Only one thing I did not like that is Kareena Kapoor. I wish it would have filmed with someone else. May be Aishwarya !!

]]> http://forachance.wordpress.com/?p=450 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:55:47 +0000 forachance http://forachance.de.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/india-the-story-of-a-social-entrepreneur/

Good Morning friends,

In this morning taking my first cafe in the company of you, I would like to tell the story of Javed Abidi a social entrepreneur. Javec Abidi spent a year and a half struggling to believe a law that recognizes the rights of disabled in India.

Javed Abidi, affected at birth with a spinal malady and confined to the wheelchair by medical negligence, is working to provide political visibility and economic opportunities for disabled persons.

 The activist was elected as Partner of Ashoka in 1998, shortly after becoming its proyect in the National Center for Promotion of Employment for People Disabled. Javed Abidi is a social entrepreneur with revolutionary ideas; a social entrepreneurship is based on creative thinking and perseverance.

"If you believe in something must be done"

Best regards,

Mireya

Banking on Social Change – Seeking Financial Solutions for All

Enter by: Oct 1, 2008 | Voting begins: Nov 10, 2008 | Winners Announced: Dec 1, 2008

Finally - the new changemakers.net competition has been launched.

Join Changemakers and Citi in the search for innovative and cutting-edge methods that allow financial security to become a reality for everyone. Enter and showcase your work to key decision-makers and investors. There are over 35 countries represented in submissions thus far (and some pretty good ideas).

http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/competition/bankingonsocialchange ]]> http://socialecosystem.wordpress.com/?p=280 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:25:04 +0000 Raj Melville http://socialecosystem.de.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/get-engaged-in-charitable-giving/ I wrote an article recently on how Indian Americans can take a step towards increasing charitable giving. Equally applicable even if you are not an Indian American :-)
I have reproduced the entire article below. Can be found on line at India New England News.

How Indian Americans can get engaged in charitable giving

India has a rich tradition of supporting public works, arts and architecture throughout its history and culture. From time immemorial the Rishis of the Upanishads have exhorted their disciples to engage in charity, to give according to their wealth with faith and humility. Over two thousand years ago the Emperor Ashoka undertook immense public works projects ranging from rest houses for pilgrims to hospitals and universities. In later times rulers like Emperor Akbar patronized the arts and architecture and were instrumental in building striking monuments that still stand as testimony to their largesse. In the South, the Vijaynagar Empire helped lift Kannada and Telugu literature to new heights and encouraged Carnatic music.

While these examples of generous giving have inspired many Indians, it has also served to reinforce a notion that only the rich could afford to be generous with their wealth. The state controlled economy in post-independent India conditioned the populace to expect the government to deliver social service programs. With the average middle class family striving to make ends meet, any additional discretionary giving generally went to their favorite religious cause or to their family members.

However, the past couple of decades have brought about a significant change in Indian society. By some estimates, the Indian middle class has now grown to around 325 million people. In the United States, it is estimated that there are over two million Indian Americans with an average family income of $64,000, more than twice the national average. Despite these dramatic changes, a large proportion of the Indian population still lives in poverty. According to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) there are 236 million people in India living on less than Rs. 20 per day.  Attendant issues of illiteracy, lack of sanitation, improper hygiene, inadequate healthcare and malnutrition are still largely unaddressed. Here, in the United States, there is a large Indo-American community needing assistance in issues related to health, immigration and jobs. We also have an added responsibility in the United States to create opportunities to educate and enhance the knowledge and experiences of non-Indians and the younger generations of Indians about the rich heritage that India possesses in art, culture and literature.

Indian Americans have an opportunity to come together as a community to address these major challenges here in the United States and in India. Some of this is evident with the new generation of philanthropies, such as the Deshpande Foundation in the United States and the Byrajju Foundation and the Infosys Foundation in India, that have stepped up to address several of the pressing social issues in India. Numerous other organizations in the United States and in India are working to meet these social needs.

However, the average Indian American community member is not engaged with the social sector in general and charitable giving in particular. There are several stereotypical reasons and responses that people come up with to justify their disengagement, some of which are:

• People don't feel that they can afford to donate. Explanations include "I don't have enough money to give".
• People feel that their contribution will not have any impact on the problem. Typical responses include "What can a few dollars do to solve that problem" or "Look at how little impact all that aid has on conditions in Africa/India/etc."
• People wind up blaming the intended recipient of the charity. "Why don't the homeless do something and get a job?" or "I don't want to support that bad habit?" might be typical responses.
• People look to others who they feel can better afford to support charities. They might question the commitment of the high profile donors with questions like "Look at how much that rock star is making? He can afford to give more, I don't make as much"
• People try to rationalize their priorities with observations like "I can't afford to give at this point in my career?" or "I have to save for my child's education".
• People are suspicious of being solicited by charities and feel they don't know how to determine the legitimate ones. The negative publicity about wasteful overhead expenses and fly-by-night organizations help heighten this concern.

Some of these misperceptions are based on an unclear understanding of the social sector or are from preconceived notions of the non-profit world. With advances in technology and better governance, there is more transparency and accessibility to charitable data than ever before. In addition, there are a few steps that charities can also take to facilitate this exchange. By addressing some of the donor's concerns, they will increase the likelihood that a person will support their cause. A few straightforward steps that can be taken include:

• Increasing transparency in their operations. Donors are concerned about how their contribution will be used particularly when giving to a charity that is some distance away or if it will have a long term impact. By providing regular and transparent reporting about their operations, charities can foster trust and lay such concerns to rest.
• Maintaining low overheads. Indian American donations can have a huge impact as a dollar goes a long way to address issues in India. However, donors want charities to assure them that their money is going towards programs that provide real impact and that administrative and fundraising costs are not taking too big a bite.
• Highlighting visible impact and deliverables. Supporting an organization and issues creates challenges to monitor the end impact of ones donation. Charities can help address this problem by providing regular online progress reports, pictures and updates on social impact and deliverables.
• Reducing use of high pressure fundraising tactics. Most donors are turned off by high pressure tactics for fundraising. Constant phone solicitations and endless charity galas lead to donor fatigue.
• Clear enunciation of community need and social impact. The most effective fundraising campaigns are those that can clearly describe the community needs in terms that a donor can relate to. By appealing to the donor's emotional or cultural feelings, the charity is ensured of a longer term commitment.

Americans are the most generous country when it comes to charitable giving. According to the Giving USA Foundation, individual donations rose by 4.4% to an estimated $222 billion in 2006. Americans are quick to respond to social needs and disasters from around the world, raising nearly $7.4 Billion in disaster relief in 2005. Examples abound such as the elderly lady who accosted an Indian in her town library after the Gujarat earthquake and offered an unsolicited $500 check to help with the victims of the terrible disaster. How many Indian Americans have been moved by a distant tragedy 10,000 miles away in China or Cambodia and stepped up and done something about it like that elderly good Samaritan?

As Indian Americans, we have a tremendous opportunity to make a significant impact in our community, both here in our adopted homeland as well as in India. The collective impact of over two million Indians can be channeled to address the intractable problems that face the world. Consider what this could mean if every Indian American:

• Set aside just $10 per month for their favorite charity, it would generate 240 million dollars in contributions.
• Volunteered a day a month to help an organization, it would provide over 96,000 man-years of effort that could be channeled for constructive purposes.
• Donated the cost of just one McDonalds Value meal a year to support hunger, we could provide 80 million meals to hungry people.
• Supported Indo-Centric programs that could educate and expose many Indians and non-Indians to our cultural heritage and history.

The time has come for the current generation of Indian Americans to move beyond a narrow personal and regional focus and to get engaged with the larger Indian community. We need to come together as a community to help support those organizations that are doing great work in addressing the numerous social issues both in the United States as well as in India. It is time we all stepped up to this challenge. Here are a few simple steps that you can take to do your bit and to get started down this path.

• Get educated about the space. If you are uncertain about the opportunities take a first step by going to seminar or a discussion. There are several local organizations that can help expose you to innovative social entrepreneurs. TiE Boston has an active Social Entrepreneurs group that holds regular discussion sessions on a wide variety of topics and invites leading social entrepreneurs to present. NETSAP lets you learn about volunteer opportunities and get your hands dirty by working on projects at non-profits.
• Research your choices. Look up your alternatives before you donate. Find out where your dollar will deliver the maximum impact. There are several sites that can help you with this assessment. Some include:
  • http://www.charitynavigator.org/
  • http://www.giveindia.org/
  • http://www.globalgiving.com/

For Indian Americans, www.Ashoka.org is a key resource of well qualified, world class social entrepreneurs and NGOs that can use your help. Ashoka is a non-profit that has identified and supported over 2000 social entrepreneurs in 60 plus countries including several hundred in India. Ashoka looks for social entrepreneurs with innovative new ideas, reviews their professional and ethical backgrounds, conducts in-depth interviews and determines the potential country impact of the innovator's ideas. Once selected, an Ashoka Fellow is provided a living stipend for two to four years, thereby allowing them the flexibility to focus their energies on growing and managing their organization.

• Start small but make it a habit. Every little bit helps. Pick a charity that is close to your heart and give what you can. Set aside an annual charity budget. Determine what you can afford and spread it out over monthly payments if you need to. Most charities will help setup regular recurring donations.
• Use your talents and your time. Money isn't the only way to help an organization. Take an inventory of your professional skills and hobbies. What are the things you really enjoy doing. Maybe you are handy around the house or you are the local database guru. There are organizations that would value those talents. If you don't know of one, there are sites and organizations that will match your interests with available opportunities. Some are
  • http://www.volunteermatch.org./
  • http://www.networkforgood.org/
  • http://www.idealist.org/
• Leverage your donation. Small amounts can have even more impact when combined with others. Work with your friends to aggregate your total donations and multiply the results. Virtual communities like Kiva.org allow you to combine your support with others to create significant social impact around the world.
• Start building your legacy. It is never too early to start thinking about your impact on society. Think about what you can do to improve or change a critical social issue. Then start taking small steps towards that goal. If you start early and keep at it, you are going to make change happen over the long run.

We hope this will begin a commitment to charity that will help enable Indian Americans to become a significant philanthropic force in America and around the world.

By       Raj Melville (raj@AmbientEngines.com)

and Samir Desai (info@desaifamilyfoundation.org)

Thus began Ashoka's second journey.  They launched a campaign to rebuild their sector, and rebranded the nonprofit sector as the citizen sector.  The logic was simple:  define something by what it is, not by what it isn't.  The next step was to figure out what programs to launch to build the capacity of the citizen sector.  One strategy was to build from their network of Ashoka Fellows, who could pave the way.  Since they had put so much effort into branding Ashoka Fellows as social entrepreneurs, they had to come up with another name to include the broader public.  They chose "changemaker."

In 2006, at Ashoka's Sixth Annual North American Fellowship Induction Program, Drayton stated, "We are living a historic moment, where the monopoly of initiative by a few is being replaced by the new adage that Everyone Is a Changemaker, where every person can be a full citizen"
- "The business sector has been so successful for centuries because it has motivated and rewarded changemakers very well. The citizen sector is now undergoing the same process"

Ashoka's new challenge is quite different from their first.  Identifying social entrepreneurs is a relatively straightforward process through which you develop a deep understanding of one personality type, and develop a specific process for identifying individuals with those traits.  Building an "everyone a changemaker" society is a completely different animal.  It requires a level of extraordinary organizational prowess, for which Ashoka is not well equipped.  In today's rapidly moving society, any successful approach to build the citizen sector must have the following traits:

1.  Open Source: With a mission as broad as building a sector, the citizen sector must engage an army of individuals.  Ashoka's model for selecting Fellows was a closed process, and rightfully so.  A transition to an open movement will require a culture shift within the organization.  Not easy.

2.  Tech-savviness: Any attempt to engage broad masses of individuals requires a firm understanding and skill with web 2.0 technology and communications technology.  Take Obama's campaign.  They launched a movement and mobilized millions within a matter of one year.  They use blogs, email newsletters, cell phone text messages, a sleek website and multimedia content to mobilize an army of volunteers.  Ashoka does not utilize web 2.0 technology.  I spent a day meeting with 8 Ashoka Fellows in Costa Rica in 2006.  We had a conversation about Ashoka's website, and each fellow's eyes widened as I talked about Facebook.  They loved the idea, yet no web 2.0 platform exists for Ashoka.  In short, Ashoka was born in an era without the internet and they have not integrated modern communications technology into their strategy to build the citizen sector.  Without it, they will not reach the scale they hope for.

3.  Charismatic Thought Leader and Communicator: Drayton is a clear, logical thinker with a quiet energy.  He is a fascinating individual who has moved mountains.  However, his quiet energy puts a ceiling on how many people he will engage.  A more vibrant storyteller could push the citizen sector onto the mainstage and engage a broader audience around the narrative of social entrepreneurship.

In short, Ashoka is incredible, but needs to innovate to continue to grow and thrive.  If it does not, someone else will.

If I had to identify one central organization, or guiding force, for social entrepreneurship, I would point to Ashoka, Innovators for the Public. If I had to point to one person, it would be Bill Drayton, Ashoka's founder.  Drayton founded Ashoka in 1980 with the idea that there is nothing more powerful than a good idea in the hands of someone who is absolutely married to it.  The commercial sector has plenty of household name examples, ranging from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs.  These individuals have shaped entire industries, generating massive value for society.  Yet in today's day and age, large scale inequality persists, a gap which commercial entrepreneurs have failed to close.

Ashoka's model is to identify individuals with big ideas that will effect change on the order of magnitude of an entire country or region of the world, and award them with a Fellowship.  Ashoka Fellows receive couple years of salary to put food on their table while they carry out their systems changing idea.  Ashoka also provides connections through their network.

This pilot program's goal is to bring social entrepreneurship to the students, faculty, and administrators on the participating campuses. Read about the Change Maker Campus initiative here. From Ashoka's website,

Over the course of the next year, we aim to bring students and faculty together with practitioners, thought leaders, and philanthropists to create new and effective partnerships for sustainable social change.

We’ll carefully monitor and evaluate what happens along the way, identifying the precise outcomes and impact of the program and the innovative teaching and partnerships it spurs. Apart from the impact at each partner university, the program is thus meant to capture the how-to strategies and best practices for effecting deep, lasting, and campus-wide social change.

There will be two meetings this week for GMU students, faculty, and staff to check out.

This pilot program's goal is to bring social entrepreneurship to the students, faculty, and administrators on the participating campuses. Read about the Change Maker Campus initiative here. From Ashoka's website,

Over the course of the next year, we aim to bring students and faculty together with practitioners, thought leaders, and philanthropists to create new and effective partnerships for sustainable social change.

We’ll carefully monitor and evaluate what happens along the way, identifying the precise outcomes and impact of the program and the innovative teaching and partnerships it spurs. Apart from the impact at each partner university, the program is thus meant to capture the how-to strategies and best practices for effecting deep, lasting, and campus-wide social change.

There will be two meetings this week for GMU students, faculty, and staff to check out.

If you're not familiar with these two organisations, Ashoka is the first social entrepreneur network created (the founder, Bill Drayton, was the first to coin the phrase "social entrepreneur" over 25 years ago). They've recently set up their own social network called "Changemakers". Kiva is a brilliant microfinancing site set up by Matt & Jessica Flannery which has already loaned out $49 million by having 340,000 Kiva lenders each giving loans from as little as $25 through the networking site.

Have a read of the article (above) and then join me on Ashoka's Changemakers.

Ashoka organiza el Encuentro Moviliza en La Plata, entre el 26 y 27 de septiembre de 2008 en el Centro Cultural Pasaje Dardo Rocha, calle 50 entre la 6 y la 7. Habrá tiempo de inscribirse hasta el 19 de septiembre.

Ashoka es la primera asociación mundial de emprendedores sociales que está generando soluciones innovadoras y efectivas para resolver los principales problemas de la sociedad. Para ello identifica y apoya a emprendedores sociales, y crea oportunidades para que trabajando en conjunto, se alcance un mayor impacto y una nueva infraestructura para el sector social.

A través de distintos paneles y exposiciones, el encuentro buscará instalar el debate y la discusión sobre la ampliación de la base ciudadana como una vía para asegurar la sustentabilidad de las organizaciones sociales. Podrán participar del evento todo tipo de organizaciones, especialmente aquellas que estén situadas en el Conurbano Sur Bonaerense.

El encuentro es abierto y gratuito, y las inscripciones se realizan por correo electrónico a eventomoviliza@ashoka.org.

The Brahmi Script from which all Indic scripts are derived appeared suddenly and dramatically during the reign of Asoka, the Mauryan emperor ~250 B.C. (Salomon, 1995).
Brahmi Inscription - Kusumadasasya(Flowers servant) - Click to Enlarge
There is no material evidence of any script being used in the Indian subcontinent until this time. Of course, ancient writings on parchment, bark and cloth would not be expected to survive any length of time in the Indian climate. Strikingly, no supporting evidence in the form of writing instruments or images of scribes (e.g., ancient Egypt) have been found, either.

So when and where did Brahmi arise?
There are 3 theories:

1. The Ancient Indian Theory: The Brahmi writing system predates the Mauryas and evolved in India without any outside influence.

2. The Mesopotamian Theory: Commerce with ancient Babylon exposed Indian traders to Aramaic scripts which they then adapted into Brahmi.

3. The Mauryan Theory: Asoka invented a new script with the help of the “learned Pandits” at his court.

1. The Ancient Indian Theory: >1000-500 BC
We do have evidence that writing and scripts were known before Asoka. The early grammarians, Panini and Katayana, refer to scribes and “yavana-lipi” (loosely translated as the “script of the Greeks”).

Evidence of scripts is also hinted at by the early Buddhist Canon. The Buddha, who often provides good social commentary on life circa 450 BC in the Indo-Gangetic plains, specifically prohibited members of his Order from playing a children’s “Lettering” game, where “letters are traced in the air, or on a play-fellow’s back”.

One could argue on end about the impossibility of the existence of a grammatical tradition from ‘old’ Gargi to Panini without any scripts. However, these savants were trained to know “by heart” the vast corpus of Sanskrit literature. Writing may not have been important. Moreover, severe doctrinal diktats were in force to keep knowledge a secret (rahasya) and to never divulge it to ‘impure minds’. Therefore, if pre-Asokan writing and scripts did exist, they may have been concealed. Until we have more evidence we can only speculate – history being about facts rather than plausibility.

2. The Mesopotamian Theory 800 – 700 BC:
Trading contacts existed between South India and Babylon. Besides artifacts, South Indian words for the traded goods entered the local language in Mesopotamia - rice, ivory, apes and peacocks. It is possible that the Aramaic script used in Mesopotamia was modified for Indian purposes during this cultural encounter (Rhys Davids, 1903).

Ancient Aramiac is a terse language with barely any vowels, which are “assumed” from knowledge of the language. Georg Bühler (1896) painstakingly studied congruences between Aramaic and Brahmi. He suggested that many of the alphabets were simple reversals of the Aramaic script for writing from left-to-right - Aramaic, itself, being written from right-to-left. (Note that there have been examples on Brahmi on coins being written right-to-left.)

The problem with this theory is that critical Indian sounds do not exist in Aramaic (Scharfe, 2002). The Vedic literature of India abounds with cautions against mis-pronouncing even a single syllable. In one story, Indra kills the person invoking him, because of such an error. All the Indian sounds were critically important and had to be a part of the script and writing system.

3. The Mauryan Theory ~250 BC:
Inscriptions of the Achaemenid Empire

Asoka saw the rock-face inscriptions and monuments of the Achaemenid Empire of Darius when he was the Governor of Gandhara in the North-West of the Indian subcontinent. Upon his return to Pataliputra, the imperial Mauryan capital, he used similar ideas and inscribed his edicts on rock-faces and pillars.

In a variation, Goyal (in Gupta & Ramachandran, 1979), speculated that a group of “learned pandits of the age of Asoka” hammered out the Brahmi script by consensus. He based his evidence on the primitive forms of the early Brahmi script and the Pali canon suggesting an illiterate culture at the time. In other words, it was a Mauryan invention.

Unfortunately, most of the historical information about Asoka is from Buddhist sources compiled centuries later, by the Buddhist clergy. They focus on Asoka the Good after his Kalingan massacre, (”one hundred and fifty thousand deportations, one hundred thousand deaths … many more died…” - 13th Rock Edict) and subsequent epiphany.Traditional Hindu and Greek sources barely mention Asoka, much less the invention of any script during his reign.

What is indisputable is that he did inscribe his messages on pillars and rocks, all over the Indian subcontinent, in the imperial Brahmi script. To quote the Emperor in his own words, “… had these Dhamma edicts written in brief, in medium length, and in extended form. Not all of them occur everywhere, for my domain is vast, but much has been written, and I will have still more written.”

The pillars and inscriptions are interesting in their own right. Inscriptions were engraved at different times of Asoka’s rule. Some in his 12th regnal year and some in the 26-27th.

Variability in Pillar Styles
Asoka Pillars at Lumbini and Vaishali

The underlying pillars differ in their design, ornamentation and the material used. Notice the stylistic differences between the different pillars at Lumbini and Vaishali. Oddly, no Pillars with Brahmi inscriptions have been found at the Mauryan capital city, Pataliputra.

Variations between Early Asokan Brahmi Rock Inscriptions, Girnar and Later Asokan Brahmi from the 6th Pillar Edict, Meerut – word spacing gets better.

Girnar and Meerut Brahmi
The quality of the typography in inscriptions also varies. The earliest inscriptions show no spaces in between the words while the later ones show distinct word spaces. Often, words from local dialects occur in the inscriptions. Some errors in the inscriptions suggest sculptors reading from pre-written copy and making “typos”. This creeping standardization suggests a sudden exposure to the Brahmi script by Mauryan sculptors.

There are other tantalizing mysteries. There are theories that Asoka did not erect the pillars himself but simply inscribed on pre-existing ones (Irwin, 1973). In the 7th Major Pillar Edict, he orders his guidelines to be engraved “wherever there are stone pillars or stone slabs.” If true, this opens another can of ancient worms - who did put up those pillars?

More mysteries. Recently, pot-shards with Brahmi letters were found in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, and dated to 600-500 B.C. If these dates hold, then the Brahmi script reached Sri Lanka about the time of the Buddha - a full 2-3 centuries before Asokan monuments were inscribed! However, this is still controversial. Hopefully, more finds will settle the issue.

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Nine Unknown Men are a two millennia-old secret society founded by the Indian Emperor Asoka c. 270 BCE. According to the legend, upon his conversion to Buddhism after a massacre during one of his wars, the Emperor founded the society of the Nine to preserve knowledge that would be dangerous to humanity if it fell into the wrong hands. The Emperor also concealed scientific knowledge: remnants of the Rama Empire, which according to Hindu scripture was destroyed by advanced weaponry 15,000 years ago.

Emperor Asoka, aware of the horrors of war, wished to forbid men ever to put their intelligence to evil uses. During his reign natural science, past and present, was vowed to secrecy. Henceforward, and for the next 2,000 years, all researches, ranging from the structure of matter to the techniques employed in collective psychology, were to be hidden behind the mystical mask of a people commonly believed to be exclusively concerned with ectasy and supernatural phenomena. Asoka founded the most powerful secret society on earth: that of the Nine Unknown Men. It is still thought that the great men responsible fro the destiny of modern India, and scientists like Bose and Ram believe in the existence of the Nine, and even receive advice and messages from them. One can imagine the extraordinary importance of secret knowledge in the hands of nine men benefiting directly from experiments, studies and documents accumulated over a period of more than 2,000 years. What can have been the aim of these men? Not to allow methods of destruction to fall into the hands of unqualified persons and to pursue knowledge which would benefit mankind.

Each of the Nine is supposedly responsible for guarding and improving a single book. These books each deal with a different branch of potentially hazardous knowledge. Traditionally, the books are said to cover the following subjects:

1. Propaganda and Psychological warfare.
2. Physiology, including instructions on how to perform the "touch of death." One account has Judo being a product of material leaked from this book.
3. Microbiology, and, according to more recent speculation, Biotechnology. In some versions of the myth, the waters of the Ganges are purified with special microbes designed by the Nine and released into the river at a secret base in the Himalayas.Also,cloning as we have an instance of cloning in mahabharata that accounts for 100 kaurvas that were clone of duryodhana only.
4. Alchemy, including the transmutation of metals. In India, there is a persistent rumor that during times of drought or other natural disasters temples and religious organizations receive large quantities of gold from an unknown source. The mystery is further deepened with the fact that the sheer quantity of gold throughout the country in temples and with kings cannot be properly accounted for, seeing that India has few gold mines.
5. Communication, including communication with extraterrestrials and telepathy.
6. Gravitation (the Vaiminaka sastra), instructions necessary to build a Vimana, sometimes referred to as the "ancient UFOs of India."
7. Cosmology, the capacity to travel at enormous speeds through spacetime fabric, and time-travel; including intra- and inter-universal trips.
8. Light, the capacity to increase and decrease the speed of light, to use it as a weapon by concentrating it in a certain direction etc.
9. Sociology, including rules concerning the evolution of societies and how to predict their downfall.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Microfinance has only reached 8% of India’s poverty

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->85%-95% of men who have sex with men (msm) are married

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->75% of India’s work force are women in agriculture

Week one of training has come to a close. I spent Sunday, our free day, walking around Connaught Place and had a great south Indian lunch with Anu(ja) and her fiancée Rishi. Anuja is working at Ashoka (one of the leading NGO foundations and the originator of the Ashoka Fellowship which supports social entrepreneurs across the world) and Rishi is working at Google.org. They are very knowledgeable about India and it was great to pick their brains.

The fellows are staying at the “Vish”, a youth center in Chanikyapuri. My roommate is Michael Yau (former banker and private equity, surprise, surprise) who will be working in Udaipur (...Yaudipur) at Seva Mandir (same place where Arun wrote the memorable AIF blog).  The Vish has decent western bathrooms (toilets and showers are combined), courteous service and provides us all our meals… the meals, however, are beginning to blur together. Paneer for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This past week, speakers lectured and discussed India’s development scene through the healthcare, education, and livelihood verticals (AIF’s three pillars). We heard about the caste system, the role of “Ragpickers” (families who pick/sort landfill trash for a living, microfinance, India’s independence (from a Congress party member and a Social Party member (who I wish taught me world history), market based solutions to development (from the president of ICICI foundation), Indian sexuality and so much more. We also visited Salaam Balak Trust, an NGO helping runaway streetkids who “work” (swindle, steal and live on) the railroads in Delhi. The most fascinating topics were Indian sexuality and the market based solution to development.

To understand HIV/AIDs in India, you first have to learn about sex workers and homosexuality. The western definition of gay doesn’t apply to Indian MSM. There are many classifications within MSM, some of which have only recently been defined. For example, the word “Kothi”, which describes an effeminate man, was said to not have existed before “Bill and Melinda came to India”. We heard from the first “outted” gay man in India and from an Ashoka fellow who are both promoting policy that will allow for “gay” rights in India. The Ashoka fellow also had a refuge center for orphans of parents who died from HIV/AIDS. Their conviction for change was both touching and inspiring.

Nachiket Mor, the president of the ICICI Foundation, brought a different, but necessary viewpoint to orientation. Mr. Mor is considered to be one of the leading thinkers in market based development. In a constructive manner, he questioned the role of NGO’s, challenging the effectiveness of microlevel change. He argued that India is a land of large numbers and as such, its issues should be resolved in large ways. He applied business models to not only financial constructs (microfinance, women livelihood training), but also healthcare and education. He is most known for his desire to localize MFI’s (Microfinance Institutions) which will reduce the service cost associated with nationalized and regionalized MFI’s and will thereby lower the exorbitant interest rates currently charged on loans. Apologies if this doesn’t make any sense, I hope that soon, I will be able to succinctly explain the whole MFI sector in the coming weeks.

If I've learned anything in week 1, its that I don't know anything about development in India. I'm excited about week 2.

We're 28 days in now, so it's still early days but things are beginning to take shape. One of the interesting asides that we've enjoyed is the links and connections that we've been given - both people to talk to, and companies or organisations or just stories that we should check out. Some of these are here:

- We now have a good accountant with Whitelaw Wells (HT: Fraser), a good lawyer with CCW and a highly professional and helpful insurance broker with Castle Cairn. These are the first business partners of Seven Men but they are some of the most critical.

- We've stumbled across Cambrian House, which works from the Wisdom of Crowds theory. Along similar lines, Changemakers, an Ashoka venture, uses competitions to solve problems.

- I found a great article to read all about being socially responsible in your tax approach at Sustainability. 

- Rentacoder allows you to place coding work with a pool of 224,132 programmers who will bid to do your work. 99 Designs works on a similar principle but a slightly different model. This company offers you design and logo input with creatives who have signed up to bid for work.

- Green Works is a not for profit that works to take used furniture, restore it and repair it and then resell it, giving people who are marginalised employment in the meantime.

Anywhere else you'd send us to next week?

Plus d'un milliard d'individus sont en ligne avec la possibilité d'échanger économiquement des connaissances, des opinions, des idées, d'influencer des pans entiers du globe. En tissant des collaborations, des relations plus ou moins suivies, un milliard de personnes pourront partager leurs connaissances, établir des contacts sociaux, partager de la puissance de calcul grâce au Grid Computing[1]. Dans Netbrain, notre planète numérique, les savoirs et les idées doivent circuler en toute liberté. Des centaines de milliers de forums de discussion venant de tous pays, en toutes langues et traitant une infinie variété de sujets désenclavent la connaissance et l'économie par la même occasion. Les citoyens de Netbrain découvrent qu'ils peuvent influencer des opinions en diffusant leurs idées. Certains peuvent créer des savoirs que d'autres jugent estimables. Finalement, grâce à la technologie, pour la première fois dans l'histoire humaine nous avons la possibilité d'entretenir des rapports intenses avec un très grand nombre de gens. Pour la première fois dans l'histoire humaine, la coopération massive d'individus de toutes origines à travers le temps et l'espace est soudainement facile et économique. Partout, les gens utilisant l'Internet sont en mesure de poloniser les économies locales. Les foules virtuelles modifient les rapports de forces politiques, disposent d'une force de frappe économique et une influence qui impressionne quiconque s'en approche. Ces foules qui circulent sur la toile disposent pouvoirs nouveaux qu'elles utilisent pour « refaire le monde » et influencer durablement l'économie traditionnelle. Elles utilisent les réseaux comme vecteur d'essaimage d'idées et de propositions, comme vecteurs d'échanges d'expériences et de recherches partagées. En repoussant les limites de l'économie et des rapports marchands traditionnels, elles inventent collectivement des voies modernes du développement durable. Elles repensent fondamentalement comment utiliser cette nouvelle matière première qu'est l'information et les savoirs par un processus l'on désigne volontiers sous le terme « d'intelligence transformatrice[2] ». Bill Drayton travaille à changer le monde depuis presque trente ans. Il a crée Ashoka en 1980, une association qui soutient des innovateurs sociaux par la fourniture de bourses et surtout par un vaste réseau d'influence. Ce réseau mondial se développe en creux des modèles économiques marchands. Un réseau d'individus qui portent des idées aussi prosaïques que de faciliter l'insertion d'anciens toxicos au Brésil. La conception de Bill est que les idées peuvent changer le monde. Ashoka soutient des « porteurs de graines », des gens qui prouvent que l'on peut changer les choses. « Ils sèment son grain avec une idée très pratique. Puis un autre porteur arrive qui la fait connaître dans une autre région du monde »[3]. Ils sont des centaines déjà qui font circuler les idées entre le Bangladesh, les Etats-Unis et le Brésil. Et ça fait boule de neige. Le réseau Ashoka est une véritable pépinière de gestion des idées. Il applique des solutions qui ont marché dans une région. Ashoka devient un circuit de diffusion des savoirs. » Ce pouvoir est illustré par la progression fulgurante des applications du web pour le « social networking ». Elle illustre une voie en cours de formation des possibilités des réseaux de solidarités coopératives. Des communautés d'hommes et de femmes utilisent la Toile pour sensibiliser l'opinion publique d'internautes sur un sujet quelconque, pour faire pression sur les pouvoirs en place grâce à la puissance relationnelle des réseaux solidaires. Le troc d'information y est permanent, d'où une posture naturelle à l'échange gratuit, généreux au point que les échanges sociaux ont dépassé les transactions commerciales sur la Toile depuis 2007. Ces internautes participent à l'ensemencement d'idées ou des propositions sans calcul de retour sur investissement. De ce point de vue ils sont parfaitement en phase avec les chercheurs ou des tenants des alternatives économiques non monétaires. Présents dans les courants de pensées post-capitalistes, amateurs de commerce équitable, activistes des économies d'énergies, nous les retrouvons partisans des échanges d‘idées, utilisateurs des réseaux porteurs de concepts nouveaux dans de nombreux domaines, y compris, en matière d'économie collaborative. Quand aux entreprises, en devenant des organisations sans frontières, elles sont plus que jamais capables d'échanger autre chose que des marchandises et des services grâce aux réseaux socioprofessionnels. "Les Réseaux deviennent le lieu pour l'innovation," déclare le professeur d'Université de Sandford, Walter W. Powell. Oui, parce que des internautes créatifs ont accepté de « semer à tous vents » comme le dit la belle formule du Larousse.

Denis Ettighoffer

[2] Selon les travaux d'André Portnoff chez Futuribles

[3] Courrier International du 9 juin 2005, Bill Drayton. « Simplement changer le monde. »
La traduction de son ouvrage How to Change the World sort en septembre aux Editions de la Découverte.

Saludos de nuevo a todos los lectores, hoy traigo para ustedes una crítica de cine, para una película que ha dejado mucho que desear en los FANS de Star Wars...

Como FAN, desde que tengo uso de razón, me he visto decepcionado por el tio lucas, quien en busca de dinero ha dejado morir SW en vez de revivirlo, alguien me puede explicar si George lucas comenzó a consumir NARCOTICOS o algo por el estilo?...

Al salir de la sala de cine mis amigos y yo solamente pudimos decir: QUE CAGADA, lo mejor de la película fue cuando terminó, no he visto una historia más aburrida de SW , cuando creí que el episodio I no tendría ninguna que la superara, llegó george lucas a traernos esta CAGADA....

La Película:

El tiempo es, como su nombre lo indica, las guerras clon....esas historias de 5 min que veiamos en cartoon network, este film se encuentra entre los episodios II y III de la saga SW, vemos a un Anakin con su youngling de padawan, dandole clases de humildad, un humor que viene servido por los droides tontos de la federacion de comercio y una historia que NO DICE ABSOLUTAMENTE NADA que no se conozca....

El Sonido:

Pues, es de lo peor, como se nota que no se quizo hacer nada por una buena banda sonora, parece que le pagaron 10 dólares a un niño de 15 años que supiera mezclar sonidos en movie maker para obtener el sonido electrónico al que los fans NO ESTAMOS ACOSTUMBRADOS, hubiera sido mejor repetir pistas de películas anteriores....

La gente idiota:

Me he topado con mas de un idiota que ha dicho: eso no es una película, son las guerras clónicas, INCLUSO: ESO NO ES STAR WARS, SON LAS GUERRAS CLONICAS, bueno, a esos idiotas les digo, dejen de jalar tanto mecate y aceptenlo, esto fue la gran cagada de lucas film, y si quiere hacer algo que no es una película, para eso está le TELEVISION....

Público Infantil:

"SW Clone Wars va dirigido a un público infantil" pues a mi me gustaba SW desde que era niño, y no por eso lucas me hizo una película con un lenguaje y música tan idiota, me hice fan de SW original, no de esta cagada que rompe con todo...si querían ganar el público infantil, con esto lograron ganarse también la decepción de una buena parte de los fans...

En Conclusión:

La Película habia que verla, no hay dudas de eso, al menos puedo decir que fueron 90 minutos de mi vida que hubiera sido mejor invertir viendo el episodio III nuevamente, es lamentable hasta donde ha llegado lucas, que acaso vamos a llegar a viejos todos y seguir viendo minutos inéditos de clone wars?....si quiere reinvindicarse será mejor que se deje de estupideces y comience a rodar los episodios 7 8 y 9 lo más pronto posible, y si no quiere, como lo ha dicho en repetidas oportunidades, que deje a SW morir como un grande, y no cagarla como ya comenzó a hacer....

Al cesar lo que es del cesar, las películas para el cine, las series para la TV, SW para sus fans....los fans no queremos películas que no lleguen a nada, ver SW en el cine sin la presentación clásica, fue como ir a ver JAMES BOND sin el tiro clásico al inicio de sus films, patético....ninguna estrella para el tio lucas...

Miguel

]]> http://compoundinginterests.wordpress.com/?p=78 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:18:57 +0000 Carmen Ross http://compoundinginterests.de.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/quote-of-the-day/ “Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish, or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”

                   — Bill Drayton, CEO 

                        Ashoka Innovators for the Public

A little background…

I gave a professional presentation to social work community practitioners in Waco, Texas, in May 2008.  I had only recently come upon the topic of social entrepreneurship in some reading I was doing for an independent study over international social work.  I liked what I was reading, and I decided to figure out how I could apply it in the field of social work.  What resulted was a professional presentation entitled, “New Frontiers in Social Work: Using Social Entrepreneurship as a Tool for Social Change.”  What was a culmination to almost two semesters of reading about social entrepreneurship was actually the beginning of a new passion and a new blog (yes, this blog).

The presentation focused partly on the definition of social entrepreneurship and partly on its application in social work.  It is from the background reading that I did for this presentation that I draw the information I present to you here.  As a matter of ethical writing and transparency, I will include references as numbers in parentheses that correspond to that number at the end of the entry so that the reader will know where to find the primary sources for this information.

What is Social Entrepreneurship (SE)?

Many of the definitions I found focus on defining SE in terms of what a social entrepreneur does, and I found many definitions that differ to varying degrees.  To further complicate matters, what the definition of social entrepreneurship includes and does not include is not completely agreed upon by all scholars within the field.  In order to avoid intellectual snobbery and elitism, I would like to completely skip over that entire argument to look at how practitioners of social entrepreneurship define it because they are the ones actually doing it.   So, who are these key actors and how do they define it?

First, I would like you to meet Bill Drayton and his team at Ashoka Innovators for the Public.  

As defined on Ashoka’s website (1), a social entrepreneur is an individual “with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems.” 

This definition is simple, but it contains some very important descriptive words.  The first is “innovative.”  To innovate is to create something completely new.  The second set is “most pressing.”  These new solutions addressing problems that affect millions, even billions, of people; they are crisis interventions, of a sort.  The third set is “social problems.”  Social problems differ from personal problems in that social problems affect a portion of or whole societies, and are generally beyond the means of just one person to fix.

Next, I would like you to meet Jeff Skoll who started the Skoll Foundation.

As defined on the Skoll Foundation’s website (2), a social entrepreneur is “society’s change agent and a pioneer of innovations that benefit humanity.”  The website also goes on to further describe a social entrepreneur as being different from a business entrepreneur:

[insert the following as block quote: Distinct from a business entrepreneur who sees value in the creation of new markets, the social entrepreneur aims for value in the form of transformational change that will benefit disadvantaged communities and ultimately society at large.  Social entrepreneurs pioneer innovative and systemic approaches for meeting the needs of the marginalized, the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised – populations that lack the financial means or political clout to achieve lasting benefit on their own. (3)]

Another important supporter of social entrepreneurs is the Schwab Foundation, which defines social entrepreneurship as:

Social entrepreneurship is

·           about applying practical, innovative and sustainable approaches to benefit society in general, with an emphasis on those who are marginalized and poor.

·           a term that captures a unique approach to economic and social problems, an approach that cuts across sectors and disciplines.

·           grounded in certain values and processes that are common to each social entrepreneur, independent of whether his/ her area of focus has been education, health, welfare reform, human rights, workers' rights, environment, economic development, agriculture, etc., or whether the organizations they set up are non-profit or for-profit entities.

It is this approach that sets the social entrepreneur apart from the rest of the crowd of well-meaning people and organizations who dedicate their lives to social improvement. (4)

Putting together my own definition, which is based upon information I found in various sources, the definition of a social entrepreneur that I think is most descriptive is:

A social entrepreneur is an innovative, opportunity-oriented, resourceful, value-creating change agent that uses business expertise and market-based skills in order to identify and solve social problems on a large scale. (5, 6, 7)

Although these are not the only definitions of social entrepreneurship, I feel that they give a very good idea of what exactly this phenomenon is.  However, I also encourage you to visit the websites of these supporters of social entrepreneurs because that will give an even better idea of just exactly how quickly the field of social entrepreneurship is growing, and it will give a great idea of who some of these social entrepreneurs are.  I encourage you to comb-over these websites with a fine-tooth comb.  I think any social work or business administrator who wants to create or find sustainable sources of funding for their socially responsible organizations, then you MUST scour these websites and then some.  I will continue posting information that will help you better understand this phenomenon, including book reviews, so stay tuned and keep reading!

References:

(1)  Ashoka. (2008). What is a social entrepreneur?. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from http://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur

(2)  Skoll Foundation. (2008). What is a social entrepreneur?. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutsocialentrepreneurship/whatis.asp

(3)  Skoll Foundation. (2008). What is a social entrepreneur?. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutsocialentrepreneurship/whatis.asp

(4) Schwab Foundation. (2008). What is social entrepreneurship?. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from http://www.schwabfound.org/whatis.htm

(5)  Ashoka. (2008). What is a social entrepreneur?. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from http://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur

(6)  Dees, J.G., Emerson, J., & Economy, P. (2002). Strategic tools for social entrepreneurs: Enhancing the performance of your enterprising nonprofit. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(7)  Oregon Public Broadcasting. (2005). What is social entrepreneurship?. Retrieved April 28, 2008 from http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/

I had the pleasure of moderating a wonderful panel on "The New Philanthropy - New models for Social Impact" with four great speakers presenting a wide range of activities that their different organizations pursue in the social sector.  The panelists were

• Shari Berenbach, Executive Director, Calvert Foundation
• Omer Imtiazuddin, Health Portfolio Manager, Acumen Fund
• Lisa Nitze, Vice President, Entrepreneur 2 Entrepreneur Program, Ashoka Global
• Linda Segre, Managing Director, Operations & Initiatives, Google.org

I have written a more in-depth article for Lokvani, but some of the key points were:

• Google.org is structured as a ‘hybrid philanthropy'. In addition to grants from its Google Foundation, it can make investments as well as advocate for causes.
• A couple of Google.org initiatives that focus on "providing information to empower people" and "using information and technology to predict and prevent disease outbreaks and other environmental disasters" would be expected areas of social investment from a IT giant, the others require some explaining.
• Two other areas that they support are encouraging use of hybrid vehicles and developing renewable energy sources cheaper than current coal based technology. Both areas are of interest as Google attempts to address reducing overall greenhouse gases. In addition as a large scale consumer of electricity to power its hungry data farms, it is keenly interested in coming up with alternative and cheaper sources of energy.
• Recently Google.org has launched an initiative to encourage the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. The Google speaker observed that over 50 percent of  the GDP of richer countries is generated by SMEs. Google believes that encouraging SMEs would unlock economic growth in the developing regions also.
• The Calvert Foundation allows individuals to invest directly in undeserved communities thru its Community Investment Notes. Investors can support a number of areas ranging from affordable housing, microcredit partners, small businesses and community development projects, while earning a ‘social return' (a rate below market rates) but making significant social impact
• The Calvert Foundation has also worked with Microplace to allow individuals online to provide capital to various qualified microcredit organizations around the world. Their innovative model allows ordinary individuals to actively participate and make a direct impact in reducing poverty in developing countries.
• The Acumen Fund takes a more venture capital approach to investing in the social sector. They have deployed over $30 million in 17 companies in 6 countries addressing a range of issues in the four focus areas of Health, Water, Energy and Housing.
• Ashoka the granddaddy of organizations in the social entrepreneurship space has several innovative programs to encourage social entrepreneurs. In addition to providing direct financial support to the selected Ashoka Fellows, it also provides training and shared learning and best practice info among its community of fellows. Its latest initiative, the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur Program, attempts to bring together entrepreneurs from the business and technical communities with social entrepreneurs to share insights, learnings and help support and solve issues.

In summary, the cross section of organizations provided a range of perspectives on the innovative new approaches being adopted to help solve some of the most pressing social issues worldwide. With the deployment of talent and financial resources in novel ways, these ‘new philanthropists' have an opportunity to make significant progress and impact in addressing these problems.

I have fought wars against all major Bharath kingdoms in "Ashoka." I have risked a lot and walked over landmines because of my sweetheart in "Dil Se." I have taught those girls from nowhere to fight for India and win in "Chak De India." I will continue to be a hero in Bollywood. But how can I visit Colombo? I still get the shake when I remember my last concert in Colombo. I am dead sacared of the JHU. Why can't he understand it? It is true that I promised him to help develop cinema industry in Sri Lanka when I met him in India. But I never promised him to perform in Colombo. I will perform in Baghdad. I will perform in Kabul. I will perform in Darfur. But not in Colombo!!!!! - Shah Rukh Khan

Next week, I will be moderating a panel that will be addressing this theme at the 50^th Anniversary celebrations for my alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IITB for short) in New York. The panel is titled "The New Philanthropy - New models for Social Impact". I am fortunate to have several of the innovative organizations that I mention in the post to be a part of my panel. The panel consists of:

• Shari Berenbach, Executive Director, Calvert Foundation
• Omer Imtiazuddin, Health Portfolio Manager, Acumen Fund
• Lisa Nitze, Vice President, Entrepreneur 2 Entrepreneur Program, Ashoka Global
• Linda Segre, Managing Director, Operations & Initiatives, Google.org

It promises to be an engaging discussion and one, I hope, that will answer some of the questions raised in my post from last year.

A recent Op Ed piece in the Boston Globe had the intriguing title "Too Many Do-Gooders ?" The gist of the article was that as the number of "well-intentioned, not-for-profit agencies" were growing, the number of corporate donors were declining. All this happening while the need for services has never been greater. An adjacent Op Ed article titled "Big Brothers vs. Big Sister" highlighted the issue by describing the competition for dollars among the two sibling organizations.

The authors, Kevin Phelan from Meredith & Grew and Chad Gifford of Bank of America via FleetBoston, are well known in the community for their philanthropic support and so their observations carry credibility and weight. The authors contend that by spreading limited support around piecemeal, it propagates duplicative services, resulting in inefficiencies and a senseless competition for dollars. They appeal for a new solution, a new paradigm to address this issue.

Fortunately the world of philanthropy has also been evolving. Organizations like New Profit calling themselves a "Venture Philanthropy Fund" focus on providing long term strategic and financial support to evolving social entrepreneurs. By pooling philanthropic resources, grantees are assured that their ‘investments' result in high-quality, scalable organizations. Others, like Ashoka invest in emerging social entrepreneurs, serving as early stage seed capital in VC-speak, leverage their multi-hundred ‘company portfolio' to propagate common learnings among its ‘social investments' and invest in building and spreading common infrastructure across social entrepreneurs. Calling themselves a non-profit venture fund, The Acumen Fund uses a rigorous process for selecting and investing in socially driven enterprises and measures their portfolio companies in financial and social terms.

Will these new approaches to supporting emerging social entrepreneurs help address the issues raised by Messrs Phelan and Gifford? How does one balance the needs of the many with a focus on a few successful social innovators?

Ashoka has built a worldwide network that has identified and supported over 1900 social entrepreneurs in 60 plus countries. They follow a rigorous nomination and review process to identify leading social entrepreneurs around the world.  Ashoka looks for candidates with innovative new ideas, reviews their professional and ethical backgrounds, conducts in-depth interviews and determines the potential national impact of the innovator's ideas. It is a great network of leaders in various social fields from all parts of the world.

Ashoka recently launched the Ashoka Support Network (ASN) in the United States. The Ashoka Support Network is a network of socially-minded business and philanthropic leaders who are dedicated to supporting Ashoka and its Ashoka Fellows by providing resources, mentoring, and sharing experience, expertise and contacts. ASN members have an opportunity to

• Get personally engaged by partnering with social entrepreneurs,
• Visit Ashoka Fellows in their native countries as part of small group trips
• Meet other like minded individuals and Ashoka Fellows at sponsored dinners
• Line up internships for children with Ashoka Fellow organizations
• Provide seed financing for Ashoka Fellows

Ashoka has held a couple of ASN dinner meetings in Boston. At the first one guests had an opportunity to hear visiting Ashoka Fellow Muthu Velayutham and locally-based Ashoka Fellow Willy Foote. At their second event, Ashoka's Director of South Asian Partnerships, Sohini Bhattacharya, and Lily Paul, Ashoka Support Network Director in India, spoke of their work in India. This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to give back and support social entrepreneurs.

Agencias de cooperación internacional que apoyan proyectos en Argentina y agencias que cooperan en otros países de América Latina y el Caribe.

CDI, Canadian International Development Agency (Canadá)
ACDI apoya actividades de desarrollo sustentable con el objetivo de reducir la pobreza y contribuir a la seguridad, equidad y prosperidad en el mundo. Cuenta con cuatro oficinas regionales, una de ellas para las Américas, a través de las cuales el Gobierno canadiense lleva adelante sus iniciativas de cooperación al desarrollo. Las áreas prioritarias de cooperación en las Americas son: necesidades humanas básicas (servicios primarios de salud, educación básica, planificación familiar, nutrición, provisión de agua y refugio); equidad de género; servicios de infraestructura; derechos humanos, democracia y gobernabilidad; desarrollo económico del sector privado y medio ambiente. Para llevar adelantes estos objetivos tiene cuatro programas geográficos: Caribe (incluyendo Haiti y Cuba), América Central, países andinos y Cono Sur, Brasil y Colombia.

AECI, Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (España)
AECI es el órgano ejecutor de la política española de cooperación para el desarrollo. Está adscrita al Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores a través de la Secretaría de Estado para la Cooperación Internacional y para Iberoamérica (SECIPI). Es el organismo técnico responsable del diseño, la ejecución y la gestión de los proyectos y programas de cooperación, ya sea directamente, con sus propios recursos, o bien mediante la colaboración (convenios, acuerdos) con otras entidades nacionales e internacionales y organizaciones no gubernamentales. La Cooperación Española en Iberoamérica, además de realizar actividades bilaterales con cada país, en base a los acuerdos periódicos de Comisiones Mixtas, lleva a cabo una serie de programas horizontales de cooperación. Estas actividades de tipo horizontal se pueden clasificar en cuatro áreas o sectores principales: cooperación institucional, cooperación cultural, programa de preservación del patrimonio y cooperación de las Cumbres Iberoamericanas.

ASDI, Agencia Sueca de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo
Asdi (Agencia Sueca de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo) es la autoridad de Suecia para la cooperación bilateral internacional para el desarrollo y para la mayor parte de la cooperación con Europa Central y del Este. El objetivo global de la cooperación internacional de Suecia es elevar el nivel de vida de la población pobre. En función de lograrlo el parlamento sueco aprobó los siguientes seis objetivos generales: Crecimiento económico; Independencia política y económica:Disminución de las desigualdades sociales y económicas; Desarrollo democrático de la sociedad; Uso racional de los recursos naturales y cuidado del medio ambiente; Equidad entre hombres y mujeres.

The Aspen Institute. Fondo de apoyo a la investigación sobre el sector sin fines de lucro (Estados Unidos)
El Nonprofit Sector Research Fund (Fondo de apoyo a la investigación sobre el sector sin fines de lucro), un programa del Aspen Institute, anuncia la disponibilidad de fondos para el apoyo a la investigación sobre filantropía y sector no lucrativo. Se reciben solicitudes de organizaciones sin fines de lucro, de universidades, organizaciones dedicadas a las artes, grupos de cabildeo y otras instituciones. El Fondo estimula solicitudes de investigadores actualmente estudiando el sector no lucrativo y también de académicos en disciplinas como la ciencia política, sociología, leyes, historia, que quieran incursionar en la investigación del sector sin fines de lucro.

APS Associazione per la Particepaziane allo Sviluppo (Italia)
Organización no gubernamental de cooperación al desarrollo con sede en Torino. Desde su fundación en 1985 a la fecha, APS ha apoyado diversos proyectos, otorgando prioridad a los micro y pequeños productores. Este apoyo se traduce en la dotación de know-how y tecnología apropiada, en la constitución y gestión de fondos de crédito rotatorio y en la contribución a la racionalización de la producción y la comercialización. La actividad de cooperación internacional en la región de América Latina y el Caribe se ha realizado en Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Uruguay y Venezuela.

Ashoka (Estados Unidos)
Ashoka es una organización internacional sin fines de lucro que identifica a personas que tienen ideas novedosas para lograr un cambio social de largo alcance y, a su vez, las apoya eligiéndolas para que formen parte de una red de emprendedores sociales. Los emprendedores sociales que son elegidos como Fellows de Ashoka son hombres y mujeres que poseen la visión, creatividad y extraordinaria determinación propias del emprendedor de negocios, pero que destinan estas cualidades a la búsqueda de soluciones innovadoras a los problemas sociales. Ashoka es una organización global, que ha invertido en Fellows de Ashoka en 41 países de Africa, América Latina, Asia, Europa Central y Estados Unidos. En América Latina han apoyado becarios en Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela.

Avina (Suiza)
La Fundación AVINA se asocia con líderes de la sociedad civil y del empresariado en sus iniciativas para el desarrollo sostenible en Iberoamérica. Esta región incluye a los países de habla hispana y portuguesa de América Latina y de la península Ibérica (España y Portugal). AVINA se asocia con líderes que llevan adelante proyectos e iniciativas hacia el desarrollo sostenible en áreas muy diversas, entre las que se incluyen: educación formal y no formal; participación ciudadana y desarrollo social; eco-eficiencia y manejo efectivo de los recursos naturales; desarrollo económico y comunitario; responsabilidad social corporativa; apoyo al desarrollo de organizaciones comunitarias y cooperativas. Cuenta con once oficinas en América Latina, dos en Europa y una en los Estados Unidos.

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID)
El trabajo del BID con la Sociedad Civil tiene diferentes matices. En el nivel operativo, el Banco y sus prestatarios consultan con entidades cívicas y poblaciones afectadas a lo largo del curso de la preparación e implementación de los proyectos. Con relación a las políticas, las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) y grupos de interés pueden revisar y comentar acerca de los borradores de las estrategias y pautas de los préstamos. En el marco institucional, el Banco trabaja con grupos en la región para fortalecer su capacidad de actuar como entes indispensables en sociedades democráticas.

Banco Mundial
El programa de Sociedad Civil de la Región de América Latina y el Caribe promueve oportunidades para incrementar el diálogo entre gobiernos, organizaciones de la sociedad civil y el sector privado, a nivel nacional y local, como parte del esfuerzo de sumar diversos recursos y conocimiento experto para crear las alianzas y sinergias que se requieren para enfrentar los retos de la inclusión y el desarrollo en América Latina. El equipo opera en una forma altamente descentralizada, teniendo especialistas en sociedad civil en nueve países, los que desarrollan sus tareas en diez paises de la región.

CAFOD, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Reino Unido)
CAFOD es la mayor agencia de cooperación británica, fundada en 1962. Es la rama inglesa y galesa de Caritas Internationalis, una red internacional de organizaciones católicas de ayuda y desarrollo. Trabaja en alianzas en más de mil programas en todo el mundo. Su política de cooperación abarca toda América Latina. A través de la recaudación de dinero en Inglaterra y Gales financian proyectos de desarrollo a largo plazo (educación, capacitación, salud, agua potable, agricultura y pequeñas empresas); ayuda de emergencia; análisis de las causas del sudesarrollo; campañas para la erradicación de la pobreza, y en Inglaterra y Gales educación para la concientización sobre las causas de la pobreza en el Tercer Mundo y la promoción del cambio.

CESVI (Italia)
CESVI es una organización humanitaria independiente, con su sede central en Bérgamo. Cuenta con 30 oficinas en el exterior y opera en todos los continentes. La asistencia de CESVI alrededor del mundo puede ser dividida en tres categorías principales: ayuda inmediata para la superación de situaciones de emergencia; rehabilitación y reconstrucción de sistemas destruidos por la guerra o catástrofres naturales; programas de cooperación y proyectos de desarrollo dirigidos a sectores sociales marginados y comunidades pobres. Apoya aquellos proyectos de desarrollo sostenible, que se alejen de la caridad, que sean iniciativas que se sustenten en lo local, con la movilización de la propia población beneficiaria.
CIES, Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (Italia)
Los proyectos de cooperación internacional al desarrollo de CIES se desarrollan en colaboración con las ONGs e instituciones locales de los países en los que coopera. La contraparte local es el protagonista del proyecto. CIES ofrece el bagaje de experiencia técnico profesional y promueve el intercambio cultural con Italia. En América Latina ha intervenido en la realización de proyectos de educación y formación profesional, comunicación, microemprendimientos (especialmente de mujeres) y asistencia sociosanitaria, en Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Perú y Uruguay.
Comisión Europea (CE)
La Comisión Europea aporta cada año una ayuda financiera a proyectos llevados a cabo por organizaciones de la sociedad civil en países en desarrollo. Las convocatorias de propuestas, las guías, y los formularios, se pueden obtener en la página web del organismo
COSPE, Cooperación al Desarrollo de Países Emergentes (Italia)
COSPE es una asociación sin fines de lucro que opera en el sector de la cooperación y solidaridad internacional, reconocida como organización no gubernamental (ONG) por el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Italia y por la Unión Europea. En América Latina se compromete en programas que promueven el desarrollo económico, ambiental y social. Apoya la promoción de actividades económicas agrícolas, artesanales y de servicios a través de la formación, la asistencia técnica y la activación de fondos de crédito, con una atención especial a las asociaciones y redes de mujeres, en cuanto sujetos fundamentales del desarrollo local. Realiza proyectos de seguridad alimentaria, desarrollo rural, reforestación y riego y protección ambiental. Trabaja en Argentina, Brasil, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua y Uruguay.

Fondo de Sistematización de experiencias de alianzas para el desarrollo local en América Latina
El Fondo de Apoyo a la Sistematización de experiencias de alianzas para el desarrollo local es un instrumento que busca estimular la cooperación entre diferentes organizaciones para generar nuevos conocimientos respecto a experiencias realizadas en América Latina y el Caribe. La cooperación se concretará a partir de actividades de sistematización de experiencias, intercambio y análisis de las mismas y documentación de nuevos conocimientos generados en ese proceso. Ha sido establecido por iniciativa de ALOP y de IAF.

Ford Foundation (Estados Unidos)
Los objetivos principales de la Fundación Ford son: el fortalecimiento de los valores democráticos; la reducción del pobreza y la injusticia; la promoción de la cooperación internacional y el desarrollo humano. La mayor parte de las donaciones se otorgan a instituciones tales como ONGs, universidades, centros de investigación y de defensa de derechos y, en algunos casos, a agencias gubernamentales. Estas pueden ser para apoyo institucional o proyectos específicos. Sólo en casos excepcionales ellas pueden ser otorgadas a personas individuales y tienden a limitarse a la investigación, capacitación y otras actividades directamente relacionadas con los programas de interés de la Fundación. La fundación cuenta con 13 oficinas en todo el mundo, tres de la cuales están en América Latina: México (México y otros países de América Central), Río de Janeiro (cubre todo Brasil) y Santiago de Chile (países de la región Andina y el Cono Sur, específicamente Argentina, Chile, Colombia y Perú y, excepcionalmente, otros países de esta región en proyectos con enfoque sub-regional o regional).

Global Fund for Women (Estados Unidos)
El Fondo Global para las Mujeres es una fundación que otorga financiamientos y apoya los esfuerzos de las mujeres para transformar sus sociedades y el mundo. Se ortorgan financiamientos hasta por un máximo de 15.000 dólares a grupos de mujeres afuera de los Estados Unidos. El programa de financiamientos se centra en el fortalecimiento de los grupos que defienden los derechos de las mujeres alrededor del mundo. Algunos de los temas que se han apoyado son: la participación política y el liderazgo femenino, la pobreza y las oportunidades económicas, los derechos de las mujeres en las tradiciones religiosas, la salud y la elección reproductiva, los derechos de las mujeres lesbianas, la violencia contra las mujeres y el acceso a la tecnología de las comunicaciones y a los medios. Se apoyan nuevas áreas conforme los grupos informen sobre su importancia para las mujeres.
GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (Alemania)
La GTZ es una institución con presencia mundial en el campo de la cooperación al desarrollo. Pertenece al Gobierno Federal alemán y trabaja en pro del desarrollo político, económico, ecológico y social de los países en desarrollo y en proceso de reformas, con el objetivo de mejorar las condiciones de vida y las perspectivas de la población. Entre los servicios prestados por la GTZ figuran: asesoramiento a organizaciones en los países contraparte en materia de planificación, ejecución y evaluación de sus proyectos y programas; selección y preparación de expertos, seguimiento de su desempeño profesional y asistencia personal durante su período de asignación; planificación y ejecución de actividades de capacitación básica y complementaria para el trabajo en los proyectos; planificación, conducción y ejecución de proyectos complejos, por ejemplo en el ámbito de la logística o de la gestión de la cooperación o de eventos; planificación técnica y adquisición de equipos y materiales para los proyectos, y otorgamiento y tramitación de aportes financieros no reembolsables procedentes de los fondos de la Cooperación Técnica. Sus contrapartes en América Latina y el Caribe son Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, República Dominicana, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela.
Henrich Böll (Alemania)
El objetivo principal de la fundación es la educación política en el ámbito nacional e internacional que está orientada a promover la formación de la voluntad democrática, el compromiso sociopolítico y el entendimiento entre los pueblos. En América Latina apoyo mayoritariamente a organizaciones no gubernamentales que tienen una función de mediador entre las fuerzas políticas, los actores de la sociedad civil y las organizaciones de base a nivel nacional o también internacional. Sus socios son ONGs de defensa, partidos de la izquierda o de orientación ecológica, grupos de profesionales y sindicatos independientes. Sus temas centrales son en el fomento de la ecología y el desarrollo sustentable; los derechos de las mujeres y la democracia de género; la democracia y los derechos humanos; y la diversidad de medios y una opinión pública crítica. Las áreas prioritarias de cooperación son América Central, Brasil, Bolivia, Perú, el Cono Sur y el Caribe.

Infodev, The Information for Development Program
Programa de carácter mundial, creado en 1995 y administrado por el Banco Mundial cuyo objetivo es ayudar a los países con economías en desarrollo a beneficiarse de los modernos sistemas de información. Information for