While it is commendable for some to
consider setting foot into the social sector, the mere intent to do good with
an effective solution is seldom enough. As a social venture moves forward,
entrepreneurs are confronted with challenging questions: How do we measure
impact? Should we expand our team to reach newer geographies? How do we make
the venture self-sustainable? For heads that lack clarity, the weight of such
daunting questions is often enough to dismantle organizations with some of the
brightest ideas in mind, and greatest intentions at heart. For those who find
the right answers, the words doing well while doing good are
realized optimally.
The Lend-A-Hand India
Story
I am associated with one such
organization that seems to have answered all the above questions with aplomb. Lend-A-Hand-India
(LAHI) was started in 2006 by New York based developmental sector specialist,
Sunanda Mane, and her banker husband, Raj Gilda, with a few friends. Their
intent is to impact the lives of the poor in India by partnering locally with
community groups and local governments. LAHI creates better access to education
and vocational training to develop careers of the upcoming youth and present
them with better job and entrepreneurial opportunities. LAHI has 3 major
programs: Job and Life Skills training program for secondary school students,
Junior Rural Fellowship Program for college students from villages, and Loan
Scholarship Program for students pursuing higher education in technical fields.
Sustaining the Innovation
Students take the classes one day per
week in school (approximately 3.5 hours per week) for three years, spanning
grades 8, 9, and 10. In order to implement the program, LAHI develops the
curriculum, recruits the trade practitioners (i.e. plumbers, carpenters,
electricians, etc.) from the local communities and then train them to be
instructors, buy equipment and pay for the running costs and other expenses for
a period of three years. LAHI supports the schools by sharing the costs but
keeps lessening their monetary engagement every year till the school sustains
the model on its own within three years. Not only does the school see long-term
results, but the parents of the students also agree to fund this intervention
which is coupled with a positive image for the NGO that employs locals and
supplements their incomes as well.
As Kimberly Dasher Tripp points out
in her article, an organization that can scale without directly doing the work
or incurring the costs will ultimately have far bigger impact than one trying
to do it by growing big. LAHI is ensuring this through their model and reaching
over 41,000 beneficiaries is not enough for them. They have fact started
working for a widespread policy change in the country. Representatives from the
NGO work with the government as the NGO curriculum is recognized by the
National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF), and set to roll out in 239
schools with central and state government funding now. In 2015, the Government
of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development endorsed this model of a secondary
school vocational education.
Thinking Caps On
LAHI has its merit in ensuring the
element of “charity” is not used as a veil that discourages the need to access
quality education. For LAHI, it is not only about just growing, but maximizing
impact and if that is achievable with a member of the team pushing a
large-scale policy shift within the legislative bodies in the country, then the
team size is hardly an accurate measure for their growth. However, as we know that fields such
as education and health rely heavily on metrics of scale and numbers to
evaluate impact, I would like to pose a few questions to the readers of this
forum. In education, are numbers the only reflection of impact? If not, what
are the other metrics to measure impact and who must take the onus of devising
them? For e.g. In 2013 it was noted that out of 1.5 million engineers who
graduated in India, only 7% were employable. Is there a requirement to define stakeholder roles from both sides, government as well as the non-profit, in
this dynamic association where synergies are molded to maximize outreach?
Finally, as the old conundrum goes, who must take the responsibility, for being
responsible?
References:
About Lend-A-Hand India
How Misinformed Ideas About Profit
Are Holding Back the World's Poor, Hugh Walan
It’s Not All About Growth for Social
Enterprises, Kimberly Dasher Tripp
Project Swadheen
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