Our first day provided a full-on introduction to what must arguably be one of the world’s worst workday commuting experiences. We always complain in Washington DC about the parking lot-grade conditions of Beltway traffic, and lane closures due to construction sponsored by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Well, it’s nothing compared to the evening commute in Mumbai as the masses leave their offices to head home from South Mumbai to the northern suburbs across half-finished flyovers, pot-hole riddled roads, 3-7 lanes of traffic each way (depending on the road), lack of clear lane markings, with a plethora of vehicle types including cars, buses, two-wheelers, lorries (so-called British trucks, who give one permission to “horn OK please,” oftentimes the only way to really get past), humans, squatters on pavements, piles of construction materials and debris, parked road construction equipment…the list is endless.
Our group set out to get dinner on Monday evening at a cosmopolitan Mall 20-25 minutes away in an air-conditioned tour bus. An hour and a half later, our spirits sagging, most of us were willing to forgo the promise of the cosmopolitan mall in favor of a passing McDonalds if we could just simply get off the bus! The water condensate dripping from the air condition ventilation system on the bus wasn’t helping matters. With the fast rising middle class hungry for trappings of economic success best described by a 4 wheeled car it boggles the mind as to how the nation’s 1.2 billion people may be vehicularly accommodated on its already highly congested road infrastructure. The smog being another point of concern!
A conversation with a taxicab driver, earlier in the afternoon, yielded the information that many cabs at least ran on diesel and that electric vehicles were starting to enter the market, which was a heartening thought. Although Mumbai boasts a strongly connected multi-modal public transportation system (bus, train, and soon to open subway), the sheer number of cars on the roads continues to grow. According to our afternoon cab driver, apparently statistics indicate that each day 250-300 new cars are added to the traffic pattern!
We did eventually get to dinner at the fancy mall (in of itself another story, it beats Tyson’s Galleria in McLean, VA, US), bolstered by the thought that our return journey at least would be faster since we’d be going against the flow of traffic. On our way back, past 9pm at night, the northbound lanes were still jam-packed and red with glowing tail-lights as far as the eye could see.
While the rest of the world debates the value of hybrid and alternative energy vehicles, one wonders how soon India can convert over or if it always remain a step or two behind with respect to energy technology. It would be interesting to look into how many of the country’s over 1 million NGOs are focused on the issue of energy and transportation sustainability.
Monday, August 01, 2011
Reflections from Mumbai
After arriving in our hotel in the early morning hours, with the jet lag setting in, I watched the sun rise on our first day in Mumbai. Looking out from the hotel window, I’m finally able to grasp that our Indian adventure has begun. We have spent the last month in Washington defining various aspects of social entrepreneurs and what it takes to develop and maintain successful social organizations. We’ve heard lectures and read case studies and now are finally able to experience the true case study that is India.
A crucial part of any social venture is finding the money to support the mission. As part of our preparation for the trip, we were asked to look into a few organizations that connect funders with the types of programs we are visiting in India. Samhita, Global India Fund, Global Giving, and Kiva are all online portals connecting a multitude of donors with potential funding opportunities around the world. The sites operate in slightly different ways but share the same concept of global philanthropy in an extremely easy and interactive way.
Samhita aims to create the ultimate social marketplace for NGOs, individual donors, as well as service providers. They are currently in their first phase of development that focuses on NGOs throughout India by providing the opportunities necessary to build an effective organization. The site provides NGOs a voice, while connecting them with donors across the world. NGOs can also enter the site and access resources such as legal advice and where to find volunteers in order to maintain their mission. Working as an Americorps volunteer at a food bank in Ohio, I was responsible for creating a similar portal (on a much smaller scale) for local food pantries to share resources and ideas to further their mission. The food bank portal had great success and provided food pantries with a support system to maintain and become more effective. It is so important for organizations like the NGOs supported by Samhita to have access to resources tailored to their specific social mission in order to be effective and successful.
The Global India Fund, in partnership with Samhita, has a very innovative approach to global philanthropy as well. The online portal not only connects donors with funding opportunities throughout India but also fosters stewardship for donors by providing various donation options as well as regular updates regarding their donation. As we have learned from Dr. Vyas, founder of GIF, the process of gathering social organizations and performing the due diligence necessary to maintain both the organizations’ and GIF’s credibility is extremely important, as well as extensive and time consuming. Making the extra effort to ensure credible organizations are receiving the donations is the next step to creating a secure site, building trust with donors, and maintaining an easily accessible market for global philanthropy.
Global Giving functions along the same lines as both Samhita and GIF but is open to various social organizations throughout the world. Donors are able to enter the site and pick a funding opportunity by either a topic of interest, region of the world, most popular program, and so on. Kiva takes a different approach than the others in that when donors give money it is in the form of a loan that will eventually be paid in full by the recipient. The personal stories of those seeking loans around the world are provided and donors pick and choose the individuals they would like to support. This personal aspect really allows donors to connect with individuals in need and help them get their feet on the ground and eventually sustain their business after repayment of the loan. One of the functions of Kiva’s site that I find to be extremely innovative is when individuals repay loans, the money is then credited to the donor’s Kiva account and can be redistributed to other individuals. Thus, you could only make one initial donation but recycle the money after repayment within the Kiva network and eventually be able to reach multiple individuals over time.
There’s so much that goes in to maintaining successful social organizations and these websites are creating the financial foundation and opportunity for organizations across the globe. They provide the opportunity for anyone attempting to make a donation, no matter the size, to do so in an extremely interactive and accessible way. I look forward to visiting the types organizations that these global philanthropy networks help to fund throughout our two weeks in India. It will no doubt be a life changing experience that will further shape my career in public health. Stay tuned…
Halfway there!
Greetings all from Paris!
It was a quick and easy flight from Minneapolis and now I, like Kelly below, am ruminating on social entrepreneurship, my upcoming experience in India and my thoughts on the blogs we were assigned to look at.
Each of the four organizations has their own perspective on social entrepreneurship and seeks to fulfill its’ mission in different ways. Samhita and Global India Fund provide a veritable database of worthy organizations that have been exhaustively vetted, such that potential donors can feel confident in where there money is going. I try to make several small donations to causes I feel strongly about throughout the year and as my interests take on a more global perspective, the value of a service like this becomes more and more apparent. Global India Fund and Samhita truly take the guess work out of making a charitable donation abroad and, by way of the vast database, provide different ways to do so. Having the choice of making a donation directly to an individual, or to a bank that will distribute the funds as a loan or any other option really gives the donor a feeling of control over their donation.
Kiva is one of the more compelling sites of those we were tasked with visiting. Of course, all of the organizations provide wonderful services and convincing reasons to be charitable; however, I think that the actual aesthetic of the Kiva site provides the best user experience. There are so many different options available to donors now; I feel that having a unique and gripping user experience can really set an organization apart from the others. I really love the ability to scroll over the different individual boxes on Kiva’s home page, see their personal story and really understand how Kiva has helped them. For me, this added a very personal element that I feel is slightly lacking on the other organization web sites. In class we heard from Kate Roberts, the powerhouse PR and Marketing genius from PSI. Not only was her presentation exciting and informative, it also helped us understand the value of making the social entrepreneurship truly personable and relational. I honestly feel that, when soliciting funds for any organization, it really is all about two things: 1) who you know and 2) how you engage them. Although Kiva is quite different than PSI, I like to make the connection between an individual who has the keen ability to connect with others and an organizations website that really does go the extra little bit to make the experience of the user better – and thus create a more likely environment for donation.
GlobalGiving also provides this type of personalized user experience. I appreciate how they separate the available projects by both geography as well as topic so if I were interested in donating money to say a maternal and child health program in sub-saharan Africa, I would be able to make one click of a mouse and see the project options available which fit those specific parameters.
All of these organizations provide ways to truly make a difference, no matter the size or scope of the donation. Each has its’ own personality which caters to, potentially, a certain type of philanthropist. Social entrepreneurship, as we have studied in the classroom and through our own personal experiences, doesn’t fit into one category. The term can really be experienced and encompassed in a variety of different ways, whether it is a charitable organization, a profitable company, or simply a grass-roots way to provide support for a cause an individual deems worthy. What ties all of this together; however, is the need for financial backing. The organizations mentioned above all provide this service, but in different ways.
I still have 10+ hours of travel until I get to India, and I truly cannot wait to arrive and see some of the tenets of social entrepreneurship at work. Undoubtedly this will be a challenging experience – emotionally, mentally and otherwise. I am thrilled to be joining such an esteemed, smart and adventurous group of people on this journey and look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning.
Brooke
It was a quick and easy flight from Minneapolis and now I, like Kelly below, am ruminating on social entrepreneurship, my upcoming experience in India and my thoughts on the blogs we were assigned to look at.
Each of the four organizations has their own perspective on social entrepreneurship and seeks to fulfill its’ mission in different ways. Samhita and Global India Fund provide a veritable database of worthy organizations that have been exhaustively vetted, such that potential donors can feel confident in where there money is going. I try to make several small donations to causes I feel strongly about throughout the year and as my interests take on a more global perspective, the value of a service like this becomes more and more apparent. Global India Fund and Samhita truly take the guess work out of making a charitable donation abroad and, by way of the vast database, provide different ways to do so. Having the choice of making a donation directly to an individual, or to a bank that will distribute the funds as a loan or any other option really gives the donor a feeling of control over their donation.
Kiva is one of the more compelling sites of those we were tasked with visiting. Of course, all of the organizations provide wonderful services and convincing reasons to be charitable; however, I think that the actual aesthetic of the Kiva site provides the best user experience. There are so many different options available to donors now; I feel that having a unique and gripping user experience can really set an organization apart from the others. I really love the ability to scroll over the different individual boxes on Kiva’s home page, see their personal story and really understand how Kiva has helped them. For me, this added a very personal element that I feel is slightly lacking on the other organization web sites. In class we heard from Kate Roberts, the powerhouse PR and Marketing genius from PSI. Not only was her presentation exciting and informative, it also helped us understand the value of making the social entrepreneurship truly personable and relational. I honestly feel that, when soliciting funds for any organization, it really is all about two things: 1) who you know and 2) how you engage them. Although Kiva is quite different than PSI, I like to make the connection between an individual who has the keen ability to connect with others and an organizations website that really does go the extra little bit to make the experience of the user better – and thus create a more likely environment for donation.
GlobalGiving also provides this type of personalized user experience. I appreciate how they separate the available projects by both geography as well as topic so if I were interested in donating money to say a maternal and child health program in sub-saharan Africa, I would be able to make one click of a mouse and see the project options available which fit those specific parameters.
All of these organizations provide ways to truly make a difference, no matter the size or scope of the donation. Each has its’ own personality which caters to, potentially, a certain type of philanthropist. Social entrepreneurship, as we have studied in the classroom and through our own personal experiences, doesn’t fit into one category. The term can really be experienced and encompassed in a variety of different ways, whether it is a charitable organization, a profitable company, or simply a grass-roots way to provide support for a cause an individual deems worthy. What ties all of this together; however, is the need for financial backing. The organizations mentioned above all provide this service, but in different ways.
I still have 10+ hours of travel until I get to India, and I truly cannot wait to arrive and see some of the tenets of social entrepreneurship at work. Undoubtedly this will be a challenging experience – emotionally, mentally and otherwise. I am thrilled to be joining such an esteemed, smart and adventurous group of people on this journey and look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning.
Brooke
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