Change Agent

A Bell news helicopter hangs in the atrium of the Newseum, a five-story building dedicated to the history of news gathering, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The Newseum is hosting the Ashoka Future Forum May 30 and 31. (Jason Reed/Reuters/File)

Ashoka Future Forum tackles 'Tomorrow's Media,' 'Leadership'

By Ashoka / 05.30.13

How do we navigate a constantly changing world? How do we thrive, as individuals and as a society, when the institutions and systems that form our shared bedrock emerge, shift, and fade – or collapse – with breathtaking speed?

At the Ashoka Future Forum on May 30 and 31 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., 400 social innovators, business entrepreneurs, and philanthropists are exploring this challenge through the lens of social innovation. For Ashoka, the answer is about creating an “everyone a changemaker world” where ever more people are equipped with the skills and the motivation to solve problems in their families, communities, and workplaces.

That transformation is fraught with disruption. For generations, much of what has happened in the world was determined by centralized, hierarchical institutions; by command-and-control leadership; and by information that flowed from a few experts to mostly passive audiences. Those systems and structures very arguably limited democracy, but they had the appeal of feeling secure and predictable.

Look at those institutions today. The news profession (the subject of the session entitled “Tomorrow’s Media”) is wrestling with the social and commercial limitations of its historic function – and beginning to embrace a new role that considers solutions and provides pathways to civic engagement. June Cohen, who brought TED Talks to life; Jonathan Wells, publisher of The Christian Science Monitor; and others discuss.

Likewise, organizations in every realm are moving toward complex, information-driven networks of networks, where decisions are made and shared rapidly across functions and geography. This change promises leaps in effectiveness and impact, but only if leaders apply very different skills and values (discussed in the session “Leadership for Tomorrow’s Organizations”). Ashoka CEO Bill Drayton, Susan Peters of General Electric, and Babson College President Leonard Schlesinger consider this new reality.

Reem Omran, co-founder of Gaza Sky Geeks Laboratory, hopes to help young tech entrepreneurs in the Gaza Strip excel. (E. Baba for Mercy Corps.)

Gaza Sky Geeks backs tech startups in the Gaza Strip

By Laura Mortara, Global Envision / 05.29.13

In the isolated Gaza Strip, economic instability is a constant. But a startup accelerator called Gaza Sky Geeks Laboratory plans to help the region capitalize on one of its biggest assets: its technical graduates.

Between Gaza’s five universities, more than 2,000 young people graduate with technical degrees every year. Mercy Corps started the Arab Developer Network Initiative (ADNI) with a grant from Google.org a few years ago, and a number of programs supporting young entrepreneurs have come out of it, including Gaza Sky Geeks.

The laboratory will support standout technology entrepreneurs in Gaza, providing a wide range of free services designed to help them turn their ideas into viable investments. Global Envision connected with Reem Omran, co-founder of Gaza Sky Geeks, to talk about the effort – and whether Gaza could become the next IT hub in the Arab world.

What’s the blueprint for helping start-ups?
Reem Omran: The primary objective of Gaza Sky Geeks is to prepare start-ups for the next stage. We will provide logistical and consulting services, as well as workshops that can help them turn their ideas into concrete business plans capable of securing investment.

What resources does the accelerator offer?
Gaza Sky Geeks is outfitted with high-speed internet, desktop computers, iPads, and Androids[mc1] so that members have a reliable space to work on their projects. Members also have access to meeting spaces and a coffee shop, where they can network and collaborate on ideas.

What about events?
The accelerator hosts three types of events: workshops, hackathons, and mentorship programs and lectures. The workshops are held on a weekly basis and are designed to help with product development and promotion. Hackathons are held so that programmers have a forum to share ideas and explore software development. And the mentors are brought in to give developers feedback on their ideas and critique their business plans.

At the accelerator, are the resources and events free of charge?
Yes, you only need to be a member to use them.

What are the biggest barriers facing members?
Electrical shortages are common, and Gaza’s reputation as a conflict zone makes it difficult to attract investors. However, at the core the issues are the same as those facing start-ups everywhere. Many technology entrepreneurs are passionate about their field and ideas, but transforming a vision into a viable business plan is tricky. Most people in the IT industry in Gaza don’t receive a business education, let alone have experience running one.

How is Gaza Sky Geeks helping to bridge this gap?
This is where the mentors are key. As I mentioned, most programmers in Gaza don’t have experience running a business, and so sometimes their target audience is off or their marketing strategy isn’t practical, and so on. Mentors can provide valuable constructive criticism so that start-ups can strengthen their goals and infrastructure to become a feasible investment.

In the coming months, Gaza Sky Geeks will select the top five startups to participate in a three-month intensive acceleration program. Selected startups that participate in the acceleration program will be linked with five dedicated mentors who have varying backgrounds and experience. The three-month accelerator will also provide targeted business and technical training so each startup has a scalable business plan and validated prototype at the conclusion of the accelerator. Throughout the three-month program, each startup will work on a one- and three-minute pitch that they will give to potential investors at a Gaza demo day and regional road shows in cities such as Doha, Qatar; Amman, Jordan' and Cairo.

• Stay up to date on Gaza Sky Geeks on Facebook and Twitter: @GazaSkyGeeks

• This article originally appeared at Global Envision, a blog published by Mercy Corps.

From left, director Mira Nair, actress Kate Hudson, and actor Kiefer Sutherland participate in a photo call and press conference for the film 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' at TIFF Bell Lightbox during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, September 2012. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/File)

Filmmaker Mira Nair tells stories 'no one else will'

By Esha Chhabra, Dowser.org / 05.28.13

Mira Nair’s mantra is “If we don’t tell our stories, no one else will.”

In her latest film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, she’s exploring her roots in Lahore, Pakistan, with her contemporary lifestyle of crisscrossing borders to tell another tale of East meets West.

Adapted from the award-winning book of the same name by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, the film aspires to show the human side of terrorism.

Ms. Nair is known for her earlier films such as the Oscar-nominated "Salaam Bombay!" "Monsoon Wedding," "Vanity Fair," and "Namesake."

Esha Chhabra spoke with Nair about her latest film and her vision to bring to filmmaking to communities that lack the resources. She starts close to home in Kampala, Uganda, with Maisha Lab that’s nurturing the talent of East African filmmakers.

What propelled you to make the Reluctant Fundamentalist?

Actually it came from visiting Pakistan for the first time in 2004–2005. My father was from Lahore. So even though I grew up in India, I grew up like a Lahori- speaking Urdu, learning poetry. My movies were already popular there, and I was invited to come speak. So, here was a culture that was deeply familiar and yet forbidden to an Indian. That’s why I was inspired to make something contemporary about Pakistan because as Indian directors, we only tend to address Pakistan in partition stories – more historical, less contemporary.

So I was eager to do that, and then in a time when there is increasingly a separation between the Western world and Islamic world.

Around the same time, I had been given a manuscript of the book, before it was published. And I just loved it – it gave me the opportunity to make modern Lahore but also create a dialogue with America. I, like [the book's author] Mohsin [Hamid], have lived half my life in these worlds, so I know these worlds intimately and [they] speak to me in a deep way. And politically it was very exciting – so this script gave me that chance.

To bridge East and West in a film is a tall task. Did you have a specific intent with this film that you wanted to achieve in this rather global debate?

The intent of the film is to create a real dialogue – to show how there are different points of view. And so often the world is reduced to myopia, not knowing the other side. And also there are so many people like us who cross borders. We are in a more globalized world, more so than when I was growing up.

So I wanted to make a film to show the complicatedness, the interconnectedness of our world on a fundamental level – spiritually, economically, and in the realm of terror. And to create a genuine dialogue, a bridge.

In another world, the Pakistani man and the American man would really understand each other. But the world will not allow them to mix.

So, it’s about what we think of America and what America thinks of us. But made from love on both sides – I am at home, literally, in both of these worlds.

Over 10 years after 9/11, as a storyteller, do you feel that we are trying to understand each other better or is that schism still strong due to politics?

My feeling is that we really want to understand each other now. People are fed up with war. The Americans themselves, which is a nation of 350 million or more, and I’ve met with many of them in presenting this film to audiences. And they’re saying that it’s about time we know – after all, there are human beings on both sides. And it’s about time to get rid of the stereotype. But how do we get rid of the stereotype?

Were you able to shoot the film in Lahore or did it have to be staged elsewhere?

We shot for four days in Lahore – all the exteriors. I couldn’t bring actors into Pakistan without insurance. So, that’s why we did it this way.

Delhi and Lahore are sister cities. They were built in the same time, same style. So, if you know Lahore, you can recreate it in Delhi.

However, all the music came from Lahore for this film. The draft of the script was written in Lahore.So, we did a lot of work there, and I love it there, but it would have been very risky to bring a whole crew there.

What kind of misconceptions would you like to erase about Lahore, which was such an inspiration for this film? 

Lahore is the like the Venice of the East or I would say, Venice is like the Lahore of the West. It is a deeply refined city from where poetry, singing, craft, food – all this sensuality comes from there at the highest expression of self.  The National Institute of Arts is in Lahore, and just the sheer amazing talent that comes of it is astounding to me.

So, one would never know this if you read the newspapers. You would think that it’s just drones, hijackings, and killings, which sadly the nation is ridden with. But life goes on. There is this line in the film that Pakistan was born into chaos. But as the chaos increased, the biryanis got tastier, life got more raucous  (laughs). Life continued! Life in all its forms exists in Lahore in a way that’s powerful, not ordinary.

In a lot of these films that are a dime a dozen on Pakistan, you never see the family life, you never know about the family that was bombed in the name of democracy, you don’t know their names, sometimes you don’t even know the character’s name. So, in this film, [the protagonist] Changez’s family is very important to me. In fact, Mohsin used to joke with me that we should [call it] “Monsoon terrorist” (laughs).

Changez’s family isn’t necessarily impressed by his career in finance and Wall Street. They’re not pandering for that.

What role did Mohsin play in the filmmaking process? You’ve worked with several texts now – "Namesake," "Vanity Fair."  How do you wrestle with these pieces of fiction?  Any different than a traditional script?

It’s genuinely just an organic process of building a relationship. If I love the story so much to inhabit it for several years and make a movie, I will love the author. There’s no question of it.

One of the greatest gifts of the Namesake has been that Jhumpa and I are like sisters now.

Both Jhumpa and Mohsin understood that film is a different medium than a book. So they were happy to have me tell their story in a manner that’s most fit for film. Mohsin took a more direct role and was one of the writers for the screenplay with Ami Boghani and William Wheeler. And he’s a complete kid at the cinema – so he loved it.

I reinvented Erica in the film; she didn’t agree with me, the way she was in the book. But there was no resistance from Mohsin. And then I wanted a third act to the book that doesn’t exist in the story – what happens to Changez after he comes back from America, what does he do in Pakistan?

Mohsin was very experimental in the book – in terms of the layout, the voice – and it was a largely internal book, consumed in Changez’s thoughts, feelings, and frustrations. How do you translate that into a film – is that a challenge?

We kept the structure of the tea house, the nonlinear flashbacks. We had to create a reason for them to meet. And we created a final act on his present day life in Lahore. Also, the ending in the book was very ambiguous. In a film, we could not leave that vague; we had to determine what happened.

That is always a challenge on how to make it less internal. That’s what I love to do in cinema – how to have the images speak of emotions and remove the words.

We also had Riz Ahmed, who plays Changez, and he spent time with Pakistani Wall Street bankers to get a sense of their high-flying life – and a lot came from that. Imagine you work all day, enjoy in the evenings but then come home to an empty flat with a beer bottle in the fridge and no one to greet you. So, that’s a cinematic moment where I can convey emotions and ideas without text. That adds a lot of layers and textures.

You have said many times that you only choose films that only you can do. And many of these films fall outside the parameters of the big production houses. Do you ever find it frustrating as a filmmaker to have to find alternative sources of funding and support?

No, I prefer to be poor and free. I refuse to say harder, or I refuse to do it. I like to work with studios when the subject is right for it. This subject would have [been] censored and hindered if I had gone to the studios – it would have never been what I wanted to do. So, there was question that I wanted to do this independently.

I am just so grateful that Doha Film Festival stayed with us as steadfast partners till the end. And there are other films that should be made with the studios, and I will make them.

You’ve also been pushing for the voice of new, young filmmakers with your film lab in Kampala, Uganda. Can you give us an update on Maisha?

It’s for East Africa – Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It’s a free school and we have now trained over 600 alumni over the last eight years, and all of them are literally working in media. I’ve just come back from Doha[, Qatar,] where we had a Maisha documentary lab where we training all kinds of filmmakers – Qataris, Palestinians.

The mantra is “If we don’t tell our own stories, no one else will." So it’s necessary for us to tell these stories.

We have 10 labs in the course of a year in these four countries. We [have] two big annual labs in Kampala – they make 20-minute films. Our films have won 26 awards internationally.... And we have created six feature filmmakers.

My goal was to create local cinema and of the highest standards. It’s become a beacon for artists here since there aren’t too many places to get good training on the continent. And I invite writers, directors, actors from my film circle to come and lead workshops. People want to do good, they just need to know how. So Maisha is a place for them to share their skills.

• "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" is now playing in limited release in the United States. To see a trailer, go here.

• This article originally appeared at Dowser.org.

Members of two local cassava associations gather in Malawi as a part of the Rockefeller Foundation's AGRA program, a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. AGRA aims to sustainably increase the productivity and profitability of small-scale farmers in Africa. The Rockefeller Foundation is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. (Rockefeller Foundation/Jonas Bendiksen/AP/File)

100 years on, Rockefeller Foundation still promotes 'the well-being of mankind'

By David Crary, Associated Press / 05.27.13

For the richest American family of their era, the goal was fittingly ambitious: "To promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world."

With that mission, underwritten by the vast wealth of John D. Rockefeller Sr., the Rockefeller Foundation was chartered 100 years ago. For several decades, it was the dominant foundation in the United States, breaking precedent with its global outlook and helping pioneer a diligent, scientific approach to charity that became a model for the field.

"They were in a very small group of foundations that practiced idea-based philanthropy as opposed to just charity. They are willing to invest in ideas," said Bradford Smith, who as president of the New York-based Foundation Center oversees research on philanthropy worldwide.

The Rockefeller Foundation is celebrating its centennial by touting an array of forward-looking projects, ranging from global disease surveillance to strengthening the resilience of vulnerable cities in the US and Asia to future calamities. It is also looking back, at a 100-year history replete with triumphs and controversy.

The Rockefeller Foundation played pivotal roles in introducing Western medicine to China, developing a vaccine for yellow fever, combating malaria, establishing prestigious schools of public health, and spreading the lifesaving agricultural advances of the Green Revolution. Recipients of its grants included Albert Einstein, writer Ralph Ellison, and choreographer Bill T. Jones.

Still, detractors challenged the foundation's work. From the left, activists accused it of being a front for US corporate and national security interests. From the right, critics over the years faulted its support for population-control programs and for research by Alfred Kinsey and others into human sexuality.

During the 1930s, the foundation provided some financial support to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics in Germany, which, among other projects, conducted research related to Nazi-backed eugenics and racial studies.

The foundation says that its grants to the institute were focused on straightforward genetic research, and that it cut off support for any projects that veered into social eugenics.

Also during the 1930s, and continuing after the start of World War II, the foundation funded a project to relocate scholars and artists, many of them Jewish, who were losing their positions in Germany under the Nazis.

The next generation of philanthropists would be wise to study the history of the Rockefeller Foundation and its handful of peers, Smith said.

"The new money goes about this as if there wasn't any history," he said. "I think there is a lot to learn — what worked, what didn't work."

Now dwarfed by the largesse of Bill Gates and other contemporary philanthropists, the Rockefeller Foundation remains ambitious and well-funded, and is increasingly eager to work in partnerships.

Even before the foundation was first proposed, there were sharply mixed views about John D. Rockefeller Sr. and the fortune he amassed as the founder of Standard Oil.

Rockefeller was "perhaps the most reviled as well as the most generous man in America" in the early 1900s, according to a just-published history of the Rockefeller Foundation that it commissioned to mark its centennial. The book depicts Rockefeller as America's first billionaire, with a fortune that today would be worth $231 billion.

On the advice of his inner circle, Rockefeller sought a congressional charter for a foundation that would coordinate his already substantial charitable giving.

Some government officials were suspicious of the endeavor and some newspaper editorialists suggested the project was a cynical effort to improve the family's checkered image. The measure proposing a charter died in the US Senate, prompting the Rockefellers to turn swiftly to New York state, where lawmakers unanimously approved a charter that was signed into law May 14, 1913.

It was one of three major, still-operating foundations founded in that era, following the Russell Sage Foundation in 1907 and the Carnegie Corporation in 1911.

Judith Rodin, who has been the Rockefeller Foundation's president since 2005, noted in an interview that the Rockefeller family started channeling huge sums into philanthropy at a time when the tax code didn't reward such practices.

"Clearly they were improving their own images," Ms. Rodin said. "But they had strong views that people with that much money should give it back to society."

She also credited the family with establishing a broad, flexible mandate for the foundation so that its leaders, over the decades, could tackle a wide array of challenges, both in the United States and worldwide.

"We have the luxury and responsibility of picking the big, thorny problems, without worrying about offending governments or our donor base," Rodin said.

Much the creative work has taken place at the foundation's Bellagio Center in northern Italy. Maya Angelou and Susan Sontag did some of their writing there, and novelist Michael Ondaatje worked on "The English Patient" while in residence at the center.

Among the foundation's proudest achievements was the Green Revolution — the nickname for a series of initiatives between the 1940s and 1970s that dramatically boosted agriculture production around the world. The concepts — such as improvements in irrigation, wiser use of fertilizer and pesticides, development of high-yield grains — were pioneered by agronomist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, and then spread to other nations via Rockefeller Foundation programs.

After several decades of dominance, the Rockefeller Foundation was overtaken by the Ford Foundation as the nation's largest.

Now, according to the latest rankings compiled by the Foundation Center, the Rockefeller Foundation is the 16th largest, with total assets of $3.5 billion, compared to $34.6 billion for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In terms of total giving, the Rockefeller Foundation ranked 39th with gifts of $132.6 million in 2011, compared with more than $3.2 billion given by the Gates Foundation.

Those financial realities have prompted the Rockefeller Foundation to do most of its current work in partnerships, rather than operating solo.

Dwight Burlingame, a professor at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, said such partnerships have become crucial to effective grant-making.

"Foundations need to be more nimble," he said. "The number of players has dramatically increased — foundations have pushed recipients of their grants into getting more partners, so it's not a single source."

The number of foundations in the US and worldwide has surged in recent years, and a new generation of billionaires in Asia and other regions is showing increased interest in philanthropy.

Rodin says the Rockefeller Foundation, in addition to its other projects, is holding conferences for aspiring philanthropists from developing countries to provide advice on effective giving. It's been a leading proponent of "impact investing" — investments that can spur social and environmental progress as well as earn profits.

"We've tried not to be out there hectoring others to become philanthropists, but to be there as a resource for those who do want to give," Rodin said. "We'd like to help them not make the same mistakes over and over."

Chefs prepare food at the co-op restaurant Colors in New York City, started by former employees of the Windows of The World restaurant at the World Trade Center that was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Across the US workers are starting employee-owned businesses, from health-care co-ops to general stores. (Keith Bedford/Reuters/File)

From housing to health care, 7 co-ops that are changing the economy

By Claudia Rowe, YES! Magazine / 05.24.13

1. Green Worker Cooperative’s Co-op Academy
, The Bronx, N.Y.

Ideas for co-ops may flourish, but few people understand exactly how to make theirs real. The Co-op Academy is providing answers. Founded four years ago by Omar Freilla (who recently made Ebony magazine’s list of the Power 100), the academy runs 16-week courses that offer intensive mentoring, legal and financial advice, and help with designing logos and websites.

Run by the South Bronx-based Green Worker Cooperative, the academy guides up to four teams per session through the startup process and has graduated four organizations now thriving in New York City. These include Caracol Interpreters, which is raising the bar on interpreter wages, and Concrete Green, which focuses on environmentally sound landscaping. Six more co-ops are in the pipeline.

“I’m amazed at how little knowledge and information is out there for the average person about how co-ops function and how to start one,” says Janvieve Williams Comrie, whose mother-owned cooperative Ginger Moon also came out of the program. “That’s one thing the Co-op Academy really provides, the hands-on know-how.”

Even money for tuition ($1,500 per team) gets the treatment. Mr. Freilla is adamant that teams fundraise to cover that cost—even if they can foot the bill themselves.

“By fundraising for the registration fee, you are promoting the vision for your cooperative, gaining supporters, and creating a buzz before the program even starts,” he says. “That is just the kind of support that will propel your business forward, and while you’re doing it you’ll be getting an early opportunity to see just how well you and your teammates work together.”

2. Red Clouds Collective
, Portland, Ore.

They shared an active, outdoorsy lifestyle in the Pacific Northwest. They shared a talent for creative work. It seemed logical for the group of friends to leave their corporate jobs to form Red Clouds Collective, a Portland manufacturer of handcrafted canvas and leather gear. The worker-owner cooperative pools the talents of a variety of artists and allows them to make a living as craftsmen beyond what any of them could do individually. A percentage pay system benefits the original designer, the assembler, and the collective. After one year, business is great. What’s popular? theGOODbook™, a leather wallet/iphone case/sketchbook all in one.

3. Seward Community Cafe
, Minneapolis

It’s one thing to run a successful cooperative business, and quite another to lend a hand to the competition. But that’s exactly what the Seward Cafe in Minneapolis did, loaning $10,000 to Hard Times Cafe when the nearby worker-run restaurant was struggling through an extended closure due to repairs. “

They’re like our little sister,” says Nils Collins, a worker at Seward, which is the oldest collectively run restaurant in the country. “We can’t function in an environment where everything is corporate-owned. It’s a lot more effective to have mutual support and solidarity.” The two businesses often help each other with tax-form preparation and even food delivery.

“We call it a friendly rivalry,” said Hard Times’ bookkeeper Rozina Doss. “A worker-run business has its own set of difficulties, so our relationship is just a recognition that other people have the same commitment that we do to changing the way work is done.”

4. Patient/Physician Co-ops
, Houston

Don McCormick, a former health insurance executive, opened a free, charity-funded clinic to better understand the problems in health care and stumbled onto something that surprised him: Uninsured people were willing to pay a nominal monthly fee—like $18—if it guaranteed access to medical care.

Then McCormick learned that doctors actually earned more by billing patients directly—even at those nominal fees—than they did by going through Medicare, Medicaid, or HMOs. With that realization, McCormick founded the Houston-based Patient/Physician Cooperative in 2005, which now has 60 participating clinics. Members of PPC function as a group, which allows them to purchase health care at affordable prices. There are no co-payments or qualifications for those with pre-existing conditions, and the model has since spread to North Carolina and Portland, Ore.

“This turned into a very practical solution,” McCormick says, “and it’s better than what anyone else is proposing.”

5. Community Food Forest
, Providence, R.I.

The new plantings at Roger Williams Park hover around three feet tall. But in a few years, they’ll sprout leafy greens and medicinal herbs. All will be available to harvest for free, along with wild mushrooms, tubers, and fiber. The edible forestry project, which broke ground in April 2012, is a partnership between the University of Rhode Island Master Gardeners and city officials at Roger Williams Park.

The location is no accident. More than 83 percent of nearby residents live in a USDA-declared food desert, with little access to supermarkets selling fresh produce. But in years to come, the edible forest, which sits adjacent to a community garden, will provide nuts, mulch, fruit, and fuel.

Similar projects are popping up in other urban areas. The Beacon Hill Food Forest in Seattle—funded in part with a $20,000 grant from the city’s Department of Urban Neighborhoods—is the largest edible forest on public land in the nation.

6. Community-Owned Mercantile, Port Townsend, Wash.

“We live here, work here, invest here. We just want to buy some socks here,” reads the motto of Quimper Mercantile in Port Townsend, Wash. After the town’s general store closed in 2011, residents of this out-of-the-way town found themselves with few nearby options for buying basic goods, and they weren’t interested in inviting Wal-Mart to move in.

Their solution? A dozen activists and business owners raised $50,000, formed a corporation, and began selling shares to friends and neighbors. To date, 1,008 folks have invested—a hundred-dollar share at a time—$570,000, and Quimper Mercantile opened for business in October 2012.

When the bankroll reaches $950,000 investors can start trading their shares. “We’re a for-profit venture, not a co-op,” says Peter Quinn, CEO. “So it’s essentially buying stock in a startup, with all the usual possibilities and risks.” At this fledgling stage, participation is motivated less by profit-seeking than community-building. “A much more altruistic purpose,” Quinn says.

7. Buying land as a cooperative, 
Duvall, Wash.

Mobile homes provide a source of long-term, low-income housing but, vulnerable to rate increases or eviction, it’s hardly stable. Last year, in Duvall, Wash., 24 mobile-home dwellers joined to create a cooperative and purchase their trailer park. Final price: $1.18 million.

That sounds pretty steep, but Ben Guss, a facilitator with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, linked the residents to funding through ROC USA Capital, which has made loans to 125 such communities across the country. For the Duvall project, ROC partnered with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, and now for $475 a month—just $15 more than they were paying before—each member of the newly named Duvall Riverside Village Co-op is an owner.

“It’s great to change from having Damocles’ Sword in the air that you know can fall,” said Stewart Davidson, who lives there and serves as board president. “When I pass, my wife can live here and not be worried about having a knock on the door with someone saying, ‘Here’s your notice, you’re out.’”

• Claudie Rowe wrote this article for How Cooperatives Are Driving the New Economy, the Spring 2013 issue of YES! Magazine. Claudia has been an award-winning social issues journalist for more than 20 years. Her work has appeared in Mother Jones, The New York Times, The Seattle Times, and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

• This article originally appeared at YES! Magazine.

Packaging for Plumpy'nut, a high-energy peanut paste, is seen on the production line at the Nutriset factory in Malaunay, France. Plumpy'nut has provided a huge leap in the fight against hunger in the developing world because infants can eat the sweet-smelling paste – with all the nutritional value of milk formula – at home rather than in a hospital. (Reuters/File)

Changing the world, McDonald's style: 5 great social franchises

By Daniel Jensen, Global Envision / 05.23.13

Social franchising is a big deal, recently called the future of social enterprise and even "the solution for U.K. unemployment."

While these claims might be a bit overstated, social franchising works. The best examples come from sectors as diverse as nutrition and sustainable energy, but they all share common threads:

There’s usually an existing market failure, a simple business model that can be used over and over again, a partnership between transnational and local NGOs, and – ultimately – a cheap, innovative product or process that does what the market didn’t.

Global Envision has covered a number of franchises in the past. Here’s how our five favorites work:

Tiendas de la Salud, Guatemala
With expertise from Mercy Corps and money from the Linked Foundation, a pilot project brought 36 franchised stores to rural Guatemala, where 53 percent of the population lives in poverty. The stores provide affordable generic medications where health services are otherwise nonexistent. The business model has been so successful that it was purchased by local commercial pharmacy chain Farmacias de la Comunidad, which has plans to expand the project to rural areas across the country.

Read more here.

Nutriset, France
Founder Michel Lescanne had already revolutionized malnutrition treatment with Plumpy’Nut, a peanut and milk product that would allow patients to regain strength and recover at home rather than taking an expensive and often lengthy trip to the hospital. Taking a cue from McDonald's and Coca Cola, local manufacturers and distributors get the product to their markets, and Nutriset collects a royalty fee. This keeps Plumpy’Nut cheap, while Nutriset gets paid so they can do more research.

Read more here.

The HealthStore Foundation, Kenya
In 2000, Scott Hillstrom and Eva Ombaka set up a network of microfarmacies and microclinics to combat a host of treatable diseases accounting for 70 to 90 percent of all childhood deaths in Kenya. These franchised Child and Family Wellness Shops provide both essential drugs to treat infectious diseases and basic medical services, allowing them to reach more than 2.5 million Kenyans by turning nurses into entrepreneurs.

Read more here.

KeBAL food carts, Indonesia
A new food cart franchise is battling malnutrition in Jakarta, Indonesia. Mercy Corps teamed up with Dutch nutrition company DSM and Rabobank to develop street food that kids would enjoy while providing missing nutrients, supplied as an added mix by DSM. Initially piloted in 2009, the social franchise is working toward financial sustainability while exposing DSM to the massive base-of-the-pyramid market in Jakarta.

Read more here.

Husk Power Systems, India
Husk Power has been quietly leading a green revolution in India with its biomass-powered microgrids, which have already served over 200,000 customers. Backed by Acumen Fund, the group hopes to reach 5 million people over the next five years, providing a credible solution to India’s vast power needs. The key to its success? Developing a cheap generator that local franchisees can use to power a miniature grid for their village. To provide a cheap source of fuel, the generator runs on biomass waste that abounds on Indian farms.

Read more here.

This article originally appeared at Global Envision, a blog published by Mercy Corps.

A man eats in front of a poster promoting a government food waste campaign in Bern, Switzerland, last year. The poster reads: 'An average Swiss household of four persons dumps food to the value of 2010.27 Swiss Francs [$2,178.78] in one year. Waste food – that's stupid.' In the US, groups such as Food Shift are doing their part to reduce food waste. (Pascal Lauener/Reuters/File)

Dana Frasz wants to see a Food Shift – away from waste

By Dowser.org, Dowser.org / 05.22.13

Dana Frasz is a food entrepreneur. She wants to recycle food, taking the food that’s not consumed and putting it into the hands of those who cannot afford it. She wants companies to stop wasting so much food – at the grocery story and in restaurants. She wants us all to be aware of how much we’re throwing in the dustbin.

Too idealistic? Frasz would argue otherwise. Hear her talk about her passion – FoodShift. 

How much waste is there currently in the United States and how accurate are these figures?

Forty percent of all the food produced in the US is wasted.

This figure is from national experts on food waste – author Jonathan Bloom wrote “American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half its Food” and Dana Gunders has been researching this issue at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

What are grocery stores doing currently to prevent food waste?  Are there any policies in place to prevent this?

Some grocery stores are donating excess food or marking down the prices of food that is still good but may be past its peak freshness, damaged in some way or cosmetically imperfect. There is a federal policy in place to encourage food donation. It’s called the Good Samaritan Food Act and it was passed specifically to encourage the donation of food. It protects food donors from liability as long as they are donating to a nonprofit. Many food donors can also receive tax deductions for their donations.

What has been the toughest part for you, as an activist and a social entrepreneur, in this effort?

I am really disturbed by the excessive waste and consumption in American culture.

Our materialistic lifestyles in the US have negative social and environmental impacts around the world. Rather than living in harmony with the earth, we are perpetuating a culture that is dependent on exploitation, extraction, and acquisition. Food waste is not only a waste of nutrition, it squanders water, depletes soil, wastes fossil fuels, and adds greatly to the world’s carbon footprint.

What is your solution? 

Food Shift is working with Oakland, Calif., schools to ensure surplus food from the cafeteria is redistributed to students and families rather than thrown in the garbage. We are working with a local grocer who has expressed interest in paying Food Shift to recover food from their stores. This would allow us to employ someone in the process while reducing waste disposal costs for the business. We are interested in developing food recovery and redistribution models that increase access to more nutrition food, reduce waste, and generate revenue in some way so they can sustain and scale – like low-cost markets and value-added products.

How feasible is it?

We have trash and recycling removal in this country, why not have a food-recovery service sector that recovers and redistributes surplus food as an extension of our current waste management system?

It may sound crazy, but it is realistic strategy and could create a lot of jobs in the green economy. Generating revenue from food that would otherwise be wasted is possible, but by no means easy. It’s a difficult challenge to ensure food safety, to establish new distribution channels, and to pilot new models that are outside of the current norm.

Why do stores not simply list fresh foods items as 50 percent off at night, an hour or so before closing? That seems to make sense to avoid waste and still make some money. 

It makes so much sense – and people love a good deal. Berkeley Bowl estimates it sells $1,500 per day of produce off its bargain shelf, which offers bags of damaged or nearly expired produce for 99 cents.  Andronico's Community Markets is running a program with Food Star to sell cosmetically imperfect produce at a low cost, and Zero Percent is a technology that is allowing food establishments to post their surplus through an online application at either a discount or for donation. These are all great innovations that more businesses should adopt to reduce waste, save money, and protect the environment.

Are there models for food waste elsewhere in the world (that you’ve read or seen) that you would like to see implemented here in the US?

The United Kingdom is leading the way on this issue. A campaign there called Love Food Hate Waste has reduced food waste by 18 percent over the course of five years. The UK has also standardized date labels so they are not so confusing for consumers. Many grocery stores there provide storage instructions for fruits and vegetables and informational tips and ads are displayed in over 12,000 stores. Instead of buy-one-get-one-free promotions, some UK stores are piloting a buy-one-give-one-free or get one later program. I also really like Rubbies in the Rubble – a company in the UK making jam and chutney from rescued produce.

What can each person do? 

Become a food waste champion within your family and circle of friends! There are lots of recipes and other tips online. Here is a storage guide.

• This article originally appeared at Dowser.org.

A girl learns to use a computer at Mashal School near Islamabad, Pakistan, in January 2013. Street children study at the nonprofit school, which helps more than 400 children. An event called Tech4Change in Portland, Ore., aims to create new tech-oriented business startups that will help provide a billion new jobs across the developing world. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters/File)

Geeks to the rescue: How to save the world in 54 hours

By Daniel Jensen, Global Envision / 05.21.13

From June 7-9, aspiring social entrepreneurs, designers, and developers will get a chance to try out new business ideas with expert coaches and judges, and to compete for prizes. International NGO Mercy Corps is hosting the competition, called Tech4Change, at its global headquarters in Portland, Ore., in collaboration with Seattle-based Startup Weekend and a host of local tech accelerators and mentors.

Like other Startup Weekends, the event schedule is intense: In less than 54 hours, participants must pitch, build, and present tech-oriented social enterprise concepts. If the crowd selects an initial concept as one of the top 12, the entrepreneur assembles a team of designers, developers, business project managers, and marketers from the weekend's attendees to help build a minimum viable product – a sort-of prototype – by the end of the weekend. The teams then present their new social enterprises to the panel of judges, and at 9 p.m. the event concludes with winners receiving their prizes.

Entrepreneurs might be surprised to learn that nonprofits aren't the only ones interested in Tech4Change, said event lead Allison Deverman Vietor of Mercy Corps.

Many profit-maximizing investors are eager to gain access to the “base of the pyramid” – those living on $5 a day or less – a huge market with billions of potential new customers. Attendees will learn how to  design and market “bottom of the pyramid” products and strategies from experts in the field at Mercy Corps, Thoughtworks, and Manifesto.

But nonprofits are also setting their scopes wide, hoping the weekend can generate job-creating ideas that they can take abroad to create employment in areas where it's needed. Mercy Corps Senior Director of Social Innovations Andy Dwonch explained:

”One billion jobs are needed in the coming decade just to keep up with current levels of global unemployment. We see that entrepreneurship and, in particular, entrepreneurship focused on opportunities in the digital economy, is one way to generate economic opportunities and jobs. Small businesses and entrepreneurial enterprises are the biggest engine for job growth in the world.”

Focusing solely on social innovation is a new idea for Startup Weekend, and many entrepreneurs may need some support in developing business models with a double- or triple-bottom line. To help them along, Mercy Corps employees are attending both to mentor and participate, and Deverman Vietor hopes entrepreneurs will take this chance to get inside the heads of nonprofit experts and make new contacts.

As an added bonus, Global IT consultancy firm Thoughtworks is hosting a “boot camp” May 29th for registered participants to work on customer validation – designing products people want – and learn more about LEAN methodologies.

Tech4Change may be the first event of its kind, but Deverman Vietor hopes it won’t be the last. She predicts that by getting entrepreneurs and nonprofit experts together, the competition can create new solutions to old problems.

• For more information, visit the Tech4Change website or get tickets to participate at Eventbrite.

• This article originally appeared at Global Envision, a blog published by Mercy Corps.

Leah Hill (lef), of Shawnee, Okla., is hugged by friend Sidney Sizemore as they look through Hill's scattered belongings from her home, which was destroyed by a tornado west of Shawnee May 19. A huge tornado struck near Oklahoma City May 19, part of a massive storm front that hammered the central United States. (Bill Waugh/Reuters)

Oklahoma City tornado: more ways to help

By Jonathan Harris, TakePart / 05.21.13

UPDATE (5/21): Relief is now pouring in from all over the world and President Obama has ordered federal aid to assist in the recovery. If you are not in the Oklahoma City area, the best thing to do right now is to donate using one of the links below. If you are in the area, local organizations are accepting gloves, flashlights, boots, and other rescue materials. Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief has a list of locations accepting donations.

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Thousands of people have been displaced by a massive tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Monday. Relief organizations are scrambling to bring aid to the area. You can help right now by taking the following actions:

• Donate to the United Way of Central Oklahoma, which can be earmarked specifically for tornado relief.

• Donate to the Red Cross, which has mobilized to help tornado victims throughout the Midwest. Text RED CROSS to 90999 to donate $10.

• Text GIVE OK to 80088 to donate $10 to the Tornado Relief Fund on GlobalGiving. You can also donate online.

• Current donations to the Salvation Army can be earmarked for tornado relief. If you'd rather write a check than donate online, specify "Oklahoma Tornado Relief" on the check.

• Donate to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma Disaster Relief Fund. All donations go to "providing tree removal services, laundry services, and meals to victims."

• If you're in the pathway, follow these tips on what to do during a tornado.

• Oklahoma's Department of Health and Human Services is available 24 hours a day (for non-emergency calls) by dialing 211. CBS affiliate News9 is tweeting consistent updates on shelters and relief.

• Residents are being asked for gloves, boots, toiletries, shovels, trash bags, dust masks, or cash. Bring these items to:

News 9 Studio
 7401 North Kelley Ave
 Oklahoma City, OK 73111

• This article originally appeared at TakePart, a leading source of socially relevant news, features, opinion, entertainment, and information – all focused on the issues that shape our lives.