East Timorese President (& Nobel Peace Prize Winner) Reflects on the Priority of Poverty Alleviation after a Failed Assassination Attempt on his Life

There was an interesting commentary on CNN.com recently, written not by a reporter, but by the President of East Timor, who was recently critically wounded by a would-be assassin’s bullets. In José Ramos-Horta’s own words, he describes that he feels he has been given a second chance at life, a second chance to help the poor people of his country.

“I have been asked more than once how the assassination attempt has changed me. I would say that it has, primarily, reaffirmed my personal conviction and my ambition to lift people out of extreme poverty. Today, I have no other goal or ambition. The recent events have only served to reaffirm my lifelong commitment to helping the poor.”

Ramos-Horta sees the attempt on his life as a potential watershed event in the history of his country-an opportunity to turn the corner and . Factions have stopped fighting and that the political system has appeared to be more stabilized in his absence as he recovers in Australia.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/14/ramos.horta/index.html?eref=rss_world

José Ramos-Horta won the Nobel peace Prize in 1996 for his work on developing peaceful solutions in East Timor. A great social networking site that brings people together in support of poverty alleviation is The Community, found at http://www.thecommunity.com/ . Various initiatives include those attached to names like The Dalai Lama, Gorbachev, Carter, and Tutu. Anyone can join and voice their support for these types of efforts and solutions to poverty.

Tupelo Community Development Model makes a big impression!

As a student in the Graduate Program in Economic Development, it is bold to make the statement that this one-day trip was arguably the best lesson I’ve had in economic development thus far. However, I stand by that statement with confidence.

The community of Tupelo is the best example that any developing community can use as a model for progress – a micro-pole with no natural resources, just good people, and solid commitment. The thing that struck me the most about Tupelo was the collective foresight that virtually each and every citizen of the big small town exhibited in their quest for success. There is no serious local government effort to galvanize all the efforts of the private citizens, only the ingenuity, hard work, and resourcefulness of the Community Development Foundation, which is run, shockingly, by only 22 employees. Their industry fostering capabilities have attracted industry giants from across the globe, such as Toyota, to what was once the poorest county in the country.

A most memorable time of the trip for me was during a meeting with some of the founders of the Community Development Foundation, when Henry Ford Jr., a local businessman said, the best way forward is to “Do good and do well.” This incorporates one of the most important lessons I have learned on this trip – that the best way to give is to create a job, which is the best welfare system.

Sait Mboob, Graduate Program in Economic Development

Effective TB programs in the developing world

Since Project Pyramid has returned from Bangladesh, we all have become hyper-tuned to media outlets reporting on the country and its people. NPR has reported a few stories on Bangladesh this month with the following depicting the advancements the country has made towards fighting tuberculosis. TB is a worldwide pandemic that kills nearly 1.5M people annually; yet it can be successfully treated through a daily, usually six-month medication regimen. Many individuals fail to complete their drug schedule for a variety of reasons (which can ultimately lead to drug-resistant strains appearing in communities), so many developing countries have implemented Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) in which community health workers distribute medication daily to TB patients. Patients usually put up a sum of money that will be returned once the treatment is completed, so there is an incentive for the patients to return to the community health worker day after day. This DOT model has made enormous strides towards improving health outcomes and curing people that otherwise would not have completed the full duration of TB treatment. During our trip out to the rural villages of Bangladesh we were able to see BRAC and its community health workers distribute a DOT session. This 6 minute NPR story describes BRAC’s and Bangladesh’s model for controlling TB.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88984787

 

Ashley Lykins, Owen Graduate School of Management

Next Steps for Grameen - Technology?

Getting back into the swing of life and classes after returning from Dhaka has been interesting, and has included emptying out my rather full Inbox. Although, e-mails have a way of bringing back the trip. Case in point: two Fast Company interviews - one older one with Muhammed Yunus (pre-Nobel prize, even) and a more recent one with C.K. Prahalad.

One of the comments that Dr. Yunus made during our conversation with him, was that technology was going to be the next step in the process of introducing micro-credit and other business opportunities to the impoverished. Prahalad also raises this idea in his book, and the applications are out there already in terms of mobile phone banking. However, Grameen Bank's model is largely relationship-based and sociological-based. Introducing technology to create efficiency by "eliminating the middle-man" could have very adverse effects in terms of reducing the ties between borrower and lender, as well as between borrowers as resources for each other. Grameen certainly should look at introducing technology, especially on their back-end to increase their own efficiency. Grameen, or BRAC for that matter, should look at their business model as a high-touch service operation, not just a transaction-based financial institution. Technology should help support that strategy, not supplant it.

Next Step- Sustainable Projects

Since returning to Nashville, I – along with my fellow travelers – have spent time reflecting on our experience in Bangladesh and thinking about how we can use this experience to make the future of Project Pyramid stronger. To build on the “poverty tourism” aspect that we’ve enjoyed thus far, how do we create real projects where we can make a real difference in the communities we visit? There have been some fantastic discussions about how we can create a permanent relationship with one of the villages we visited (namely, Asif’s village), and how we can make a lasting impression on that community through a special gift or project. And this, of course, leads to the question that ultimately lies behind everything that Project Pyramid stands for: how do we create sustainable business in a way that helps to alleviate poverty?

Our brainstorming sessions have resulted in many, many innovative and exciting ideas. Some possibilities that we are currently exploring are aimed at improving the local school, including starting a library, funding the construction of a new science lab, and even bringing in internet access. All of these ideas would be phenomenal gestures of goodwill – but sustainable business? Not so much. So we’ve further extended our discussions to look into projects that could be ongoing, from year-to-year, class-to-class. An opportunity for students to hit the ground running and contribute to a real project that is making a real difference. One of my favorite ideas at the moment (unfortunately I cannot take credit for this one) is potentially setting up our own micro-lending operation. The loans would be available to villagers looking to launch their own business, or even to expand or improve an existing business. Repaid loans would be returned to the primary fund, and any interest earned through this venture could be set aside to achieve larger capital projects – such as buying equipment that could help a farmer automate his work and become more productive, or perhaps building a science lab for the school.

Just a thought though, and always open to hearing other suggestions for innovative opportunities to make a difference.

Abby Smith, Owen Graduate School of Management

Prove the Pessimists Wrong

Before we left on our trip to Bangladesh The Tennessean had an article on our endeavor of Project Pyramid. Although the article itself was generous and warm in nature, the responses to this article on the newspaper’s website were not nearly as accepting or friendly in timbre. The majority of comments called us rich, white students who wanted to go do our liberal duty to give lip service to the Bengalis and feel a warm fuzzy feeling in response. Those comments cut deep when I read them and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen- feeling a bit of fear of that actually happening in any kind of organization that involves the goal of poverty alleviation. I honestly wanted this trip to be more than just sightseeing, talking with some teachers and doctors and then coming home to my comfortable bed. Thankfully, the trip wasn’t that. We got to know people, began to understand their fears and struggles and got a sense of what life in Bangladesh is like. There were times when I felt we were getting quite preferential treatment, but those moments were balanced out when our guards acted as reminders that our safety would be greatly compromised if we didn’t have that treatment.

It is difficult to say what we accomplished on the trip, due to the nature of its design. Since we were there specifically for the purpose of information gathering and relationship building, there were no real concrete results. We hadn’t built any new houses, we didn’t help harvest any rice or sign any resolutions with companies. That nature of our trip makes the long-term implications of Project Pyramid so much more important. Because we are working towards a larger systematic treatment of this disease, not just a short-term fix for the symptom the work we are doing is not going to be drastic, sensational or exciting, at first. We will need prolonged faculty and student support for action and thoughtful dialogue. We will also need financial assistance from those interested in solving problems in this manner of partnerships and creative solutions. Those of you who are actually reading this blog probably fall into this category and we need your help and insights for our work. Help us prove those pessimistic critics who initially responded with fear and contrived results to our Tennessean article that we are not going to be limited to the failures of the past, but that we are attempting to build bridges with people across the world to brave new worlds where partnerships flourish through a shared interest.

Steve Mason, Divinity School

Coexistence

One of the most interesting aspects of the villages that we visited was the religious diversity that peacefully existed there. While Bangladesh is primarily Muslim (over 80%), it also has large minority populations of other religious groups – predominantly Hindu (15%) and Buddhist and Christian. While tensions between religious groups create social friction in many areas of the world today, there seemed to be a remarkably amiable cohabitation of land among different religious peoples in Bangladesh. The most prevalent mixture of religion groups that we saw in the villages were Muslims and Hindus. While religious affiliation and practice theoretically divided these people, physical proximity and common purpose did not. It appeared that these people worked, played, and lived amongst one another. I was told that it is not unusual for people from different religions in the same village to even marry one another. While these few villages that I visited provide just a microcosmic view of what life is like in Bangladesh, they represent for me an intriguing picture of what this world could be like if we were more concerned with knowing, living with, and understanding the people around us, and less fettered by the differences that may exist between us.

Ben Konecny, Divinity School

Our Celebrity Status

Hands down, the strangest part of this adventure has our celebrity status.  White people are a rarity in the capital city and (literally!) a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those in the villages, which means our visits into the villages could be especially intense.  During our stay at Joyshagor Farms, a few of us decided to venture out into the local markets and were absolutely mobbed.  I’d estimate that within 15 minutes we were surrounded by over 100 people.  While our followers did tend to encroach upon our personal space a bit, they were completely benign in intention, simply curious to know what the crazy white folks were doing there.  So they followed us from one market stand to the next, watching as we shopped for fabrics, bought local junk food and knives (Ryan), sampled tea from a roadside stand, and chewed beetle leaves (Rob).  Occasionally shopkeepers would pull Ryan or Rob or someone in to sit down for a few moments, telling them that their visit to the store – even if they didn’t buy anything – would increase their sales the next day.  After wandering around for awhile, the crowds had become a little overwhelming (little did we know how the next day would unfold…) and we flagged down a few rickshaw carts to take us home.

The following day brought us to Asif’s village, where the local school had planned an elaborate celebration to welcome us – we estimated that 4,000 (or so) villagers came for the event, and to see us.  As we entered the schoolyard, we walked single file through the throngs of people and made our way to the VIP seating area under a beautifully colored tent.  After brief introductory remarks from the head of the school, Asif, Bart and Graham, the events were underway.  The crowds cheered for the footraces, some of the older children marched in formation (they even saluted us!), and girls in gorgeous red and yellow saris danced around the field with streamers in their hands and bells on their feet.  And at the end of the event, we actually took a lap around the schoolyard, waving to the crowd, shaking hands with those in the front row, and smiling at the small children.  One of my classmates commented that it was like being an Olympic athlete walking into the opening ceremonies – and it was.  A mutual fascination between the resident Bengalis and the visiting Americans.

Abby Smith, Owen Graduate School of Management

Driving in Bangladesh: A Real Life Game of Chicken

I always “enjoy” experiencing the different driving styles of foreign countries.  Bangladesh was no exception.  One of the first things I noticed after arriving in Dhaka was the massive number of people – something that should not have been a surprise seeing has it houses 150 million people and is the most densely populated country in the world.

Sharing the road with our minibus was large buses, cars, trucks, motorized rickshaws, people, and brightly decorated - bicycle driven rickshaws; each and every person on the road felt that they had the right of way – whether there was a red light in front of them or not.  This attitude made for many interesting bus rides.  As we travelled in and out of Dhaka, we grabbed our seats, closed our eyes, and constantly prayed that we wouldn’t hit a pedestrian, crash into a rickshaw, or collide with an on-coming bus that had joined our lane.  The villages were no different than the cities, with smaller roads and more pot-holes we were always in for a long but interesting trip.

      On Wednesday, a group of us headed to Grameen Danone and a Bangladesh monument.  Somewhere along the trip, our attitude towards the driving changed.  We no longer feared what would happen next and, instead, began to chant the driver’s name, encouraging him to go faster, pass more cars, and generally be more daring.  We didn’t need to visit any amusement parks in Bangladesh – we had found our own thrilling “rides.”  While I had a lot of fun riding around in Bangladesh, I cannot imagine even attempting to drive around in the madness.

I do have some questions about countries to be more or less “law abiding”

in terms of their driving.  Certainly population plays a role, but what about government policies and the economy?  Does driving improve as the economy improves or is it more dependent on government regulation and control over the actions of the people?  What about poverty?  There were many beggars running up to cars whenever we stopped, certainly not helping the chaotic situation.  Alleviation of poverty, an improvement in the economy, and a more established government all relate, and as these things occur in Bangladesh I suspect the driving situation will improve.  But what would be the main cause? and when will it actually improve – years later or immediately?  I also wonder: Are there more accidents in Bangladesh than other countries, including the US?  Or, are people more alert when driving, actually lowering the rate of accidents?

I guess I’ll just have to go back to Bangladesh in a few years and find out how it has changed!

Susan Carter, Economics PHD Candidate, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Collection of Thoughts

There's been something very clean for me to speak about how things are in Haiti or Palestine.  In this place, things are this way.  There, things are like this or that.  In Haiti, children eat dirt cookies.

In Palestine children have no plumbing.

In Bangladesh, it is bamboo being labored over and hauled around - - not sugar cane.  In Bangladesh, children are not running from bulldozers, rather, they suffer a no-win battle with the rainy season.

In Bangladesh I now know that poverty is not specified and particular.  Extreme poverty looks almost the same everywhere.  And it is heartbreaking.  That sweet smell of pollution and human waste crosses political boundaries.

The rickshaw, however, is special. Today, while traveling two hours away to interview micro-loan borrowers in villages, I watched hundreds of them on the streets.  I likened them to sacred canopies, life-giving and vibrant with color, perhaps serving as shields.

Kate Burke, Divinity School

As an American, it is so easy to take so much for granted. It is easy to underestimate how much of our daily lives and quality of life is dependent on government and legal structure. Being in Bangladesh has brought that to my attention. Several specific areas that I have seen are:

·       Trash - There is so much trash in the streets and on the ground

·       Streets – The quality of the streets are very poor. Holes and crumbling pavement are the norm, especially as you move out of Dhaka into the country. This (as well as the narrowness of the roads) makes transportation slow and seemingly inefficient. I can see how this impacts the ability of companies to move into the area as it makes it time consuming to transport goods.

·       Law – We had the circumstance where our van was hit by a bus (we were not in it). The van hit a rickshaw and we were told that the rickshaw driver had been sent to the hospital and had possibly died. When I asked about what would happen to the bus driver, I was told that he would pay a fine and if he could not afford the fine, he would go to prison. The consequences seem light for those who can afford to buy their way out.

Prior to coming to Bangladesh I thought that the majority of company responsibility when operating in a community was to provide safe and clean work environments and livable wages for its employees. I now think it is about much more. We need to think about employees holistically and make sure that they have access to quality healthcare, education for their children, and food on the table.  A company’s commitment to these things has the ability to ensure quality workforce for themselves and the ability to transform communities from poverty.

Margaret Foster, Owen Graduate School of Management

Grameen and BRAC have very different micro-credit models.  They both lend to the “poorest of the poor”, but approach it in different ways.  Grameen is strictly a bank, no additional training or guidance involved for the borrower or the community.  BRAC takes a more holistic view by providing education for children and legal education for women.  Which approach is better is a matter of opinion.  The one trait they both have in common is the repeat borrowing.  Many borrowers continue request and receive money from both organizations, increasing the amounts each time.  This may show the availability of credit for the poor, but it calls into question the use of the loans and the community affect of these programs.

            A business that has to continually borrow each year to continue to operate is not a sustainable enterprise.  For example, many of the borrowers invested in livestock and borrowed money to pay for the care and food for the animals.  If the loan money is needed to feed the livestock, then the revenue generated from the business is not enough.  The other issue that arises is if you are not borrowing from these organizations within the village, you are not a part of the community.  Your neighbors and friends belong to the organization and attend the meetings are involved in various classes or groups.  A person could feel pressured to borrow more money just to be included in the community.  As a result the borrower could become overextended financially, which is extremely dangerous for someone living at the poverty level.

            Both organizations have done a tremendous amount of good, and have allowed many people to access credit who would otherwise not have it available to them.  However, the subtle pressure that is placed on the borrower and the progressive borrowing is disconcerting.

LaDonna Thornton, Owen Graduate School of Management

Seeing the injustices of life in Bangladesh make me all the more aware of human interconnectivity.  The way we live affects the way our human brothers and sisters live in Bangladesh.  One can easily forget the way in which our Western extravagances—hoarding the world’s resources, for example—take a toll on our fellow human beings until we come face to face and nose to nose with it.  I witnessed an excellent example of this profound interrelatedness on our return trip as I waited in the Houston airport, suddenly surrounded by white people.  All I could think was, “We are all so big!”   Our Bangladeshi translators told us about how thin, short, and small they are compared to their ancestors.  Americans, on the other hand, face a national obesity crisis. 

I firmly believe that we should avoid trying to compartmentalize or explain away the poverty that we saw in Bangladesh.  As Vanderbilt students, we have been given a rare opportunity to witness the way in which most of the world lives.  As such, we should meditate with repentance and sorrow as to our own participation in the systems that perpetuate extreme poverty in nations like Bangladesh.

Emily Sullivan, Divinity School