Lessons I Learned

I had meant to post this when I first commented on this blog, but then I guess I forgot.  Today I was speaking with someone about criticism in their business sector, and it reminded me of this posting. I think we should not be afraid when people criticize the sector in which we work if it is deserved in some areas because, if we continue to work to be the exception to the rule or the most responsible within our fields, criticism of the sector will not only help people to weed out those less responsible partners but help you distinguish yourself from “all the others”.

Below are comments I wrote on the Hands Up Holiday’s blog.  Chris, HUH’s founder, had posted a critical Continue Reading

This is a comment I posted on the Social Edge blog about hybrid organizations.  I thought I would re-post it here.  If you have the time, read the whole discussion on Social Edge as it is very interesting!  I think there is a big divide in the theory and the reality of social ventures, just as there is with development work.  I am interested to speak with more people who have experienced the reality but also have studied more of the theory than I have to be able to notice more of the similarities and discrepancies.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

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Dear Social Entrepreneurship Thought Leaders -

You are likely the types to always pick holes in things and seek to improve all aspects of your work, so I hope you all won’t be offended by this opinion: we are still very far off the mark with how we quantify a “social enterprise”.

The best awards and programs available to people in our sector are asking for these things:

- Proof of financial sustainability
- Ability to scale to “one million people” or other “large” numbers

It’s hard to measure “impact” across a broad range of social programs, I get that. But we still need to consider what the metrics we Continue Reading

The original post and comments about our end-of-year reflections where in the PEPY Newsletter last week.  Read up to see what we would have done differently in 2009 and what we hope 2010 will look like.

Happy New Year!

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What do you think your biggest achievements have been this year?

MA: Well, I think I’d have to start with the four schools we built.  It might be surprising to say that, since those of you who have traveled with us know that one of the things we always stress is how the biggest changes in education will not be the result of buildings, but will be the result of investments in training, capacity building, and community advocacy.  That’s all true, and I think we’ve had some incredible progress with the intangibles.  But when I think about the year, my strongest memories are the community workshops, meetings with contractors, moments with volunteers, and the learning our staff went through that resulted in four safe (and beautiful) spaces for learning.  I don’t believe that these buildings are the way we have impacted education in the most significant way this year, but I think managing four community-based school construction projects at the same time was a major achievement for our staff. Being on a construction site checking steel rebars, engaging the community in the construction process, figuring out how to make a building go up in Cambodia…. it was a tremendous challenge and our team did a fabulous job.

I think the other huge achievement is with our team of program staff.  The most pressing challenge we deal with is getting the right people in the right places and keeping them there.  Whether by luck or learning, we’ve managed to form a tight-knit, hard-working, inspiring team.  Awatd, our Community Program Manager, and Ratana, our Education Program Manager run most of the show these days.  I smile every time they get up in front of a training, or share their ideas for future program changes with us.

D: Watching a proactive team of PEPY staff, Cambodian government teachers, and trainers from the Provincial Teacher’s Training College (PTTC) make our second Khmer Literacy Camp a really inspiring place to be was one of the highlights of the year for me.  Last year when we tried to do this for the first time, we didn’t have the right staff, we didn’t have the right materials, and we didn’t really have a strong plan for what the camp would look like.  It was a success last year in that it opened the doors to several literacy improvements in our school programs, but it took the full effort of nearly all of our team to make it happen, and it was not a very community-driven initiative.  This year, in contrast, the PEPY staff had much less to do with the camp, as the teachers and principals of the 10 schools involved led the way, along with the PEPY team, and they had the vision of what the camp should look like.  Finding talented teacher trainers from the PTTC was one of the biggest keys to success of this program and we will continue to look to them for advice and training as we improve our programs.

What would you have done differently?

MA: Not eaten that ant soup? Hmm. . . there’s lots I would do differently, which I hope means we’re learning!  One of the things we could always do better at PEPY is more planning before jumping in, and hiring farther in advance the people we expect we will later need. Because we have such a proactive and motivated team, we often stretch staff too thin before we hire extra people to work on a program/project.  In retrospect I probably would have hired someone to manage the Classroom Library Program instead of having staff we already have work on development and implementation of the program.  The Classroom Libraries have SO much potential that they aren’t yet reaching because we don’t have staff with enough time and resources to devote to building the program.

D: I agree with Maryann, and I confess to being the “push-aheader” in a lot of our blind-jump decisions. The Classroom Library Program does have SO much yet unreached potential, largely from lack of leadership and ownership, mostly from us moving forward without getting the right people in place to make this project work.  Getting the right staff has been the biggest struggle from us from day 1.  What might be a funding dilemma in the US (“Oh no, we can’t afford the $200,000 fee to hire the best English early literacy curriculum development team!”) in Cambodia, when it comes to Khmer literacy, it is a staffing dilemma. . . those skills either don’t exist or are extremely hard to come by.  This puts us in the dilemma of either pushing forward with foreign leadership behind certain initiatives that we want to be locally owned, or choosing staff who are typically new entrants to the work force and have less experience than our ideal candidates—but who have the passion for learning and believe in what we are trying to achieve.  Point being, we have great staff who believe in what we are doing, but in projects such as the Classroom Library Program, we are not yet close to reaching the program’s potential as we have not put enough time into identifying or developing the skills we need to make the program work.  But we are getting there…. We are learning a LOT. To some, that might mean we were not qualified to start PEPY in the first place, which is true. We were travelers “looking to do good” who funded a building. Later, when we realized that buildings don’t teach and the “priorities” of community needs are different from our initial ethnocentric ideas, we could have gone home, but that would have meant leaving a project a failure. We weren’t qualified to stay. I hope that the fact that there are many things we would do differently hopefully means we are bringing in qualified staff who we are learning from and that there is a lot we will continue to do better in the future.

Have any favorite moments stood out?

MA: The first school building volunteer trip we did with Dubai Cares was a pretty amazing week.  Because of publicity agreements we didn’t write much about our partnership with Dubai on our websites, but that partnership defined 2009 in many ways for our team on the ground.  We spent four months working with the community, working on school construction, developing agreements, etc, and it was rewarding when we finally had the opportunity to start working with the Dubai Cares volunteers directly.  This year’s literacy camp was incredibly special as well.  Seeing Ratana, Aim, and the Provincial Teacher Training College trainers manage the camp with such success was inspiring.

D: Once again, I agree with Maryann here.  The Dubai Cares partnership really shaped our 2009. The song “I’m Yours” will forever be etched into my memory surrounding the school construction, as Rithy took it upon himself (and all of us!) to learn all the words.  The literacy camp, which I was not able to attend last year, was so rewarding to witness this year.  Having Maryann run our programs this year, with little to no support from me (as I tend to just stir things up by throwing new ideas into programs which were working fine already) has been a big key to this success. Having Awatd and Ratana as our program managers has also been one of the reasons that there are so many program highlights for me this year.

One last thing: about two weeks ago I was in the library and the bell rang to announce a break in classes. Typically, until this year, there would always be some teachers who didn’t show up or who let their kids out early, so there would always be some students milling about the school grounds.  On this day, everyone was learning in class and the school grounds were silent.  When the bell (aka tire rim hit with a stick) sounded, I was standing near the library entrance making a phone call.  I heard a stampede and fortunately was able to get out of the way before being run over by about 50+students, who were pouring into the library to report to our librarians about the books they had read the night before.  Kyla helped work with Srey Touh and our library team to create a system to track student reading progress and to get the librarians involved in asking questions about the books students have read.  It was really fun to get almost literally run over by the excitement the students have for the program!

Also, we can’t forget the launch of our new websites with the help of Soe, who fell out of the sky and landed in our technology-expertise-free laps.  How lucky we have been to have his leadership this year!

PEPY has been working in Cambodia now for over four years.  Where do you see PEPY five years from now?

MA: Such a hard question! I guess one of the trends that I’ve seen with PEPY is that we’ve become more professional as an organization.  We have better accounting practices, monitoring and evaluation, stronger working relationships with other NGOs and the government.  I expect that process of increasing professionalism to continue, though I hope that it continues only in so far as it allows us to be more effective and organized (not to the point where it inhibits creativity and flexibility).  In terms of what I expect we’ll be doing. . . Running a girls’ dorm?  Publishing early literacy books?  Promoting Child Clubs throughout Cambodia?  Running a leadership camp in Siem Reap?  So much of this will be directed by the Khmer staff we hope will take the reigns of the organization within the next 5 years.  For PEPY as an organization, our vision is of communities empowered to take action to improve their living standards, knowledge of health, environment, and quality of education.  Our staff are going to figure out the best way to make that happen, in line with their experience and passions. Right now the programs we are starting and modifying in Chanleas Dai are being developed with end dates, mostly in the 3-4 year range.  The goals of each of the programs are to encourage sustainable changes to the point they are no longer needed, or to the point where local community members are trained to take over.  So, our English teachers are working with government English teachers, our PSDP Program is helping develop and strengthen local school support committees, and our Child Clubs are developing the skills of young people who could run their own groups in the future.  I can’t say that PEPY won’t be in Chanleas Dai in 5 years, but I won’t be surprised if we hand over most of our projects to a group of trained community members, and begin working in other areas, or supporting education in other ways.

D: I hope that even by the end of one year I will not be the one being interviewed for this, but instead our Khmer staff will be.  Part of the reason it is always Maryann’s and my voice here is that taking the time of our Khmer staff to write updates in English, or even taking staff to translate, often comes at the expense of other program work.  But I do think it is important that it is not my dreams and goals pushing us forward in the future, but the vision of our 35+ Cambodian PEPY staff, or more specifically the 20 staff who are from the target area where we work.  I would love to see PEPY help develop more training, materials, and curricula around increasing Khmer literacy skills for new readers.  There is a lot of unmet need in this area, and I think that creating a repeatable model would be a way for us to spread our impact far beyond Chanleas Dai.  Then again, if our Khmer staff take us in another direction that better meets the needs of the community—as Aline originally did when introducing the Child Club concept to PEPY—I will be delighted.

Anything else you want to share?

MA: Just that we’re grateful, and feel really lucky to have the support and encouragement that we do. Thank you.  And as they say in Cambodia to celebrate the New Year: Wishing you all happiness, love, beauty, luck, long life, good health, and a fertile harvest J

D: Thank you! As we get ready to greet The PEPY Ride V team this weekend, I can’t help but be in shock at the turns PEPY has taken and the fact that all of you and our staff here have jumped on this bandwagon to keep us moving in the right direction. I know that my role at PEPY will change, as it must (likely before our next annual update) as my strengths do not lie in sustaining something, creating processes, and following a routine.  We are at the stage of PEPY where we need to further focus and improve the outstanding programs that have floated to the top of the array of work we have entered into, and I think changes in leadership will follow our changing needs. . . so stay tuned.

Your questions, criticism, and support have pushed us to be more open and honest about our programs, with ourselves and with all of you reading these. (There are people reading this, right?  Feel free to reply and let us know you are out there—we love knowing that the work we put into our newsletter to keep our supporters informed and educated about our programs is not in vain!)  Thank you for being a part of our team!

Go here to see the original post and comments

Or, like so many of these questions which try to put who sectors into a “good or bad” category, does it just depend on a case-by-case basis?

This post on Social Edge talks about hybrid organizations and I added the comment below which relates to other thoughts I have posted on my blog about social venture scalability.

Would love to hear more thoughts on this!

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“Is splitting a venture into for-profit and non-profit actually just a crafty way of getting around the fact that your venture is NOT economically self-sufficient?”

I think there might be BIG problems in the future if we keep trying to push social entrepreneurs into thinking that ALL parts of what they do have to be “economically self-sufficient”. What about Grameen? They are a bank. They make loans. It makes money. Good for them.

But a LARGE part of their positive impact comes from Grameen Foundation, aimed at educating lenders and creating training/education groups and methodology for the women taking out loans, (this is my interpretation of some of the ways they use non “economically self-sufficient” funding). If they DIDN’T do those things, and if they just gave loans without investing in educating both lenders and borrowers, they would not be as successful. Do they have to incorporate that training and all of those costs into their business model? Sometimes, the way this group via Skoll or Echoing Green et al talk about financial sustainability and social ventures, it would appear so. Even programs such as The Unreasonable Institute and other training programs within this growing sector ask that you prove economic sustainability in order to qualify.

I think the reason Grameen is viewed as a role model is BECAUSE it ISN’T just trying to be economically sustainable. If they tried to push all of their training into the same business as the loans, there is no way they could break even and perhaps to do so they would have to dilute the efficacy of their educational programs. Instead, they went “hybrid” and Grameen Foundation does the bulk of what makes Grameen great OUTSIDE of the income generating business model.

SHE (www.sheinnovates.com) – now how can you get a better social venture model then that? They are using locally available materials which were once considered waste and giving those things value. They are solving needs locally, through training and business creation. They are targeting needs identified from within the community. Each of the businesses can, hopefully, make money in the future. Each group of women can buy and own their own factory. BUT, what about the technology behind the manufacturing? Can’t that be improved upon and developed further?

In organizations like this, one might argue that people or companies could “volunteer” to help do those things, but isn’t that just a way of changing the facts to try to “appear” financially sustainable because the outside world, and now even more strongly the INSIDE world of social entrepreneurship, is telling people they have to be? Why shouldn’t SHE be able to take donations to cover R&D costs? I for one know that my investments would be used a lot better there than in many traditional non-profits without the income generating arm.

Plus, SHE wants to educate women about health issues and encourage them to use their products, not just so that they can sell more products, but because they want to promote women’s health! Does that advocacy and education need to be included in the same budget as that of the factories? Or should that be funded as a separate NGO allowing the education portion to grow beyond what the company can afford? Yes, that NGO could be an entirely separate NGO not associated with the for-profit arm, but what about the cases where the appropriate NGO partner doesn’t exist? Does giving SHE the freedom to have an NGO arm open Proctor and Gamble up to do the same thing with their products? Slippery slope, yes, but I think we had better start talking about this, as the focus on “economic sustainability” from within this community might kill momentum for projects that ARE successful because they are NOT economically sustainable. They want to be more than just a micro-finance bank or a sanitary pad manufacturing plant. They want to change the way people think and interact with these products, so for them, their “marketing” becomes a social service in and of itself.

Would love to hear other thoughts on this but, my vote overall is “It’s complicated”. Being hybrid is not “just a crafty way of getting around the fact that your venture is NOT economically self-sufficient” but instead a crafty way to add value to social sectors which are not able to include all of the social value potential with their business model constraints. And sometimes, if you look at the groups making the most impact, if you took the “non-economical” parts away, you would end up with a non-exceptional product.

I recently tried to post a comment in response to this listing on Trip Advisor which encourages visits to orphanages while traveling in Siem Reap.

As my comment was not  a review of the area, it was not approved, so I am posting it here.

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I am writing in response to a post stating that one way to give back to Siem Reap is by visiting orphanages.

I beg to strongly disagree.

Having lived in Cambodia for over four years, my opinion on visiting orphanages has gone from encouraging it to abhorring it.  Recent research has shown that the number of orphanages in Cambodia has tripled in recent years with the majority of those “serving” kids who are not orphans at all.  There are some groups standing up this movement to encourage support for whole families rather than removing children from their parents, but in many of the worst cases, the poor practices are not from lack of foresight but instead from fraudulent intentions to start.

Orphanages that keep kids in squalor and can attract tourists on a daily basis are able to bring in far more funding than they choose to use to support their “orphans”.  The practice of keeping kids looking needy to bring in more income is highly linked with donor visits to orphanages and with increasing travelers’ philanthropy in the area.  Sometimes “doing  good” can cause harm, and the practice of visiting orphanages which you have not properly vetted, and which have not properly vetted you, can be a harmful practice.

People have asked me “What is a good orphanage I can go visit today?”  And my answer is always: “Any orphanage where they will LET you visit today, un-planned, is likely NOT a good orphanage.”

Keep these things in mind when visiting Siem Reap, or any developing country.  There is so much to see and so many great projects to support which, can provide more direct benefit than funding the often corrupt orphanage network in Cambodia.  Overall, if you want to see temples, learn about history and culture, are looking for an adventure, and want to meet people who are working hard to improve the future for their next generation, Cambodia is the place to do it.  Just don’t trust all orphanages to be the best choice of your additional support.

One of the goals of our PEPY Tours is to change the way people live, travel, and give.

We decided to send out our second post-trip survey, asking people who traveled with us many months or years ago to comment about the ways their PEPY trip influenced changes in their attitudes and actions.

What questions would you ask in this survey?  We’d love your thoughts!

I just got back from the US.  Spanning two worlds that are so different, where I am perceived so differently can be confusing for the brain.  I can’t decide if I prefer to do my visit to the US in one big annual chunk, as I used to, or in more sporadic bursts of other-worldness as I seem to be doing this year.  Anyway, this was a long trip.

In over a month in the US, I contributed greatly to my carbon consumption and deducted greatly from my bank account, visiting family, friends, and PEPY supporters across North America.  I also contributed to my knowledge and inspiration accounts as I learned from many people on my journey, and I wanted to share some inspirational quotes and experiences I had for this month’s lessons learned section.

One of the highlights of my trip was joining the Adventure Travel World Summit in Quebec, Canada.  There were many great speakers, but a few highlights worth sharing were Jeff Greenwald’s speech where he basically said:  *Tourism that changes OUR lives, makes us better people and opens up new worlds to us, is what many of us have been selling.   But, that’s no longer good enough.  We now need to look at travel as a way to positively improve the world around us, not just ourselves. * Jeff’s organization “Ethical Traveler” aims to spread these messages and includes 13 tips for the Accidental Ambassador to help us all become more responsible travelers.

Another speaker I really enjoyed at the ATWS was Dr. J. Wallace Nicholas.  Who wouldn’t love an ocean conservationist who is now studying neuroscience and has dedicated his life to protecting sea turtles?!  His speech was inspiring, describing how it hurt him to watch his two daughters fall in love with nature, as he knows that their hearts will be broken.  He said we all MUST fall in love with nature, though, and help our children do the same, so that indeed, when our hearts do break, we have the will to fight back against all those forces that are destroying our planet, and help future generations still have something to fall in love with.  His organization, Ocean Revolution, is working to create a revolution to protect the 71% of the earth which is covered in water.  He gave us each a blue marble to pass on to someone else to spread his revolutionary message.  (Consider yourself marbled – pass it on!)

On my first day back in the US, I attended The Feast, a collection of inspiring people with a collective will-to-do-good fueled by inspired do-gooders presenting their ideas and knowledge in TED-like short presentations.  Oh, and it is run by “creatives”, a term that always sort of makes me jealous to hear.  I want to be a “creative” – I think I’m pretty creative! – but in the new form it seems to have taken it refers to artists, musicians, web designers, etc – i.e. people whose stick figures look and sing a lot better than mine do.  Anyway, the creatives running the show, Mike and Jerri, are pretty darn deserving of the word, and they get 10 points for putting on an energy packed event.

I listened to a talk by Elizabeth Scharpf, which had me nodding the whole time… SHE gets it.  More than any other group I have heard about, I think the design and concept behind SHE (Sustainable Health Enterprises) is an exemplary model of how social enterprise should be done.  SHE is a lesson learned in and of itself.  All of the development lessons I have learned are wrapped up in SHE: a program designed around community needs, local ownership and buy-in, use of locally available materials, capacity building/training/education as a key component, community components designed to be economically sustainable. . . they have it all.  Elizabeth reminded me of this lesson: stop, listen and look around.  The needs and solutions are both in front of you, if you don’t push past them with your preconceived notions!

Meeting Daniel Epstein from The Unreasonable Institute at The Feast reminded me how important names can be.  Who WOULDN’T want to attend The Unreasonable Institute with a name like that!?  (Pssst, they are accepting applications right now!)  If they had named it the “Learning Center for Responsible and Successful Social Venturing”, I might have been less inclined to yell, SIGN ME UP at first glance.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Rafe Furst at The Feast, as he was my “Micro-Sponsor”.  In other words, I only had to pay a little bit to join the conference and he paid a lot to help me get there.  Mike and Jerri matched us up with our Micro-Sponsors based on our interests, and I was reminded of how important it is to live a life you believe in through speaking with Rafe.

The final speaker at The Feast, Brian Bordainick was by far the most enjoyable speaker for me to watch.  Not because it was the most flashy or “creative” or unreasonable even, but because it was honest and heartfelt and fabulous.  A story he told, which really resonated with me and many other entrepreneurs in the room I’m sure, was one I have and will tell many times.  Brian, who began working in a hurricane damaged area in New Orleans through Teach for America, had been appointed the Athletic Director at a school, though little to no sports facilities or budget were available.  Step by step he began a project called The 9^th Ward Field of Dreams, aimed at creating a multi-million dollar sports facility in this hurricane damaged area.  One day, as he was walking through the halls, depressed about a donation that had fallen through or annoyed at the barriers he was coming up against, he grumbled about how nothing was working out and he might as well quit, and one of his football players came up and put his arm over his shoulder and said “Baby, ain’t nobody told you to start this to begin with!”

Nearly everyone in the room laughed.  Anyone who has started something that sometimes feels like IT’S driving YOU, who has started a company or a business or a project and felt so overwhelmed by it that sometimes they wish they hadn’t started it, would laugh at this, because they know that feeling.  They also know that Brian, like each of us, quickly came around to realize that, despite the frustrations and struggle to perfect that which we are striving towards, doing something you believe in beats doing something less inspiring for someone else’s gain any day. I got back to Cambodia a few weeks ago with my head full of new ideas and my inbox full of unread messages.  The transition back into either of these two opposing worlds is always tough, but I have been reminded over and over again of Brian’s quote as hey, ain’t nobdy told us to start this to begin with anyway, so we had better be enjoying it and making our time worth while, because no one else will!  I’m grateful to our amazing team here who constantly remind me that this is indeed where I want to be and that, if we keep working hard and learning the lessons presented to us, we can indeed make our work worthwhile.  Happy Thanksgiving, and thank YOU for being a part of why we do our work!