Despite India's impressive economic growth over recent decades, the country continues to face challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption, malnutrition and terrorism. Approximately 70% of the country lives on less than U.S. $2.00 a day. Yet, India is a home to over 3 million NGOs. Many of these leaders are working tirelessly to improve the social conditions of the country.

"Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of India" will challenge students to confront more advanced issues faced by today's social entrepreneurs. The field experience of the course will take students to Mumbai and India. Students will meet Social Entrepreneurs and NGOs working at all societal levels to understand grassroots' needs as well as the overall public health infrastructure in India.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

HELLO from Mumbai, India!!

FUN FACT: Mumbai = most populous city in India, and 6th in the world.

I finally arrived in Mumbai in the calm cool hours of the night/early morning. We were pleasantly greeted by monsoon mist and the familiar order of board written letters G.W.U. - held by eagerly waiting hotel transportation.

Just got into the hotel and I am thrilled to be seeing/living Social Entrepreneurship come alive for the next two weeks in Mumbai and New Delhi! With that being said, a mix of adrenaline pumping and jet lag (not so good) sleep might not be an option....
To begin this exciting imersion of Social Entrereneurship in India I am sharing my thoughts/comments of four organizations that our professors Dr. Vyas and Dean Parrish have asked us to review; Global Giving, Samhita, Global India Fund, and Kiva.
First stop: Global Giving (www.globalgiving.com). Global Giving is an organization that connects donors and people with world changing ideas to those in need and can pursue these ideas to full potential. This type of giving allows people to support projects all over the world. The Global Giving website provides information of current projects and personal insights of volunteers that donors can follow and be apart of. Donors can also follow their giving's through the thorough due diligence process. This course has stressed the importance of due diligence in especially philanthripic circumstances and how vital it is to keep donnors informed with reliable information to sustain their support.

Samhita (samhita.org), and NGO that provides the due diligence - similar to Global Giving - to individuals, organizations, foudnations and groups in India is based in Mumbai. We will be meeting the great group of individuals who work for Samhita this evening for dinner. I am excited to become familiar with the organization and having the opportunity to learn from the Samhita staff. Of the many collaborations Samhita has, we have the pleasure of learning about the Global India Fund (globalindiafund.org) (GIF) courtesy of the founder and our professor, Dr. Vyas.

GIF's website provides donors reliabel information about grassroots NGO's in India that need sustainable input to provide social change in their communities. The NGO's may be small and perhaps may not have enough resources to be easly accessible to donors, BUT GIF provides online profiles of NGO's and supports sustainability through providing donors accountabilty of where they are giving and what social changes come from their support and hard work.

Lastly, we have Kiva (kiva.org). Kiva is an organization qutie different fromt he previous three in terms of providing means to individuals. Kiva provides connecitons with microfinance institutions to those in need of capital. Their loans span across five continents and 100% of every dollar given goes directly to create loans for those particularly in remote areas. Individuals who do not have access to banking systems are given these loans and the opportunity to estabilsh their own sustainability. The world of microfinance is particually facinating to me, and I am eager to see what organizations similar to Kiva have done in providing a pathway to social change.

I am going to call it a night/morning (not quite sure how to label my days yet). I am looking forward to tomorrow morning! We will be working with AmeriCares India (www.americaresindia.org) by providing free medications and medical services to those in need via medical mobile vans in East Andheri, Mumbai. I am glad we are able to experience direct hands on experince through an experienced program that reaches an average of 700 patients a week.

Stay tuned for news on the AmeriCares India project tomorrow!

- Rashi
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1 comment:

  1. bosebms19878/03/2011 8:02 am

    Microfinance in Indian medicare has been led by initiatives such as those of Narayana Hrudayalaya whereof the idea has been to pool small bits in finances from an entire population, say in a village,and use it to address the needs of a significantly smaller set of actual patients in that area. Notably, the concept of microfinance in recent history was pioneered in the services of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, still among the most economically disadvantaged nations.

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