NEWSSOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Some say that solar cookers and solar panels pull the sun down from the sky and that this can cause evil in the world. Others say that humans should use the sun, as plants do, to live and grow without polluting the sky gods’ kingdom with black smoke.

The SolSource 3-in-1 was born from this second desire. It harnesses the suns’ energy for cooking, heating, and electricity generation without pulling it from the sky.

The initial concept for the SolSource solar cooker platform was born out of a memory relayed by a Ladakhi nomad.

“The colors of our land are changing. The land was once a vast expanse of green grasses dotted with black tents. Now it is a desert of yellow and white.

When I was a child, we would move our black yak tents from place to place and only leave a small pile of white ashes on the ground where we had been. Now, my children think it is better to live in a white synthetic tent and leave the ground covered with yellow plastic. They think that everything from the outside is better than what we make even when it doesn’t work as well…like the synthetic tents that let in all the cold air and have to be replaced every two years.”

The Himalayan terrain is one of the harshest on Earth and its inhabitants have displayed incredible ingenuity in adapting to that environment, sheltered by their woven yak-hair tents which last for 20 years and whose fibers swell to keep out the rain.

The design of the SolSource Cooker through close collaboration among villagers, students, and development workers, is an attempt to continue a traditional line of local innovation. It merges design principles of traditional nomadic tents with those of synthetic high-altitude hiking tents to produce a light-weight, portable, and weather hardy solar concentrator that enables the maximum range of cooking styles including stir-frying.

Field tests have yielded 28% efficiency compared to 20% efficiency of butterfly cookers tested simultaneously. The most recent iteration of the SolSource solar cooker reduced its weight to 6 kg. Although staking down the bamboo legs gives the device excellent stability against the wind, many villagers thought that it was too light and were worried that it would not last long under windy conditions. We plan to revert to several elements of our previous prototype design which bring the weight of the device to 8 kg.

The other element that we changed during our recent tests was the design of our thermoelectric component. The feedback was that the previous prototype which was slightly less efficient but which allowed people to boil water while also generating electricity was highly preferred by villagers.

We have partnered with four communities to begin local manufacture and income generation of the SolSource 3-in-1 over the next year.

>Pictures are coming soon when I have a good internet connection...

One Earth Designs (OED) was founded in 2007 by Catlin Powers and Scot Frank ( OED website; OED blog; OED facebook page; Twitter @OneEarthDesigns). Catlin will post on Mondays and Wednesdays. You can also find her on Twitter @CatlinPowers.

Last Wednesday, the Government of Nepal “eclipsed” expectations when they declared a public government holiday because of a brief solar eclipse that took place before most government officials wake for their morning tea.

What does this have to with our work of trying to deliver a life-saving fortified peanut butter to Nepal’s severely malnourished children?

Unfortunately, a lot. A great product without a great distribution system is useless. And events like these by the Government of Nepal coupled with the usual historical criticisms of the Nepali government (neglect, nepotism, incompetence, laziness, corruption, and more) raise doubts about using the Government’s Logistics Management System (LMS) to deliver the ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) we are working to produce.

No doubt there are some extraordinary, dedicated government employees (including the Chief Nutrition Officer at the Child Health Division, Raj Kumar Pokharel). But I have visited far too many derelict, unstaffed “government-run” health posts in rural Nepal (like the one pictured below in one of the richest hilly districts in all of Nepal) to believe that the few dedicated civil servants can ensure that this life-saving peanut butter would (a) make it to its destinations across rural Nepal and (b) actually be used in the appropriate way if it reaches its destinations.

So this begs a difficult question that is applicable across all fields of development:

How can you design a program that provides what should already be a guaranteed public service without totally circumventing the public system and thus making it weaker and less accountable to the people it should be serving?

The potentially great thing about this Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) that is being piloted in Nepal is that it could really enhance existing public health structures and programs (because it also includes protocols beyond only treating severe malnutrition with RUTF including de-worming, systemic infections, and vaccinations). It is currently being implemented not by some INGO but through the Government system in one district, and my recent trip to document the program indicates that it is working SO FAR.

But what happens when the pilot needs to expand beyond this one district that is quite accessible and has decent infrastructure? Will the LMS of the Government of Nepal guarantee this product reaches all the malnourished children that need it the most?

Experience suggests not, as many health posts remain unstaffed and are devoid of essential medicines that are all supposed to go through the LMS.

That’s why we are planning on working to design a distribution network for this product that operates as a Public-Private Partnership to identify and fill the gaps where the LMS doesn’t reach.

Our challenge is to do this in such a way that doesn’t completely replace the public system and relieve it of its rightful responsibilities. Any successful examples of doing this from around the world would be much appreciated…Thanks!

p.s. I have published a new photo album from my recent trip to rural Nepal to study the CMAM program. See the photos on Picasa here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/markarnoldy/NepalNUTritionPeanutButterCMAM?feat=directlink

or on Facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2423516&id=10221248&l=3868ea7760

When I met with Ajay, the current director and CEO of Sahayata Microfinance, about how he envisioned the future of Sahayata Livelihoods (the nonprofit that I have been working for), the first thing he told me was, “I want to retain my customers.” This fell in line with the spiel that my supervisor gave me on my first day at Sahayata Livelihoods about the reasons why Sahayata created a nonprofit entity. “As Sahayata Microfinance grows, it will attract more attention from the media, and Sahayata Microfinance will be expected to have given back to society. We have to show people that we aren’t just taking money but are also doing something for society.” Microfinance has become a competitive industry, and potential customers now have a variety of options to choose from when taking out a loan. Sahayata Livelihoods is meant to set Sahayata apart from the rest.

If there is no intrinsic motivation to give to society, at least the idea of “social responsibility” seems to have become enough of a norm that for-profit companies feel the need to engage in activities that benefit society. Furthermore, for-profit companies like Sahayata view “doing good” as potentially profitable because it can create goodwill with their customers. Perhaps the government incentives for social enterprises that I alluded to in my last post can be replaced by societal expectation?

The danger of using a nonprofit as a public relations mechanism, however, is that the incentive is to only create programs that look good and can provide quick results and to avoid spending money and time on conducting proper assessments to test the efficacy of the programs and revise the programs accordingly. Last week, Sahayata Livelihoods held a preventative dental checkup for women and children in one of the slum areas in Udaipur. Four dental students from the local dental college arrived in a yellow bus as Suresh, the Sahayata Livelihoods employee responsible for organizing the event, pulled out chairs from locals’ houses and transformed the area of the slum that usually served as the children’s unofficial playground into a hastily-made dental clinic. A large Sahayata Livelihoods banner hung in the background; where the banner should be placed generated much more attention than other important administrative matters that day. There was very little documentation of which patients underwent checkups and what the diagnosis and follow up for them were. Sahayata Livelihoods wants to expand this preventative health program to 10,000 women within the next twelve months. Similarly, it plans to expand its financial literacy program (which our team is working to assess and reform) to reach more than 15,000 women across Rajasthan within the next year without having conducted any systematic assessment of its pilot financial literacy program. Sahayata Livelihoods has an ambitious plan, but as of now, it only has three employees, only one of whom is employed full-time.

I do not mind if we are working for a nonprofit that was meant to provide good PR to its parent company, as long as that nonprofit is doing good work. However, if PR is the only reason for Sahayata Livelihoods’ existence, then it seems like the incentive to create programs that look good on paper but whose efficacy is questionable at best is almost unavoidable. Their efforts can begin to mirror those of organizations like the Rotary Club, which often make a lot more fuss over taking pictures and publicizing their good deeds than understanding and creating sustainable programs within communities.

Rotary Club's Mewar Chapter President hands a child in the village school that my host mom teaches at some notebooks donated by one of the Rotary Club's members.

As our group of summer volunteers spent more time in the communities and working with classes, we naturally began to feel strong connections to certain people and families. A group of friends that sat together at a table in the back of our Advanced English class included Gabriel, Norman, Fabricio, Adrianna, Elaina, and Aldo. They were all about our age, give or take a few years, and are eager and rather accelerated learners.

Usually we had a lesson planned and then had an alternate lesson for when this table finished the exercises. Often, however, normal conversation about life, language, and anything else that could come to mind would float into the mix. I sat at this table from time to time to help with the lesson and grew to really enjoy their company. Other summer volunteers also became quite close to them and soon they were frequenting our house to just hang out, get guitar lessons, or play catchphrase.

One afternoon this group of friends came over to tell us about a non-for-profit organization that they had started themselves in the Managua area. They call themselves 'Nicayuda' which is a portmanteau word combining 'Nicaragua' and the verb 'ayudar' for 'to help.' Nicayuda is an NGO composed of 7 young Nicaraguans who acknowledge a need for public preschools in their country.

There are a number of good private preschools in Managua but they are also immensely expensive. Thus, Nicayuda has opened a couple public preschools in which young impoverished children can begin learning. That week, after hearing these friend of ours talk about their NGO, a group of the MPI (Manna Project International) Summer Volunteers paid a visit to the preschools. Unfortunately on that day, the preschools were closed due to the swine flu scare. We did get to see the facilities a bit though and later I saw some pictures of Nicayuda's endeavors.

Much of what I have been learning from my time in Nicaragua is the concept of empowerment. We teach classes and work and give to the communities of Cedro Gallan and Chikilistagua not for our own gain and not to just provide classes but instead to provide a means for opportunity. By learning how to read and by learning English, people from this community might be able to use these skills to find open doors waiting for them. I have been asked again and again about whether NGOs should occupy a constant presence in developing nations. While I don't believe they should create too strong of a sense of dependence, if they are indeed doing good work then the good must continue. As I pondered this question, however, the ideal situation continues to come to mind: Nicaraguans serving Nicaraguans.

That's a hard concept to wrap one's mind around considering how poor most of Nicaragua is; How can the poor help the poor? Will we simply ask the 'not as poor' to help the 'dirt poor?'

Nicayuda fits perfectly into this model of Nica's helping Nica's. These young people aren't starting an NGO to boost resumes or merely because they are bored and have nothing better to do. These new friends of ours are putting themselves on the line and meeting a need with their own abilities. They are currently working on gathering resources and aid to improve the conditions of three preschools in the Managua area. If you are interested in learning more information, please friend Nicayuda Nicaragua on Facebook or email Norman at nicayudaconorg@gmail.com.

As a child, she tended yaks and goats on the mountainsides of rural Qinghai, China but things have changed since then. She still considers herself a nomad. Now, however, she is a nomad of business and it is solar panels and solar cookers she tends.

Dorma (卓玛) rose in the business world by migrating from trade to trade and from city to city; wherever opportunity presented itself. She is one of the few women of her ethnicity to run her own non-restaurant business.

One Earth Designs recently visited Dorma’s factory with local university students to negotiate solar technology prices. Seventy watt solar panels cost 2,000 RMB (293 USD) and 8 watt solar panels cost 400 RMB (58 USD).

As for solar cookers, China has a handful of standard designs that you can read about here. Dorma sells the two most popular designs:

(1) Concrete Butterfly Solar Cooker:

Butterfly solar cookers are asymmetric parabolas. In this solar cooker, the asymmetric parabolic dish is made from concrete. Small mirrors (usually 1”x 1”) are then pasted on the surface of the concrete parabola using tar or silicon adhesive. The base of the cooker is a circular concrete slab.

(2) Cast Iron Butterfly Solar Cooker

This is also an asymmetric parabolic solar cooker. The dish is made from two cast iron wings that unscrew for separate transportation. Mylar is pasted on the surface to boost specular reflectivity. Standard paper glue is used as the adhesive. The base is designed like a wheelbarrow in order to increase portability.

Although Dorma sells these cookers, she does not manufacture them. We went to visit solar cooker factories in Gansu, Sichuan, and Qinghai in order to compare prices and profit margins. Here, we report these values for the concrete solar cooker (only the government manufactures metal cookers as the unsubsidized cost of purchasing them is prohibitively expensive for most households).

The total price of manufacturing a concrete solar cooker averaged 84 RMB (12 USD). Profit margins for the factory owner ranged from 36 to 116 RMB (5-17 USD).

Many factory workers had recently relocated to urban centers from the countryside. Workers laying mirrors were able to make 6 cookers per day, thus earning 36 RMB (5 USD). If they work 7 days per week every day of the year they can make slightly more than 2/3rds China’s average urban income. The workers we spoke with had bandages covering cuts on their fingers from the edges of the glass mirrors.

Workers laying concrete were able to make 13-15 cookers per day, thus earning 39-45 RMB (6-7 USD). If they work every day of the year, they earn a few hundred RMB short of China’s average urban income.

One Earth Designs is inspired by Dorma’s success and saddened by the low wages and poor working conditions faced by rural peoples relocating to urban areas (those few able to find city jobs). We are working with local development organizations, universities, and communities to nurture a new generation of nomadic entrepreneurs skilled at merging traditional design practices and materials with modern needs and urban capacities.

Stay tuned for an introduction to our novel solar cooker design, the SolSource 3-in-1, and its potential as a local income generator.

One Earth Designs (OED) was founded in 2007 by Catlin Powers and Scot Frank ( OED website; OED blog; OED facebook page; Twitter@OneEarthDesigns). Catlin will post on Mondays and Wednesdays. You can also find her on Twitter @CatlinPowers.

A woman in one of the slums that we visited offers chai to us.

A woman washing clothes in one of the urban slums that we visited.

What a typical neighborhood of a Sahayata client looks like.

A Sahayata client shows us her cloth shop, which she was able to expand through her Sahayata loan.

The non-profit that I am working with is an offshoot of the microfinance institution Shree Hari Fintrade Private Limited, which operates under the Brand name Sahayata. Founded only two years ago, Sahayata now has twenty-one locations in Rajasthan and is aiming for a total of three hundred branches throughout India by 2010. The six founders of Sahayata hold impressive resumes and bring a wealth of experience from working in multi-national corporations outside of India. The MFI claims to be adding more than 4,000 customers a month and expects even greater growth as it expands to more locations.

While Sahayata’s growth plan and execution are impressive (loan officers text collection figures from the field to a software that automatically compiles data from all branches and generates a report on excel), its focus on rapid expansion makes loan officers leery of lending to those at the very bottom of the income bracket. With huge targets to reach, the branch managers place their energy into increasing collection amounts. It is Sahayata’s policy to lend only to women who are married, own their own house, and have their own business.

When speaking of alleviating poverty, it is important to define exactly what parameters qualify as “poor” and what constitutes bringing individuals out of poverty. The initial aim of microfinance under Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen model was to help those at the very bottom of the income bracket, who did not have steady shelter or businesses, obtain loans. Though the women who receive the 5000-10000 Rs loans from still earn far less than the average middle class Indian, it is clear that Sahayata is not by any means a poverty-alleviating entity by Grameen standards.

Our supervisor says that Sahayata loans to women in the slums, but it is evident that the definition of “slum” varies significantly here. He unabashedly rejects the idea of lending to those living under tin roofs in the slums because he believes that there is a slim to nothing chance that women in the slums will pay back their loans.

“Sahayata lost money last year. We cannot afford to take on such high risk, When Sahayata expands and is able to make a lot of money, only then can we consider loaning to the poor. We must be able to stand on our own before we can help the poor. We can’t be expected to simply give out of our pockets forever.”

The assumption here, however, is that the poor are not going to return their loans and that the MFI will automatically lose money if it lends to these poor. Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen model has proved this wrong. Isn’t it precisely because normal banking institutions will not lend to these people that MFI’s were created? When I mentioned this to my supervisor, he explained that the Grameen model is viable in Bangladesh only because most of the population in Bangladesh is at the same level of poverty, so MFI’s there are forced to loan to the poorest of the poor. In India, however, where there are many different levels of income, MFI’s do not need to loan only to the poorest of the poor.

What he seems to be saying is that because there is greater profit to be made by lending to other income brackets, it is only natural that for-profit institutions will automatically favor lending to those women over women from the lowest income brackets and with the least amount of job security and stable housing. From a business standpoint, Sahayata’s decision to loan only to women who are married and own their own homes and businesses makes sound financial sense. As a newly established MFI, Sahayata suffered losses last year and is therefore unlikely to take on a large amount of risk.

Does the profit motive always lead to the neglect of the poor? In this profit-driven, growth-oriented approach to microfinance, the most disadvantaged group is again left behind. Is the profit motive and the fact that microfinance has become a lucrative business model detrimental to the original intent of microfinance as a way to alleviate poverty? Should MFI’s follow the rules of the free market?

Without government incentives for corporations to serve the poorest classes, it seems very unlikely that corporations will be willing to take on such initiatives on their own. The alternative to corporations that operate only to generate profit is what Muhammad Yunus calls the “social enterprise,” which has the twin aims of profit and social impact as barometers for success. As such, Yunus explains that, “A social entrepreneur will continue to be in the market for as long as his or her socially beneficial enterprise is at least breaking even.”

However, unless there are policy changes on the macro-level that provide incentives for the development of more such social enterprises or that encourage the adoption of double bottom lines, goodwill alone will not be enough to alleviate poverty. And until then, it seems unlikely that MFI’s will direct their efforts towards loaning to the poorest of the poor.

I heard a joke last night. A Ugandan man speaking to a group of men and women from England. The Ugandan man, laughing hysterically, said: “Thank you for your language [pause] and that’s it.”

Arbitrary lines drawn on the map of Africa during the late nineteenth century Scramble for Africa was not only a race between European nations to colonize Africans, but also a formation of artificial boundaries that “scrambled” African ethnic groups by dividing and combining communities. The lasting legacy of European influence in Africa today illustrates the longstanding consequences of colonization. The present environment and culture of Uganda is formed by history and therefore to successfully effect change, the history of colonization must be remembered in any conversation about the future. While it should be part of the conversation, it should not be a limiting factor because. As Obama said in his recent address in Ghana, “Africa's future is up to Africans." While the definition of  community is dynamic, a few things remain consistent. Because community is simply a word to describe the relationship among a group of people, when populations develop a new personality, it is the people themselves who dictate that personality.A nonprofit hot-spot since the 70s and 80s and the era of Ida Amin, this country has been an easy place for English speaking do-gooders to come and give the non-profit world their best shot. This influx of a population of westerners “solving the social problems of Ugandans“ is, in a sense, another form of colonialism. Yet the ex-patriot community here is largely comfortable and kindly accepted. As the social sector turns more toward social enterprise, and as models of dependency are slowly diminished, the presence and role of ex-patriots should evolve as well. With that in mind, a successful development project should be defined as such: when a project, program, or organization has fulfilled it’s mission, the external aid should no longer be a necessary component of the community. And this is the necessary future for the relationship between Uganda and western countries: a future of appropriate design, innovative infrastructure, competency building and job creation.

It’s really exciting to be among a group of innovative, practical, and change focused individuals. Professor Musaazi, his two sons, a few interns and the rest of Technoloy 4 Tomorrow, are an invigorating bunch. They see a problem, and look for a solution. Their solutions embrace concepts of “Design for the other 90%” (read this book) and are realistic, simple, and accessible. MakaPads is only one of their many solutions. Interlocking bricks, efficient mixing contraptions made from recycled materials, incinerators, and much more in the incredible innovative minds of these individuals at Makerere’s Faculty of Technology (click here to see more of their products).

Their minds are always working on the next practical solution. Nonprofits alone will not save the world. They have an important role, but keeping a critical eye is important to ensure practical, measurable, and significant change…remembering to avoid into the pitfall of some nonprofits: “the need to be needed” and instead to strive to be essentially unnecessary.

A few days back I was sitting with three young men in a tiny dark room in a small alley in one of the worst slums outside Kampala. These young men, (one year out of high school, age 23-25) complete the sealing process of MakaPads and LOVE their job. Our lighthearted conversation turned into one about the complexities of life as they know it as I listened to their description of the many “ironies of third world poverty.” Our conversation was filled with jokes and witticisms (as are practically all conversations in Uganda), and Abraham, the most talkative of the three, joked, “I’m working and learning. I am a man, but I am making pads.” That being said, the conversation was also filled with interjections about how scary changes in government (especially major elections) are in the third world, and how trapped one can feel when “you can study and study and study and get your PhD and STILL find no work.” These heart-wrenching comments provided grounding among the jokes of marriage and curiosity about my ‘Muzungu skin that can get hurt by the sun and turn pink.”

Abraham commented on how funny it is that when people visit Uganda from a short period of time they end up witnessing so much more of his country than he ever has or will. I, in the past two weeks, have not only taken a weekend trip to explore Jinja, but have also traveled during the week to the outskirts of Kampala and Entebbe for work AND in a few weeks will be in the far west, in the Kabarole District for Kasiisi Project… I have already seen so much more of Uganda than any of the Ugandans with whom I was talking. They talked about how although they’ve known poverty all too well, they have only seen peace because they have never been to the north. Imagination is his source for exploration beyond Kampala. As we looked out the opening of the wall at the hot, dusty red dirt Abraham imagined out loud how thrilling it must be to “run on ice and snow” and to ski. Unfortunately, although he envisions novel experience and travel, his income is not enough to save beyond basic needs. MakaPads have allowed these boys to keep themselves busy and employed after high school when they may otherwise be getting themselves into “typical teenager troubles” (as they said). Employment is more than many can hope for in this starving environment. The boys raved about their employment with MakaPads because:

“It’s relaxed and you self motivate. No one tells you to work. If you work, you have money. It’s self-esteem and motivation.” and because “the more you work, the more money you make, so you find yourself pushing yourself to work hard.” One boy talked about how the hours they work (typically 7 -4), the lack of transport needed to get to work, and the work-week being limited to M-F made their jobs “so much better than a regular African job”.

The complexity of working with people who can see beyond the truly debilitating and overpowering poverty in the slums of Kampala and maintain an open and curious mind is incredibly humbling. These young men are well educated and employed and therefore in a much better position than the majority of their peers. But despite their intelligence, they are stuck in a world of corruption, uncertainly, and deprivation. But they also experience delight, and laughter, and friendship.

I read this poem early this fall and it really resonated with my inevitably mixed emotions inherent in being a privileged white American working in a third world county and seeing poverty, illness, and capability deprivation… and realizing “risking delight” is something we need be ok with as hard and as hypocritical as it may seem at times.

***

The innovations that gave birth to the world’s ancient civilizations are fading into dust.

Basillica Cistern, Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Tyler Durden

The Greater Tragedy: Not only are we losing the knowledge and inventions that first allowed humans to adapt to life in the world’s great deserts and on its snow-capped mountains, but the communities responsible for these innovations now feel ashamed of them.

In many regions, advertisements of foreign cities and technologies have generated a sense of inferiority that has discouraged even the most talented traditional craftspeople from continuing their trades.

Nowhere in the dialogue are these traditional lines of innovation labeled ‘science’ or ‘engineering’. Instead, they are called ‘history’, ‘art’, or ‘culture’, put in museums rather than studied in workshops. The great irrigation systems of the Incas that allowed them to flood the Ollantaytambo valley (Peru), drowning their conquistador rivals, have not made their way into contemporary texts on sustainable agriculture.

Valley beneath Ollantaytambo, Peru. Photo: Luke Redmond

Our task is to inspire confidence within communities to recognize the contemporary usefulness and future potential of their design traditions. We do not want to preserve cultures, but rather to reinvigorate them.

Although all our efforts aim towards this goal, one is deserving of special attention, our engineering workshops run by One Earth Design’s (OED’s) Chief Engineer, Amy Qian.

Amy Qian holds up disassembled early prototype of the

SolSource 3-in-1. Photo: Scot Frank.

The daughter of two computer scientists, Qian began her career as a mechanical engineer as an eight year old; by whittling pointy sticks in her backyard. She graduated to carpentry with power tools in her garage, then to the metal shops of her high school and the robot building laboratories of MIT (Media Lab).

Qian’s passion for practice and design has never waivered because “it has given [her] the power to build tangible solutions for the problems [she is] presented with”. Now, she is working to inspire that same passion in others and to empower those around her to engineer solutions for their own communities.

Last week, Qian held a series of design workshops that seemed to be destined for failure. A landslide blocked her way into the city for the workshop, forcing her to spend an extra hour crossing the nearby river and finding a car to take her the rest of the way. At the markets, none of the vendors wanted to sell a duffel-bag full of wood to a woman, and for various reasons the location of the workshop had to be changed three times just hours before the sessions began.

Finally, the group gathered. The son and daughter of a carpenter who had been sent away to school as young children, two women’s group leaders from farming families, and a nomadic man who started a rural education association huddled around Qian, listening attentively to her explanations of wood working tools and design principles. Then, they built.

This is what they had to say after completing the woodworking portion of the workshop:

This is a small start but, to us, it is a beautiful one.

Does it start with a simple idea that grows into something bigger or does it start with passionate people looking for a way to change the world?

There is not one main story that can encompass the history of Global Brigades. Instead, its history is comprised of a myriad of people with different passions who came together to combat the health and development problems that plague the majority of the world.

Imagine a group of idealistic students, passionate doctors, and suitcases full of medicine.

In 2004, Global Brigades began with pre-med students who simply wanted to improve the quality of healthcare in the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. Instead, this group would find themselves as the initiators of a social movement led by students. Two of the pre-med students joined with their group organizer who was raised as an orphan in Honduras, a recent business school graduate from USC, and a patent lawyer in California. The worlds of these five idealistic leaders collided to form the legal entity of what would become Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization.

Global Brigades, a U.S. 501(c)3, creates a mutually beneficial short-term exchange program that improves the quality of life for disadvantaged people in the developing world, while empowering the volunteers who initiate them. GB offers beneficiaries two holistic programs: health (medical, dental, water sanitation, and public health brigades) and development (business, law, architecture and environmental brigades).

Health brigades are implemented in Honduras, in villages that would not otherwise have access to medicine. Volunteers are encouraged to bring down a multi-disciplinary team to not only conduct medical/dental relief work, but to improve the water, sanitation, and over public health infrastructure. The volunteers have access to an electronic patient records system to monitor health trends and pull patient history.

Development brigades are implemented in Panama via several partner nonprofit organizations, such as the Peace Corps, that help identify projects and oversee them when the volunteers aren’t “brigading.” Volunteers from the four development disciplines work together to assist the microenterprises in the communities by providing business consultations, capital investments, legal guidance, and architectural designs while teaching the importance of environmental preservation and conducting reforestation projects.

So what does it take to start a social movement towards decreasing global poverty and improving our environment? It begins with basic ideas led by the passion of those who aren’t willing to surrender to the difficulties of how to accomplish these daunting tasks.

As Paul Hawkens recently said during his commencement address to the 2009 graduates of the University of Portland,

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn't afford to send recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

For daily updates on our recent projects in Honduras, follow @vanessaclopez on Twitter.