Menot-Ö-Fest Raises Over Four Thousand

GENESIS Executive Director Adam Swartzbaugh thanks the crowd for coming.

Robert Moreau

Research Analyst/Outreach

As Tom Waits put it, “a little rain never hurt no one.”

Despite drizzly conditions, about 400 people crowded inside and outside Menotomy Beer and Wine in Arlington, MA for the store’s second annual Menot-Ö-Fest, an annual charity event to help the GENESIS Network.

The result was the raising of about $4200 for the construction of a new schoolhouse in Hok Pha Lae, Thailand.

“It’s just so nice to see people show up and donate to something that’s going to help people out,” said Menotomy employee Lucas Schleicher.

About twenty-eight area brewers, including Sam Adams, Long Trail, Mayflower, Shipyard, 50 Back, and others had tables set for the gathering, and a door payment of $3 bought customers a glass. Raffle prizes included a Jim Koch-signed Sam Adams Utopia bottle, and Meat House Arlington served BBQ plates of steak and chicken for $8.

Fest-goers line up to try some beer.

Though some Fest-goers knew about GENESIS, others were finding out about the organization for the first time. Through the chatter and companionship over a good brew that defied the rain, it was apparent that everyone was having a good time.

“This is awesome. No one even cares that it’s raining,’ said Dave Rostosil.

“I think it’s great,” said Katie Chiasson.

The accumulated money will be a substantial help to GENESIS as it continues its project, with funds needed for supplies such as books as well as building materials. The opportunity to support a good cause while bringing brewers together is something that Menotomy owner Neil Duggan said will keep the Menot-Ö-Fest alive for years to come.

“We’re going to be doing this (as) our main beer fest forever,” he said.

Robert Moreau is Research Analyst/Outreach for the GENESIS Network. A 2008 Master’s graduate of the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Regional Economic and Social Development, Moreau has been working for GENESIS since July 2009. His work has included freelance newspaper pieces and a newsletter published for a Lowell-area social services agency in 2008.

Can human trafficking be stopped? CNN’s Hero of the Year may have the answer.

Robert Moreau

Research Analyst/Outreach

Maiti Nepal founder Anuradha Koirala, winner of the 2010 CNN Hero of the Year award.

The serious issue of human trafficking stepped onto the front of world attention with Maiti Nepal founder Anuradha Koirala’s achievement of the 2010 CNN Hero of the Year award in November.

Established in 1993, Maiti Nepal has grown from an association of 210 awareness activists from different fields into an organization that has helped around 12,000 women and children.

With the global spotlight on Anurdha Koirala and Maiti Nepal, we should learn from their success. How is Maiti Nepal truly innovative? And as GENESIS is working in Thailand near the Burmese border with its Kid Launch project, how can that region benefit from Maiti Nepal’s example?

Total Care

Maiti Nepal works in a country recovering from a ten-year civil war which ended in 2006; in addition to the trafficking victims it shelters, Maiti Nepal is also caring for 621 child victims of the conflict.

Nepal’s poverty rate is debated; the country’s National Planning Commission listed it at 25.4 percent in July, while Oxford University listed it as 65 percent, taking a comprehensive view “on the basis of nutrition, electricity, food, energy, drinking water and sanitation, maternal mortality, student enrollment, livelihood and availability of property,” as noted by ekantipur.com in a July 16 article.

Regardless, the CIA World Factbook calls Nepal “among the poorest and least developed countries in the world…(where) agriculture…(provides) a livelihood for three-fourths of the population.” The median age of its population is only 21 years old.

The desire of young people to leave in search of a better life is a main reason the country is a center of trafficking, as a 2008 Women News Network piece called “Lost Daughters” notes

“So, why are most brothel owners (In India) interested much more in owning girls from Nepal versus girls from India…villages like Ichowk, Mahankal and Talmarang in the Sindhupalchowk district in northern central Nepal are full of girls who are more than anxious for a better life.”

A Nepalese mother holds a picture of her missing daughter, who was trafficked to India. From the 2008 Women News Network article "Lost Daughters."

According to the U.S. State Department in 2009, India is the destination for about 10-15,000 trafficking victims per year. Apart from India, over one million Nepalese work abroad mostly in Gulf states, where deception by employers including forced labor conditions is a significant issue. Lastly, about 20,000 to 25,000 girls enter forced labor and 7,500 children annually are trafficked for sex domestically.

Even after escaping, survivors face a social stigma. “Often Nepal society blames the victims of sex-trafficking, not the traffickers, for choosing a “life of immorality,” notes “Lost Daughters.” Other societal issues regarding the position of women in society as well as attitudes towards sexual matters and HIV/AIDS also contribute towards marginalization of victims.

Due to the issue’s complexity, the organization takes an all-encompassing view of it as related to education, opportunity, and society. Its goal, noted The Rising Nepal, is to “help these girls become economically independent by training them in some skills and reintegrate them into the society.”

To that end, Maiti Nepal runs three prevention homes. It explains “Girls who are at risk of being trafficked are sheltered… they receive counseling, training in income generating skills.”

Besides skills training, Maiti Nepal advocates for improved worker rights in restaurants and dance bars, which are prostitution centers. These establishments are placed into three categories: cabin restaurants, restaurants, and dance bars, with cabin restaurants are at the bottom rung of the system. In a 2005 Sanjaal Gantan piece called “Bar Girls of Kathmandu,” Sudeshna Sarkar wrote

“The cabin restaurants are the most dangerous for women employees …[where] the worst form of sexual exploitation is on the cards…After an inexperienced girl has done a stint in a cabin restaurant…she moves on to the dance bars…in between dance numbers, [she] has to come and sit at the client’s table for a consideration. There could be proposals for more. While some bars let her do what she wants, some pressure her to oblige.”

Nepal Restaurant Entrepreneurs Association President Yogendra Chaulagain was quoted as saying that an estimated 75 percent of the around 30,000 Kathmandu employees are 18-25. Maiti Nepal’s Aprana Shresta argued that in fact over half are children. A lack of certified data compounds the problem.

Various steps Maiti Nepal has advocated include identity cards and uniforms for employees, job guarantees and fixed working hours, and bans on child workers.

Lastly, it provides legal services to victims; Maiti Nepal has helped convict 496 traffickers so far.

Raising Awareness and Victim Involvement

Former trafficking victims work a patrol on the Indian border. Patrols are one critical way Maiti Nepal directly involves survivors in its organization.

Another critical component of Maiti Nepal’s success is its ability to raise awareness of human trafficking to the broader public using diverse groups. Healthlink Worldwide notes “mobilizing people through outreach work…is the key to changing attitudes, but it takes time for people for people to accept trafficking as “our problem” rather than something that happens to other people.”

One critical group is young people, who are most at-risk for trafficking. Maiti Nepal states

“involvement of young people as educators through plays, talk shows, discussions, songs, and real life stories not only gives trafficking a human face, but it also helps to reduce stigma and discrimination by providing a forum for community members to discuss the issue and build shared accountability for preventive action.”

One example of this ongoing involvement is a school oratory competition that took place in October.

Trafficking survivors play a role in the organization, creating a visible presence. “Another cool, even badass, component of Maiti Nepal? An active border patrol made up of trafficking survivors who can spot the crime a mile away and stop it in its tracks,” noted Angela Longerbeam on change.org. The average rate of girls saved per day by these patrols, which are coordinated with Nepali police, is four.

Survivors in the organization have created a cultural troop that puts on performances related to the issue as well as taking up other positions such as vocational trainers.

How can this be applied to Thailand/Burma?

Burmese Rohingya refugees apprehended by the Thai navy. Thailand has faced criticism for its failure to create a consistent policy for Burmese refugees escaping persecution.

As mentioned, the Kid Launch program is one of GENESIS’ major initiatives. Active in a village in Sangklaburi District of Kanchanaburi province in Thailand, near the Burmese border, it works to provide “community education and outreach in support of children that may not otherwise have access to schooling,” including the construction of a new schoolhouse.

Kid Launch works in an area where mass migration is creating an environment ripe for trafficking. A report by the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University states “in 2002, it was estimated that 10,000 women and children from Myanmar enter into prostitution in Thailand every year alone.”

The reasons so many Burmese are fleeing to Thailand are to flee persecution and junta rule. A 2009 Congressional report states “over 3,200 ethnic villages in Burma have been destroyed since 1996 affecting over one million people. Probably more than 300,000 have fled to Thailand as refugees (the majority being Shan and not recognized by the Thai government).”

Thailand has historically lacked protections for victims; the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation states “trafficked Burmese women and girls are considered illegal immigrants in Thailand. They are arrested, detained and deported back to Burma.”As of 2004, the deportation figure of Burmese workers from Thailand was over 10,000 per month.

The Thai government created a law recognizing a protected status for trafficking victims in 1997, but it was criticized for not taking into account male trafficking victims as well as labor workers. It allowed police to detain those it suspects to be victims of trafficking, but not traffickers.

The BBC, in a June 2008 article, noted of the confusion in status “A case in point is that of the survivors of an incident two months ago in which 57 Burmese migrants suffocated in a container smuggling them into Thailand. The police argued that they were illegal immigrants, jailed and deported them.”

After an earlier incident in 2007 where several deaths occurred after Rohingya fleeing persecution were forced back to Burma on motorless boats, two NGOs demanded the Thai government give consistent human rights protection to Burmese refugees.

International criticism led to the creation of a newer law in 2008 to establish penalties for traffickers.

In Thailand, NGOS have historically been the main party in repatriating victims. With the 1997 law, the government has taken on an increased role mandating “victims of trafficking to be placed under custody of the….Ministry of Social Development and Human Security” and given health checks, counseling as well as vocational development training if needed.

It is good that the Thai government has recently been taking steps to further address the issue, but a consistent policy must be applied with regard to Burmese refugees. More avenues of cooperation with the NGO sector should be emphasized, for example pursuing the idea of border patrols similar to the ones Maiti Nepal conducts alongside the Nepalese government.

Beyond this, a general lesson from Maiti Nepal’s success is that NGOs should embed themselves into the society. Of course, a network such as Maiti Nepal’s is the product of years of time and effort. But prevention initiatives and awareness within communities are achievable.

In its Kid Launch project, the GENESIS Network is operating on this principle through emphasizing education as a preventative tool, with the goal of ensuring its school and support initiatives in Sangklaburi can be sustained by the community itself. Though it is a relatively smaller initiative, it provides an example of the kind of efforts that should be made.

Questions for discussion: What intrigues you the most about Maiti Nepal’s success? How do you think GENESIS and other NGOs working in Burma/Thailand as well as other areas can learn from it? What specific challenges on the Thai/Burmese border area may make it difficult to use an organization in Nepal as a model? Answers to these, as well as any other questions and comments are more than appreciated.

How can microcredit lift families from poverty?

Robert Moreau

Research Analyst/Outreach

GENESIS's Mi Cometa project hopes to bring assistance to 157 families

Presently, GENESIS will be supporting a microcredit initiative to bring relief and opportunity to 157 families in South Guasmo, Guayaquil, Ecuador. The Mi Cometa project hopes to create small business and economic growth in an area where families averaging five members live on monthly incomes of only U.S. $250, using an approach that has achieved global prominence as a way to reduce poverty.

A short introduction to microcredit

As noted by Empower Global, microcredit “involves providing small sums of capital, often as little as $75, to micro entrepreneurs to enable them to establish or expand their business and become self-reliant.” These small businesses, the summary goes on to note, employ “two people (usually a husband & wife, and benefits an entire family which on average consists of five people (a husband, wife & three children).”

On microcredit’s potential, Empower Global summarizes: “each micro-loan funds 1,000 businesses, creating or supporting 2,000 jobs and helping to transform the lives of 5,000 impoverished people.” These loans have an “impressive track record” of 95-98 percent repayment rates.

Though “microcredit” may seem to be a fairly new concept, its history dates back to 1976 when Dr. Muhammad Yunus of the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh founded the Grameen Bank as a pilot project in the village of Jobra. By 1983, it was formally incorporated as an independent bank.

Microcredit’s greatest successes came in 2005, when the UN celebrated in International Year of Microcredit, and 2006, when Dr. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work with Grameen.

Microcredit program example (diagram), Vietnamese Heritage Institute

Examples of microcredit organizations/projects

Grameen Bank (Bangladesh): The organization that started microfinancing, Grameen currently has 2,564 branches in 81,351 villages, with a total staff of 23,133. Since its inception, it has paid out Tk 522.24 billion ($9.09 billion in loans), with 463.24 billion (US $8.05 billion) repaid. 95 percent of the bank’s total equity is owned by its borrowers.
Ruwentu Women’s Micro-credit program (Uganda): Started by the Umoja Operation Compassion Society of British Columbia, this project began in 2007 when the organization raised $1,000 to lend to ten women (about $60 each) in the village of Ruwentu to start various businesses. As of February 2009, the project scope expanded to 23 beneficiaries.
BancoSol (Bolivia): Originally founded in 1986 as the “Fundacion para Promocion el Desarollo de la Microempresa,” BancoSol became the first commercial bank specializing in microfinance in 1992. Today it is active in eight major cities in Bolivia, and has over 100 branches. As of 2008, it had 109,763 active borrowers. Its status as a commercial bank has led to some concern over mission drift.
World Job and Food Bank (various): A Canada-based organization with United Nations (ECOSOC) consultative status, the WJFB grew out of the Calgary Interfaith Food bank starting in 1982 and was formally registered as a charity in 1986. Their various initiatives have included two three-year (2001-2004) microcredit projects in Peru and Bolivia.

As should be noted, no single approach towards eradicating poverty is an instant cure-all, and microcredit itself has not been without controversy. However, microcredit has proven itself over its 34-year history to be an effective and novel tool to enable families to lift themselves into self-sufficiency.

Mi Cometa (GENESIS): Building on microcredit’s success

The Mi Cometa initiative looks to continue microcredit’s strong history of enabling opportunity for those in need. Focusing on an area where the average income is less than half of what is required for an adequate living in Ecuador, its goal is to work with families through education as well as loan-granting, with a 50-hour training program covering such diverse areas as microcredit, marketing, and leadership.

GENESIS is hoping to raise $17,500.00 for this initiative, and any donation is appreciated.

Reader Questions: What do you think of microcredit as a way to address global poverty? What benefits or drawbacks (mentioned or not in this post) do you see it as having? What do you think about GENESIS’s Mi Cometa project in terms of what it offers or could offer? Responses to these, as well as all other questions and comments, are strongly encouraged.

How can GENESIS and other NGOs help sustainable development in Haiti?

Operation Hydrate Haiti project photo

Robert Moreau

Research Analyst/Outreach

Currently, the GENESIS Network has started a relief and development program in Western Haiti. Partnered with Aqua Safe Straw, Operation Hydrate Haiti is working to bring filtration systems to nearly 1,000 people in need of clean drinking water. The project, with 85 percent of funding completed, has thus far provided

Hundreds of filtration systems, with nearly 120,000 gallons of drinking water provided.
Hundreds of pounds of first aid supplies and medical equipment
Clothing and tents

Locations visited by GENESIS in a recent trip were a nunnery in Port-au-Prince, a school in Carrefour, and a group of orphanages in Leogane.

The project, as noted, is a short-term aid measure, providing water until more sustainable development solutions are implemented. And as the focus turns from immediate relief to building for the future, aid groups can play a strong role.

Long-term development in Haiti: Relief strategies and the role of NGOs

Before the earthquake, Haiti boasted 4,000 to 10,000 NGOs active in the country, one of the highest per capita ratios in the world. The international relief effort has added to that number, with 318 groups being registered on the United Nations’ database.

The March 10 Miami Herald piece that noted these figures also revealed a culture of sometimes intense competition among aid groups, including disputes between workers of who does what.

“On a charter flight to Miami, competing doctors get into a shouting match before takeoff…at a search-and-rescue operation, one international team claiming ownership of the effort asks another to leave-although the departing group has the equipment to do the job.”

The incredible international aid relief campaign has donated over $2 billion, almost all of it to NGOs. But with disorganization, can aid groups make a meaningful impact? Indeed, there have been calls to have aid groups reigned in favor of more focus on the Haitian government.

One criticism of the aid effort has been misdirected resources. Another has been that short-term aid creates temporary jobs for Haitians, but little in terms of long-term development. Nathan Hodge, in a February 12 piece for Wired, describes the concern

“The rapid influx of NGOs and international organizations creates a unique mini-economy, with a demand for drivers, fixers, translators, security and other services. In the short-term, that’s not a bad thing. It provides well-paying jobs for those with the right skills. But it often draws desperately needed talent away from critical sectors of the economy…and it’s a poor imitation of trickle-down economics.”

In the effort to rebuild Haiti, there is no shortage of organizations that can potentially make an impact. But disorganization, accountability concerns and competition are barriers to a structured effort, and initiatives should focus on helping Haitians create long-term self sufficiency.

coffee co-op farmer, nothern Haiti

One possible major project is a revival of the country’s coffee industry, a potential strong export. During the 18^th Century Haitian coffee thrived, but since independence the industry had long been plagued by disaster; during the military dictatorship and U.S. boycott during the 1990s, Haitian farmers burned coffee trees for charcoal.

However, coffee remained the country’s chief agricultural export through the 1980s. The industry would enter a brief period of resurgence in the 1990s when a USAID program organized small farmers into a cooperative producing Haitian Bleu, a new fair trade-certified bean that had a very strong initial run in North America and Europe before consistency issues and corruption-plagued export processes took their toll. In recent years, most of this crop was destroyed by hurricanes.

In spite of the difficulties the coffee-making industry has faced, Haitian coffee remains a favorite among many. Revival proposals have included bringing back Haitian Bleu as well as nurturing other taste profiles, emphasizing the need for training and equipment for Haitian farmers and noting the success of the SPREAD Project in Rwanda.

As noted by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Haitian economy “will have a simple structure in the coming years” and rebuilding agricultural areas along with re-establishing a manufacturing sector are necessary for Haiti’s recovery moving forward. One approach that could make an impact here is the use of micro-financing loans to promote small business.

Moving forward

Operation Hydrate Haiti has done a successful job providing filtration and other supplies to those in need. However, as noted, it is a short-term relief initiative, and promoting ongoing development in the devastated country is of critical importance moving forward. GENESIS, along with other organizations, looks forward to a role in helping Haiti build for the future.

Reader questions: What are your thoughts on the role of NGOs in Haiti moving forward? In what ways are they a help or hindrance, and how should efforts be coordinated? What roles could GENESIS have in promoting sustainable development in Haiti? All comments and questions are welcomed.

How education can make a difference in Ghana

By Robert Moreau

Research Assistant/Outreach

map of Ghana, UNGEI

Currently, GENESIS is undertaking an education support initiative in West Mamprusi, Northern District, Ghana. The Center for Youth and Women Empowerment’s goals are to make school supplies available for students to reduce drop-out rates, provide support for children and parents, and promote education for adolescent girls. Through these steps, GENESIS hopes to help create change in one of the country’s historically poorer areas.

Currently, Ghana is making great strides in its development, “[emerging] as a leading country in the Western and Central Africa region” as noted by IFAD’s Rural Poverty Portal. The most recent poverty figure in the country is 28.5 percent, almost half of its former figure in the beginning of the 1990s.

Education is a critical reason for this decline; since the government abolished school fees in 2005, enrollment has increased sharply, going from a 59.1 to 68.8 percent net primary enrollment from 2004-05 to 2005-06. However, a poverty gap persists in the rural north.

In rectifying this situation, education for women is crucial. Ama Achiaa Amankwah, in an August 2008 AllAfrica.com piece, notes “the impact of women in Ghana cannot be underestimated” as they “form over 52% of the country’s population.” Women are guaranteed legal equality, but social and economic pressures tied to a traditional social role as homemakers, as well as a lack of potable water and sanitation facilities have impaired education for girls. As of 2004, the adult literacy rate for females was 75% of the male rate, while for youth it was 86%. Gender parity rates for primary schools have improved since the abolition of school fees, though there is still work to be done.

Ghana has done much to improve educational access and emphasize girls’ schooling, though there is still work to be done. Through projects such as GENESIS’ Center initiative, NGOs and philanthropists can help make a positive impact.

21st Century Aid: How can social media build humanitarian movements?

By Robert Moreau

Research Analyst/Outreach

social media landscape

Early on into the second decade of the 21^st century, new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are unlocking a revolution in how people understand and interact with the world. A 2008 online poll by We Media/Zogby found that almost half of respondents used the internet as their primary news source, with a majority in the 18-29 demographic. The rise of the internet and Web 2.0 has brought with it immense opportunities for increasing awareness of local and global issues, but also concerns about traditional journalism’s future as it tries to adapt.

More notable about social media’s rise is how it is going beyond simply reporting news to complementing and even creating movements, as activists are using its power to unite people. And as the examples of UNCHR’s innovations and the ongoing Haiti relief effort reveal, it is transforming how humanitarian aid campaigns are conducted and moving potential volunteers into direct action.

UNHCR

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the UN agency coordinating refugee aid. Today, it is active helping 34 million refugees in 110 countries, with a staff of around 6,600.

Afghan refugees, deported from Iran

UNHCR is emerging as a leader in new media and networking; according to Claudia Gonzales, former head of Public Relations and Special Projects for the agency, “in the two years I was working there, I saw the transformation of an entire organization and the way they communicated about the refugee crisis…from being an organization that was conservative to be the leading organization that is using social media in the United Nations.” UNHCR’s presence today includes over 1 million followers on Twitter, putting it in the top 200 for subscriptions. It also has Facebook and Myspace pages, a Youtube channel, and Flickr gallery, enabling it to communicate information.

Two of UNHCR’s recent notable campaigns are:

Its 2008 World Refugee Day campaign, which featured a YouTube video calling for viewer responses, producing $1 dollar per posted response. A “Give Refugees a Hand” Facebook application released one day before World Refugee Day added users three times faster than a typical app. Google, MSN, and others promoted the campaign on their home pages.
The Gimme Shelter campaign, launched in December 2008 and featuring a series of short films by Ben Affleck set to the tune of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and filmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. An example can be seen here. A Facebook Gimme Shelter Cause page was also created.

The real success of UNHCR’s social media effort, Gonzales notes, is the fact that communication is a “two-way street” where “the UNHCR team engages in a conversation…where they want to know what people are saying,” even using online communities to test outreach ideas. She also says that learning how to engage potential supporters with a message of hope is important. “The tone matters…how do you actually make sure you are bringing up the refugee issues into people’s minds in a way that is human?” Through means such as enabling refugees to share their stories directly, UNHCR has met with success.

The Haiti relief effort: New media’s maturation moment?

The impact of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti is still being felt today, as the country tries to regain its footing. On

Haiti aid volunteers

February 22, Haitian President Rene Preval stated the death toll “might reach 300,000 people” with various issued estimates ranging from 170,000 to 270,000. The Al-Jazeera article Preval was quoted in also noted 1.5 million people still live in tent cities in Port-au-Prince, and over $2 billion total combined from private donors and the United Nations being pledged for the country’s reconstruction.

Immediately after the disaster and in the absence of official sources, social media played a critical role in giving the world a view of what was going on in the country, and who needed help. Rich McKinney, in a January 17 posting on Social Media Storm, noted that “Untold news stories have been published of people who are still alive and trapped under rubble and able to text, tweet or post to Facebook their location, and their desperate need for help,” then noting a NY Daily News story describing how a medical plane was able to be landed through Twitter.

Traditional media outlets also relied on online content, with the BBC tweeting from the ground and CNN using citizen-created iReports, as well as citing blog postings and twitter feeds as material for news stories. As Dallas News noted in a January 30 article “many believe the Haiti relief efforts have elevated social media from bit player to starring role” as a global communication medium during a major event.

ICT use also enabled alarmed watchers of the tragedy to make an impact as donors and even volunteers. Two major examples are:

The Red Cross’s Haiti text message campaign, which raised $7 million in its first two days, has been at the forefront of a historic mobile giving drive. By January 21, over $30 million had been donated to Haiti relief efforts, leading Verizon’s Jeffrey Nelson to call it “the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history-by far.”
The formation of Crisis Camps, where computer experts have volunteered to create maps of areas struck by the quake, as well improved family locator and information services. The first Crisis camp was launched at USC, and the concept has spread as far as Canada, Colombia and London.

Though social media has its limits as to what it can do, there is no doubt that it has made a tremendous impact in enabling the humanitarian aid campaign for Haiti.

The GENESIS Network: harnessing new media’s potential

Genesis education initiative, Ghana

Since its founding in 2008, the GENESIS Network has actively sought to create a new standard for using social media to make a positive difference in the world. With four current initiatives-in Thailand, Ghana, Ecuador, and Haiti-GENESIS “uses social networking to develop international human rights projects…[including] building schools, economic development and orphan protection.” By using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative project analysis, it also presents a measure of accountability that surpasses other sources.

With the launch of its new website, GENESIS is working to take its model to the next level, guided by these five principles:

“Networking: People are our greatest resource. GENESIS brings individuals, organizations and companies together to develop and collaborate on a wide range of projects. As we expand our network of people, we likewise expand the network of resources from which any one person or project may draw.

Resource Sharing: GENESIS brings people together to meet, connect and share resources all in one spot.

Local Empowerment: We enable people to better use the resources they have or are given. They in turn teach others and the cycle continues.

Sustainability: We seek long-term solutions to problems by addressing the root causes and eliminating them through people and resources.

Transparency: We’re always happy to see the results of our hard work. Project transparency and responsibility are our top priorities.”

Moving into the future, GENESIS is working to build on its successes, expanding and improving its scope of projects and its ability to use social media to ensure that potential donors and volunteers are connected with those who need their help the most.

Reader questions: Moving forward, what are your impressions of GENESIS thus far? How has using the network enabled you to build connections and gain confidence in where your donations are going? Where do you think it could improve? What would you like to see in the future? And what do you think of the new website? All questions and comments are more than appreciated, and go a long way in finding out how GENESIS is benefitting, and can further benefit, you.

Urgent: Give the gift of education this holiday season.

The Genesis Network is building its second primary school in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The new building, which will provide primary education to over 200 at-risk children in one of the country’s poorest areas, is the second being constructed under its Kid Launch project.

Currently in Thailand, almost one million children lack access to school, which leaves them vulnerable to the country’s extensive prostitution industry and human trafficking. Nearly 800,000 are employed as prostitutes. In response to the need for support, the Genesis Network initiated Kid Launch in the summer of 2008, with the goal of providing education and economic development in villages that ask for its assistance.

To complete this task, however, we need your support. Currently, there are two ways to give:

• We are currently accepting donations on our website. Make a donation.

• Thanksgiving/Holiday Cards: Businesses can purchase and send $50 gift cards as a way to donate. Give a card that helps.

Currently, we have raised 77 percent and making a huge push to achieve 100 percent funding this month, with the goal of completing construction by early December.

Please help us out in any way you can. Any contribution you can make is greatly appreciated and goes a long way towards guaranteeing a good quality education and stable future for children who are at risk of falling into prostitution and human trafficking. Feel free to email the Genesis team at info@gnetwork.org for any questions.

Thank you.

Genesis Network project opens new school in Baan Phai Du

The Genesis Network’s Kid Launch program continued to break ground on its education and development initiative in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, with the opening of a new primary school in the village of Baan Phai Du.

The new facility will provide education to 150 children in one of Thailand’s most impoverished areas. It is the second following the opening of a 65-student school in the village of Sob Mae Stop in April. Currently, 15 Chinese students work there alongside four Thai teachers, with more helpers from other countries expected.

A mainly Karen-speaking village of 500 residents, Baan Phai Du was selected due to a direct request by the community for educational and development aid. Baan Phai Du’s existing educational infrastructure, including residence facilities for teachers, presented an advantage as it enabled resources to be concentrated exclusively on building construction and purchasing of school supplies.

Currently in Thailand, almost a million children do not have primary school access. Without the benefit of an education, they face the severe risk of becoming human trafficking victims, or being forced into the country’s extensive prostitution industry. These circumstances make engagement by philanthropists and NGOs a critical need.

The ultimate goal of Kid Launch’s initiative in Chiang Mai Province is to provide primary education to over 400 children per year, as well as enable further job opportunities. The project is active in ten villages.
Kid Launch is a project of the Genesis Network that aims to provide self-sustaining educational and community development programs in Northern Thailand’s poorest areas. It hopes to “[breach] the confines of the classroom to build an active community atmosphere, social collaboration, a mutual sense of responsibility among its members, and overall unity cohesion.”

More information about Kid Launch can be found at its page on the Genesis Network site.

The Secret to Sustainability: Local Empowerment and Community Participation

bolivia_volunteer_sws_photo_dbeams Currently, the global movement to fight poverty looks to be succeeding. The World Bank notes that “the proportion of the developing world’s population living in extreme economic poverty-defined as living on less than $1.25 per day…has fallen from 52 percent in 1981 to 26 percent in 2005.” However, the Bank noted, this statistic “masks large regional differences,” especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite declining poverty rates, the number of total poor globally has remained unchanged, at 1.2 billion.

The first thought when addressing poverty may be to think on the macro-level; looking in terms of countries or regions. However, as Grantmakers Without Borders reminds us, the grassroots level must be a critical focus of development efforts, as there “are to be found those most acutely affected by injustice, and the experience and power to develop solutions.” There “a small grant can go a long way. There, the size of the grant often matters less than such important factors as need, timing and flexibility.”

GWB lists thirteen “Key Elements of Successful Grassroots Projects.” These are:
• Popular Particpiation
• Tackling of Institutional Barriers and Discrimination
• Energetic and Committed Leadership
• Resident Skill
• Community Motivation and Tenacity
• Community Resource Mobilization
• Social and Participatory Research
• “Outsiders” as Key Actors
• Historical Structural Economic Factors
• Single-Minded Project Zeal
• Sustainable Development
• Replicability
• The Role of the Outside Funder

The key to any successful grassroots project, GWB notes, is the focus on empowering local communities and their expertise, responding to their needs while creating self-sustainability. Indeed, a large-scale initiative, the Community-initiated Agriculture and Resource Management Project (CARD) active in Belize from 1999-2006 was plagued by disconnect between communities’ desired programs and project leadership. “In the isolated cases where community priorities had been supported,” the International Fund for Agriculture and Development noted, “the results were very positive, with groups demonstrating improved financial and organizational capacity, as well as recording increases in their enterprise activities.

In its mission, the Genesis Network emphasizes connecting grassroots projects with donors and volunteers as critical to promoting sustainability and growth in developing regions, emphasizing “the highest returns on human rights advancement to every dollar irrespective of the beneficiaries’ gender, culture, religion, or nationality.” Through creating growth and self-sustainability community by community, we hope to lift societies from the cycle of poverty and create a path to a better future.

Philanthropy 2.0

Social Media: a new way of giving
Buy tickets at: philanthropy20.eventbrite.com

Social Empowerment Organization Hosts Children’s Rights Benefit at Prana Restaurant

Genesis Network, an international human rights development organization, to hold fundraiser to help build schools in Burma and Thailand.

08.23.2009 – Prana SF in the SOMA district will be hosting a benefit to help make Philanthropy 2.0 possible. The elegant evening will include live music, a silent auction and fusion dining with a dynamic and caring crowd. Genesis Network is a social media platform that increases the efficiency of philanthropy by connecting givers with the needy. The goal of this fundraiser is to raise funds for site development and pilot projects that provide Thai and Burmese children with schooling.

Imagine if when we donated to a cause a regularly updated profile was available along with online communication with the aid recipient instead of a simple thank-you card. Imagine we could see where our money went and interact with those we helped.

Genesis Network is essentially Facebook between philanthropists and NGOs. Non-profits will be given profile pages, as will philanthropists. The philanthropists will have a massive database of NGO’s at their finger tips and be able to choose from a buffet of causes and organizations (soon to be rated by peers on the site) to donate to. Once a donation is made, representatives and beneficiaries from the project will be in communication with the donors like pen pals. This is a way to see where your money goes first hand. Philanthropists will be able to form communities and initiatives together. The aim is to connect investors, donors, organizations, volunteers, and community leaders, in hopes of building a decentralized, open source network . We are a democratically determined 501C who embrace the open-source philosophy. We want to give everyone the tools to organize and make an impact. The Network is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and was incorporated in 2008 in Providence, RI by founder Adam Swartzbaugh. www.gnetwork.org

Entry is $175 dinner and first bids (table Price $100 discount). $75 Hor d’oeuvres. Donations are always welcome. RSVPs are requested by August 10th. For more information, call 415-533-7601 or visit www.genesisnetwork.org.