Paula, Geraldine and I left Chennai last night under very tightened security at the airport. I think we all felt sad that our Learning Journey in India had finally come to a close and rather anxious that we should be travelling by plane when a possible high-jack was expected.
Luckily, we all landed safely this morning back in the UK.It feels wonderful to be home and re-unite with friends and family again. It is a spectacularly sunny day and there is a seasonal feel in the air with decorations and Xmas trees bringing some cheer to the ever-increasing economic gloom.
I can't get over how clean and tidy everwhere looks - it is like landing on another planet compared to what we got used to in Calcutta, Hyderabad and Chennai. I kinda miss the cows in the road and the general mayhem, but not the manic buses driving head on to each other. This contrast reminds me how lucky I have been to experience first hand what makes India tick in the company of such a stimulating and fun-loving group of individuals.
But, maybe the journey is just beginning? It will be fascinating to see how we use this unbelievable experience in our professional and personal lives now that we are back in our own comfortable world. Maybe the group can keep in touch via this blog to share any interesting outcomes?
One immediate result that came up just before we left was the possibility of a re-union in Hong Kong in November 2009 to learn more about the pioneering social enterprise work that Patrick is developing.
.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The power of money, mobility and a circle of saris
It is flattering to meet a stranger who knows your name. It is even more flattering when he has generated social change of the kind for which Raja Menon can be credited. A low key figure offers his hand warmly as I walk up the concrete staircase of Jeevika’s office in District South 24 Parganas: “South Africa – right? There is something we need to discuss …”. And yet we have never met. We are all strangers here. Yet this doubtlessly busy man has taken the time to read through our biographies and welcome us personally.
Raja Menon is the founder of Jeevika – a rural empowerment group focused on creating sustainable livelihoods for women. He lives up to his reputation: self-effacing to a fault. As quick to welcome as he is to introduce what he refers to as today’s Jeevika. “Why would you want to hear from someone of yesterday’s Jeevika?”.
I am not the only stranger whose name and background Raja has taken the trouble to read about in the bio attachment he received. He spends the two hours which follow offering a seamless and detailed account of the historical evolution of social sector activity in India, slotting references to his own life into the narrative when necessary. It is all delivered as if personally addressing old friends participating in a shared struggle. But Raja is as generous with his honesty and he is with his welcome: “microfinance is a mean machine with no heart. It doesn’t give loans to anyone, and it only has one ouput: credit… which is tight”. And then in a small courtyard in a village hemmed in by palm trees and moss-coloured lakes, we witness this for ourselves.
But before getting to meet those actually embodying Jeevika’s greatest successes – participatory micro-finance and livelihood creation for rural women through training and small enterprise development, we are introduced (with glowing acknowledgements from Raja) to those driving today’s Jeevika. Sumita Sur Roy heads up the Jeevika’s Micro-Credit Programme and she is soft-spoken and fast witted, and fearless when it comes to auto-rickshaws weaving amongst blue bus-shaped metal giants. She and Ahmed, the author of Jeevika’s latest annual report, load us full-bellied into the rickshaws and off the tarred roads onto narrow bricked pathways.
Our first stop is Digital Graphics – a design and digital photography enterprise.
This is run by five young women with a sizable dose of courage and business savvy. Standing with them in their tightly ordered shop, their closeness is self-evident. This may be explained by a shared experience of long working hours, friendship and a stubborn will to ‘make it work’ in the face of domestic pressures and little support. Their families prophesied that having open in May 2007, they would be closed by June. And I hope those hats weren’t too unpalatable.
Then onto the rural idyll. We arrive at a scene which could have been taken straight out of God of Small Things: lush, humid and outstandingly beautiful. Randomly spaced households punctuated the palm groves and string of small lakes. I spot a woman in a bright red sari washing dishes in one of them – we smile at each other and she stands up proudly as I take a photo of silver and red against leafy green. We meet again just ten minutes later in a narrow clay courtyard. She carries a small child and turns to smile again at me, acknowledging our previous acquaintance warmly.
The gathering is colourful and serious. This is a lending circle and these women meet together regularly with their loan officer to collect repayments…and so much more. Here they discuss relationships, children, leaking roofs and economic downturns, the trade in embroidered saris and life. And… the price of provisions.
But these same women also qualify for Jeevika’s training courses and these are a firm favourite. Why? Mobility – rural women living within the traditional conjugally organised households very seldomly leave their villages. Now, through Jeevika, they hold purse strings, and go on regular excursions to attend training which covers gender rights, relationship politics, and domestic violence alongside financial literacy, IT and PhotoShop Pro. And they face the repercussions of these dramatic changes collectively, through the community of women associated with the learning circle.
But arguably the greatest achievement of Jeevika in the context of this village is shared in passing while squeezing amongst the bus-giants. One of these women we met is the Secretary of the newly formed Federation of Jeevika groups who will shortly register as a legally registered Micro-Finance Institution capable of lending and financial capacity building themselves. A micro-finance resource led by rural women for rural women. ‘Impressive’ just seems a bit short of the mark. Women’s empowerment amongst these palm groves is material, and it’s seemingly unstoppable.
So in short, what has Jeevika given them? Jeevika has given rural women in this district access to credit and capacity building and through these to a world of new choices. But most crucially, they have opened this door while also providing the company required to practically support those going through it – the crucial sisterhood of borrowers and trainees. And what has Jeevika given me? A reminder of my moral obligation to do more than merely be aware of the luxurious range of choices available to me through my existing access to credit, my educational and professional background, and the settlement where I live. I have been reminded to use those choices with a sense of responsibility given how unevenly they seem to have been distributed in this world of ours.
Raja Menon is the founder of Jeevika – a rural empowerment group focused on creating sustainable livelihoods for women. He lives up to his reputation: self-effacing to a fault. As quick to welcome as he is to introduce what he refers to as today’s Jeevika. “Why would you want to hear from someone of yesterday’s Jeevika?”.
I am not the only stranger whose name and background Raja has taken the trouble to read about in the bio attachment he received. He spends the two hours which follow offering a seamless and detailed account of the historical evolution of social sector activity in India, slotting references to his own life into the narrative when necessary. It is all delivered as if personally addressing old friends participating in a shared struggle. But Raja is as generous with his honesty and he is with his welcome: “microfinance is a mean machine with no heart. It doesn’t give loans to anyone, and it only has one ouput: credit… which is tight”. And then in a small courtyard in a village hemmed in by palm trees and moss-coloured lakes, we witness this for ourselves.
But before getting to meet those actually embodying Jeevika’s greatest successes – participatory micro-finance and livelihood creation for rural women through training and small enterprise development, we are introduced (with glowing acknowledgements from Raja) to those driving today’s Jeevika. Sumita Sur Roy heads up the Jeevika’s Micro-Credit Programme and she is soft-spoken and fast witted, and fearless when it comes to auto-rickshaws weaving amongst blue bus-shaped metal giants. She and Ahmed, the author of Jeevika’s latest annual report, load us full-bellied into the rickshaws and off the tarred roads onto narrow bricked pathways.
Our first stop is Digital Graphics – a design and digital photography enterprise.
This is run by five young women with a sizable dose of courage and business savvy. Standing with them in their tightly ordered shop, their closeness is self-evident. This may be explained by a shared experience of long working hours, friendship and a stubborn will to ‘make it work’ in the face of domestic pressures and little support. Their families prophesied that having open in May 2007, they would be closed by June. And I hope those hats weren’t too unpalatable.
Then onto the rural idyll. We arrive at a scene which could have been taken straight out of God of Small Things: lush, humid and outstandingly beautiful. Randomly spaced households punctuated the palm groves and string of small lakes. I spot a woman in a bright red sari washing dishes in one of them – we smile at each other and she stands up proudly as I take a photo of silver and red against leafy green. We meet again just ten minutes later in a narrow clay courtyard. She carries a small child and turns to smile again at me, acknowledging our previous acquaintance warmly.
The gathering is colourful and serious. This is a lending circle and these women meet together regularly with their loan officer to collect repayments…and so much more. Here they discuss relationships, children, leaking roofs and economic downturns, the trade in embroidered saris and life. And… the price of provisions.
But these same women also qualify for Jeevika’s training courses and these are a firm favourite. Why? Mobility – rural women living within the traditional conjugally organised households very seldomly leave their villages. Now, through Jeevika, they hold purse strings, and go on regular excursions to attend training which covers gender rights, relationship politics, and domestic violence alongside financial literacy, IT and PhotoShop Pro. And they face the repercussions of these dramatic changes collectively, through the community of women associated with the learning circle.
But arguably the greatest achievement of Jeevika in the context of this village is shared in passing while squeezing amongst the bus-giants. One of these women we met is the Secretary of the newly formed Federation of Jeevika groups who will shortly register as a legally registered Micro-Finance Institution capable of lending and financial capacity building themselves. A micro-finance resource led by rural women for rural women. ‘Impressive’ just seems a bit short of the mark. Women’s empowerment amongst these palm groves is material, and it’s seemingly unstoppable.
So in short, what has Jeevika given them? Jeevika has given rural women in this district access to credit and capacity building and through these to a world of new choices. But most crucially, they have opened this door while also providing the company required to practically support those going through it – the crucial sisterhood of borrowers and trainees. And what has Jeevika given me? A reminder of my moral obligation to do more than merely be aware of the luxurious range of choices available to me through my existing access to credit, my educational and professional background, and the settlement where I live. I have been reminded to use those choices with a sense of responsibility given how unevenly they seem to have been distributed in this world of ours.
Monday, December 1, 2008
REFLECTIONS SESSION
Just preparing for our reflections session and scanning the blog helps bring all of this to life again. Lets see what the morning brings by way of conclusions, unanswered questions, comments and of course reflections!
The power of social innovation
The power of Social Innovation-reflection from Hyderabad
Could you image customers are lining up to purchase your products or services in today’s increasingly competitive commercial world? Could you image that your company is growing at three digit growth percentage per year? Could you image investors give you the capital and do not give you the pressure to deliver those quarterly results? This is the power of social enterprises at Hyderabad!
Hyderabad is almost a complete change from Kolkata. New constructions very where, cars passed by gaining their few seconds advantage on you, people are all busy selling, hurrying home, or working in their shops. We have not encounter a beggar on the street asking for money yet.
While Kolkata gives us the emotional inspiration on the dedication of individual social activists, Hyderabad gives us the inspiration on how to make the maximum impact with the less amount of resource.
Life Spring hospital specialize in building a chain of small Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospitals that provide vital reproductive and pediatric healthcare to low income people. www.lifespringhospitals.com The Company was found in 2007 with support from Acumen Fund. Within a year they already established themselves in Hyderabad, Nellore and Vijaywada. By specialize and focus in Maternity Care, they are able to develop a very cost effective model to substantially reduce their cost of service to their clients at one third of the market price. They did not forget the value of quality. In fact each of their hospital has to be approved by ISO9000 in term of quality system.
The result is very clear. Patients are flocking in. Life Spring is now planning to open one hospital in every 35 days next year. In two years time, the group will have 35 hospitals and they are already talking about plan for potential public recruitment of capital. What type of business could grow that fast!
We keep hearing other successful examples of social enterprise. We are not looking at small operations start up by trade practitioners, instead we meet many young professionally trained business executives using all the most updated business jargons explaining what they intend to achieve through their social enterprises. Vision Spring was set up provide low cost eye care to rural India. Through their unique model of Vision Entrepreneurs, they managed to create jobs at village level for capable young entrepreneurs while still achieve their goal of providing low cost eye care to rural areas. www.visionspring.org
Established in 2002, Intellecap is one of the fastest growing strategic services firms providing support to social entrepreneurs. The four key operations under Intellecap are: investment banking, Enterprise Development, Knowledge advisory and Incubator. They leverage their understanding of main stream business to create unique solutions that deliver financial, social, and environmental returns. www.intellecap.net
Our high light was our visit to Indian School of Business listening to the live journey of Mr. Vijay Mahajan through which we have a closer understanding of what were and still are the main obstacles to social entrepreneurs. ISB program director, Mr. Subramonia Sarma made an impressive comment before the session end. One cannot underestimate the seed that business school could sow into each future business leader’s heart. Although only a few will choose to start right away to build their dreams in SE, others will adopt the value and support the movement in their respective influential positions in different companies in future. I would love to see those happy and yet determined faces of young entrepreneurs in China too!
Patrick
Could you image customers are lining up to purchase your products or services in today’s increasingly competitive commercial world? Could you image that your company is growing at three digit growth percentage per year? Could you image investors give you the capital and do not give you the pressure to deliver those quarterly results? This is the power of social enterprises at Hyderabad!
Hyderabad is almost a complete change from Kolkata. New constructions very where, cars passed by gaining their few seconds advantage on you, people are all busy selling, hurrying home, or working in their shops. We have not encounter a beggar on the street asking for money yet.
While Kolkata gives us the emotional inspiration on the dedication of individual social activists, Hyderabad gives us the inspiration on how to make the maximum impact with the less amount of resource.
Life Spring hospital specialize in building a chain of small Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospitals that provide vital reproductive and pediatric healthcare to low income people. www.lifespringhospitals.com The Company was found in 2007 with support from Acumen Fund. Within a year they already established themselves in Hyderabad, Nellore and Vijaywada. By specialize and focus in Maternity Care, they are able to develop a very cost effective model to substantially reduce their cost of service to their clients at one third of the market price. They did not forget the value of quality. In fact each of their hospital has to be approved by ISO9000 in term of quality system.
The result is very clear. Patients are flocking in. Life Spring is now planning to open one hospital in every 35 days next year. In two years time, the group will have 35 hospitals and they are already talking about plan for potential public recruitment of capital. What type of business could grow that fast!
We keep hearing other successful examples of social enterprise. We are not looking at small operations start up by trade practitioners, instead we meet many young professionally trained business executives using all the most updated business jargons explaining what they intend to achieve through their social enterprises. Vision Spring was set up provide low cost eye care to rural India. Through their unique model of Vision Entrepreneurs, they managed to create jobs at village level for capable young entrepreneurs while still achieve their goal of providing low cost eye care to rural areas. www.visionspring.org
Established in 2002, Intellecap is one of the fastest growing strategic services firms providing support to social entrepreneurs. The four key operations under Intellecap are: investment banking, Enterprise Development, Knowledge advisory and Incubator. They leverage their understanding of main stream business to create unique solutions that deliver financial, social, and environmental returns. www.intellecap.net
Our high light was our visit to Indian School of Business listening to the live journey of Mr. Vijay Mahajan through which we have a closer understanding of what were and still are the main obstacles to social entrepreneurs. ISB program director, Mr. Subramonia Sarma made an impressive comment before the session end. One cannot underestimate the seed that business school could sow into each future business leader’s heart. Although only a few will choose to start right away to build their dreams in SE, others will adopt the value and support the movement in their respective influential positions in different companies in future. I would love to see those happy and yet determined faces of young entrepreneurs in China too!
Patrick
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A very moving monemt
We are a group that prior to 22nd Novemeber had never met before. A few of us had been to the 'induction' event at the 'hub' in London in October, though by the time we regrouped in Calcutta there had been sadly one dropout and several new members. So how do we get on? Well by and large fantastically well. We are very diverse, with different experiences which have influenced all of us and the one area in common is thta here we all are together in India!
The power and strength of the group was amazingly well illustrated today. Lee had been feeling unwell and was much missed when she needed to spend a day or two in bed. Then this morning a late breakfast as it was Sunday. There we were talking together & eating together and suddenly Lee walked into the breakfast area, it was almost a surreal expereince, as a group we were all so pleased to see her, she was looking better and there was usch an emotional bond that you could feel! What an amazing experience this trip has been and thankfully Lee is well on the mend. Sunday evening here and our last organised visit tomorrow.
The power and strength of the group was amazingly well illustrated today. Lee had been feeling unwell and was much missed when she needed to spend a day or two in bed. Then this morning a late breakfast as it was Sunday. There we were talking together & eating together and suddenly Lee walked into the breakfast area, it was almost a surreal expereince, as a group we were all so pleased to see her, she was looking better and there was usch an emotional bond that you could feel! What an amazing experience this trip has been and thankfully Lee is well on the mend. Sunday evening here and our last organised visit tomorrow.
The value of words and actions
Since arriving in India 8 days ago, our group has engaged with a tremendous range of individuals, each with their own interpretation of the words "social" and "enterprise".
For me, it has been a roller-coaster of emotions, opinions, discussions and evaluation plus an incredibly steep learning curve since much of the language used has been alien to my background working in product-led marketing and communications.
I have learnt so much in a short space of time about India, its people, and culture, its vast social issues and traditions, economic challenges, bureacracy and daily frustrations with simply getting anything to happen. I have even managed to understand the complex world of micro-finance, micro-credit and all those other "gorgeous" words that seemed so alien until my very patient travel companions explained their significance to the world of social entrepreneurship.
Inspite of the multitude of unique experiences and the opportunity to learn a new language, there has been something worrying me. A constant question about what does all this mean and how can we start to process the energy, enthusiam and passion that we have been so privileged to witness.
This feeling started to fade this evening when we visited the highly prestigious Indian Business School, located in impressive grounds in Hydrabad. After yet more words about the value of social enterprise and the challenges facing today's change-makers, I witnessed a poignant moment between one of our group and a highly motivated but, in my opinion, confused social entreprener we had met earlier today. Names aren't important for this story, as the individual in our group who spoke these powerful words will recognise them:
"I would like to offer you one hour of my time every month in order to mentor you".
The look on the face of the social entrepreneur who received this simple but concrete offer was certainly one of the highlights of my journey.
For me, it has been a roller-coaster of emotions, opinions, discussions and evaluation plus an incredibly steep learning curve since much of the language used has been alien to my background working in product-led marketing and communications.
I have learnt so much in a short space of time about India, its people, and culture, its vast social issues and traditions, economic challenges, bureacracy and daily frustrations with simply getting anything to happen. I have even managed to understand the complex world of micro-finance, micro-credit and all those other "gorgeous" words that seemed so alien until my very patient travel companions explained their significance to the world of social entrepreneurship.
Inspite of the multitude of unique experiences and the opportunity to learn a new language, there has been something worrying me. A constant question about what does all this mean and how can we start to process the energy, enthusiam and passion that we have been so privileged to witness.
This feeling started to fade this evening when we visited the highly prestigious Indian Business School, located in impressive grounds in Hydrabad. After yet more words about the value of social enterprise and the challenges facing today's change-makers, I witnessed a poignant moment between one of our group and a highly motivated but, in my opinion, confused social entreprener we had met earlier today. Names aren't important for this story, as the individual in our group who spoke these powerful words will recognise them:
"I would like to offer you one hour of my time every month in order to mentor you".
The look on the face of the social entrepreneur who received this simple but concrete offer was certainly one of the highlights of my journey.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Anjali
ANJALI
Ratna, founder of ANJALI, an NGO dedicated to help the mentally ill, know how to tell story. Ratna started this project after she found out the horrifying condition of mental hospital in India. For a mental ill person, your social right is immediately being deprived once a doctor diagnosed you are mentally ill. Your husband could seek for divorce, your property right immediately cease to exist, you do not even have the right to legally defend yourself as the court believe you are not capable to do so. For 80% of Indian family, the way to solve the problem of having someone mentally ill at home is to take their mentally ill relative and get them admitted into a mental hospital and then disappear. They simply discard their problem-their son or daughter...
For the medical profession, mentally ill has to be treated with electrification, beating and drug treatment until they "behave". The resource government has devoted for this sector is negligible consider almost 5% of the total population in west Bangel has mental illness. They have a total of 3000 psychiatrists, 1000 nurses... At the front line, abuse is very common, both physical as well as sexually. Those who do not conform face the punishment of shutting in isolated cells until they conformed.
It is very emotional when you hear how family members discard their son and daughter and leave them in these crazy hospitals. To watch how desperate these eyes of those kept patients is even more terrifying. But here they are, waiting forever for their family member to take them home, begging every visit to help them find their family. We visited the hospital and experience their deep desire to talk to visitors. I toke some pictures for some of them and show the pictures to some of the patients. The emotion encounter is hard to describe but their big smile on their face is unforgettable.
ANJALI has only little resource. They do not accept any funding from their government to preserve their independence being a critic. TATA foundation is their donor and their 6th year maximum support period is approaching. Difficulty in solicit donation for mentally ill is huge as it is perceived as a small problem. We are worrying for ANJALI but Ratna is all optimistic, charging ahead with their youth program (Lotto), women support program, etc
When challenge why they are so enthusiastic helping those patients day after days and week after weeks, they tell me a small story. Patients quite often are found feeding one of the inmates to eat if one of them refuses to eat. They say when they see this kind of HUMAN QUALITY among the mentally ill, how could they give up on helping. I was totally touch by the word of HUMAN QUALITY as this phase did not appear on any of my school books nor in any of the many books that I study in order to get ahead of others. The whole education system and whole social norm teach us that if we are ahead, that is because you are better, stronger, faster and smarter.... I remember the bible teaching of "God make you strong because he want you to take more responsibility to help others" May be the beauty of Human quality are the true driving force supporting us to tackle social injustice head on to change the world!
Patrick
Ratna, founder of ANJALI, an NGO dedicated to help the mentally ill, know how to tell story. Ratna started this project after she found out the horrifying condition of mental hospital in India. For a mental ill person, your social right is immediately being deprived once a doctor diagnosed you are mentally ill. Your husband could seek for divorce, your property right immediately cease to exist, you do not even have the right to legally defend yourself as the court believe you are not capable to do so. For 80% of Indian family, the way to solve the problem of having someone mentally ill at home is to take their mentally ill relative and get them admitted into a mental hospital and then disappear. They simply discard their problem-their son or daughter...
For the medical profession, mentally ill has to be treated with electrification, beating and drug treatment until they "behave". The resource government has devoted for this sector is negligible consider almost 5% of the total population in west Bangel has mental illness. They have a total of 3000 psychiatrists, 1000 nurses... At the front line, abuse is very common, both physical as well as sexually. Those who do not conform face the punishment of shutting in isolated cells until they conformed.
It is very emotional when you hear how family members discard their son and daughter and leave them in these crazy hospitals. To watch how desperate these eyes of those kept patients is even more terrifying. But here they are, waiting forever for their family member to take them home, begging every visit to help them find their family. We visited the hospital and experience their deep desire to talk to visitors. I toke some pictures for some of them and show the pictures to some of the patients. The emotion encounter is hard to describe but their big smile on their face is unforgettable.
ANJALI has only little resource. They do not accept any funding from their government to preserve their independence being a critic. TATA foundation is their donor and their 6th year maximum support period is approaching. Difficulty in solicit donation for mentally ill is huge as it is perceived as a small problem. We are worrying for ANJALI but Ratna is all optimistic, charging ahead with their youth program (Lotto), women support program, etc
When challenge why they are so enthusiastic helping those patients day after days and week after weeks, they tell me a small story. Patients quite often are found feeding one of the inmates to eat if one of them refuses to eat. They say when they see this kind of HUMAN QUALITY among the mentally ill, how could they give up on helping. I was totally touch by the word of HUMAN QUALITY as this phase did not appear on any of my school books nor in any of the many books that I study in order to get ahead of others. The whole education system and whole social norm teach us that if we are ahead, that is because you are better, stronger, faster and smarter.... I remember the bible teaching of "God make you strong because he want you to take more responsibility to help others" May be the beauty of Human quality are the true driving force supporting us to tackle social injustice head on to change the world!
Patrick
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