Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul

Invictus by William Ernest Henley (While incarcerated at Robben Island prison, Nelson Mandela recited the poem to other prisoners and was empowered by its message of self-mastery)

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not lead single-issue lives.” - Audre Lorde

'The Indian government has shut the door on NGOs'

This piece in the Guardian says that the government in India is trying to push out international NGOs with the specific aim of suppressing human rights abuses in the country.

This article feels tired.

It assumes that international NGOs are inherently altruistic and seek to serve people and those who are very vulnerable. Yet, it is well-known that international organisations serve donor interests and literally have to account for all their actions in rigourous monitoring and evaluation frameworks. So, it is naive to think that NGOs might not also push the donor perspective (see US or UK government or corporate foundation etc) on local people and culture.

Furthermore, the article doesn't dig deep enough into the real problem, which is equity and justice. Yes, we may need NGOs to counterbalance Government and provide an outlet for complaints and enforcement of justice and yes, we may need international ones that are based abroad on outside resources and so are not liable to be captured by local powerful elites but, the real question is who counterbalances the international NGO? Who handles the limits of power that international NGOs have on local communities? In the protection of people, how do we prevent capture by foreign elites? Why do we need international NGOs to protect local communities anyway? Where is the mechanism that helps them do that for themselves?

It would be 'nice' if NGOs were actually people-driven and people-funded but they are not.  People can be powerless, marginalised and poor and don't have the resources to have their own powerful NGO. An international donor isn't the only answer to this.

Further thinking:
- What are non-international NGOs in India already doing to address human rights abuses?
- What do Indian actors say is needed in human rights?
- What is the value of international solutions for the human rights issue in India? (Beyond simply... Foreigners do human rights better than Indians)
- What examples do we have of communities already protecting themselves from elite interest?

How Neoliberalism affects people

• Labour rights

This LSE paper puts forward a perspective on how neoliberalism affects markets and worker rights. On one hand, bloated Government leads to market inefficiencies but reducing the Government's influence on the system through liberalisation can lead to worse labour rights ...

Marjorie Kelly on the Emergent Ownership Revolution

Do you need something more tangible to use when talking about social business?

Is the 'social purpose' argument a bit thin for you?

According to Marjorie Kelly in Towards Mission-Controlled Corporations: Extractive vs Generative Design there are 5 elements of a generative ownership-driven design framework for social businesses:

1. Membership – How can we have the right people forming part of the business? How can they contribute to the running of the business? What roles and authority can they have?
2. Purpose – What purpose can a business have beyond profit-making for shareholders? What problems might it solve? How is 'wealth', and value spread within the local community?
3. Governance – Who is the board? Who does the board answer to? 
4. Finance – Where does the money come from? Where does it go? How does it circulate through the business? How does it generate wealth and value?
5. Networks – How does the business get access to goods, services, information? How might the exchange be carried out? How might it be non-financial? How might it reach beyond typical boundaries e.g. geography?

Will Starbucks food donations encourage local restaurants and shops to do the same?

Interesting question. Possibly. But as said below by a previous poster the value chain and business processes at large food restaurants look different from those at small restaurants and thus the opportunity for surplus (and thus donations) is different.

Let me add one thought that sprung to mind. In my experience, the other factor that affects the flow of surplus food to the people who need it are the intermediaries in between. For example, small restaurants are not normally able to afford to send/deliver/transport food to charities outside of a couple of miles and small charities are not normally able to absorb this cost either. One idea is that services spring up to help this process/fill a gap. Maybe a group of restaurants band together to hire a van or a group of charities do that ... or even a separate intermediary (maybe... a neighbourhood support scheme paid through by the local authority or even people/citizens/charitable folks who live in the area pay for it). Or possible, someone likes Uber or your local taxi cab company offers this service at a discounted fee.

So, we might see that maybe instead of giving money to charity, people give money in other ways to help restaurants get their food to people who need it.

Originally posted on Quora here

Has anyone applied systems thinking to international development?

The short answer is Yes!

The longer answer is that this area is still undergoing an attrition and evolution with people in the sector trying to shape what this means for them and their work. There is a real dearth of good M&E/impact evaluation support for systems thinkers in development, which makes the work harder. There are some organisations that addressing this issue head on and are moving away from M&E and towards more knowledge, learning and practice. To do this requires building the capacity within field teams, management, senior management and also, with donors.

For me, the most interesting thing is how systems thinking principles are used effectively. The aim should be to help developing countries determine what kind of system they want to have and what people will want to do in the system. A big danger to the space that in our attempts to 'bring about a better way of doing things', we determine what the system should look like *for* countries and we hard code these principles activities and behaviours *for* people. Moreover, integrative, participatory and democratic approaches for systems thinking are often just not enough because it can set up a situation where there is still a dominant thinking that others are being encouraged to conform to or align with.

In a nutshell, systems thinking for development cannot be the end-goal. It should be a starting point to think about doing development differently and better.

Originally published on Quora here

Habits of a Systems Thinker

Source: www.watersfoundation.org/systems-thinking/habits-of-a-systems-thinker/

A tool for guiding systemic thinking

The Iceberg Illusion

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes ... - Neil Gaiman