PennSEM's Intern Blog

Drishtee blog 5

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:24:26 -0400

So I have been done with the internship for a while (even though I was doing some work for Drishtee from home). I wrote a blog earlier but for some reason I didn’t save the word file I had written it in.

My final weeks in Drishtee were action packed and interesting. I took a week off to attend weddings at home but as soon as I flew back, I headed straight to the village where my product research was based. I came back and it was my last week already. I was hoping to spend my last week documenting everything I researched – my ideas, understanding and analysis (especially regarding flour and stitching units). However, things didn’t work out the way I had wanted. Vikas, our mentor, asked Razeen and I to make a business plan for the Model Village Plan to pitch to potential investors. He sent us a vague outline and we started filling in stuff. When we asked questions regarding certain segments, he would just say anything that came to his mind (without properly thinking about it and we sort of paid the price for it in the end). On friday, we submitted the draft and had a 2-3 hours meeting going through the outline.

It turned out that we had the wrong approach. We were supposed to do a business plan for the Model Village Fund but we focussed too much on the Model Village Plan (Model Village Fund is a product Drishtee is offering while plan encompasses everything including infrastructure development, etc). Vikas mentioned that he hadn’t even looked at the outline Halloren (a donor agency) had sent him and started cutting out stuff that were not really relevant. It annoyed me a little bit but the excitement of going home was overwhelming. I finished all the finishing paperwork (exit stuff) and ended up bringing work home. In the next couple of weeks I helped Razeen a little bit with the business plan and finished my stitching unit Business-in-a-box and FabIndia Brand Recommendations.

It was nice of Vikas to take me and Razeen to have coffee and ice-cream on the last day where we talked about issues beyond work. We talked about the financial crisis, Indian politics, corruption, American superpower, China’s growth, etc and it was great to know his point of view on these issues (got to know a different side of him). We also talked about Drishtee’s problem and came to the conclusion that Drishtee is trying to do too many things (as mentioned in previous blogs). Razeen and I recommended that Drishtee needs to focus on a few things and do it well (what Steve Jobs said after he came back to Apple).

Internship in India was a great experience. It is a great place to work as growth is evident in people’s drive and energy. The weather was a little too much for me but it didn’t take that long to get used to. I am excited to meet everyone in the coming weeks to share experiences and learnings! Enjoy your last few days of the summer!

Blog 4

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:24:24 -0400

It’s my last week at Drishtee - I’m fully done with my projects at Drishtee - Vermicompost, Stitching, Major business plan and another project that was added on last week.

It’s definitely been a challenge but it’s been a fun week. Last minute research, contact with other organizations and other contacts and refining and retuning the reports. There’s not much else to say because these projects have been a continuation of what has been happening through the two months.

On a side note, we got to visit the office celebrations at the India Independence Day event where they sang their national anthem, raised their flag and gave some sweets to everyone. It was nice to see how patriotic they are about their country - makes me wonder about how patriotic other people are and in other countries. I wonder if it affects their work and view of life. Food for thought!

ChildFinance Weeks 6 and 7: Getting Reoriented

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:58:17 -0400

My goal during the 6^th and 7^th weeks at CYFI has been to polish Children and Finance based on the advise of our internal editors. Close attention on the publication along with a seemingly silly team bonding event during the week taught me even more about the organization’s amazing origins.

First- the developments of Children and Finance. By this point, this publication has been reviewed by many sets of eyes and opinions and input from the reviewers have not always been consistent. After fulfilling most of Jeroo’s ideas for the paper, adding the technical inputs from our education and academic directors, Jared and Bram, and making sense of the data, Jay and I finally began seeing the paper come to fruitions. The main edits this week was actually deletion! The 62-page paper became thinner by the end of the week, and along the way picked up a more powerful tone. At first I was hesitant to take out portions I thought were demonstratives of CYFI’s organizational strengths, such as it’s well structured working groups and certification criteria. After experimenting with the advise from our editors (and perhaps using some critical thinking and marketing knowledge), the paper became a story of why we exist rather than how. Writing and rewriting this document has been an unexpectedly enriching journey despite the continuous edits. In writing about an organization that just months ago, I had literally no real knowledge about and on behalf of so many different individuals, I’ve been able to absorb facts as well as opinions, and use my own judgment to balance the two.

After week 7’s makeover, the paper looks quite an accomplished document. It is a cumulative report about the history of the organization, theoretical and experimental evidence to the mission, and testimony to the number of partnership CYFI has gathered over its short 2 years of existence. This week was also highlighted by a fun post-lunch team “re-orientation”, during which we played trivia games and listened to presentations about the crux of ChildFinance. I didn’t expect to learn so much new information during my 7^th week here!

The reorientation began with a hysterical trivia game in which we were split into teams and were tested with questions about the organization. I learned the Princess Maxima is on the board of directors of CYFI and the building in which we work was graciously lent out to us by a large Dutch bank. I also learned a lot more about the history of Child and Youth Finance International. In contrary to what I had believed, CYFI was an idea long before the organization became and international NGO. In fact, the idea was born as an initiative within Aflatoun in 2008, and perhaps was in Jeroo’s head decades before that. It was tested out at a stakeholder’s meeting and presented to both academics and children and youth. It was written about and debated before working groups were formed and an official organization was born. Perhaps CYFI as the Movement today has transformed from the concept it derives from, but I believe Jeroo had knowledge of the trajectory all along. This week, I’ve gained an even greater admiration for Jeroo’s ability to create a common link between different stakeholders so an idea which was originally hers, belong to several hundreds of people.

On another touching note, we created a timeline in front of the meeting room in which every intern that has joined and left was added to the “CYFI family”. There were 80 some interns in total! It was amazing to see such a unique NGO model, which a core staff of merely 7 and an extended family of nearly 100. Most interns, like me, stayed for a few months and worked on short-term projects. Yet, each project has seamlessly integrated into one another. Furthermore, notable strides are constantly made. This week, the CYFI SchoolBanks initiative has been launched in 4 different nations of Asia and Africa. These pilots have developed ways to make schools a center for financial transactions. Teachers would run money collection centers at schools, and use mobile banking to formalize transactions with collaborating banks. I believe that this initiative has the potential of being one of the greatest successes of the organization to date.

ChildFinance Week 8: Switching Gears to Certification

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:58:15 -0400

At the close of last week, we finally sent out Children and Finance to academic review! I do feel a little like a proud parent.

Week 8, I had been given the task of revising the Product Design and Development Guide, which was drafted by one of our former interns. The purpose of the document is to inform interested financial service providers on how they can create a product that is child and youth friendly. There is a critical difference between this and the ChildFriendly Certification Guide which was published last year. CYFI certification of course is ideal, but realistically, regulatory or financial barriers may be difficult to overcome in the short run. Even so, we hope that financial services providers will progress toward making their products safer and easier to use for children and youth. The Product Design and Development Guide highlights the underlying rationale for some of the minimum product guidelines but also gives room for adopting these guidelines with flexibility. This guide is a set of best practice recommendations as much as a “how to” to supplement the certification guide.

The Product Design and Development guide needed some serious edits, so again, Jay and I sat down to discuss a storyboard. First, we decided that we must emphasize why CYFI focuses on providing children and youth with savings accounts as opposed to other financial services such as youth loans. The acceptability of current accounts should also be made explicit. Most importantly, we must clearly and concretely tie financial access to the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child. During this convection over a decade ago, a set of rights were determined- the rights to survival, protection, participation, and development. The final three were most pertinent to our recommendations for safe banking. It is important that the products in question not only avoid harm and exploitation, but also actively seek benefits to the end users.

What I loved the most about working on this guide is putting the breadth of my Wharton education to use. One large section of the guide was a product development process- in which we outlined the steps to creating, testing, and distributing a new product. Marketing 101 came in so handy! I was able to catch a couple of mistakes in the research collection process as well as assess how SWOT analysis could be used by financial service providers to determine if a product is viable.

Writing this guide had given me a new vantage point of Child and Youth Finance International’s visions and initiatives. I’m forced to look at our work from the perspective that I hadn’t prioritized before—that of financial service providers, who afterall, must run a sustainable business. One of the most interesting pieces of research I had been trying to uncover is how FPSs can leverage cost minimization methods to pass on zero or minimum transaction-fee accounts to children. Since this information is not available online, we sent inquiries to a few European banks with similar minimum-fee accounts to find out if they have alternate means to acquire revenue to maintain these accounts.

Though our work on the Product Design and Development had just begun, my time at ChildFinance quickly came to a close. Before I left CYFI, Jay and I finished a new storyboard for the guide, and passed on all our suggestions to the certification director. I think a guide like this will help the NGO establish a stronger mutual understanding with financial service providers, and absolve any concerns about the rigidity tied to the certification criteria.

My last week at ChildFinance was another fast and furious week of learning and writing. It is also a week of cake, since it is customary at CYFI to have cake, sign cards, and make speeches when people leave. It was the final week for 4 of the interns in the office.

An Awesome Summer

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:14:39 -0400

My last week at First Book wrapped up very well! I finished all my projects and got a lot of feedback on the projects specifically and on the summer in general. There was a great deal of reflective thinking, which I always enjoy. I thought it was great how at some point throughout the summer I got to experience every piece of a partnership - from beginning brainstorming sessions to the ending wrap up presentations for partners. Originally I thought I wanted to just work with one partner from beginning to end, but now I’m glad I got it out of order and with different partners, because it meant I learned about a bunch of different partners, and how every partner wants something different. It kept me on my toes and made me remember a lot of details. I think that was definitely exemplified this week as I went to meetings on four different partnerships, and had things to do for all of them by the end of the week. I feel much more knowledgeable about the organization as a whole now, and have a much better understanding of what nonprofit-corporate partnerships look like.

I’m going to save most of the “what I learned” for the wrap up presentation, but one I want to mention here is the importance of liking your job. If I had to pick one thing about First Book that stands out to me most as an employee, it’s not our innovative model or our 100 million books distributed – it’s the passion and determination of the First Book “family” (as they call themselves). Sure, there are office politics (you’ll get those anywhere), but they in no way dominate the culture. Everyone at the organization is incredibly smart and constantly trying to think of new ways to do what we consider routine. I know I mentioned this before, but it never ceases to amaze me, and by far was my strongest take-away of the summer. And they aren’t just super smart and determined and hard-working, but cheerful, welcoming, and all around a very happy bunch. It made going to work something I looked forward to, not something to dread, and I always felt motivated and pushed to do my very best on everything. I knew it would be appreciated when I finished, so I bit the bullet on the not-so-exciting jobs and did it fast and well. I know that when I become a manager – whenever in the future that is – I want to make sure I motivate my employees in that way, and give them the same type of culture.

This summer has been truly amazing. Thank you so much to the PennSEM program for making it possible. I highly recommend to anyone reading this who hasn’t participated to DO IT! You won’t regret it :)

Key learnings - yes that is an actual First Book term

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:28:07 -0400

Well we narrowed down the marketing agencies to our top five, and have invited those selected to come in person and tell us why we should pick them. I hope to be able to sit in on at least one of these before I head home, but I’m not sure if that is going to happen. Fingers crossed!

Last week I presented my research on New Business opportunities to the Strategic Alliances team. I gave them a list of about 65 companies who, based on their current CSR initiatives, size, leadership, etc., I thought would be a good partner for First Book. We then all sat down and went through the list identifying the companies in which we or someone at First Book had a contact. It blew me away that we knew someone at a good 75% of the companies! Even ones I thought were smaller and more random had some sort of connection. It was a great experience in the power of networking – and now hopefully when we make calls to gauge interest we’ll already have a foot in the door!

I think one of the best things I’ve gotten out of this summer so far has been all of the meetings we interns have had with the senior staff. Our intern adviser set up times for us to sit down with all of them individually (and there are a lot of them) and talk career/life/advice/stories/etc. Coming from all different walks of life, everyone’s stories and advice has been amazing! It’s been instrumental in helping me decide what I want to do after I graduate, and I feel much less scared about entering the real world. Here are two things that have stuck out to me:

“Don’t think outside the box; break the box.” - Prem Nair, VP Information Technologies. This has really begun to shape the way I approach situations, like I mentioned in my last post. It’s helped me to come at decisions and such from a completely different view point. I think it’s because I’m a visual learner, and “breaking the box” is such a strong image in my head – I can actually see myself ripping the shell of a problem apart and coming up through the middle. That sounds kind of strange, but it works for me.

“Business is mission.” – Jane Robinson, CFO. If you want to fulfill your mission as a nonprofit, you have to make sure you’re still in business tomorrow. As I have considered going into nonprofit financials, the idea of “nonprofit” itself has always tripped me up. How do you decide how much of your money goes to the kids, and how much goes to employee retention? Do we go after foundation support or charge for our services? First Book has amazing financial practices that are constantly focused on this idea that nonprofits are businesses too. Jane has done incredible work, and she said this simple phrase is her guiding practice.

I’ve learned so much more – but the rest will have to wait for the next post :)

First Book Wrapping Up

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:28:05 -0400

Yesterday I and my fellow interns got to sit down with Kyle Zimmer, Co-Founder and CEO of First Book. She is AMAZING. She started off by telling us about how she got to where she is now (social entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, thought leader, etc…). She began as a lawyer and worked on the hill for a while after that, but she wasn’t happy with the work. She was tutoring a boy at Martha’s Table at the time, and when she discovered that many of the kids at the center had no books at home, she decided to found First Book (obviously there were steps in between those two happenings, but that’s the gist). Now she runs an 80 million dollar organization, and is sought out to share her opinions in arenas such as the World Economic Forum. Brilliant. It was incredible to hear her talk about her experiences…and then we sat for an hour and asked every question that came to mind.

It blew my mind to find out that she has two young sons. We asked her how she balanced doing everything she does for First Book and being a mom at the same time. “You make choices” is what she said. Sometimes she can’t make her kids’ performance, but sometimes she turns down her invitation to speak at a huge conference because she has the opportunity to take her children to Italy. “You’ll know when you’ve made the right decision.” Being a regular working mom is tough (so I hear…) – running the whole show as a mom…I’m not sure I could do that.

In a lot of her more recent interviews (and all staff meetings) she’s talked about how you shouldn’t be afraid to fail. Well, coming from a background of “get it right,” I’m not very keen on failing. So I asked her “how do we fail at something?” In a nut shell, she said “seek the advice of the smartest people you know, and then don’t listen to them. Consider what they say, and listen to yourself. Don’t be afraid, and don’t not pursue something just because it’s never been done before.” Failing at something because you are reaching for the impossible is different than failing because you didn’t do your job. I think it’s this distinction that I need to learn and practice. I think this year I’m going to try and figure out what awesome idea I want to try – and if I fail, at least I will have failed with style :)

CYFI #4 Are Children Really the Future? - Jay Song

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:28:04 -0400

While government officials, policy makers, and financial authority battle daily with the European sovereign debt crisis, high unemployment rates worldwide, and stagnant economies, fostering children and youth’s financial capabilities is not on the shortlist of national agendas. However, it’s more urgent than ever that the younger generation understand the mechanisms of the complex financial system to best utilize financial goods and services that maximize their financial security, personal assets, and savings. Without early education and training, the younger generation will fall into debt and apply for mortgages that jeopardize their credit ratings. However, what differentiates today’s children and youth from others is that they live in a world where existing technology and tools can empower them as economic citizens. With suitable financial, social, and livelihoods education and access to these resources, children and youth can change the course of their lives.

The tremendous potential of children and youth is echoed by the United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon in his letter of support to the first annual Child and Youth Finance International Summit in April 2012:

“The world now has some 1.2 billion youth, the largest such generation in history. With the right support, today’s youth can also help advance the economic and social development of their communities and countries. I strongly support helping young people gain greater financial literacy as well as better access to services that will lead the way to employment, entrepreneurship and investing opportunities.”

Although CYFI is a young organization (it was founded in July 2011), it has managed to speak with top representatives of financial authorities, ministries of education, multilaterals, financial institutions, academics and NGOs. Currently, such dialogues have engaged interest of potential partners who will be attending the five regional meetings in Africa, Americans & Caribbean, Asia & Pacific, Europe, and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region later this year. The meetings will connect regional stakeholders to each other and to the vision of the Child and Youth Finance Movement. Though I usually work in the intern room (a separate room from the core staff), I can hear the core staff calling representatives daily to introduce the organization, engage their interest, and confirm their attendance. In our weekly Monday meetings, we discuss how many contacts the core staff has confirmed for the meetings, and I’m always amazed that such a small group of people can organized such big events that have the potential to change the landscape of children and finance.

In addition, the operations manager has been contacting people for the second, annual CYFI Summit, which will again convene partners of the Movement and children and youth around the world. To me, it seems like they’ve just had their first meeting in Amsterdam, but they are already planning the next one to ensure that the Movement gains momentum. For those unsure if the educational, social, political and regulatory gap between children and finance can be closed with financial inclusion and financial education, attending the Summit would be a wonderful opportunity to brainstorm with other representatives and stakeholders. Moreover, listening to the voices of children and youth will clearly demonstrate that they have the will and potential to grow into adults responsible for their livelihoods and their finances. Ultimately, these will be the knowledgeable leaders who will strengthen their communities, economies, and countries.

Submission 3 and 4 : Hello from Atulya and Razeen!

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:21:41 -0400

Submission 3 and 4 : Hello from Atulya and Razeen!

Namaste everyone! Razeen is finally here and Atulya is about to leave, but we’ve been getting a lot of things done together.

Over the last two weeks we’ve been working together on a couple of different projects. Our first project was making amendments to a previous project as well as making financial analysis for the project in order to judge its viability. Having not done the initial research for the project, it was difficult to make sense of it and therefore, we ultimately had to perform our own (identical) research in order to fully understand and modify the project. Neither of us had also made a financial analysis “for real life” and so figuring out when and where interest, depreciation and what not actually goes was interesting. Just a heads up to everyone: accounting rules lie!
The second project (and the biggest one yet) was to create a business plan for the Model Village Plan as a whole. Given that the plan contains lots of other mini-plans and goals, it’s not as easy as making a business plan for a specific product or business since the MVP includes multiple businesses! Vikas initially gave us a spreadsheet with maybe 16 or so tabs and said to find a way to do it. This was an interesting approach because while we had all the information there (supposedly), we had no clue as to where what information goes. We worked furiously over the last two days (with taking a break to see Spiderman obviously) and just handed our first draft this morning.

Atulya leaves tomorrow so I (Razeen) will be taking over one of his projects as well as working on two others of my own (researching vermicompost and mangoes). All the interns will have left by the end of next week since universities in India start mid-July; I definitely am not looking forward to that! Hopefully someone new comes along.

Drishtee thoughts:
It was definitely frustrating to find that the research we were doing for our own projects had previously been doing (or was being done at the same time!) It would be much more beneficial if that information was communicated to us because then it’s just a repetition of (good) effort. The communication gap either lies with the mentor or between the mentors if they haven’t been updated with what everyone is doing.

The weather in Delhi has been nice. It has started to rain and the humidity is a little suffocating sometimes but thank god its not that hot! We hope everyone is having a great summer.

First Book - Reading On

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:21:39 -0400

I can’t believe it’s already been 6 weeks! This summer has gone by so quickly, and there’s still so much to do in what time there is left. Work has been very busy and it feels like I’ve been learning something new every day.

My steady project for the past couple weeks has been researching new business opportunities - looking for potential corporate partners who’s CSR goals or company mission align with a theme of books we can provide. That project is finally coming to a close I believe. I’ve met with my supervisor on it and we’re presenting it this week to the rest of the team, so hopefully we can find some new partners from it!

I’ve been doing a lot of smaller projects as people need them. I’ve done some excel work looking at book titles and numbers, prepared presentations for both the beginning and end of versus partnerships, and most recently I was loaned to the marketing department to do some research on marketing agencies we’re looking at hiring to help our brand recognition. It’s very investing to be in this process. We sent out a RFP (request for proposal) to a handful of firms and just got the proposals back at the end of last week. We’re now in the process of choosing, and since I helped in the beginning I get to sit in on these and offer input! This is a huge step for First Book, so I’m really excited about being involved!

I think the thing that has continued to stick out to me in the short time I’ve been here is how innovative the organization is. I went to a couple brainstorms last week, and it was incredible how many ideas the staff comes up with. They think of all the basics and then shoot for the stars! No one is afraid of putting out a bad idea - they just shoot off what they’re thinking and then someone else catches it and runs it further. It’s a bit hard to follow if you’re not used to it because they jump from one thing to another without any connection it seems, but then all of a sudden you’re back to the first idea and it’s being tied in to the 4th and…it’s crazy but so cool to be a part of! Their innovation is what sets First Book apart, and the way they get there is by not being afraid to think outside the box - even with thing’s that seem to be working just fine the way they are they’re always asking “how can we make it better.”

So now I’m trying to gear my thinking that way. Whether its on projects or relationships or whatever is currently occupying my mind, I try to see it through the lense of “how can I approach this differently?” it’s tough, but extremely useful!

Special Report - Citizen Schools - Week 5

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:21:37 -0400

I am currently blogging from the Microsoft NERD (New England Research and Development Center… Good one, Microsoft) at the annual Expanded Learning Time Summit held by Citizen Schools. This exciting event draws leaders in education from around the country (primarily from our corporate partners and the schools we work with) to Boston (well, technically Cambridge) to learn about the substantial progress that has been made by simply expanding the learning day. Citizen Schools used to be based on a model that was primarily optional, but drastic improvements in schools that switched to Expanded Learning Time (the mandatory version) has prompted leaders to rethink the format of extending the learning day.

This two-day summit is filled with expert panels, discussions, networking, and amazing speakers. This morning, the Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, graced us all with his presence to speak on the importance of improving public education via methods that work - like ELT. President Emily McCann, CEO and Co-Founder Eric Schwarz, and Senior Vice President of News Corp Pete Gorman also opened the conference with powerful remarks on education reform.

Going back to the idea that the ELT model truly improves results in lower performing schools, I’d like to touch upon a case study of one such school. Back in 2005, the Clarence Edwards Middle School was performing so poorly, it was on the verge of closure. Despite state efforts for reform, test scores remained stagnant. Desperate times call for drastic measures - thus, ELT. Citizen Schools partnered with the faculty and staff of The Eddy (what many here at CS fondly refer to The Edwards School as) to make ELT a part of the school day. The day didn’t end at 1:30 pm anymore, but rather 5 pm. All 6th grade students were required to stay the extra time and get the extra academic support, college counseling, and Apprenticeships they needed. This collaboration yielded truly remarkable results: in just 4 years, the math proficiency scores of Grade 8 students on the MA State Exam exceeded not only the Boston Public Schools’ average, but also the entire state of Massachusetts’ average. Now THAT is impressive.

As a final note, I wanted to refer back to the idea of Social Enterprises vs. traditional non-profits - a prevailing theme in our Penn SEM internships. One crucial lesson I have gathered from this summit is that the key to garnering support and results is data. Any organization can have a good heart and a viable mission to save the world, but if you want the world to support you, you need to prove that your business model is successful. Data collection is crucial - especially frequent data collection. I applaud Citizen Schools for its dedication to collecting constant and relevant data, and diligently working towards education reform in America.

Samantha

Week 6 at Citizen Schools

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:21:34 -0400

This flurry of new blog posts is a result of all the new and exciting things happening in Civic Engagement. We are at the crux of recruiting season; between emails, phone calls, and meetings, one barely has enough time to eat or breathe. Yesterday, I attended a “Lunch & Learn” at the AOL Marketing Office in Boston. As the name suggests, a “Lunch & Learn” is a lunch session hosted by a corporate partner that employees unfamiliar (or sometimes familiar) with Citizen Schools are able to attend. At this session, we - a team from Citizen Schools - come in and pitch our volunteer program to these employees, often citing examples of what previous employees from the same firm have taught in the past. This session was particularly interesting because we are hoping to expand AOL’s Boston office involvement in the Massachusetts region.

AOL’s New York office has had a history of active involvement with Citizen Schools - probably because they’ve had the largest celebrity turnout. For example, Top Chef Masters winner Marcus Samuelsson gave Citizen Schools students from Harlem a tour of his kitchen at Red Rooster (one of New York’s finest restaurants) - partnering with AOL. You can see that video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxRyWaVd62E&feature=plcp. Another big celebrity involved with AOL and Citizen Schools New York is Wyclef Jean, the famous Haitian American recording artist. He actually visited one of the Citizen Schools New York campuses and performed for the students. You can see that video here: http://vimeo.com/18766386.

The moral of this story is that New York has serious celebrity status, but hopefully, Massachusetts can bathe in all that fame and translate it into increased volunteerism up here in the Bay State.

Back to the L&L, Kelly - my supervisor - gave a scintillating and informative presentation as I assisted with careful clicking in and out of the right presentation slides (heh). One crucial skill a team member of Civic Engagement must learn is how to pitch. People unfamiliar with your mission often grow bored of your schpeil if you can’t sell it to them within the first five minutes. I hope that as I continue my outreach efforts throughout the summer, my pitching skills improve.

Samantha

Drishtee blog 3

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:34:55 -0400

Trip to the village

Last week, I went to Thawar, a village 500km away from Delhi. A much awaited trip, this was definitely the highlight of my internship experience. To be honest, I was a little scared to go to the village alone. The Indian Railway System is pretty intimidating- the train stations are super messy and the compartments in the train are not labelled properly. The train was scheduled to stop in my station for 2 minutes and India being the second most populated country in the world, you can just imagine the number of people who try to get onto the train. Luckily I got in and found my seat without much trouble.

Another thing that I was scared of was the heat. Staying in a city with Air Conditioning makes me forget about how hot Delhi is – but I was going to a rural area with no AC and no consistent supply of electricity. As expected, it was hot and the 2 days I spent there was probably the most I have sweated in my life.

Despite these things, I would say, the time I spent there was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. I’d spent 6 weeks in the Delhi head office trying to come up with products for my “clients”, a.k.a people in Thawar. When I was physically present in the village, among the people, seeing and feeling how they live, what they eat, what they buy, what can be done, etc, I learnt more about what can be done. I wish I had gone to there earlier so that I could work more on various products that can be made by the village and for the village.

One of the things I realized that one of the products that I had been working on, wheat flour, is not something that can be sold in packets. A person in the village consumes 0.4-0.5kg of flour everyday! Families like it when they have control of the quality of the wheat and this is why they prefer to go to mills to process it. Selling in packets is a very urban idea that is unfamiliar in the villages and is it worth it trying to change this way of life? I don’t know..

Thawar is a place known for its mangoes. Delicious mangoes. The best mangoes in India. I couldn’t help but think why aren’t we doing something about this? Why can we not focus on processing mangoes – making jam, pickles or dehydrated mangoes. Why can’t every model village be different and focus on its strengths? I raised these questions to my mentor after I came back and we had a pretty interesting discussion. If only I had visited the village earlier…

I spent quite a bit of time going around, talking to people and practicing my hindi. People there are so hospitable that you cannot just go in and out in 5 minutes – you have to drink or eat something, and by the time I had visited quite a few shops and households, I was about to explode.

In addition, I got to live the village life for 2 days. I slept in a mud “castle” for some time, then outside because it was too hot. I was constantly sweating and the bed bugs were only adding the to misery.

To end the blog, I’d like to share one of my current favorite poems, by Lao Tzu: (extremely relevant to my situation and learnings)

“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say “We have done this ourselves”.”

Also, please watch this awesome short clip my intern friend made that depicts the poem above

http://vimeo.com/43583798

Week 2:

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:34:53 -0400

So it’s the beginning of week 3 for me. I attended the wedding in Mumbai a couple of weekends ago but unfortunately I only caught the reception which was the typical pictures with the happy couple and dinner. I did however get to see some sites in Mumbai and it was beautiful. However, I was stricken by the extremes that existed there; there seemed to be extreme poor and extreme rich and really no room for people in between. I got to see Mukesh Ambani’s house (a million dollar home with 27 floors) and I went to see a tomb of the Muslim ‘Pir Haji Ali Shah’. The tomb is located next to a mosque which is one of most prestigious landmarks for Mumbai. It is a little off the shore so during low peak times, you can walk to the mosque but when there’s high tide, the path is covered with the glistening Arabian sea, its protector if you will. On the walk to the mosque however, you’d find so many destitute people – old men and women, some crippled, some teenage girls nursing a baby (perhaps their son?). You can only try to extend your heart to them but nothing will ever be enough because they need much more than one individual can give. Compare Ambani’s house with those in need, it’s aggravating and mystifying.

During my visit to Mumbai, I also saw the Taj Hotel (the same hotel that was affected by terrorist action last year). It was completely shocking to think that the lobby I was seeing, the very beautiful, peaceful hotel once was a place of stolen lives. Sigh. Speaking of terrorism, every place in Delhi/Mumbai has very high security – you would walk through a metal detector when going in malls, metrostations and even some shops. You would have to pass your backpacks and handbags through a scanner in the metrostations too! Women have a separate cabin within the metro and whilst this creates a safe people for travelers, it has other implications – cultural, security and the dynamic between men and women. While it’s nice to have that security, it’s sad that this is the society will live in.

On my way back from Mumbai, I reflected on the difference between Mumbai and Delhi/Ghaziabad (the place I live in). Mumbai was this hip and happening place with people still up and about at 2AM, dressed all fancy while Ghaziabad/Delhi is this feared capital with not much to do and the poor all around…(or so I thought).

This past weekend, Atulya and I and a few other interns went into the heart of New Delhi and took a two-day tour and saw the beautiful sites of their heritage and their modern-day influences: Humayun’s Tomb, Sarfdarjung’s Tomb, Red Fort, India Gate, Lotus Temple, Qutab Minar, Chandni Chowk (this is in Bollywood movies!) and so on and so forth. There’s a lot of Islamic history and architecture which is still being used today. The tombs of the Mughal emperors were just so exquisite and beautiful that one forgets that people are actually buried there.

On this tour, we also passed the parliament and the minister’s houses. The President of India currently lives in a 309 bedroom house, with 36 entrances and 1000 bodyguards. The Ministers of Parliament all have very big and well-kept houses on this one street well-kept street, unlike the rest of the streets in Delhi. Compare this with the everyday hustle and bustle I see going to work. Whilst I don’t expect the government officials to subject themselves to leading the lives lived by the majority, I didn’t expect such (unnecessarily) over-the-top lavish homes. Apparently, like a lot of third world countries, India is faced with the problem of corruption – what comes in is maybe 1/4th (if you’re lucky) of what goes out to the people. Developed thoughts about corruption to come later.

Anyway, so that’s enough about my touring. Let’s get to work!

I met my mentor, Vikas, who seems like an extremely bright person. He is incharge of the Model Village Plan which is the project I’m going to be working on. The Model Village Plan essentially is a program that they’re trying to start in which they encourage villagers to become entrepreneurs or expand their already-established businesses. Drishtee’s role is to create a business plan (this includes conducting a needs assessment analysis, financial analysis, implementation steps etc). It is exactly like Drishtee wanting to open up the businesses but instead, giving their plan to someone else. It’s a very smart way to make profit, especially given the fact that Drishtee would be making a profit from working in Rural India! One of the founders, Satyan Mishra, has been acknowledged by several well-standing social enterprises and NGOs such as the Acumen Fund, Ashoka, the World Bank etc and was even recognized as Asian Technopreneur of the year. I look forward to gaining some insight from him and the company as a whole.

My work at Drishtee is to create one of these business plans so that’s currently what I’m working on. Atulya and I also have been given the tasks to amend a previous intern’s business plan and to create a business plan for the Model Village Plan in its entirety. All three tasks are quite difficult given that it requires a lot of research and thought about how to operate in a country you don’t really know much about. My project right now is based on Vermicompost which is basically using worms to create organic fertilizer. There is not a lot of documented history of vermicompost in India so I think it is going to be a little difficult to get accurate numbers as well as finding a way to convince the villagers to take on this project but it’s interesting and *very* insightful, especially the two mutual projects that Atulya and I are working on – more to this later!

Drishtee thoughts:
Doing my own research at Drishtee and speaking with other interns and employees, the work that Drishtee is doing is tremendous. They have their foot in the door of the most critical sectors –education, healthcare, finance, agriculture and what-have-you. Just today however, Atulya and I were discussing how Drishtee actually sustains itself because whilst it is a for-profit business, they do not earn a lot of profit. Several theories and ideas have been thrown about but further research is definitely required.

Week 5 at Citizen Schools

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:34:52 -0400

I’ve been working for more than a month! There have been quite a few developments since I last blogged. As the company continues to expand the size of the Extended Learning Time program - fulfilling the goal of reaching as many children as possible - Citizen Schools must expand the number of staff members, as well. Just last Thursday, after July 4, the company brought on a bunch of new full-time staff members! The team I am a part of - the Massachusetts External Engagement division - hired three new managers! Our pod is quickly growing. I moved to a smaller desk with the best view in the whole pod. I have a view of the water and the Fort Point area.

In conjunction with a growing team, there have been a number of training sessions to on-board all the new members. I’ve been becoming more and more familiar with the goals and strategies of Citizen Schools. For example, we have been working towards building institutional partnerships in order to solidify a network of Citizen Teachers - our volunteers. I’m not sure I explained this in great detail in my last post, but a Citizen Teacher is a crucial part of the unique business model of Citizen Schools. These are volunteers that many team members at Citizen Schools (both the national team and the regional teams - of which there are many regions around the country) actively recruit throughout the year to teach at our partnering middle schools. In addition to recruiting individual volunteers in the community (caring people who have heard about the organization who go out on their own to teach what they are passionate about), we reach out to companies and universities and aim to foster relationships and ensure a continuous stream of volunteers that are interested in getting more involved in their communities. For example, Google provides the largest number of volunteers each year (nationally), with employees from Palo Alto to New York City working in the classrooms to provide children from low-income areas with exposure to careers and passions these children have never seen before.

What is the point of Citizen Teachers? Imagine if you did not have access to successful people in your life. Imagine if you had never known a college graduate. The “point” of a Citizen Teacher is to bring that access and that exposure to the kids who need it most, while simultaneously uniting a community. How would you know you wanted to be a lawyer if you had never seen one before? Before you can achieve your dreams, you have to have them first. I’ve been sitting through quite a few informational sessions regarding the rigorous structure Citizen Schools has developed over the years. One of the most important goals of our academic program is to provide this access. Social enterprises cannot survive on their own – they require community support. An enterprise can strive to gain this community support in a monetary way, but oftentimes, the model is not sustainable. The Citizen Teacher aspect brings uniqueness and a sense of community to the business model at Citizen Schools unlike many other organizations that strive for education reform. With a flexible but well-developed program model (created by some of the best, most experienced educators in America), a continuing partnership with amazing organizations like Americorps (this is where many staff members come from in the form of Teaching Fellows, Teaching Associates, and VISTAs), and community support from around the country, Citizen Schools continues to make great progress.

In relation to the marketing aspect of my job, I’ve been watching quite a few inspiration videos that describe Citizen Schools. If you have time, you should watch this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nfFhR_M4CQ&list=UUWeXpN0TIW-ECVrgBWKHA8w&index=2&feature=plcp

This one is from our New Jersey region. I’m actually from New Jersey, so it was really nice learning about what people are actually doing in my own community. I’ve been watching so many of these at work – and I’m the type of person that gets teary over anything remotely inspirational. Don’t worry – I keep a box of tissues next to my desk. Citizen Schools is currently active in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, California, New Mexico, North Carolina, and recently opened a new branch in Illinois. Although it may be many years to come, I think Pennsylvania – especially Philadelphia – would definitely benefit from the presence of an organization like Citizen Schools.

Samantha

Week 5 at Citizen Schools

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:34:50 -0400

In relation to the marketing aspect of my job, I’ve been watching quite a few inspiration videos that describe Citizen Schools. If you have time, you should watch this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nfFhR_M4CQ&list=UUWeXpN0TIW-ECVrgBWKHA8w&index=2&feature=plcp

Samantha

ChildFinance Week 4 and 5: Learning About Sponsorship

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:34:49 -0400

Over the past few weeks at ChildFinance, I learned that a major feat for an NGO is to convince the world that the issues addressed by the organization is important, and extends beyond the solutions that are already out there.

These past weeks, Jeroo gave me the task of compiling the annex of the publication Jay and I have been working on. This annex would incorporate all major primary data our organization has accumulated, as well as concise certification guidelines, index of partners, etc. I was given sheets of raw data collected from a banking survey and an education programming survey conducted in 2011, and the task of squeezing out significant findings. With it the information, I was to create regional maps, charts, and tables to show gaps in education or inclusion and impact the Movement has made thus far. After embarking on this task for a day, I came up with some important findings but realized much of the data was not usable. Primarily, though banks and educational organizations were largely cooperative with our inquiries, many of them simply did not have the answers. For example, very few financial education programs monitored the gender distribution of their students. With Jeroo’s comforting words, “Aflatoun also began with no numbers, nothing. Now look where we are!”, I proceeded to search for industry data to supplement our own.

From the week’s work, I found out that Child and Youth Finance International is truly a unique organization. Its first year of enlisting partnerships has been quite successful, and many financial service providers and education organizations have been delighted to get on board. However, the data has been very difficult to gather, beyond the organization itself, financial education and inclusion have never been measured for children and youth. Above all, CYFI proposes an innovative education framework- life skills, financial, and livelihoods education, a combination that was developed by our very own academics working group and not an industry standard by any means. A few things were easy to find- financial literacy has been proven to be an agent for education attainment and employability. Organizations like Junior Achievement Worldwide and BRAC were veterans of financial education and have been very diligent on recording data. The same could not be said for the majority of other financial education institutions, purely because they were so young. Overall, proper measurement of financial education and macro-level impact involved longitudinal studies, which were impossible for organizations that are less than a decade old.

After the weeks of diving through research, I realized that building a case for ChildFinance is not an easy task. Today, the team welcomed a representative from an important funder of the organization, Postcode Loterij, to lunch. The representative was sincerely moved by our organization, and told us of her efforts in gathering support from her colleagues to grant us funding. The lack of research in the field plays a large role in the skepticism. The nature of the organization is makes it difficult to measure impact- we do not earn profit; we do not make a product. Rather, the effects of our work can only be measured after years and maybe generations of practice. What is more, funding is generally allocated to certain non-profit sectors that are considered hot topics- environment protection and alternative energy for example. Child banking products and financial education is not one of them. Nonetheless, the chat with the Postcode Loterij representative reminded me that it only takes a few people who really believe in the Movement, a few interested sponsors, and a few companies who are willing to offer pro-bono services to get the organization moving. I am excited to see where Child and Youth Finance International will be in a few years.

Children and Finance continues...- Jay Song (CYFI #3)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:34:47 -0400

While the weather in Amsterdam resembles the cooler days of October, Elaine and I continue to refine Children and Finance, the flagship publication of Child and Youth Finance International. The content and structure of the publication has single purpose: to demonstrate the necessity of financial inclusion and financial education for children and youth so they may develop into proactive, financially responsible adults who earn sustainable livelihoods and avoid excessive debt, exploitation, and poverty. Earlier this week, with fresh drafts in our hands, we attended a meeting with the core staff of the Secretariat. This meeting was different from the previous editorial meetings because two extra contributors had joined to offer new insights.

One editor-in-chief, four editors, and two writers – all contributors with a single determination to polish and shine Children and Finance into an A+ paper, yet with multiple, conflicting visions of how to achieve that goal. The editors debated over the effectiveness of the current structure and mulled over the relevance of certain presented information. I struggled to comprehend the core vision and the best approach to revising the writing. What I discovered is that our writing had slightly deviated from the initial framework, especially after focusing on one chapter (I’m in charge of Chapter 4) for weeks. For those unfamiliar with the structure of C&F, Chapter 1 is the introduction; Chapter 2 explains how the publication was compiled; Chapter 3 illustrates the global issues and financial gap that children and youth face today; Chapter 4 depicts innovations and early successes in child savings programs and financial education curricula; finally, Chapter 5 details the core, national, and global strategies of CYFI.

To improve the clarity and flow of the story, we returned to the story board we had produced in June. We had to make clear that we were illustrating the problem, exhibiting early successes of financial inclusion and financial education or children and youth, and convincing our nay-sayers why CYFI and the Movement must exist. For my part, I learned that there are multiple Western banks offering child savings accounts to young people under the age 18. UBS, Barclay’s, HSBC and Bank West in Australia are notable banks that encourage children and youth to save and learn money management skills that will shape responsible, financial behaviors. With technology, their youngest clientele can access their accounts on the internet, mobile phones, and physical bank branches. In developing countries, Hatton National Bank in Sri Lanka has collaborated with the Ministry of Education to establish nationwide Student Banking Units in the premise of schools. Children and youth use these deposit centers to safely save their money on a regular basis. Selected students learn accountant and managerial skills to operate the banking units with the help of a teacher or a Bank representative.

Learning about various child savings products reminded me of when I was in elementary school and had asked my mom to open a savings account for me. I was living in South Korea at the time and don’t recall receiving financial education. However, I received pocket money from my grandparents weekly and wanted to find a safe place to save my money and manage my account. Whenever my mom made a deposit, she and I would sit down and look at the changed numbers on my pocket book. Whenever I received monthly interest, I would take note of the interest rate while my mom commented on how low it was. I had wished to have been in a financial education program where I would learn about money management, goal setting, various financial products (e.g. equity and insurance), and the wider financial industry. Whenever I overheard my parents discussing our finances, I wanted to better understand what they were talking about. Although children and youth are young, they are never too young to understand the basic concepts of money and cultivate skills that will affect them in the long-run.

Week 1: Namaste from New Delhi!

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:20:55 -0400

Submission 1:

I arrived on Saturday night after two long and delayed flights from Toronto and London. Having never been to India before, I was nervous as to what to expect. I followed the crowd to the baggage carousel. It was only after forty minutes that I started to notice that most people had grabbed their luggage and gone. Nervous, desperate, I picked up every bag refusing to deal with what was to become reality. I saw a man holding out my name on a board. Curious as to whether he was the Drishtee caretaker who was supposed to pick me up, I went to him. Once approached, he pointed towards a counter and took off. Baggage Claim. Crap, I thought. After nervously filling out forms and almost guessing their answers without having any sense of how to claim damages, potentially permanent lost baggage or how to deal with customs, I walked out, empty-handed, into the Indian oven to find the real Drishtee caretaker.

The following day, I met another Drishtee intern who was also staying at the guest house. We were quickly introduced and he was nice enough to take me to a nearby store so I could purchase some stuff since my bags had not yet arrived. India was what I expected, and not at all. Proper infrastructure was poisoned with dust, a gazillian rickshaw taxis and other cars that drove wherever they wanted to in as many lanes as they could create. Girls were dressed such that you could only see their eyes and boys, with a lose tshirt and shorts. I would later find out that there was no cultural custom as to the girls dressing but rather the heat influenced their choice of attire.

Day 1: Monday.
I arrived at the office and met my point of contact, the intern manager. She then informed me that Atulya was in Nepal and my mentor was away and would only return on Thursday. After a bunch of introductions and paperwork, I was left on my own to read some documents that Atulya had sent.

Day 2: Tuesday
Although all the rest of the interns told me not to come to work, I went. There would be no point, they claimed because I had no work and no mentor and hadn’t even had a proper induction. I ended up helping out a couple other interns for the day with their own separate projects.

Day 3: Wednesday
Again, no Atulya, no mentor. I worked with the other interns, and read more documents that Atulya had sent. More to that later when I have a proper induction and actually know what they want me to focus on.

Initial observations:
Drishtee has a very calm working environment. There are four long rows for the employees to sit in, with only a foot-long glass barrier, between them. It was surprising however to find that the president and founders also share these rows. It got me to wondering how the office was led and controlled but was pleased and humbled by it.

Like Atulya has mentioned previous, Drishtee is doing a lot of things. Too many. Having helped out on a couple other projects, I realize how inadequate Drishtee’s description is, to themselves as well as to the public. A need for an underlying connection between all the projects must be salient and between their administration, and then only can that be clearly depicted on their website and to the masses. Developed thoughts to come throughout the two months.

Tomorrow, I shall (finally) be meeting my mentor and this weekend, mai bombay ja rahi hoon ek shaadi attend karne (I shall be going to a wedding in Mumbai!). I can’t wait to try out my (five sentences or so of) Hindi on my cousin who I am meeting there!

ChildFinance Week 2 and 3: Writing Children and Finance

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:19:36 -0400

Week 2 at ChildFinance. Earlier this week, Jay and I were introduced to our new project. We would help write the organization’s flagship publication tentatively titled Children and Finance. Read: annual report about current innovations in financial inclusion and education followed our strategy report for upcoming years. The publication has been in the works for months, but most of the existing work was still in tables and charts. The report itself was also partially begun, but Jeroo insists on a vision that wasn’t present in the original version. So, Jay and I along with 2 others on the team embarked on the rewrite, starting from the basics.

As a young NGO, CYFI is looking for partnership opportunities. Partnerships are incredibly important, as the main objective of the organization is to enlist stakeholders to child and youth finance activities and streamline the exchange of information between nations and across different languages. Banks, schools, and government agencies would then collaborate on projects with the framework and academic resources we provide. On one had, the publication is a compilation of industry research. On the other hand, it is an advocacy document, connecting the Child and Youth Finance philosophy with current events, best practices, and the organization’s unique selling point. As Jeroo coached us on the different chapters of the publication I got a better understanding of the Child and Youth Finance Theory of Change.

The Theory of Change argues that financial access and education can free children from poverty, abuse, and exploitation. The children can then grow to become economic citizens who raise healthy families and engage in their community. An economic citizen is one who has reduced income and asset poverty, high economic and social engagement, sustainable livelihoods, economic and social well-being, and a respect of rights and responsibilities to self, family and others. These are the goals CYFI works towards.

We had much more interface with Jeroo this week. We discussed the progress of our paper with her in the AM, and usually had the rest of the day to turn around the newest version for the next day’s review. I’ve enjoyed this model because there was no micromanagement, I had plenty of resources in front of me, learned as I wrote, and created the document as I saw fit based on the daily coaching.

I worked mainly on the strategy end of the publication, where I wrote about the components of the CYFI movement- inclusion, education, and national and global platforms. The publication has been a very dynamic piece of work, and definitely defies the writing process I’m used to. Each draft gets scrutinized and research is not completely pre-conducted but rather on-going. At times, the entire direction of the paper changes, or a new concept is developed after group discussions, so revisions are frequent.

Since I began working on the publication, I’ve gotten a more insightful understanding of NGO work, especially of one as young as ChildFinance. Because the work we do is innovative, existing research to support the strategies we recommend is scarce (though there are similar organizations such as Aflatoun and JA Worldwide). To prove the validity of the unique CYFI mission, we have to create our own research, by conducting surveys and forming an Academic Working Group. Still, data collection hasn’t been easy. Collaboration increases as an organization becomes well established. But expanding in outreach relies on collaboration. For ChildFinance, the collaboration of global Children’s rights organizations such as UNICEF and the UNCRC is incredibly important. Every week, Jeroo travels the globe to meets with international leaders to create these linkages.