April 13, 2009
Friday began with what I thought was a really innovative part of this conference: individual mentorships. Each delegate was paired up with a facilitator, most of whom were workshop facilitators or nonprofit company representatives. We had half an hour to discuss our projects and get feedback. Megha Agrawal, who has been working on a really cool project in Uganda, gave me some great advice for Salud del Sol. Importantly, she asked some questions that will be important as we move forward with implementation and training, including challenging me to really utilize ABCD–Asset-Based Community Development–ideas as we move forward. I also look forward to really looking through the “Theory of Change” worksheet we were all given during our mentorship sessions… it’s a tool to use to better articulate goals, identify obstacles, and make sure that our activities are appropriate and effective.
This was followed by my third workshop, which was “Public Health in the Developing World.” Victor Roy, of GlobeMed, led is in a discussion about the main players in the global health arena and a big-picture look at the terms “sustainability” and “pragmatic solidarity.” We then looked at a case study of a public health partner organization in Nepal, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the hypothetical partnership with any of our own organizations. We took this analysis even further by ranking five hypothetical programs by the partner in the case study, according to what we thought were the most effective or ideal programs. The workshop ended by exploring each of our projects in small groups, especially brainstorming potential partner organizations and the roles they would play.
We ate lunch at tables according to the regions in which each of our organizations work. It was mainly for networking purposes, and it was really great to get to talk to other people interested in Central America.
My next workshop was “ICT: Information Communication Technology,” led by Ken Banks of Kiwanja. I am excited to continue thinking about the potential that ICT has within the goals of the solar autoclave project. Particularly in this workshop, we discussed the appropriateness of different technologies. For example, what is better–a drum or a cell phone? It depends on the environment and the use. Similarly, our organizations need to consider the pros and cons of any communication technology we utilize, whether that is laptops, text messaging, or radio. SMS is the simple, low-cost technology of today, so I’ve been brainstorming about potential uses within our project… any ideas?!
Our small group session centered on discussing the article, “The toxis trickle downward,” from The Economist. This article points out, quite depressingly, the impact that the recent economic crisis has had and will have on developing countries. It led to a discussion about what the article missed, such as the effect it will have on war and climate change. But then we turned to signs of hope. Alex Merkovic of Global Peace Exchange pointed out that while some funds have recently dried up, private donations and foundation grants have increased. We discussed the successes of microfinance, as well as the continued spread of mobile phones, despite the crisis. Before reading the article, I did not realize the far-reaching repercussions of the crisis, which has the potential to affect our organization and our partners from multiple angles, all of which are important to consider.
The day ended with CareerConnect, which was mostly an opportunity to talk with some really great people from some really great organizations. I met Jason Selwitz from Green Empowerment, who works with many organizations, including AsoFenix in Nicaragua–a partner organization to Grupo Fenix! Small world!
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