After spending an amazing weekend in Mozambique, playing an Ultimate Frisbee tournament with some of Africa’s greatest change agents, I had plenty time to think about my Foodbank SA post last week on ‘old paradigm’ social investment and traditional NGO giving.
I think Ric Young spells it out best in his ’social innovation talk’ (below). Most NGOs operate to serve/service social fractures (e.g. Feeding 1000 starving kiddies per month), whilst social innovation / social entrepreneurs seek to build models which eradicate ’social fractures’ completely if scalability and replication is possible.
Thus it was unfair for me (in the tone of my article) to imply that feeding people through a foodbank structure is NOT important. But I think that ’social innovation’ in looking to eradicate the problem long term is equally important. For me to imply that ’switching off’ food to children in need is the way forward, that is not true. But I think social investors must wisen up to their medium / long term goal. Is it funding feeding schemes for the next 10 years, or are they interesting in eradicating hunger?
On my Ultimate Frisbee trip to Mozambique, i met some amazing people working in Africa, at some of the highest / lowest / grass roots levels. Clinton Foundation, Bain, TechnoServe in Swaziland, the British High Commission, US Peace Corps etc etc – all the way to young Mozambican social entrepreneurs (Daniel and Surge pictured below). I have never been involved in a sport which so prolifically attracts the NGO / development sector, like Ultimate Frisbee.
One of the most interesting characters, was Drew Tulchin (my vice captain!) who runs Social Enterprise Associates out of New Mexico, USA. Check out www.socialenterprise.net. Besides consulting on projects in Afganisthan, and pretty much any obscure place on the planet, Drew also was our dedicated Portugese translator to the local development players.
Another great example of a change-maker and typical Ultimate Frisbee player is Stef Stevens. At around 50 years old, he has played Ultimate for years and was voted the best player of the tournament. Take a look at this CV for social development pedigree – http://www.wfdf.org/structure/board/elections/Stef_Stevens_2007.pdf
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