Earlier this week, our group met with three different organizations; each one uses an innovative and
sustainable strategy to affect social change within a community in India. I
strongly encourage you to check out the organizations if you have any interest
in social entrepreneurship. Here’s a synopsis of their missions:
Vijaya Pastala founded UTMT in 2009. After working for years at the World
Bank in DC, Vijaya moved back to India after the earthquake to help restore the
country. Because buildings were largely ruined, she held meetings under the
mango trees since they provided shade in the summer heat, thus marking the
birth of UTMT’s namesake. In a nutshell, UTMT uses bees to reduce poverty in
rural parts of India. Pollination is critical for a healthy and robust harvest
and bees are responsible for pollinating. And to think we just thought they
were there to help make us honey for our tea! By increasing the number of (the
hardest working) bees available to farmers, their crop yields increase and they
are able to sell more goods. This results in increased income to put towards
educating their children or procuring adequate healthcare. As health, education
and income increase, poverty decreases. Et, voila!
UTMT is called a hybrid organization, consisting both of a
non-profit sector and a for-profit sector. This hybrid approach is becoming
much more common given the recent reduction of grant money available; companies
need to come up with ways to self-sustain. The non-profit sector of UTMT
conducts training for rural farmers so they learn how to keep the bees and
harvest honey. Similar to many non-profits, it has research, advocacy and
policy components. The for-profit sector assesses market access, market supply
and chain management for a honey business. In selling the honey produced by the
bees to the food, hospitality, and gifting industries in India, UTMT is able to
make a profit on their product. Remember me mentioning the fabulous store I
recently visited called Fabindia? Well, UTMT honey is sold there! UTMT’s model
is sustainable and being replicated throughout the country. This simple idea
has improved the livelihood of families and communities living in some of
India’s poorest districts. A brilliant example of how identifying and
addressing a simple need can produce outstanding results.
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| Founder of "Under the Mango Tree," Vijaya Pastala, presents to us about their innovative approach of using bees to reduce poverty in rural India. |
The Be! Fund is a fairly new organization that was born last
July. They use media to inspire young entrepreneurs in India. Here’s how. They
run media spots on local television and radio programs about “local heroes.”
These heroes are young entrepreneurs whose ideas have helped to strengthen
their community in some way. The media spots are intended to inspire young
people to contact Be! Fund and apply for a small amount of money to kick-start an
innovative idea. Be! Fund also provides training and support to these budding
social entrepreneurs. A few examples of their current “local heroes” include: a
woman who uses leaves from trees in rural India to make compostable plates,
which she sells to make a profit while employing several women in her village;
a man who invested his money into buying a truck to transport rural farmers to
markets so they can sell their goods; and a man who recycles plastic bottles in
his village to earn a profit. While these investments may seem insignificant,
they have been revolutionary in providing work and income to many of India’s
rural poor. I especially appreciate that Be! Fund focuses on young people who
may or may not be educated, but who are visionaries in their communities. They
are able to identify a weakness and offer a sustainable solution to address it
in an innovative and profitable way.
ATMA is a NGO that aims to strengthen other NGOs in the
education sector in India. In Bombay, there are 66,000 NGOs, and in India,
there is roughly one NGO for every 400 people. (1:400). That’s an astronomical
amount of NGOs! Because there are so many people living in India, the
government is not able to adequately support everyone, which is why NGOs play
such a critical role in this country. ATMA essentially provides free
consultation to start-ups and other NGOs working on educational issues to
strengthen their overall operation, something they couldn’t otherwise afford.
After our morning meetings, we set out to do some shopping in
an area of town called Bandra, which is home to a mix of street vendors and
storefronts – a little something for everyone. As soon as we approached the
street vendors, I immediately felt like I was back in a Moroccan souk with
everyone eager to get my attention to buy their goods. There were Indian
outfits, bangles, shoes, scarves, jewelry and trinkets galore. Knowing that
we’ll be doing much more shopping, I didn’t buy too much, but I had a blast
watching and helping my fellow classmates barter to get some awesome stuff. As
we were walking the streets, the wind started to pick up and we quickly noticed
that the street vendors were wrapping up their goods in tarps. Realizing that a
massive rainstorm was about to hit, we sought cover in a local store. Monsoons
are no joke. Such strong rain that you almost pity the ground for having to
bear the brunt force. As we watched the storm come through, some impoverished street
children noticed us in the store window. There was a small boy, maybe six years
old, carrying his younger brother who couldn’t have been older than two. They
were begging us for money and it was just gut-wrenchingly sad. I’ve traveled to
developing countries before and this is not my first time being approached by
young children begging, yet it just never gets any easier or less devastating. I
just remind myself that we are here trying to better understand the world and
hopefully help to address these injustices. Slipping them some money on the way
out of the store, it was time to move along to our next stop.
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| Picking out new shirts for my classmate, Vidisha. |
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| Sade found some fabulous clothes! |
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| Monsoons! |
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| Children asking for money on the street. |
Our group visited Mahalakshmi Temple, which was built in
honor of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. In India, some people
worship her daily. As we approached the temple, we purchased flowers to offer
the goddess and we removed our shoes in the street since you must be barefoot
to enter. Walking into the temple, I felt a sense of calmness that I haven’t
been able to channel since I arrived. Powerful energy. We offered our flowers
and received some in return that had been blessed. We each also received a
touch of red powder on our foreheads. Exiting the temple, we fell back into the
hustle of the city, but I was quite pleased to have been able to find some
peace among the chaos. Our evening ended with dinner in southern Bombay at a
traditional Indian restaurant. We
returned home late and immediately fell asleep to prepare for what the next several days would have in store. More on that soon!
