Justice for all

When people asked me why I decided to join the Peace Corps, I always have a difficult time constructing a good answer. Truth be told, I didn’t join the Peace Corps to change the world. I joined because I wanted to continue living abroad but couldn’t decide where to begin finding a job. I liked the idea that the Peace Corps picks the country for me - throwing the dart so to speak.

For the first few months of my time in village, I had a hard time defining my role here. My French was terrible; how was I suppose to go change lives and “develop small enterprises”, when people can barely understand me when I am trying to buy food for dinner? After a while, I decided that these two years are really more of a self-discovery journey, and if I happen to impact someone along the way, great, if not, well at least I’ve somehow developed myself for the better.

Once the pressure was off, I found more confidence in my work. While the changes are still minute - saving envelopes for kids who fetch water for me, English lessons for school kids and neighborhood women’s group - I began to feel more comfortable in my language ability, and with that, things became smoother. My Books For Cameroon library project grew and somehow I found myself building 30 libraries in this country. To my surprise, I am actually advising entrepreneurs through business classes and someone is actually setting up a small business in the village.

Yet with the success, I realized that social change as I knew it before coming to Cameroon was a big idealized concept. In raising money for my project, I faced many obstacles. Foundations require complicated grant-requesting processes from non-profit organizations, and individuals were more willing to give their money to fancy campaigns dedicating to one great cause or another. So what is a young 20-something to do when she is trying to execute a project?

I am not alone. There are many other twenty-something volunteers and individuals out in the field, attempting to launch projects with what little resources they have. I meet them all the time, and we share similar struggles - not enough money, not enough power to find money, and a big will to achieve many things.

The truth is, people of our generation are out there making small changes, but they are small and thus often gone unnoticed. Yet what weighs more, I think, is the willingness to step out of one’s comfort zone and to attempt unveiling the source behind problems. By living with the people, understanding the culture context and that “our way is not always better”, significant relationships are formed and powerful changes are created.

The Changemaker

Wendy Lee is a second year Peace Corps Volunteer serving in a small village in Cameroon, West Africa. She documents her adventures through her blog Round II: Cameroon, where she draws connection between moving from Taiwan to the US and moving from US to Cameroon. Her goal in life is to live on every continent besides Antarctica and speak six languages. Her favorite foods in her care packages are Flavor-Blasted Goldfish and Peanut M&Ms.

Connect with her over at her blog, Round II: Cameroon, or on her Twitter @wendylee86!

For my first “Feature Friday,” I’ve decided to highlight kiwanja.net for the truly innovative and exciting work they are doing. kiwanja.net helps pioneer new applications of mobile technology to push forward positive social and environmental change in the developing world. kiwanja.net helps “empower local, national, and international non-profit organisations to make better use of information and communications technology in their work.”

kiwanja.net specializes in the application of mobile technology, and provides non-profits with a wide range of ICT-related services. kiwanja.net focuses on non-profits in developing countries, emphasizing “low-cost, grassroots, sustainable solutions.” They provide “free consultancy, workshops and advice - and access to technology through its own initiatives - to all grassroots non-profits interested in exploring the social and environmental potential of mobile in their work.” So far, non-profits in over forty countries have already benefited from the help of kiwanja.

A few of Kiwanja’s Current Projects

FrontlineSMS: kiwanja.net is currently working with FrontlineSMS in research and developing, helping them set up a field communication/SMS system for NGOs. FrontlineSMS itself is a highly innovative initiative, providing an SMS-based communications system for grassroots NGOs. It’s a program that allows people to text message large groups anywhere there is a mobile signal.

Grameen Technology Centre: kiwanja.net is currently working with the Grameen Technology Centre, providing advice and assistance to its “AppLab” initiative in Uganda. AppLab focuses on “developing, testing, strengthening, and scaling mobile applications” that benefit poor people around the world.

nGOmobile Competition: Kiwanja.net is holding a competition designed to encourage grassroots NGOs in developing countries to describe how they can improve their work using mobile technology. NGOs can win prizes like laptop computers, mobile phones, and cash.

The Founder

Ken Banks is the founder of kiwanja.net, and he has a strong background in business, technology, and anthropology. He was a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow, obtained funding for his projects by the MacArthur Foundation, and was awarded a Fellowship at the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford. He has speaken at workshops and conferences like IDEO, Amnesty International, Mobile World Conference, and more. Check out his bio here!

Why you should check out kiwanja.net

I am a strong believer that innovation and technology can really drive things forward. Mobile technology is making great leaps right now, especially in various parts of Africa and India. Although many remote areas might lack internet access, mobile phones are quite widespread and the use of SMS/texting is common. Innovations like FrontlineSMS are helping to connect people to vital information: farmers to market prices, doctors and health professionals to medical information and advice, etc. I urge you to check out the great work that kiwanja.net and its partner organizations are doing, because there are a lot of exciting developments in this field!

Picture credit: kiwanja.net

Social entrepreneurship is a truly powerful, revolutionary idea. It’s quite literally changing the way the world works. Social entrepreneurship (aka social enterprise or social business) is essentially business with social objectives in mind. A social business doesn’t focus on profit, while a regular for-profit business wants to maximize profits in order to benefit its shareholders. Instead, a social business has certain clearly defined social objectives which it pursues regardless of profit. A social business will reinvest any profit back into the business after the initial investors have been paid back. The concept of social business is revolutionary because it brings the competitive edge of business to work traditionally confined to charities and NGOs. Social business can be the next step up from charity and become truly sustainable with incredible, quick growth because of its business acumen.

In his book “Creating a world without poverty,” Muhammad Yunus argues that social business eventually needs to become as common and pervasive as regular for-profit business if the world is to significantly change for the better. Yunus, the visionary champion of microfinance and Nobel Prize Laureate, has gained worldwide acclaim for his own social business ventures - ranging from the innovative microfinance services provided by Grameen Bank to a social business initiative with Dannone yogurt aiming to provide nutritious yogurt for poor schoolchildren in Bangladesh for a very low cost. Yunus envisions a world where eventually, there will be a social business stock market and the general public considers social business as worthy of investment as for-profit businesses.

Prof. Yunus must certainly feel gratified, for today microfinance - as well as the broader movement for social business - is becoming incredibly popular and has gained so much public attention. Charity has always been considered a “dirty word” of sorts - because people envision charities as always asking for money. But social business is exciting and novel and more than that — it’s considered cool. As a result, there is currently a social entrepreneurship craze. Starting with Ashoka and the Skoll Foundation, there are now tons of social entrepreneurship competitions and contests. I can name a dozen off the bat. It’s because innovation is inherently exciting.

But is social entrepreneurship then becoming just a buzzword? The problem is the obsession with innovation. Innovation is important, but is it really necessary to constantly innovate? I believe it’s more important to work towards scaling up innovations and programs that are already known to be effective. By effective, I mean: programs and organizations that are really creating social change, helping the most number of people, and truly improving lives in a sustainable manner. There are so many great programs out there that employ innovative - but more importantly, effective, models and technologies. These programs deserve more support and funding, and need to be recognized for the incredible impact they make. Innovation simply for the sake of innovation is unnecessary. And innovating just because it sounds cool and exciting is definitely not necessary.

Why can’t some of these budding entrepreneurs shift their focus to working on some of the pre-existing successful programs? It takes so much time and energy to create your own social business. Starting from scratch is a painful and slow process. Getting funding itself a huge challenge. I’d argue that there are many ways you can contribute more by joining or working for nonprofits that have effective models and need your help to grow and reach more people. Why isn’t the spotlight on these programs and models? We really need to get back on track and focus on proven solutions that work.

I recently ran across the University of California Berkeley Human Rights Center, which held a Mobile Challenge to invite projects and innovations utilizing cutting-edge mobile technology to aid human rights work. I immediately fell in love with this project because it’s something I strongly believe in: law and human rights working together can benefit so much from technology and innovation. Mobile technology has thus far been leveraged so successfully in the fields of banking (mobile banking), entrepreneurship (Grameen’s village phone ladies), global health, and agriculture (to help small-scale farmers gain market information) to name a few. Since people in the developing world have much easier access to cell phones than to computers, mobile technology has become a focal point for further development and innovation, and is playing a key role in bridging the international digital divide.

But I hadn’t heard much about how mobile technology is being implemented to monitor and end human rights abuses until I saw UCB Human Rights Center’s Mobile Challenge, which recognized the top 10 project ideas for doing just that. So naturally, I was excited. Let me highlight a few of the projects which I found exciting and potentially powerful (although all of them were):

IJCentral: A movement to support global rule of law - The ICC desperately needs the cooperation and support of the international community in order to succeed in its mission to end impunity. Many major countries like China, Russia, and the U.S. have not ratified the Rome Statute and thus do not support the ICC. Studies have shown that when people know more about the ICC, support for the Court increases. IJCentral thus aims to inform more people about the ICC by using geolocated mobile phone SMS text messages, Twitter, an IJCMap, and a website with a blog, IJC News, and an IJC Video gallery with ICC footage updated weekly and links to relevant information and NGOs. This is a unique project, and though I am not sure how much impact it can have on changing the policies of major countries, I would be interested in seeing how it could shape popular sentiment towards the ICC.

Face the change: This project aims to put a human face on global warming and include in the debate human rights problems resulting from natural disasters and forced migration. Face the Change will highlight the social - not just environmental - impact of climate change, and will empower poor and vulnerable communities to participate in national policy debates. The web-based platform will use mainly video and other multimedia to document this impact; those without Internet access can use SMS and multimedia messaging to report about impoverished communities who are threatened by the effects of climate change (e.g. rising seas, drought). I like this idea because climate change really does lack a human face; people feel like helping the environment isn’t necessary because the negative effects seem so far away. This project will show that the negative impact has already begun.

Freedom Fone: This project helps communities and individuals communicate with one another without the need for internet access. It provides personal information 24/7 by storing audio files in the Freedom Fone’s Content Management System, which is updated through a simple to use browser interface. Callers can navigate the audio clips for the information they want, and can access the information in their preferred language. Each person can contribute questions, content, and feedback by leaving voice messages through the interface; people can call in for free using toll free numbers, for instance. It seems almost like a wikipedia - on a phone! It seems like a simple idea that can prove to become highly popular and helpful.

Handheld Human Rights: This project provides a hub for groups documenting human rights abuses. It allows people - especially those who are experiencing or witnessing human rights violations - to submit data and information about these abuses from their mobiles. Abuses and alerts will be channeled through the hub and mapped, and this information will be raised to raise international awareness and support advocacy campaigns. Handheld Human Rights wants to make human rights data more accessible and more actionable. It is currently focused on the human rights abuses occurring in Burma, but I see potential to scale it up for situations around the world. This project is simple, yet has the potential to be effective.

But this begs the question: how much innovation is needed? The problems I saw with many of the other entries for this contest is that much of this has already been done, and some of the innovations didn’t seem to contribute anything significantly groundbreaking. Most of the ideas were focused on reporting human rights abuses/violations/problems as soon as possible using mobile technology so that reporters and the international community could view the information. But is this much constant innovation necessary, or do we already have ample technology and innovations that simply need to be properly implemented?  I asked my twitter buddies about this, and here are some of the responses I got:

@CarlosMic: We shouldn’t stop innovating, but we shouldn’t try to implement properly EVERY innov. Ppl should split the work
@ExpressPros: Innovation and action need to be better friends. Otherwise, great ideas don’t mean better work. They should.
@leslieforman yes, i think innovation=necessary, implementation=even harder!
@jamestodhunter It’s the implementation & achievement of adoption of an inventive idea that transforms it into a useful innovation.

My conclusion is that innovation for the sake of innovation is useless. Innovation is only necessary, and useful, if it is actually implemented. Technology is great, but new ideas go waste - even if they are amazing - if they aren’t marketed well, put into place, and really utilized to make a difference. So although I see constant social entrepreneurship and innovation contests everywhere these days, I think people need to keep this in mind: before you innovate, ask yourself whether this is really needed. Or if you can have the same impact by working to put in place or improve some pre-existing systems, technologies, products or ideas. Really dig deep. Because innovation for the sake of innovation - is worthless.

Photo credit: here and here

For much of my life, I’ve been utterly confused. I’ve considered quite possibly every career other than science or medicine: Journalism, i-banking, consulting, public relations, marketing, environmental science, computer science, law, entrepreneurship, nonprofits, and probably more that I’m missing.

But this year, I think I’ve finally settled on something – something that’s been lurking for a while beneath the surface, something that’s just been sitting under my nose, and now seems bafflingly obvious from the start. I’ve always been interested in law, but now I’ve become fascinated by international law, human rights, and social entrepreneurship. I see no reason why law can’t be innovative and why we cant employ exciting new methods and practices to combat problems that have been around for years – torture, domestic violence, human rights violations, genocide. But if I didn’t get to somehow do something innovative in my career, I would, bottom line, be happy to be working in law.

Finally, after so many years of being a confused liberal arts major, after years of futile exploring – I think I’ve stumbled upon something that really inspires me, urges me to jump in and get involved. That feeling as if a fire has been lit beneath you – as if you can’t rest until something has been done – that feeling, vaguely uncertain yet frighteningly pressing – it must be passion. I feel unabashedly idealistic in saying that I’m passionate about these principles we’ve learned about so fervently in our political science classes – justice, equality, freedom. The pursuit of this can take up lifetimes, but it’s something I think is worth fighting for – maybe the only thing ever worth fighting for.

I don’t think I’ve been this passionate about any “career path” before. But now that I’ve uncovered this gem, how can I actually make it happen? To be honest, I’m worried. I’d like to believe that if you do what you love, everything else will follow…but somehow I can’t help but doubt. I’m afraid of thinking differently and from diverging from the set path. When all my fellow economics majors are joining investment banks and consulting firms, when my pre-professional friends are preparing to immediately enter medical or law school upon graduation – it’s easy to feel left behind in the stampede. Am I doing the right thing in following my interests? Or should I succumb to the pressures and follow along with societal convention, doing something a bit more traditional?

Doubts inevitably creep in: can you actually make a ‘career’ out of working in nonprofits or government agencies, and will I ever get paid what I actually want? I may be a part of Gen Y, and I may think I can accomplish everything I love– but at the same time, I crave stability and comfort. I’m not sure if I can be a starving artist, even if I’m doing what I love. I’m a student now and don’t need to be rich – but eventually I’m going to have a family and may not be able to afford working for a nonprofit. And if I go to law school, which I really really want to do, how will I ever pay back those loans unless I work in corporate law for a while?

You know, where does the balance lie between following your passions and doing something practical? How do I draw the line between going for it and simply doing what I love, versus trying to utilize my skills in a safer, better paying private sector job? I know Penelope Trunk says you shouldn’t try to do what you love, but do what you are. But the truth is, when it comes down to applying for jobs – there’s certain ones that I get incredibly excited about, and certain ones that I simply can’t be inspired by. I don’t want to go to work every day feeling that uninspired. People say you can follow your passions on the side, but really that’s incredibly difficult – who do you know who really spends time writing novels on the side, or running a charity, or developing websites? Very few. I just see middle aged men and women burnt out from their work, and especially from doing something they really don’t love. I’d like to avoid turning into that, myself. And now that I’ve actually found something I’m passionate about, settling for anything less seems like cheating myself; lying about the very essence of who I am.

When I stumble upon these quandaries, I sometimes just read about students like myself and I fall in love with human rights law all over again. And I try to tell myself – if they can do what they love, there’s really no reason why I can’t.

But sometimes even inspiration just isn’t enough to sweep away all the doubts, and I’m left confused, tossing and turning in my sleep and wishing for the right answer.

What do you think? Do what you love, or just try to make a living and make money? Leave a comment & let me know!