo, quienes actuamos liderando uno u otro sector generalmente nos vemos como enemigos irreconciliables. No existe entre ambos sectores una base de confianza que nos permita interactuar. No trabajar en construir esa relación de confianza es, a estas alturas, una irresponsabilidad. No perdemos los líderes pierden los pobres, como siempre.

Voy a decir algo que puede parecer una herejía para el sector social: quienes lideramos esta discusión estamos en la cúspide de la pirámide. Detentamos junto con los empresarios el capital financiero, el capital social, el conocimiento y la palabra. Los que estamos discutiendo somos los poderosos del planeta y no estamos tratando de ponernos de acuerdo.

Aparentemente, esto parece una discusión entre egos. El sector del desarrollo social se siente agredido porque comienza a perder el monopolio del discurso de los pobres. Adopta una posición defensiva que le impide ver una oportunidad. Por su parte, el mundo empresarial, con cierta arrogancia, comienza a pisar fuerte en el territorio social sin cuidar las formas e, ilusionado por el nuevo y valioso paradigma (Oportunidades de Negocio con la Base de la Pirámide – de C.K. Prahalad), está comenzando a moverse en el territorio social como un elefante en una cristalería. Su disposición de capital financiero se lo permite y sus estupendas escuelas no tienen aún la sensibilidad para ayudarles. Por la gente, por los pobres, deberíamos buscar trabajar en conjunto.

UN SINFIN DE OPORTUNIDADES

Soy de los que cree que la cima de la pirámide si bien no ha agotado su capacidad de consumo debe, por responsabilidad con el planeta, reducirla radicalmente (ver http://www.noconsumo.blogspot.com/). Pero esa, siendo una discusión trascendental pertenece a otro debate, un debate (una lucha) que involucrando a todo el género humano, se dará en la cima de la pirámide.

Sin embargo, los pobres, la base de la pirámide, deben de ser proveídos de muchos servicios y productos. Hay una deuda pendiente que la globalización ha hecho evidente como problema de todos. Agua, energía, nutrición adecuada, conocimiento, salud, capital, justicia, gobernabilidad, tecnología, vivienda, cultura, vestido, entretenimiento..., forman parte de la agenda pendiente para dos terceras partes de los seres humanos. Y eso ha dejado de ser un problema exclusivo de los gobiernos nacionales para convertirse en un problema global.

Paradójicamente siendo un problema global, se resolverá en buena parte localmente. Y aquí, hay espacio no sólo para las transnacionales sino, me atrevo a decir, principalmente para los agentes económicos locales.

Y es en ese sentido, que más que resistirnos al discurso de la gran empresa (que está vez ha dado un gran salto paradigmático), debemos exigirnos por desarrollar nuestra imaginación empresarial y aplicarla para servir a los pobres y para que ellos se sirvan entre sí. Retraernos – ambos bandos - por opción ideológica (o por un pleito histórico) más que ayudar, contribuirá, en primer lugar, a que no se mejoren las condiciones de vida de los pobres y, en segundo, a que sigamos trasladando buena parte del capital al primer mundo. Por ello, más que resistirnos al discurso de la gran empresa (que está vez ha dado un gran salto paradigmático), debemos exigirnos por desarrollar nuestra imaginación empresarial y aplicarla para servir a los pobres, y para que ellos se sirvan entre sí. Retraernos – ambos bandos - por opción ideológica (o por un pleito histórico) más que ayudar, contribuirá, en primer lugar, a que no se mejoren las condiciones de vida de los pobres y, en segundo, a que sigamos trasladando buena parte del capital al primer mundo.

Así que propongo que dejemos de pensar por un rato en las transnacionales y pensemos en todo lo que podríamos hacer para desarrollar el mercado de la base de la pirámide. Propongo y este concepto gráfico ha sido trabajado en conjunto con el pintor peruano Luis García Zapatero, que volteemos la pirámide y le hagamos un huequito a lo que era el vértice superior, la cima, para así podamos construir un reloj de arena.

(Ver gráfico en www.peruenrumba.blogspot.com)

Llenemos la base de la pirámide de productos y servicios relevantes. Esa mis queridos amigos, es una imagen que nos puede gustar a todos, o por lo menos, a muchos más.

When I lived in the Barrio San Pedro in Tepoztlan Mexico in the early 1970s, a peso was a paper bill, and people used used to use pine splinters to illuminate. Today, the villagers need to have an income of hundreds, preferably thousands, of pesos every week to pay for food, electricity, transportation, communication, medicine, cooking gas, school, etc.

Today, the campesinos have hundreds and thousands of pesos going through their hands, yet they are poorer now than they were when a peso was a bill that one folded. Indeed the increasing poverty of the country people is reflected in the great increase in stress level and desperation that is fueling the ever-increasing migration to work as an illegal laborer in the northern neighbor. More than half of the men in the villages are long gone.

I dont think that after 40 years of continuingly decaying physical economy for the marginalized populations that any NGO is about to come swooping down with the solution. (Surprise me!) The solution we desperately need and are committed to realizing, is coming up from the grassroots.

The solution, when it comes, will not be popular, or easy to recognize, because, naturally, it will have defied several sacred cows, and failed to salute various politically-correct theorems and axioms.

Now we send out Warm Greetings !!! to the groups who have submitted proposals to this valuable event - and thanks to the Ashoka and Changemakers staff.

I have read all of the essays I think and there are some VERY interesting people here. We want to applaud and support these worthwhile efforts.

Please rate our AODDM entry. One key feature of the AODDM proposal is that there is NO charge to the user of the Artisan-Owned Direct Distribution Model system and NO licensing. Artcamp is giving away this valuable technology to village-based producer groups, in the spirit of solidarity with our brothers and sisters, village producers, not only from a humanistic motive, yet also because we know that the economic renaissance desperately required by our world, must necessarily be propelled by the artisans, the producers, the transformers of raw material....

The monetarists made everybody crazy with their accounting methods. The inevitable return from virtual reality to ordinary reality, information economy to physical economy will be painful, but this is going to happen.

Artisans will play a key role in the development of our respective national economies, not only our local communities. Globalism has worked in a way that makes it not profitable to be productive Since hawking to tourists is far more profitable, than making handcrafted jewelry. We have forced by the increasingly difficult circumstances in which we find ourselves, to find a way to be productive, and to make that way profitable" That is the crazy challenge the AODDM was created to respond to. Friends. Best wishes from Mexico!

Juan says:

“In the real world there are ideas based on common sense, which are established in society and its organizations, offering the biggest resistance to any change. If you want to overcome that resistance, you have to:

First organize a new group of ideas.

Secondly, you have to express those ideas in a simple manner.

Thirdly, you have to share the data that proves those ideas right.

And finally (fourthly), you need to demonstrate that your practice works.”

------------------------------

There is another strategy toward overcoming the existing resistance to change.

While this could work, it cannot be expected to overcome the resistance in a sustainable way. This is because the notions that provide the foundation for the beliefs and assumptions are themselves conceptual and buried in the minds of those who manifest the resistance.

As long as the notions that provide the foundation for the beliefs and assumptions that uphold the resistance remain secure in the minds that accommodate them, they can be expected to keep providing resistance in creative new ways, always undermining our efforts in the world.

So any lasting dismantling of the resistance is not possible with a strategy that ignores the conceptual foundation of the resistance we seek to overcome.

So we should also consider the alternative strategy, that of undermining, if not eliminating the beliefs and assumptions that provide the foundation of the resistance. This strategy also comprises four steps:

Firstly, find out the beliefs and assumptions that provide the conceptual foundation to the resistance to change.

Secondly, find out their origins, or the authority or evidence that that upholds these beliefs and assumptions.

Thirdly, undermine these beliefs and assumptions by uprooting the foundational beliefs and assumptions that provide their foundations – by providing their human carriers with facts that undermine these foundations.

And fourthly, keep reinforcing these corrective measures until the foundation of the resistance has dissolved away.

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for your comment. We agree that the definition of low income varies from country to country. As most of our focus in this competition is on developing countries, we defined low income accordingly to these countries' poverty level.

However, the geographical scope of this Award is global. The project that you mentioned might be a very interesting entry and we certainly welcome your application.

Thank you, Stephanie

Dear Stephanie,

Here in the US, as in many other cities around the world, the urban core is devastated by blight, disinvestment, high crime, and poverty. However, in the US, the federal poverty guidelines state that a single person making below $9500 is living in poverty, for a two person family it's US$12,000 and so on, and anyone making 200% of that amount is low-income. While I realize this is a fortune for those in poverty in other countries, when you consider that the average rent for a two bedroom apartment in most American cities is $500-$700/mo (and much, much more in New York, San Francisco, etc), and the fact that low income inner city residents often end up paying much more for basic necessities like groceries than do other urban or suburban residents living in higher income areas --that $12000 doesn't go very far.

I'm working with an entrepreneur who is tackling these issues, building a grocery store in an inner city neighborhood and using the profits to rehab blighted houses, selling them to low income residents at truly affordable rates. He has started a total of five related social enterprises that all promote sustainable inner city neighborhoods with plans to replicate in other inner city communities. I think the project would be quite worthy of consideration for this award, but the low income residents he serves live at the US poverty level. Would that make him ineligible?

I welcome your comments.

Dear Shephanie,

Sorry for our delayed response, our answer to your querries are given below:

• What is your strategy to organize local communities given that your model is based on a large number of slum dwellers participating?

First of all we would like to clarify that Waste Concern (WC) is working with both the slum dwellers as well as with low-income, middle income and high income people of urban area. At present barrel type composting is being replicated in 14 cities of Bangladesh and community based composting system is being replicated in 20 towns of Bangladesh by municipalities, privates sectors and NGOs.

‘Barrel Type Composting System’ For the slums and squatter settlements, WC is promoting ‘Barrel Type Composting System’ where about 5-6 households residing in a slum are grouped together and supplied with one compost barrel. Compost barrels are introduced in the slums with the active participation of the slum dwellers. Waste Concern provides hands-on training on the use of compost barrels to the users and also assists in marketing compost to private sectors. In the year 1999 with the support from LIFE-UNDP program WC started the Barrel type composting in two slums of Dhaka city. Almost one third of Dhaka population resides in slums and squatter settlements and they are suffering from environmental problems due to unmanaged waste inside their community. Initially slum dwellers were very much skeptical about the barrel to be installed inside their community. WC invited target slum dwellers to visit WC’s nieghboring composting facilities where the barrel type composting system was demonstrated. Once they were convinced about the technology and attracted to the idea of having a cleaner neighborhood and extra income opportunity from composting their own waste, WC carries out a baseline survey on waste generation and socio- economic survey on the community. WC field workers carries out dialogue with the slum dwellers about the concept and use of barrel type composting units and provides hands-on training..

One Barrel Type Composting Units are provided free of cost to a group of 5-6 users in a slum and compost produced from each barrels are sold to Waste Concern, which is subsequently sold to private sector. Cost of one barrel is US $ 25-30 which can be recovered within 2 years by selling compost at price of US $ 40 per ton.

As a result, barrel type composting system has become popular to the slum dwellers because slums are becoming cleaner and enjoying a new source of income from their own waste and has ownership of these units. Moreover, the long-term benefit of the project is the improvement of the environmental condition of the slums and decrees in the disease occurrence rate.

At present Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) under the Ministry of Local Government of Bangladesh with the support from UNICEF is replicating the barrel type composting model in 14 cities and municipalities of Bangladesh.

Waste Concern is working in close partnership with the municipalities and communities to promote barrel type composting. These barrels are provided free of cost to these slum dwellers by municipalities. Waste Concern is providing technical support and donors are providing financial support to purchase these units. Each municipalities has community staffs who works closely with Waste Concern staffs and carrying out the monitoring and evaluation of these units. At present Waste Concern is convincing local governments to use their own resource/ fund to install barrel-type compost units by replacing the ineffective conventional fixed waste bins.

Community Based Composting The prime goal of this project is promote the principal of 4R's (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle and Recovery of waste) in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Realizing the lessons learnt from the pilot project of Mirpur, Waste Concern is implementing their community-based program in additional four communities of Dhaka through partnership development with the government agencies, civil society bodies and NGO's and private sector, creating job opportunities for the neglected urban poor, especially women.

The additional four projects in Dhaka have been implemented using public- private-community partnership approach. Under this project, Government makes land available free of charge for waste management, Waste Concern collects, separates and turns solid waste into organic compost, community members pay a nominal fee for garbage collection and oversee the activities in their neighborhoods, while private businesses market the organic compost.

At present 20 towns and municipalities are replicating the model with the technical assistance from WC. Municipalities are providing land for composting plants and established these composting plants with the financial support from donors and contracting out these plants to local NGOs/ Private sectors to run the project. Waste Concern is providing technical support for the establishment and operation and maintenance of these projects. Communities are participating in the program and paying service fees for the house to house collection of waste. Waste Concern is also introducing private compost marketing companies to market compost from these new facilities.

Waste Concern is directly running 4 (four) community based projects and taking care of 2 (two) slums having barrel type composting projects in Dhaka and the rest of the replications in 20 towns are being carried out by private sectors, NGOs and local municipalities with the technical assistance from Waste Concern. Apart from Bangladesh Waste Concern is providing technical assistance to Qui Nhon City in Vietnam in replicating the model in Vietnam.

• Do you engage local authorities or community associations?

Initially we started our initiatives with our own resources for demonstration. Later after demonstration of the model Government along with donors came forward to replicate this model. At present both the ‘barrel type compost system’ and ‘community based composting plants’ are replicated in partnership with local authorities and community people or associations (if exists). It community associations do not exists in a project area, WC organizes local volunteers (women, youth, retired people) into watchdog group named as Green Force or Eco-friends. Both the local authorities and community associations are active partners of the project.

• * Are slum dwellers willing to pay for this service?

Under the ‘Barrel Type Composting’ project slum dwellers are segregating waste into organic and inorganic fraction and using the compost barrel as per instruction from Waste Concern. In return Waste Concern is purchasing compost from them. Instead of littering waste in the roads and drains, slum dwellers are properly using the compost barrel and producing compost. Slum dwellers have owner ship of the compost barrels and they, instead of paying any kind of service fees, selling their compost to Waste Concern. Later Waste Concern sells these compost product to private fertilizer marking company.

Main feature of this model is that instead of paying for the service they are earning money from the sales proceed of compost. Under the ‘Community Based Composting plant’ located in low-middle and high income areas, communities are paying service for the house-to-house collection of waste to waste collectors Almost 30% of the revenue comes from this house-to- house waste collection fees in compost plant and the rest 70% comes from the sale of compost product. Communities are paying an amount of US $ 0.20-0.30 per month for this waste collection service.

• Are you facing the issue that they may expect free services/ subsidies from the government? For Barrel Type Composting case slum dwellers are earning some money out of waste and they expects free service/ subsides to purchase new barrel type compost units from the government,in case of community based composting model communities are already paying conservancy tax to the local authorities to collect waste from the communal waste bins not from each households. Initially few communities took their own initiatives of house-to-house collection with service fee to get rid of uncollected waste in their neighborhoods.

• * What motivated the fertilizer company to buy the waste in the first place? Was it purely commercial or as part of their corporate social reponsibility agenda?

Initially the fertilizer company was reluctant to market organic fertilizer/compost in the market. First of all this product was unknown to them and were not sure about its demand among the farmers. Waste Concern successfully motivated owner/chairman of the marketing company by simply sending him vegetable grown on organic fertilizer which had good taste and smell. WC and the private marketing company started with 200 tons/ year contract which was also very insignificant for the private market company to market compared to their large market of seeds, pesticides and chemical fertilizer. Waste Concern produce bulk compost (screened from 8 mm sieve) and later this product is grinded and packed in 20-40 kg bags. Later private sector started to enrich compost with chemical nutrients based on soil and crop type. After receiving huge demand compost and enriched compost from the farmers the private marketing company requested Waste Concern to supply more than 40,000 tons of compost every year. The late owner of the private marketing company called Alpha Agro Ltd. was a man of vision and philanthropist. He took the opportunity of both making profit and also contribute towards sustainable environment and agriculture by marketing a environment friendly product.

• * How easy or difficult has it proven to be to get the initial investment to set up a new composting plant? What kind of investors do you attract?

There was a common perception that waste is a problem it needs to be solved centrally by the government with sophisticated hi-tech technology. In 1994, the co-founders of Waste Concern tried to convince government to go for community based decentralized approach to combat the huge amount of waste in affordable and sustainable way. They also tried to popularize the concept of Waste is not waste it is a resource. It was very difficult to convince initially.

Later in 1995 Waste Concern with its own resources and partial financial support from a young businessman and a small piece of land from Lions club started a pilot demonstration community based composting project. After successful demonstration of the project in 1998, the Ministry of Environment and Forest of the Government of Bangladesh with the support from UNDP started to replicate this model in 4 (four) communities of Dhaka. Later in 2002, Department of Public Health and Engineering of the Ministry of Local Government with the support from UNICEF is replicating both the model of community based and barrel type in 14 cities and towns of Bangladesh. The demonstration and economic viability of these model attracted other NGOs and private sectors to replicate the model in other cities with own resource, grant support from external agencies and soft loans from Bank.

Recently, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto Protocol created a new window for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh. Waste Concern is initiating two projects in Dhaka using CDM. One is Land Fill Gas extraction project in the existing dumpsite of Dhaka city using US $ 3.5 million and the other is 700-tons capacity composting plant at the fringe of Dhaka city using US $ 6.5 million. Certified Emission Reduction (CER) from the sale of per ton methane reduction attracted the foreign investor in waste sector. Close to 1.5 million tons of CO2eq can be sold from the aforementioned two waste based CDM projects initiated by WWR and Waste Concern in Dhaka and per ton price of CO2eq is more than US $ 5 in the market.

• * You already replicated the model in 20 cities. It is very impressive! What are the key conditions for replication?

The key condition to replication of the model is to bring all the partners (municipalities, communities and private sector) in a close benefit loop. Some of the key conditions are shown below: • Municipality should provide land free of cost for the project. • Allow private sector/ NGOs to operate the compost plant. • Allow house-to-house waste collection in urban areas by the local authorities. • Allow nominal fee for collection of waste from households. Private sector /NGOs should have proper capacity building training as per Waste Concern’s instruction to produce good quality compost. Community the source of waste should participate in the house-to-house waste collection program pay a fee for waste collection service. In barrel type composting case slum dwellers should be motivated and trained to take part in the program.

With best regards,

Maqsood Sinha and Iftekhar Enayetullah

During the past days, a very unfortunate and cruel flu has kept me in bed, leaving me very week and holding me back to participate in this exchange of ideas proposed by Ashoka. Paradoxically, the fever’s chills and the desire but impossibility of my participation in this discussion made me remember a 2002 delightful morning when walking on a northern Peruvian beach, I saw a splendid group of birds flying two meters above the see. A beautiful image that I followed with absolute attention for those five minutes when life is forever and everything is understood.

Those seagulls were crossing the skies in a triangular shape, totally effortless. How powerful aerodynamics is, I thought. And I - who at the time was trying to convince a group of investors to change their investment priorities - found a right strategy. In the real world there are ideas based on common sense, which are established in society and its organizations, offering the biggest resistance to any change. If you want to overcome that resistance, you have to first organize a new group of ideas.

Secondly, you have to express those ideas in a simple manner. Thirdly, you have to share the data that proves those ideas right. And finally, you need to demonstrate that your practice works. The ability to defeat that resistance to change is what allows you to know if there’s a new powerful paradigm ready to be established in society. A new paradigm has (inside the idea’s world) the same effect as birds’ aerodynamic effect while flying, it flows. Hence, a well supported idea – opening its way on the local, national or global common sense- generates the required conditions to knock down a previously built old structure.

Business at the Bottom of the Pyramid

On his book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid”, Professor C. K. Prahalad expresses in a simple way and with well supported data, a couple of very powerful ideas like the type of idea I described above:

Does the access of the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) to products and services contribute to eradicate poverty? The clients at the BOP will be the great market in the next decades.

C. K. Prahalad confirms other realities which despite their obviousness still surprise MBAs and NGOs:

Are poor people intelligent? Poor people buy? Do they save? Do they have debt and repay it? Can poor people progress?

During many years, I’ve seen lots of people replying no to the aforementioned questions. People from the business and social sectors who in rejecting what’s obvious, have turned down a possibility for development for millions of human beings. People that even get mortified when they hear that poor people are no longer poor; or those who don’t go to a small grocery market because it’s not within their comfort zone. For all this reasons, Prahalad’s efforts make me happy, as also have the Peruvian Hernando de Soto and Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus who from different approaches and concentrations have flown and nowadays are effortless flowing with their new paradigms through out the world.

What’s next?

I said that when a new paradigm is established in society’s common sense and its organizations, the new conditions are to tear down the prior paradigm’s status quo. Hence, the ideas supported in the “Fortune of the Pyramid” bring that possibility to the table. Thanks to Prahalad’s book, the private and social sectors are quickly changing their vision and understanding about poor communities. Now, it comes the hard and revolutionary task of finding consistency between the new idea, the business sector activities, and people who envision a more fair society.

Through out all my experience in promoting small enterprise development in Peru, I’ve witnessed how implementing good intended business in the BOP could fail several times. Of course, I’ve also been a witness and accomplice of some successful experiences. This discussion’s format does not allow me to reflect on to those experiences but I’d like to close with two thoughts. First, the main problem about BOP to be tackled is the supply not the demand. This means, that the problem isn’t the poor, on the contrary, the problem are the rich –with accumulated capital, knowledge, speech freedom- from the business, social, or public sectors. We are those who do not understand the market dynamics in the BOP. We own supply but are not capable to make it accessible to very anxious buyers.

Secondly, the opportunity created by Prahalad’s new paradigm will generate an intense labor war – a labor market turmoil of professionals from the business and social sectors. The consolidation of this paradigm will bring down the value of MBAs and NGOs professionals shaped in the prior paradigm. In the next years, the new kings for market consultancies, reengineering projects, strategic planning for social sector, business academy and social management, will be those scarce specimens that just yesterday nobody listened to. Those people don’t know yet that their value in the market has now considerably increased. Their time has arrived. Alleluia!

Dear Stephanie,

Perhaps the following will answer your questions.

1. What is the main difference between your model and other land sharing/ swapping mechanisms?

My model generates a financial asset that is converted in part to a home. In other schemes, the Developer is rewarded for providing low income housing by getting some saleable units. My model is not designed as a land sharing or swapping mechanism but as a methodology for the very poor to enter the financial ladder. An investor in the Mumbai model was very relieved with my scheme in that we provide investment security, guarantees against forced sales, no investor/ developer problems with the slum dwellers and the use of legal regulations and appeal to normal law rather than ad hoc oral assurances.

2. How do you identify and organize slum dwellers likely to participate in the exchange? Do you work with community-based organizations?

What I have done is to privatize the State or Authorities welfare program or what should have been their welfare program. I identify land areas that are suitable and get Authority permission and DIRECTLY approach the people as families. There is no NGO interface, unless we are ourselves classed an NGO. 3. What is the financial model? Who pays for the construction and planning? How do you sustain the Private Trust?

The Trust pays for the construction and planning. It does so by raising money through the sale of certificates (shares) in itself. The Trust is sustained as a stock exchange listed company through investment in itself.

4. Is the model based on a land price/ house price ratio (i.e. being adequate in cities where land is very expensive) or can it be replicated more widely?

There is no land price to house price ratio as such. The model is really geared to the business and capital market cycles. When there is a boom and built housing is going up in price but there is not yet a supply price increase that will wipe out this boom, the model will say build. When the economy is on a downturn or recession, the model will not suggest building. Of course, scientific town planning or urban design that is used in the city is also important. Generally the model is applicable where the Authorities are following willy nilly what is often called the "compact cities" view or the "Urban Renaissance" view of city planning. It is not expected to work with other Planning concepts, once very popular, as "garden cities," "new suburbia" or "satellite cities."

5. Does your model include innovations in design or construction materials to bring the cost of the new buildings down in addition to selecting design adapted to communities? preferences? Or do communities contribute with "sweat equity"?

As a matter of fact, the first completed scheme in Colombo has a lot of novel features of design and construction (for Sri Lanka). These aspects were hotly disputed at the time. I find that owing to the building's success that young architects are talking of new work in these (my) terms now. So it is no longer the novel item. However this is not a feature of the model. It just happens so as in the past design and construction were not driven by these same clients (the poor). Communities contribute "congealed sweat labor" in that they sweated once and are realizing their assets in the scheme. They sweated out this in the service of brutish and slave driver colonial and neo-colonial societies. I have no desire to sweat the poor myself!!

I hope this makes things clearer.

The people labeled the scheme which we did, after completion, as a "transformation of lives". I had just thought of housing. But they saw from a different perspective. I am led by this. THEY WANT TO TRANSFORM THEIR LIVES. And this is the key and the most important place.

Could I add a comment. When I taught Economics in University, that is regurgitated what had been stuffed into me, a great flourish of the Economics teacher was to move from basic assumptions to the Free Trade Theory, rather pompously called a Theorem. Recently when I looked at some first year books, to my surprise that all that derivation from utility theory is lacking. Rather Free Trade is basically assumed itself. after all why struggle with unrealistic assumptions to prove something when one could probably get by better simply assuming the end result!! It made me pause to think. I think, I suggest for your consideration, that in the USA, where I studied at University, or other developed economies, Economics as such is a known thing. The "theory" is to say how it works. This is really because the basics do seem to work. In our case, especially in countries whose reality is well below the assumed way of life or cultural thinking of its literate classes, as in Sri Lanka, or among the other marginalized countries, Economics is not that. We do not like the way things are. We want to know how things can be radically changed so as to work!! Our Economic Theory is about something missing, not what is actually at hand. This Economics of the Marginalized People, or Marginalized Intellectuals, as myself, lead to very different designs as in the case of our S-REIT and what may appear a considerable superstructure on a simple matter as a poor person's house.

I don't want to be heretical, but may I suggest that the future is not social entrepreneurs but an Economics of the Marginalized (some other phrase) - what I mean is that it is not to make a business model apply to social issues, (actually the entrepreneur theory as in Business is supposed to include the social), but that the social circumstances of the marginalized create a different Economics and "business". (I have maintained publicly for some time that India and South Asia is the Homeland of the Marginalized, for some centuries. It is understandable in that light.)

Sincerely DARIN

Maybe meeting face to face is what is needed. Anyway, best wishes in your dialogue with La Farge, which I find has acquired a major supply corporation in Sri Lanka too.

Please forgive the delay in replying, we had a large number of guests in our home and I had to be taking them to various places in the country.

Best Wishes, DARIN

I'd like to react to the concept of sustainability mentioned in Xiaowen's email about the competition criteria. What are people's thoughts on -What exactly does it mean to be sustainable? ? From a pure MBA perspective, sustainability means that your generated revenues cover your costs. But why can't we consider other forms of revenue in "sustainability"? Is it because government assistance can ebb and flow with politics? Business in general changes with politics; it's just another factor that any organization has to manage.

And let's be honest: many many large companies, if you really study them, receive "subsidiary-like" treatment from politicians, whether it's in the form of tax breaks, preferential trade agreements or government contracts. However for some reason, we call their businesses "sustainable" and a social sector organization who receives a government grant "unsustainable." Why ? Furthermore, because an organization is profitable one or two years, does that mean that they have a "sustainable business model"? What is the number of years that one has to prove that one can stay in business to be considered sustainable? And what if during that time, your revenue sources change, but each year you continue to operate in the black?

I would postulate that sustainability doesn't depend on the SOURCE of revenue - but instead depends on the ability of the organization to continue operating and creating value for society over a reasonable period of time. In other words, the organization needs to have not only the financial resources but the organizational capacity, right product or service that meets a consumer need, and the operational ability to execute.

Question for fellow Changemakers:

Can established organizations really change their models to serve low- income consumers ? or will the real innovation and sustainable ideas come from NEW hybrid organizations that intricately intertwine the beauty of the social sector and the busines sector?

I'm noticing that it's down-right hard for established organizations (businesses or non-profits) to quickly develop models to serve the BOP. Even in this competition so far, we see only new organizations -- established specifically to serve low-income markets. Of course there are examples of big companies entering these new markets. And there are clearly examples of social entrepreneurs as well. However both sectors, when entering this space after already being established in another, face challenges:

For businesses: pressure from shareholders to maximize profits and in a timely fashion; competitive pressures to focus only on highly profitable clients; internal pressures to keep the same business model

For NGOs: pressure to stay loyal to social mission rather than generating revenues; pressure to reduce consumerism rather than increase it through new products; pressure to use resources to "help" people rather than selling products/services.

Change is HARD ! Do these factors mean that it's EASIER to start a new hybrid enterprise that combines social values with a business model approach - rather than trying to teach an old dog new tricks ? If it possible to change, what factors need to be in place to ensure succes ? Organizational change models point to these question as well.

Maybe the future - and I mean FUTURE as in 100 years from now ? holds a world without business sector and social sector distinctions. Instead, we'll have hybrids...

Hello,

I wanted to take advantage of the discussion forum to briefly comment on the competition assessment criteria and the rationale behind them for the ones who are considering applying - or who already did and would like to complement their entry (everybody has the chance to submit one revision to their application). In a nutshell, we are looking for innovative business models to provide critical products/ services to low-income people, based on profits and social impact.

The competition is open to initiatives from different sectors/industries and different regions of the world as long as they adopt market-based approaches and provide needed products and services to low-income communities. Many of the strategies used to effectively serve the poor have potential applications in other sectors and we hope to be able to encourage ?cross-fertilization?. In order to identify realistic strategies, we are only considering initiatives beyond the stage of idea or concept that have at least been tested in one location. As often, the devil is in the details and most challenges related to providing products and services to low-income populations are faced in the implementation stage when distribution channels are needed to reach remote rural populations or slum dwellers or the price points need to be adjusted.

The winners of this Changemakers Innovation Award will be those entries that best address the criteria: ? Market-based approach: the initiative is based on a sound business model and has the potential to be profitable or financially self- sustainable beyond the start-up phase. Low-income communities contribute by paying for the products/services they receive in part or in full. This is very important to ensure the sustainability and the scale of the initiative as many good development projects are limited by the lack of government subsidies or foundation funding. Here, we want to focus our discussion on initiatives from both businesses and social organizations that are demand and market driven. ? Social impact: the benefit(s) of the products or services provided to low-income individuals can be clearly explained and demonstrated (access to healthcare, affordable housing or technology, income-generating opportunities, etc.). ? Innovation: in order to provide products/services that are appropriate, affordable and locally accessible in spite of challenging conditions from a typical business standpoint (customers have low and irregular incomes, traditional products do not meet their needs, there is a need for a strong educational component to fully convey the benefits of your products or services to the end customers, etc), the initiative uses creative approaches and partnerships. ? Sustainability: the initiative has already been implemented or tested. There is a well-developed strategy to sustain and replicate/ scale up the initiative beyond its current location in order to benefit a large number of low-income citizens. We encourage you to take a look at the full competition guidelines: www.changemakers.net/journal/300508/competition.cfm

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Xiaowen

Dear Darin and other Changemakers,

Thank you very much for presenting your inspiring initiative that provides affordable housing through a ýwin-winý mechanism benefiting both land owners and slum dwellers. It seems that one of the core insights of your model is to provide choice and adapted housing to low-income communities, which addresses some issues faced by other land sharing/ swapping mechanisms. I would be interested to learn more about this and find out how you identify and organize slum dwellers to participate in the exchange.

A revolution should be something that we all have in mind given that the opportunity is as big as the issue of millions of individuals living in dilapidated and unsecured dwellings or being deprived from critical goods and services. How could an organization interested in housing replicate your model in other parts of the world? Are there specific requirements such as the land price/ house price ratio (i.e. being adequate in cities where land is very expensive) or local policies?

With regards to the economics, does your initiative include innovations in design or construction materials to bring the cost of the new buildings down, or does it rely on other type of contribution from the communities such as ýsweat equityý? There may be interesting synergies with other initiativesý.

What are some other questions or reflections that are prompted by this idea - or any of the others? Would other project leaders who have entered the competition like to share experiences vis-ý-vis the challenges of developing solutions for low-income communities that are appropriate, cost-effective and scalable?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Dear Maqsood and Iftekhar,

I am very interested by the Waste Concern's solution that you described in your entry, as you are basically offering an economically sustainable and replicable model FOR slum dwellers BY slum dwellers - creating self- reliance in low-income communities. Waste collection is obviously a very much needed service in slums and this will hopefully inspire other commercial or social ventures to develop other critical services for these markets... The commercial partnership you established with the fertilizer company is also a great strategy to leverage the core competencies of the business sector - in this case marketing and distribution channels to reach out to small farmers.

Many competition participants would probably be interested in your perspective on a few points including:

* What is your strategy to organize local communities given that your model is based on a large number of slum dwellers participating? Do you engage local authorities or community associations? * Are slum dwellers willing to pay for this service? Are you facing the issue that they may expect free services/ subsidies from the government? * What motivated the fertilizer company to buy the waste in the first place? Was it purely commercial or as part of their corporate social reponsibility agenda? * How easy or difficult has it proven to be to get the initial investment to set up a new composting plant? What kind of investors do you attract? * You already replicated the model in 20 cities. It is very impressive! What are the key conditions for replication?

Looking forward to continuing the discussion,

Stephanie

Hello,

We have already 16 projects from 11 countries and various sectors ranging from waste management to health and housing. Thank you to all early participants for presenting their market-based approaches that benefit low-income populations. We are looking forward to more applications to share experiences, brainstorm on how to face common challenges and stimulate further thinking and action in the field.

As Darin from the Wiros Lockh Institute points out, we are interested in a revolution! Millions of unserved people should be able to benefit from these basic products or services. Some of the entries received so far illustrate creative strategies to bring down the cost of providing products/ services or uncover value creation potential by identifying a ýwin-winý opportunity or transforming untapped resources such as waste in Bangladesh. They also bring important lessons about giving choice to low-income communities ý often a real luxury by their current living standards ý and mobilizing a large number of low-income people to be able to design and implement sustainable solutions.

Key questions also start to emerge. How to go beyond the start-up phase and scale up? How to design a solution financially sustainable in spite of the limited economic resources of beneficiaries or how to find the right type of investors? How to identify the core principles of oneý solution in order to replicate it to different locations? How to create wide-reaching delivery channels to bring technology innovations to masses?

We look forward to hearing more from you,

Stephanie

Dear Changemakers:

Welcome to this collaborative event on how to develop market-based strategies that benefit low-income communities around the world. Increasingly, citizen sector organizations and businesses are developing creative approaches centered on profit and positive social impact that provide enhanced opportunities for low-income individuals and their families. The mosaic of solutions presented on Changemakers' website and the article describing the mosaic framework give examples of such innovative initiatives.

We look forward to your contest entries, to hearing about your perspectives and to sharing and learning as a community. Use this discussion forum to pose questions about entries and challenge ideas with the aim of making them even more effective, suggest paths forward, and develop practical action templates. We believe that entrepreneurial market-based approaches represent a tremendous potential for large-scale social impact, innovation and value creation for low-income communities, citizen sector organizations and businesses altogether. However, these commercial ventures targeting low-income populations face challenges and raise important questions, including but not limited to:

• Can access to products and services contribute to improving the lives of low-income communities?

• How to strike a balance between integrating low-income communities to the global economy while strengthening local economies?

• How can companies commit to serving both low-income consumers and their shareholders?

• What ethical framework should organizations targeting low-income populations as consumers operate in?

• Is there a risk for citizen sector organizations to deviate from their original missions by opting for profit-making approaches and commercial partnerships?

• How can citizen sector organizations and businesses best collaborate to improve products/services available to low-income communities and achieve social transformation?

• And from a sustainable development perspective, how to integrate the two thirds of the world's population to the global economy while preserving the sustainability of our planet?