Do you have change?

A brief note: The GSE 2011 Team wants change! 

 

We want change so that all Indians can have a decent livelihood and so that we can buy mangoes off the street from local vendors.

We want change so that persons with disabilities are treated with dignity and so that we can get to Enable India on the bus.

We want change so all children have access to good schools and so that we can have wi-fi access at cafes to do our own coursework.

We need change because we seek a better world.

And we need change because Indians prefer not to handle anything bigger than a 10 rupee bill.

Photos From First 2 Weeks

Autorickshaw under repair.

In an auto.

Toilets and bucket showers.

Street cows.

EnAble India office space (you can see some of the honors EI has received in the background).

Eco-dryer.

Two worlds collide.

Mangalore Pearl restaurant.

Statues at UTC.

Mango, mango, mango.

To view a larger version of a photo, simply click on it.
ET

World Bangalore 10K

Yesterday we went to the World Bangalore 10K race sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services.  This event is a large event where NGOs can raise funds for their causes by participating in the race.  Moreover, businesses can “run for a cause” and raise funds for a specific NGO.

Both Enable India (where Sam and I are interning) and Dream A Dream (where Sarah and Kipaya are interning) participated in the event.  Unfortunately I did not get to walk with the EI team (I missed registration) but I did get to watch all of the different teams cross the finish line holding their banners about their various NGOs and causes.  The energy of the various NGOs was quite exciting and I especially liked the special cheers that many organizations were saying as they crossed the finish line.  I thought the event was quite fun, with dance music and food for participants at the big stadium finish.

Dream Team

Enable Team

More great photos from the event here at SE Wooster's flickr page.

Of course, I am one to always find something ironic in an event like this.  This event is a way to raise funds for NGOs who are working on very important social causes such as the employment of disabled adults and building life skills in underprivileged children.  The organization of the event, however, did not always match what I would think the values would be of these NGOs. 

Let’s use the example of bottled water, which was passed out to all participants at this event.  Bottled water is often stolen (I use this word to show my opinion of the extraction process) from local villages to be bottled and sold for huge profits.  The bottles are made with PET plastic that has a number of carcinogens that especially affect those who live near the production facilities, usually in low income areas.  At the Bangalore 10k, once the water was consumed, bottles were mostly tossed on the ground.  There were some trash bins (no recycling or composting) but they were rarely used.  Even if bottled water were to be recycled, it is unlikely that it would be made into another product that would be recyclable (this is called “downcycling”).  Thus, bottled water almost always has negative social and environmental connotations.  Would many of the people at the 10K (who I presume are somewhat socially/environmentally conscious) be okay with this if this were indeed the case? 

A big sponsor of the event, from what I could tell by their advertising everywhere, was Nike.  (Portland’s presence is even here in Bangalore.)  While Nike has done many things in the past few years to improve its image, I still do not believe that all of their practices are socially, economically, and environmentally just.  How much were their workers paid in Indonesia to make my favorite pair of red running shorts?  Do their factories use environmentally sound practices?  I’m not so sure.  Heck, some NGOs probably ordered their 10k themed shirts from Nike and they were made in some sort of “sweatshop” in India itself.  Perhaps even a young child made them.  Yet so many of the people at this very event are working to eradicate exactly these practices—so how could they be okay with having Nike there saying how awesome of a company it is?

To me, the bottled water and Nike aspects of the event (and these are just a two examples) are not aligned with the values underlying conscious consumption.  Nor are these aspects aligned with what the NGOs at this event represent.  That is not to discredit this event in any way since I think it is a good way for NGOs to network and fundraise and promote their work.  It is also a great event for laypeople to get involved in a cause.  I think it just goes to show that you sometimes have to be stuck within the system in order to “fight” it.  I am definitely in the system even though I am trying to change the system.  It’s extremely difficult to create a “pure,” “wholesome,” event to support social enterprise.  Perhaps the fact that the bottled water companies, Nike, etc are here at this event provides some opportunity for the NGOs to collaborate with them to create better practices.  (And this is coming from someone who’s always saying things like “I live to fight The Man” and such.)  If the partnerships can be nurtured in an effective way then perhaps large scale, sustainable, social change could become more of a reality.

After the 10K race.

Let me know if you all have any thoughts.  Is it okay that the Bangalore 10K has bottled water and Nike advertisements (to name a few examples) at its event?  Do we have to work inside the system?  What would an event for NGOs look like if it were to be truly fitting with these organizations’ social values?  I’m still processing these questions myself and I would like to hear other people’s responses.

Project Description

 
As the central portion of my Global Social Entrepreneurship internship, I will be creating a project through July 8th through a collaborate process with Enable India and Sam, my project partners.  After a week of work we finally know what we will be focusing on for the next five weeks.  The following is a brief project description:

Recently many NGOs have approached Enable India (EI) asking them to take the lead on the creation of a national body that is focused on the employment of persons with disabilities (PWD).  The first step for us is to research which type of body (forum, consortium, union, fellowship, etc) would have the best structure for creating an effective, sustainable organization that works for employment of PWD.  We will use case studies (both contemporary and historic), academic works, discussion with EI, and knowledge of the social sector in India to determine the best possible structure of this governing body.

A current concern is that there are many cultural, political, legal, etc reasons that make employment different from one area to another.  That is why another step in our initial research is to determine the best size (state, region, country, etc) for this body.  Perhaps a nationwide body could not achieve its goals as well as a regional body could.

We want a body that will bring about effective social transformation.  Hopefully our initial research can show us what type of body will be the best for EI to pursue with other partners in the field.  Based upon our findings, we will propose a plan for a body that will be specific to employment of PWD in India (or a region of India). 

So far Sam and I have completed research on social forums, consortia, and federations.  We will be doing more research in the next few days.  Hopefully though we will also get some rest over the weekend.

Happy Friday,
ET

Enable India: Empowering Persons with Disabilities

I am working at Enable India, an organization that works for the economic independence and dignity of persons with disabilities.  While you're eagerly awaiting my next post sometime later this week you can browse EI's website: http://www.enable-india.org/new/index.php  Today we (me, Sam, Professor Moledina, and EI directors) discussed project topics for our six week internship.  We're now winding down, but stuck inside because of the downpour that is currently happening outside (monsoon season).

Hope everyone is doing well back home in the US or wherever you are in the world.

GSE 2011 is off and running

Amyaz, Kipaya, Sam, Erika, and Sarah at UTC (our lodging) on our official start day 2011.05.26

Hi all,
After two days of lovely exploring in Bangalore (veg food, salwar kamiz, monsoon, cockroach, autorickshaw, etc), we began our two days of orientation for GSE.  We met with representatives and/or visited the following organizations, discussing how each social enterprise functions and also various topics in social entrepreneurship:

• Sattva (more on them later)
• ivolunteer, which connects volunteers and NGOs in India and worldwide
• Center for Social Initiative and Management (CSIM), which does training for people interested in social enterprise
• Ashoka Foundation, which provides resources for social entrepreneurs
• Selco, which provides alternative energy sources at affordable costs in rural areas
• Industree/Mother Earth, which works with Indian producers to sell environmentally/socially sustainable products

Yesterday after lunch we visited Sattva in the Indira Nagar district.  This was my favorite part of the entire orientation.  Sattva is a social enterprise which does consulting work for social enterprise (any NGO, business, or organization that works for social chane).  What I think is really cool, though, is that Sattva has an online publication that targets people who are not yet involved in the social change sector (http://thealternative.in/).  They want to make social justice topics more accessible to the "layperson" and they want to know how to communicate those messages in an important way.  This I believe is truly valuable; social change cannot occur in a bubble.  If you want systemic change then you need more than just your social entrepreneurs.

GSE Team and a few Sattva members (yes, there are women- they just left before we took the photo)

Sattva was also personally inspiring for me because I was able to briefly explain my major at Wooster.  My focus in Global Sustainability Studies is to explore the connections between environmental sustainability and social justice.  Right away the Sattva workers began listing off NGOs, contact persons, and places I should visit where I could see these two interests being put into action all together.  It was personally rewarding to see that there are organizations that understand the interconnectedness of injustices and are working with those complexities to solve problems.

I will post a few more photos when I have more access to the Internet and to my peers' photos (I have not taken too many photos on my own camera).  In the meantime, check out SE Wooster's flickr photostream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/se-wooster/.  I took the banana photos.

On Monday I start work at Enable India, an organization that helps disabled adults find employment in a number of awesome ways.  I will leave you with two of the few photos I actually have on my camera to give you a sense of what India can look like.

National Market in Bangalore 2011.05.24

Please post comments!  Peace,
ET

Leaving for India

Dear friends,

On Sunday, I am traveling to India as part of The College of Wooster's 2011 Global Social Entrepreneurship team.  We will be working with two NGOs in Bangalore- one which helps underprivileged children build life skills and another that helps disabled adults find employment.  The 2011 team includes myself, three peers, and a Wooster prof who will serve as our adviser.  I will be working from May 26-July 8 and afterward I will travel for 2.5 weeks around India.  I hope you enjoy my writings and reflections as I embark on this experience.

The Team.  Back: Kipaya '12 (International Relations), Sam '13 (Economics), Sarah '12 (Communication Studies) Front: Erika '13 (Global Sustainability Studies)

For additional readings (including an introduction to Team GSE 2011), please check out GSE's blog: http://global_se.scotblogs.wooster.edu/.  

Peace,
ET