Lessons I Learned

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!

Blogging allows us to take “Reinvent yourself!” to new heights. Even when we don’t mean for it to happen, our “virtual” selves, and our “real” selves, might have little to do with each other, and the “virtual” world around our blog, twitter, and facebook posts might never know. Since I started blogging here, my outspoken voluntourism skepticism has taken over my “virtual personality”. This not only effects how I am viewed in the web world, but how people view the organizations I run.

I recently met with the founder of a large service travel organization to talk about voluntourism101.com and his thoughts for how to improve it/make the tool more user friendly, and some time after our meeting he wrote me something along these lines:  “Before we met, I thought you worked in voluntourism and you were promoting the benefits of this way of traveling.  It wasn’t until I met you that I realized that you are coming at this from the NGO side.”

As I’ve clearly virtually pigeon-holed my online-self, I thought I’d share how my real self would attempt to “classify” PEPY.

I wanted to clarify.  I, and PEPY, are not operating volunteer tours which then turn into development projects.  Instead, we are supporting the development of affordable quality education in rural Cambodia and our 10 tours per year are one way we raise funds and awareness to support similar changes globally.

PEPY is an educational development organization.  Legally, we are an INGO – registered both in the US and Cambodia.  We operate through the work of 30+ local Cambodian staff, the majority of whom are directly from the rural areas in which we work.  We now employ three foreign staff  but are working towards a place where programs are managed by Cambodian staff with foreign staff working only on donor management, fundraising, budgeting, and connecting to partner NGOs/outside ideas to add to the strategic planning process.

We operate formal and non-formal education programs in 11 villages, with library and literacy programs in 10 schools plus a variety of other teacher training and supplemental education programs.

That is the reason we are in Cambodia, the main work that I support, and why PEPY exists.  We also offer educational trips for our donors which raise additional funding for our programs and help travelers learn how to better support and understand NGO work globally and in Cambodia.  This arm of PEPY is small: we only operate about 10 tours a year for the last few years.

So my verbose voluntourism ramblings come in part from being in the receiving end of volunteer projects, but also from living in a country where the number of international volunteers increases daily, though the positive impact these people have might not.

I hope that clarifies a bit more about what my “real” self does in Cambodia, when not speaking in the virtual world.  Thanks for reading.

My friend and colleague, Soe, passed this poem by Martin Niemoller around our office today, drawing the connection to the Khmer Rouge period.  It is a powerful message which I wanted to share with those of you who don’t know the poem, and all of us who should read it again, and again, and again…

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Speak out when there is something you don’t believe in.  Please.

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) has a website called yourtravelchoice.org and they recently interviewed me about voluntourism.  They asked questions about PEPY and about the benefits and risks of volunteer travel.  Read up here or below.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Considering Voluntour-ing? Tips for Travelers – Daniela Ruby Papi, PEPY Tours

12 NOVEMBER 2009

Wondering what it’d be like to participate in a voluntourism trip? Interested in making a difference through travel but not sure where to start? This week, TIES asked Daniela Ruby Papi of PEPY Tours and Danielle Weiss of Planeterra Foundation for their insights into on-the-ground voluntourism experiences and some advice for travelers interested in learning more about voluntourism.

Read on to find out what voluntourism means to Daniela and PEPY Tours!
*For our interview with Danielle, see: “Considering Voluntour-ing? Tips for Travelers – Danielle Weiss, Planeterra Foundation”

Ask Daniela – PEPY Tours

TIES: If you were to summarize, in 100 words or less, the reason PEPY Tours is engaged in voluntourism, what would it be?

Daniela: Our goal is that people who join us on a trip will be inspired to live, travel and give differently after their trip to Cambodia. We aim to expose travelers to the people and ideas that are having the most impact on the issues we are looking to effect change in: education, the environment, and health. We focus less on service and more on learning, and like to look at our trips as edu-ventures: educational adventures which allow travelers to support projects, programs, and people we believe in. We think experiential learning is the best way to change attitudes and actions, so rather than teaching the lessons we have learned about development via writing and books, we want to expose travelers to these ideas in an experiential way through our tours.

TIES: Have you received any requests or suggestions from travelers who have participated in PEPY Tours’ voluntours to change the way the tours are run? If so, what was the feedback and how was it implemented?

Daniela: We have been operating PEPY Tours for four years and our initial tours were very focused on giving travelers volunteer opportunities. Slowly we realized that the best projects we wanted to support were working to build human capacity and to improve systems in Cambodia, not building or giving things. As such, it was harder to incorporate travelers into all of the projects we were supporting because they couldn’t add value to teacher training the way they could with school building.

As we began to offer less service and more learning, we started to get feedback from travelers that they wanted more hands-on volunteer projects. Rather than cater to those requests, we began changing the way we marketed our trip to be more focused on the learning aspects of our tours and, even more importantly, on the how’s and why’s of the decisions we have made to our travelers themselves.

Now, when guests turn in their feedback forms at the end of trips, they often reflect that they had previously thought they would be able to add value physically on their trips, but were grateful that they learned on the trip that the biggest ways they were adding value were through funds supporting longer-term projects and by the actions they will take when they leave. That is EXACTLY the attitudes we want people to walk away with!

TIES: Tell us about your first voluntourism experience (personal or professional) and the impact that the trip has had on your life.

Daniela: My first voluntourism experience was with Habitat for Humanity in Nepal. I left that experience so grateful for the chance to interact with and learn from Nepalese people during our building project. I decided that I wanted to travel that way “at least once a year from now on,” and I did. I went with Habitat to the Philippines and Papua New Guinea and then independently to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami.

It took me a while to realize that the key wasn’t to try to “do good” now and then to compensate for the rest of my year, but to actually change how I lived and my daily actions to have a better impact overall. I realized, after starting PEPY, that pursuing a career which allowed me to learn from and with other travelers to improve the impact we all have when we travel was a way for me to do work I believed in and was passionate about year-round. I attribute that first trip to Nepal as an influential.

TIES: What would you recommend first-time voluntour participants to do before their trip so they will be prepared to make a difference?

Daniela: Learn! Learn about the organization you will be working with, the area, the issues, etc. Setting the historical and cultural context of the place will help you learn even more when you travel. In addition, I would read things like “To Hell with Good Intentions” by Ivan Illich or other critics of western aid travel. Though not any one of these views is “right,” it is just important to hear other voices than just those saying “GO ABROAD AND SAVE THE WORLD!”.

The best impact we can have are with how we live our daily lives and the influences we have on the people and the world around us. Setting up your mind to be in a place to learn during your travels, not just to give, will set you up to be better able to transfer the new skills and ideas you learn into your daily life.

TIES: What should travelers participating in PEPY Tours’ Cambodia voluntour program expect from their voluntour-ing experience, and what should they not expect?

Daniela: Don’t expect that the world can be changed in a week or a month or a year. What CAN be changed is YOU. If you expect that you will be plugged into a hole and be able to add value right away during your trip then you will probably be disappointed. Instead, you will be most likely to make the most impact by being willing to do whatever is needed of you at the time.

Sometimes the biggest impacts you can have are meeting people, sharing and learning from them, and showing them that you care about learning about their culture and their work. By seeing how your work is a part of something much larger, that started before you got there and will continue after you leave, you will see how your investment of time adds value.

The biggest changes don’t always happen in a short time so if you expect to start and finish a project in your time there, you will be disappointed. Instead, look to add value when and where you can, and then follow up to learn about the longer term impact you are having even after you leave!

About PEPY Tours

PEPY Tours offers edu-ventures, from bike tours to service learning experiences in rural Cambodia. By traveling with PEPY, your funds and time are channeled into on-going educational programs operated by PEPY’s local staff members. PEPY Tours are designed share lessons about development and responsible travel and influence how we all live, travel, and give in the future. This is highlighted by PEPY’s tag line: Adventurous Living. Responsible Giving.TM The team at PEPY Tours worked with a range of industry professionals to create internal monitoring guidelines for voluntourism which was just launched on Voluntourism101.com. PEPY Tours was recently chosen as a winner in the National Geographic and Ashoka Geotourism Challenge.

About Daniela Papi, Director, PEPY & PEPY Tours

Daniela Papi is the director of PEPY, an educational development organization working in rural Cambodia. PEPY is funded in part through PEPY Tours, and edu-venture tour company offering cycling trips and service learning experiences in South East Asia. Driven by a young group of social entrepreneurs, in the past four years PEPY has grown from a one-off bike ride which funded the construction of a rural school to a non-governmental organization working in over 10 schools and employing over 30 local staff. Daniela is active in the voluntourism sector, speaking regularly on the both the negative and positive impacts of this growing trend and encouraging industry players to be self-reflective and proactive in measuring their impact. Daniela was a finalist for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. Daniela grew up in New York but has spent the last seven years in Asia working in education and tourism. She currently manages PEPY from her home in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Photos by PEPY Tours – Flickr.com/photos/pepyride