Liberia Day 5

We said good by to the Philanthropy Secretariat and the wonderful staff that thought of everything to make our visit truly exceptional.  We ventured out with the founder of one of Eleos partner companies, Chid Liberty.

One of the problems with the Liberian economy is how little industry there is to employ people.  Chid founded the first fair trade manufacturing company in Liberia called Liberty and Justice.   The women own 49% of the t-shirt manufacturing company.  Liberty and Justice provides them professional and personal training, a health savings account, a one to one match for ever dollar saved, and a bag of rice as incentive for being on time. Many of the women live in West Point, the poorest slum in Liberia which makes it the poorest slum in West Africa. 

With their first dividends the women decided to rebuild the recently condemned bamboo one room school.  We also drove the see the school.  Driving through West Point there is mass chaos and dust everywhere.  There are giant pot holes of water in the center of the dirt road.  We stopped on the side of the road and walked through a labyrinth of falling down tin shed homes.  Wedged among the sheds is a door leading to the recently rebuilt one room school with concrete walls and a tin roof.  Inside were 50 excited school children with bright smiling faces, singing with pride to welcome us.  They happily smiled for the camera and performed song after song for us. These children live in one of the poorest slums in the world and yet are considered elite because their parents can afford this little school!

We spent the last couple of days traveling to a beachside community to let everything we had seen and learn sink in.  I felt like I had been on a wild ride of intense cultural travel combined with a year's worth of global studies crammed into a week.

Next and final Liberia post will tie my trip into the "Everyday" part of my blog title.

Liberia Day 4

I didn't have internet access the last part of the trip so I'll post the last two days today and tomorrow.


We started the day learning about an organization providing basic health care in the hardest to reach places.  Currently there is 1 doctor for every 100,000 people.  They are using a model from other countries where you train local community members in basic health care.  We were moved by the stories of two AIDS patients who were untreated and emaciated.  Today they are treated, thriving, and proud to be community health care workers helping others in their villages.  This program is scalable and is also supported by the government in a private/public partnership.

We went to the largest medical facility in Monrovia (also a DRI partner) and here I learned something that challenged my current understanding of needs.   I've written about the importance of maternal child health (MCH) in prior posts and I am even helping with a DRI fundraiser supporting MCH.  However, when asked about the top three medical needs MCH isn't on the list.  The top three medical priorities are malaria, HIV, and malnutrition.  Why? Because if you solve these three issues you solve the top causes of MCH problems. 

We then visited a mining village.  Of course my first thought was mining is bad as in "blood diamonds" and environment issues.  This organization educates the miners on identification and valuation of the diamonds so they don't get exploited, seeks to provide sanctions for ethical standards, and teaches them how to care for the land where they mine.   When we arrived in the village the villagers welcomed us with a gift of a live chicken and a village dance complete with a dance by the devil.  Andy, the Eleos ED had to hold the chicken the whole visit and it had to come back with us.

Once again, I was struck by the sense of pride and community these villages have.  Their needs are so basic and so little is needed to raise them out of extreme poverty.

Liberia Day 3

Internet problems yesterday so I'm a day off.

The Chairman National Investment Commissioner debriefed with us again today with the focus on enterprise.  He talked about how as foreign investors come into Liberia wanting to do business, Liberia does not have the local suppliers to work with the investor so they have to go out of country.  Biggest gap right now is developing suppliers along the whole value chain so foreign companies can use Liberian suppliers. I sat there amazed that I was getting access to hear the perspective of the top government official on investment, his plans, and the tie to potential policy.

We also heard from the head of the Central Bank of Liberia and what they are doing to facilitate micro lending because it is so effective and the demand is so high.

We the heard about the Sirleaf Women's Market which is providing micro loans to women working in the markets and improving market conditions.  Specifically, they are 1) providing facilities with protection from rain or sun and with water, 2) providing literacy rooms to teach the women to read when they aren't selling, 3) proving early childhood care so kids aren't left wandering while they sell, and 4) proving microcredit ($50-100)

We then visited another market that was also using microcredit, but offering larger amounts ($1-5k) so women could import goods directly from nearby countries rather than buying locally from a middle man. Another group helps them with a place to stay and transportation for their goods.  Almost everything is imported here since there's no manufacturing yet.  This group operates in the middle of the busiest market in Liberia.   When we arrived, we were greeted by about 40 women all wearing the most beautiful African dresses and head scarfs.  They were so proud of their progress from petty selling from buckets on their heads to having actual "stores" at the market.  They were pulling me from one store to another to take their picture with their wares.

We then traveled outside the city and along bumpy dirt roads to learn about agriculture.  We visited a farm that is helping the village women raise chickens and farm instead of coal burning.  Coal burning is nasty for the person and has major negative impacts on the land and global warming, but it also only has a 10% profit margin.  The eggs generate a 50% profit margin.  We also visited the hut village where they live.

One of the programs the president has put in place in the Presidents Young Professionals.  These are college grads with a B+ gpa who do a two year mentorship program with one of the senior level cabinet members.  There are a few of them with us every day and they are all very bright and friendly.  Today I rode with Moses.  After the hut village he told me he grew up in a similar village and said how much he loved it and how he loves to go home.  He asked me if we had villages like that where I live because they are so great. Hearing that blew away my western notions of happiness  He also asked me if I had paved roads.  Moses will be getting his master's on scholarship in Ghana next year.

There is a women here from a Nigerian philanthropy.  She said she has fallen in love with Liberia because there is so much impact you can make with relatively little dollars.  It was interesting to hear given her knowledge of the various African countries.

Not sure I'll have anymore Internet access for the rest of the trip, but a sneak preview of Day 4. We visited a mining village and were greeted with a gift of a live chicken which Andy had to hold the whole visit and it had to come back with us.

Liberia Day 2

Another very full and informative day.  The Liberians are hopeful about and inspired to rebuild their country.  The are so glad to not be war torn and to be in the recovery phase despite the long road ahead.

After delayed jet lag and only two hours of sleep, we drove about three hours outside of the city.  We were schedule to make a stop to learn about a clean energy project.  I have to admit, I wasn't very excited and thought we would be in an institutional building learning about abstract concepts related to a power grid.  How naive of me!
Another very full and informative day.  The Liberians are hopeful about and inspired to rebuild their country.  The are so glad to not be war torn and to be in the recovery phase despite the long road ahead.

After delayed jet lag and only two hours of sleep, we drove about three hours outside of the city.  We were schedule to make a stop to learn about a clean energy project.  I have to admit, I wasn't very excited and thought we would be in an institutional building learning about abstract concepts related to a power grid.  How naive of me!

 We stopped in what seemed like a remote village, but was really off of one of the few main roads.  We were greeted by local villagers and gathered under shelter made of sticks and leaves.  We then learned about two efforts to provide better energy to the poor.  The first is solar power technology which is a little light assembled inside of a sawed off water bottle.   Right now they use a dangerous contraption of oil for light. I was actually thrilled to see this because I had posted an article from the NYT on this same technology being used in Kenya.

Next, we learned about coal burning methods that were much more efficient and cleaner than the environmentally negative and inefficient way villagers across Liberian are doing it now and about new more efficient and safer cook stoves.   We are talking about stoves that resemble something like what we consider a beefy camp stove which is  a step up for people here.  Because this village is a large resource of coal, workers are being trained to fabricate the technologies for enterprise.  These new technologies take a change in mind set.  Interestingly, it is the younger mothers who are more willing to make this change even though it's faster and healthier for their family and community.

We then went onto the town of Buchanan.  The road was only paved about 70% of the way and would be considered and shanty town by our standards, but it is the third largest town in the country. Besides taking a wooden boat ride across the river where we had to squat down in the space between the wooden plank seats so we would not tip over, we learned about the current ocean erosion going on due to climate change.   Over 350 houses have fallen into the ocean in the last four years.  This ties into the poor environmental habits of the coal burning just mentioned.

After passing out on the ride home, I rallied for a dinner with Laura from Project Healthy Children (CHP) who is working on methods to fortify food with micronutrients in developing countries.  At a Copenhagen conference with the worlds leading economists, providing micronutirents was one of the top three ways identified as making lasting change in the developing world. Eleos Foundation is currently supporting their work.  It's a long process with many players, but the current Minister of Health is in favor of this project which will help things go faster. This would eventually be sustainable once all the methodology is put in place. Kristof has written about the important work CHP is doing, as well.

What strikes me about all of the projects we have seen is how relatively new they all are.  This is because up until a few years ago there was no infrastructure of any kind.  If successful, each one of these projects can be integrated into this infrastructure as the country develops.  This, combined, with the relatively small size of the country, is what makes Liberia unique and with so much potential.

Finally, I want to clarify that although a large part of this trip, and of the Eleos Foundation, is about creating sustainable and scalable models that benefit the people of Liberia, That doesn't mean there is never a time for aid, it's just not the long term solution.


Tomorrow is market/micro finance day.

Liberia Day 1

Today was our first real day and we began with a briefing from the National Investment Chairman. I mention I had read the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) on the plane. You know how I am such a sucker for a plan. He talked about how after almost 20 years of civil war they were in an emergency recovery modeyears the first few years. The next several years they were in recovery mode and now are trying to transition to development mode. They key to the development is it must be to the benefit of all Liberians and not just an elite few like in the past. He also talked about the need to build a civil society, an informed body with the ability to exercise voice and choice. One who understands the issues and will push back on those that try to undermine the progress.

We then left the enclave of our much too nice resort and immediately outside the gates was an active, but clearly very poor community. We were driven to downtown Monrovia on one of the main roads, so it was actually paved. Today's focus was on education so we met with the Ministry of Education. During the war all the schools, textbooks, and libraries were destroyed. All the teachers and professors fled. They are now rebuilding the public system. Almost no public secondary education is available right now because there are no teachers trained in math and science for this level.

The transparency and willingness to admit to the challenges and short comings by the government was refreshing At the same time they seemed focused and determined to continue to make improvements. Of course I've never met with any other government officials in any other country.

While Monrovia is the capital, just a block or two off the main roads are dirt roads with shacks for housing. Our first on-site stop was a pre-shool through 6th grade program. They kids welcomed us singing. This school has early childhood education because they noticed the kids this age were left wandering while their parents tried to work. They also offer adolescent mothers training and help them get started with a bank account and micro loans. The main school isn't free so we noticed kids, who could not afford the school, hanging on the schoolyard fences.

The next stop was a restaurant and culinary training program run by a Returnee, someone whose family fled during the war, was American educated, and has returned to use their skills to help improve Liberia. There is a rapidly growing hospitality industry in Liberia as hotels are being built to cater to the foreign business interests. None of these hotels employee Liberians at higher levels because they lack the training. Rozi's program provides a skill to the lost generation that didn't get educated because of the war. One of her challenges is the culinary students don't have basic math skills for measuring or food costing and don't have the English skills to read a recipe.

We then went to a technology program which again is trying to help provide job skills to the lost generation. It was based in what is considered on of the most volatile communities in Monrovia. Also founded by a Returnee, he wanted the youth of the war to know they were not forgotten.

Finally, we went to a Montessori teacher training program. When we were first getting briefed by the founder, another Returnee, I thought isn't a Montessori trained teacher icing on the cake? Aren't people just lucky to have a teacher? We then sat in on one of the training session in progress. It was the second training for the group and I literally heard the instructor say, "if a child doesn't know what 2+2 is, you do not beat the child.". She went on the introduce to them the concept of cognitive development. Hands were being raised in question as she tried to explain to the current school teachers what was a completely new concept!

I am here with the Santa Barbara based foundation, Eleos and I have drunken the cool-aid and the Liberian government's cool-aid that the key is development and not aid. To illustrate , I noticed a locked well in the midst of a clearly very poor community. When I asked Andy, the Eleos ED about it, he said it could be privately run. I inquired if he thought a privately run well was exploiting people and he said, if people don't pay for it via taxes or to a private person, then it's aid and that's not a sustainable model for anyone.

Tomorrow we travel 2.5 hours outside of the capital and only see two projects, but visit a local community.

Traveling Over

I have arrived in Liberia and want to give the disclaimer that I'm delirious and typing on my iPad. On the way over I read "The House at Sugar" beach which is an autobiography by Helene Cooper who grew up in Liberian in the 70's and now writes for the New York Times.

Cooper was a descendant of the ruling elite created by freed American slaves who founded Liberia 150 years earlier. What struck me was how American her life was in Liberia. Her foster sister, a native poor liberian given up by her birth mom to be a playmate for Helene, lived in a three story house, were driven around in Lincoln's, grand prixs and other nice cars, worried about what to wear to the Sadie Hawkin dances, had crushes on the high school athlete, and tried to do their hair like Charlie's Angeles. In Cooper's innocent silver spoon life, she had no idea how much the native Liberian resented them until the coup in 1979 when rebels stormed their home, raped her mom, in exchanged for not raping her and her foster sister, and executed several of her family members and friend's parents broadcasted on TV. Her family successfully escaped and in the two suitcases she was allowed to take, she fretted over taking her Michael Jackson Album or Nancy Drew books.

This was the beginning of what would be two civil wars that would destroy almost every piece of infrastructure in the nation from roads, to hospitals, to schools, to any semblance of economy. Additionally, almost anyone with capital and intellectual knowledge fled the country.

This brings me to my other plane reading, the Liberian Poverty Reeducation Strategy. This 150 page document was a reminder that Liberia is basically rebuilding a country from square one since the end of the civil war in 2003 and more specifically since the election of the current president in 2007. This document covers everything from peace and safety, including protecting village women from rape, to rebuilding roads, the number one thing Liberians said they need to prosper, to the need to educate people as teachers before they can rebuild their system.

I'm looking forward to a good night sleep and getting out from the sanctity of our hotel room and seeing the projects our Liberian "Returnee," a termed used for people educated in American who have return to benefit their country, has organized for us. She's done a good job of pulling together a variety of projects at all levels and making sure we get everything from time to speak with diplomats to time in local villages, schools, markets, and clinics.

Quick Facts About Liberia

Before I head off, I want to do two things.  The first is to give a shout out to my husband for not only supporting me in taking this trip, but for encouraging me to act on the opportunity under such short notice.  If you see any of our children standing on the side of the road, rest assured, super dad is on his way.

The second is, I want to give some quick facts on Liberia to set the stage:

• Founded by freed American slaves in 1822, Liberia is a unique African nation because it was never ruled by a European nation.

• Ironically, these freed slaves created an elite society practically enslaving the native Liberians using the plantation model they learned in America.

• The inequity between the classes and corruption of the government eventually lead to two civil wars.  The most recent war lasted 15 years and ended in 2003.

• In large part due to canvasing efforts by Liberian women, in 2008, Liberia elected the first and only female head of an African nation, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

• The years of civil war completely devastated Liberia's  infrastructure, commercial sector, and health and education systems.  For the first year of the war the GDP dropped 90%, the highest drop of any country ever, and an entire generation has spent more time fighting war than attending school.

• During this time, there was no public running water or electricity and both are only beginning to be available in some parts of the country.

• It is considered one of the poorest countries in the world with about 85% of it's population living on less than $1.25 per day.

The good news is that there are also amazing efforts going on in Liberia by the government, NGO's, and local entrepreneurial leaders to restore it's economy and to reduce extreme poverty.  More detail on those projects throughout the trip.

Off to LIberia

That's right, I am getting out from behind the computer and venturing off to Liberia.  I leave Saturday and land on my birthday.  I am going with the Eleos Foundation to learn about global development projects for possible investment by funders.  This trip came up suddenly and I am blessed and amazed to have been invited to go.

The trip is being hosted by the Liberian Philanthropy Secretariat which is within the Office of the President.  Liberia is the only country in Africa to have such an office and it is the first and only country in Africa to have a female head of state.

We will be visiting about 13 Liberian based NGO's.  The projects were selected from an overwhelming pool of applicants based on how well they represent Liberian's Poverty Reduction Strategy.  There will be about 12 of us from 7 different foundations/investors.  I am clearly the neophyte of the group.  The types of projects we will visit include:

• Education (pre-school, K-12, technology and culinary) 
• Environment and Energy (sustainable energy technology and ocean erosion)
• Small to Medium Enterprises (Microfinance projects, women's market fund, farming)
• Health (medical center and kids under 5 health program)
• Mining (mining association)
  

It looks like I will have access to internet  for some of the trip and hope to publish blog posts.  Stay tuned.

Not Good News For Microfinance in India

Last month, I published a post talking about how microfinance was being questioned.  The post includes an article by my favorite international aid/global development hero, Nicholas Kristof discussing how important microfinance, done ethically, is to aid poverty and his support of Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank,
 On Wednesday Kristof published the following on his facebook page:

"Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped found microfinance to alleviate poverty around the world, has been fired. Grameen Bank says that the Bangladesh Central Bank has removed Yunus as managing director. I'm disgusted. This is the work of the Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who is jealous of... Yunus's success -- and she shames herself and her country. The losers are the world's poor."

Bangladesh News Online also strongly states, that while they are using a violation of the retirement law as reasons for his removal, that it is politically motivated.

 
As of Sunday, the Washington Post reports his removal is being protested and the government is deferring the ruling.  Keep an eye out for a final ruling and cross your fingers India does the right thing.

Good News for Direct Relief International

Santa Barbara based, Direct Relief International (DRI) got some good news this week. DRI is ranked highly on three lists recently released by Charity Navigator.

Direct Relief was ranked No. 2 of the top 10 “Top Notch” charities. These “Top Notch” charities are recognized because of their high performance in three key areas: (1) financial, (2) accountability and transparency, and (3) effectiveness and results.

Direct Relief not only earned the highest Four-Star rating for their financial strength, but also met all 17 of Charity Navigator’s accountability and transparency metrics.

You can visit Charity Navigator’s site and look over the lists:
No. 2 Top Notch Charity
No 4. Slam Dunk Charity
No. 2 Charity Everyone's Heard Of

Cradle to Career - A Road Map to Education Reform

Special thanks to Lois Mitchell, Orfalea Foundations President for her help with this post.

 

I recently learned a new term, “Cradle to Career.”  I learned this term from Lois Mitchell, Orfalea Foundations President, when she mentioned to me that she was attending a convening in the Washington, D.C. area on the topic. The convening, put on by Strive, was titled, The New Normal: Building Cradle to Career Education Partnerships to Support What Works for Kids.  It was also the launch of the National Cradle to Career Network, and included speakers from the federal government.  At the event, leaders from regional place-based efforts across the country worked toward developing plans to build civic infrastructure that creates the underlying framework and systems necessary for creating and sustaining systems of learning where every child is successful, every step of the way.

“Cradle to Career” is the perfect term for this because we hear a lot about:

• the importance of Early Childhood Education on impacting a child’s future academic success,
• the dire state of our K-12 program, and
• that we are not only not preparing students for college, but that we aren’t fostering enough innovative thinkers to compete in the global market. 

Additionally, the White House web page  on education reform addresses these same three focus areas.

At the convening, the group committed to actions, including specific next steps for strengthening progress in this area.  One of the tools reference during these discussions and customized by various regional, collaborative initiatives was the following “Roadmap”

I know, I know you can't read it.  I exhusted my blogging abilities trying to bring this in so you can see it.  So let me explain, the items in gray above the time line are academic milestones, the items in blue below the time line are social/emotional milestones and the years on the time line in gray are key transition year.  Too see this roadmap better click here and then in the upper right hand corner click the plus sign to blow it up.  Sorry I wasn't able to bring it in better here.

I am brushing the surface of understanding the complex concepts behind this roadmap, but a few things strike me as impactful about the convening Lois attended and the concepts on which it focused:

TAKEAWAY #1:

The fact that there is a national collaborative effort working with the same framework, or Roadmap, gives me hope that our nation can succeed at improving education.  Call me a structure junkie, but its similar to my feelings about the Millennium Development Goals.

TAKEWAY #2:

The fact that the Roadmap covers 1) academic milestones, 2) social/emotional milestones, and 3) key transition years also impresses me and further strengthens my sense of hope.

TAKEAWAY #3

There are leaders in our community, like the Orfalea Foundations, Santa Barbara Foundation,  J.S. Bower Foundation, First Five, and Hutton Foundation that are leading the charge in working with this Roadmap and are making serious investments in it.  The existing efforts underway weave school districts, non-profit agencies, service providers, government, business, families, higher ed, and other public-private partners into a supportive safety net focused on strengthening families, neighborhoods and students ability to succeed.  In the recent Santa Barbara Foundation newsletter, Lois was quoted as saying, “Santa Barbara has the resources, expertise and passion to improve education.” I am proud to be living in a community where such focus and investment is being made. More on what our community is doing to improve education to come in future posts. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

An earlier post on Education Reform 101 and What You Can Do included actions to help support Education Reform.