NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Strategy - Comments

Follow up on the Care Shop initiative and Study

Peter Burgess — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:21:58 -0500

Dear Julia

Thank you for your comment ... comments.

I have been a critic of "studies" for as long as I can remember, not because of the study and the report and presentation, but because they so ofter served as an excuse for not doing (in the case of donors and governments ... not funding) important works that needed doing. You observe ... quite correctly that these case studies are important, but only when they are read and used. So this is your first comment ... and I would say that I am trying to make the Community Impact Accountancy (CIA) and Tr-Ac-Net a vehicle for getting active follow up on study work that is starting the ball rolling ... and needs ongoing follow up and feedback ... and indeed funding.

With regard to your second point ... bringing CIA into play with Care Shop, I would be absolutely delighted. What might be the first step in doing this?

Sincerely

Peter Burgess
www.tr-ac-net.org
peterbnyc@gmail.com

Healthcare for BOP poultry stock

Paul Rigterink — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:36:04 -0500

As strange as it may sound, I believe that the sale of veterinary poultry medicines at the pharmacies described in this article can dramatically increase the health of personnel at the BOP. Backyard producers value chickens for their adaptability, contributions to the family’s income and general welfare, and for insect control and fertilizers in the garden. In most family flocks, chickens scavenge plant or food residues and insects around the home. With minimal care, family flocks can hatch and raise chicks, produce high-value meat, and supply eggs. Eggs can be a particularly important source of food for children with protein malnutrition who are between six months and three years of age. Live chickens sold for meat bring a good price and a primary source of income for poor farmers. Inexpensive disease control markedly increases the survival and productivity of a family poultry flock. The following four preventive practices, given every three months, will eliminate most health problems in poultry flocks: 1) Vaccination for Newcastle disease, 2) Deworming for roundworms and tapeworms, 3) Dusting under wings for irritating external parasites such as lice, and 4) Treatment for chronic respiratory disease to increase production. BOP personnel can easily raise up to 50 healthy chickens. To feed the chickens and obtain maximum profit on a small farm, BOP personnel can use: 1) Excess and/or unusual food crops, 2) Crop residues, 3) Household refuge and 4) Scavenger feed (e.g., weeds, seeds, insects, worms, etc). Once BOP personnel have met this “from 5 to 50 challenge”, they will be ready to move-on to learn the technology of “transitional” poultry systems of 200-300 birds and finally full commercial production of 500-10,000 birds.

yes

madrid man — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:20:25 -0500

I think that idea is from India, where they have had this kind of loans for 15 years.

Too Much Money Chasing Too Few Investments

Eric — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:50:43 -0500

As an individual with a former VC background, in my opinion, access to capital is not the issue. The problem is finding qualified entrepreneurs and business plans. I completely agree with the title, “Too Much Money Chasing Too Few Investments.”

BOP Deal flow

Munya — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:05:11 -0500

It certainly seems there's a tangible increase in public and private capital targeting the BOP. I look forward to reading more on your approach to scaling BOP strategies. When it comes to scaling BOP strategies in Africa, I think the main challenge is still the entrepreneur. They are undoubtedly the missing key in this region unlike India for example. Very few are able to develop their ideas into a bankable business proposal and tend to over value their sweat capital input, which seems to be a fairly common challenge in structuring seed stage investments. The progress might be slow but it's worth the effort, these are the pioneering years!

Affordable Housing For Streetchildren In Phillipines

Ivan Paton — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:52:14 -0500

Dear Mr. McClean, I saw your comment expressing interest in affordable housing for streetchildren in the Philippines. I would like to offer a suggestion. Have you considered using shipping containers? They have many advantages for conversion to affordable housing. They are structurally sound. They are stackable and can be used in multi-level developments. They can be welded or bolted together depending on the level of permanence required. They can be pre-fabricated in countries where labour is competitive and shipped worldwide. The exteriors can be clad with a permanent product like James Hardies weatherboard (50 year guarantee) and the finished product could be such that the residents or neighbourhood would have no idea that the structures were made of steel shipping containers. Rainwater could be harvested into permanent storage tanks that could provide the residents with most if not all of their water needs free of charge. If the budget allowed it then alternative energy systems could also be fitted - wind or thermal turbines, and solar panels and most of the energy requirements could be met this way. I would be interested to know more about Global Family and what you do as well. Yours sincerely Ivan M. Paton (ivanpaton@hotmail.com)

Bajaj Auto Motorcycles

Christopher Glen — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:38:00 -0500

Very interesting! I had no idea Bajaj Auto had acquired a part of KTM. I am excited to see what their KTM branded motorcycles will look / ride like.

Majority Rules?

Mike Heiss — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:35:34 -0500

For ease if discussion, I will use Christian Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) as an example of "religious institutions." I think we would all be more comfortable supporting a Christian mission in a place where the majority is Christian over a place where Christians are the minority. However, even if Christians are the majority, would we be ignoring the non-Christians by working through Christian FBOs? Would funding the FBOs then be an incentive to convert? Even if we claim to only support indigenous lead FBOs (rather than sending Western missionaries), the very act of supporting them may be implicitly imposing our values.

On the other hand, if BoP initiatives are truly built from the bottom up, we should not impose our secularism on a religious BoP. Ideally we would support organizations based on merit in terms of social good, ignoring religious affiliations. This is difficult because we cannot simply ignore views associated with religious organizations. I understand that people hesitate using the church after the history of the crusades and other socially irresponsible actions, but we should try to see its current actions through unbiased lenses, recognizing that it may be an effective means of social improvement.

Missionaries in Burma

Paul Sager — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:57:41 -0500

In 2003, I spent a number of months backpacking through SE Asia and one experience that I will always remember is a two day boat ride that I made down the Irrawady River in Northern Burma (Myanmar). It was a wonderful two days and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I had chatting up some of the local Burmese people who could speak English. I eventually met up with a couple of young Burmense woman who were employed as tour guides for rich westerners. We eventually got to the topic of missionaries. They informed me that many of the missionaries that have come to Burma over the last 20-30 years have brought with many problems, along with their good intentions. What has been happening, particularly in the northern part of the country, is that many Christian missionaries have come to “save” people and give them food and shelter and of course bibles as a reward for converting. This has led to a sense of dependency by many of these new converts, which in turn have caused them to lose their work ethic and ability to provide for themselves and their families on their own merit. All of which has had a significant impact on the community as you could imagine. So when we talk about bringing religion into the BOP, please be cautious of how this is accomplished. Working with local Buddhist Monasteries is one thing. Working with Christian and Mormon missionaries is an entirely different strategy that comes at a price

PURCHASE PLASTIC HOUSE?

IAN Maclean — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:21:51 -0500

GREETINGS FROM THE PHILIPPINES: I want to build a plastic building facility to house homeless street children here in the Philippines. Please email me details and cost to purchase. Kindest regards, Ian McLean, Chairman GLOBAL FAMILY

techical know-how of plastic home

Mohamed Haniff — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:10:06 -0500

I would like to know the various aspects of plastic homes built in Venezuela. kindly, send details of the same for import of such homes to India.

The Church

Moses Lee — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:57:27 -0500

John, Thanks for the comment. I think it would be interesting to find out if there some successful church/BoP enterprise partnerships. I may do some research and write an entry on this in the future. Perhaps some folks from the NextBillion community are aware of some.

Thanks

Moses Lee — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:54:13 -0500

Thanks Brian for your comment and the story. I do think/agree that there is such an emphasis on political correctness that is often blinds us from the reality on the ground.

hi

sohbet — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:20:43 -0500

Great site and an fascinating debate you have going on here. Freaky how we have creams to make you pretty or just make your skin lighter to allow you to fit better into society. It's disgusting to know people cannot just be who they are and have needs for creams like this. sohbet

God at the BoP

Brian McCarthy — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:36:17 -0500

We've spent a lot of time in Mexico, specifically Ciudad Juarez where the population is 94% Roman Catholic, and the living conditions are harsh. We've had numerous meetings with residents, business leaders and government officials and no one has shyed away from making Religious references, or sharing personal testimonies that have deepened their faith in God. I'm not sure if there is 'more' faith at the BoP. I truly believe that most of us westerners receive far too much coaching about what to say and not to say to remain politically correct. Subsequently, we're trained to hold back while BoPers speak with 100% honesty. They have freedom from our western 'etiquitte'. Electrical fires are common in these informal settlements. One individual shared with us that the same market had burned down three times, but the wall that bears an image of the Virgin Mary has stayed in tact through all three fires. In the US, this allusion to miracles and/or divine intervention would be as taboo as discussing an alien encounter. Where there is faith, there is hope.