DF’s Development Dialogue Dinner at Hotel Naveen (aka a lesson in Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest)

Dinner on the second night of DD was hosted outside Hotel Naveen, arguably Hubli’s nicest hotel that is situated next to the aquatic wonder known as Unkal Lake. The pre-dinner entertainment put on by Samarthanam - a Bangalore-based NGO for blind and physically handicapped people – was great, and during this time we also had a very long conversation with Madan about his beliefs in deep ecology (everything goes in circles and must be returned to the earth), got more insights about his vocational school, and was invited to visit and work with him near Everest Base Camp later this year. Things really started to go downhill after this though when the announcement came for dinner, in what we consider a prime example of the concept ‘Survival of the Fittest.’ Here’s a timeline of the events:

9:03: All food stalls are set up in one row between the side of pool and a row of grass and bushes, so access is not at all people-friendly. Although there were probably more than 200 people, there was only one server for soup, one for bread, one for curry, and one for rice (you do the math). We cautiously hope that this will turn out better than it looks.

9:05: The only thing available is soup, so we along with at least 150 make a mad dash for that food stall. People are coming from all angles to the circular table for the liquid gold, but things actually go smoother than expected for us given the high probability of spillage. We are close to this table when dinner is called, so we both manage to get a full bowl unscathed.

9:15: The next logical thing to do is go for the bread stall, but instead the caterers opt to fill the curry table next. The lone server here is being very stingy on the quantities so people have to keep coming back for more or prodding him to add another scoop during their initial trip. Of course, people are acting in the classic Indian free-for-all and not adhering to any organized structure (i.e., maintaining a line or other orderly position). We somehow come away with a bit of aloo and kofta, and go out in search of bread.

9:20: We sight the table was for rice, rasam, and curd, which is traditionally eaten as the final course. Because more people are busy waiting so long for the other courses, the crowd around this table is actually minimal. This leads to some hungry patrons deviating from the normal sequence of a South Indian meal (blasphemy!) but at least provides them with some much needed food. As we already have our scattered amounts of curry (but still no bread), we opt to stick it out and follow the traditional routine.

9:21: After patiently staring at our half-full plate and waiting for the bread table to be stocked, we decide to go for it. This area is by far the most chaotic of all with arms and bodies going everywhere like people trying to get on an already overcrowded bus. Again, there is just one person serving the bread, and people pushing their way through from all angles, reaching their arms out in hopes of landing a sacred piece of naan or poori. Within 30 seconds, the entire tray is empty with at least 20 empty plates extended towards the server begging for more. The way people were acting, you would believe that they have not eaten for days! At least one of us (Adam) lucks out, landing naan on at least two occasions thanks to the strategy of getting the plate in low and as close to the bread tray as possible.

9:30: We sight a couple of Sandbox Fellows that have been standing in the curry line for about 10 minutes without moving an inch and let them know that if they continue to stand there, there was a low probability that they would ever get served. They heed our advice, but this of course just causes them to be a part of the chaos and push ahead and around the crowd until whatever quantity they can muster is thrown on their plate.

9:45: Along with those who actually successfully made it through their course of curry and bread in the appropriate sequence, we start to head over to the rice table. This naturally leads to yet another traffic jam. Hotel Naveen and their wonderful catering logistics team again only places one server at this table but requires that he serve three different dishes at once (hence the need for at least one more arm). One of the DD participants takes charge behind the table and also starts serving people as well. This improves the flow of traffic and we land some coveted rice and curd without incident, but only after barely getting out of the way of a full vat of yogurt that is hurled off the table by the flustered server.

9:58: We notice that by the time dessert comes around, people are finally acting in a civilized manner and forming a line, and so we decide to join them. We attribute this change to either accepting that getting in line is actually the most efficient way to get food, or because people are just too tired to push their way to the front one last time. The quantities of gajar (carrot) halva with vanilla ice-cream are large and very tasty.

10:10: Things are finally winding down and there is still some food at the dessert table, so we manage to score a much deserved second helping!

10:20: The remaining guests that have managed to survive dinner through the end are called to get on the last buses to their hotels. We, along with most of the other fellows, walk over to the hotel bar for a much needed drink.

We know that Desh has been pushing for competition in the NGO sector, but this was a bit much!

Development Dialogue – Day 2

If you have read our previous post, then you know that the Development Dialogue is the Deshpande Foundation’s big annual conference. The biggest highlight of Day 2 was the presentations from and conversations with the Ashoka Fellows. Here are some of the highlights from Day 2…

Ashoka Fellows: The opening session included a series of short talks from 5 social entrepreneurs from around the world that are supported by the Ashoka Foundation. All of the speakers gave very good talks that were both inspiring and informational. There is no doubt that many of the local NGOs in attendance gained some useful knowledge from this session. Here’s a brief overview of each Ashoka Fellow.

Tri Mumpuni (Puni) – Promoting micro-hydropower projects in rural un/under-electrified villages in Indonesia. Her NGO is called People Centered Economic & Business Institute (IBEKA). This was an interesting and necessary venture because Indonesia is a nation of 100s of islands, and hence has a lot of water available to generate electricity, but lacks the infrastructure to supply more than 100 million people with adequate power supply. Until date, IBEKA has built at least 65 micro-hydro plants that supply power to more than 400,000 people. We should also mention that Puni is one of the sweetest people that we have met, and it’s great to know that there are people like her out there in the world.

Madan Rai – Promoting development in rural villages near Everest base camp in Nepal. Madan’s initiatives work directly with young people and farmers to increase agricultural productivity, create new job opportunities, and open access to domestic and international markets. His next big venture is to promote ‘vocational’ schools that not only have rigorous sessions in the classroom, but also promote life skills like farming, tailoring, construction etc. We had a long talk with Madan at dinner later that night, where he explained his school concept in more detail and even invited us to come and stay with him to help teach kids English and sustainable development while learning a few things ourselves. An opportunity to go live near Everest base camp for some time, is this too good to be true? Could there be another move in the near future? Hmmm...

Noel De Villiers – Developing rural tourism in South Africa through his NGO Open Africa. Noel has been promoting this since the end of Apartheid in the early 1990’s and currently offers numerous vacation/travel options in South Africa. The proceeds from this venture go towards improving livelihoods and environmental quality of rural villages throughout the country. On Friday, we also had the opportunity to take Noel, who is about 70 years old, on his first autorickshaw ride through the streets of Hubli, where he experienced some of the crazy twists, turns, and common encounters that one has when taking this mode of transportation. We all reached the hotel safely, but as he got out, he proclaimed, “I’m surprised that I haven’t died in the past 24 hours!” Our reply was simply, “Hey, that ride wasn’t bad at all…it’s just the way things are here in India.”

Vera Gainsley Cordeiro – Establishing a holistic approach to children’s health care in Brazil through her NGO Associação Saude Crianca Renascer. Vera developed this idea why working as a pediatrician in a government hospital for more than 20 years. She constantly saw the same kids come in and get treated for ailments that were common for those living in chronic poverty. Through her experiences, she came to the believe that the way to better health was not only to encourage preventative healthcare, but to also develop other livelihood activities like family support systems and enhanced income generation that can lift people out of their desperate conditions. Since the inception of Associação Saude Crianca Renascer in the early 1990s, the organization has spread to 7 states in Brazil and is helping the Government of Brazil to establish a similar program that can be implemented nationwide.

Brij Kothari – Standardizing same language subtitles (SLS) for regional and national Indian television programs to improve literacy rates. Brij is a communications professor who has been developing this idea through rigorous research. He and his colleagues have found that if you scroll Hindi subtitles on the bottom of the screen of a Hindi television show, people inadvertently learn to read. The statistics on this for several languages are very impressive. Brij has successfully convinced the Government of India to implement this relatively simple idea for many of the programs that are currently on the public television channels (both Hindi and regional languages). Given that there are so many languages in the world, and this method apparently works so well, there is no doubt that we could all learn something from this approach.

Afternoon Sessions: The afternoon featured a series of concurrent sessions that focused on cases studies from DF funded projects as well as some talks on how to again follow DF’s model of innovation, entrepreneurship, and scale. There was nothing too groundbreaking here to report.

Evening Networking Session: DF organized a networking session so that the Fellows could interact with other conference attendees that have lived abroad during sometime of their life. We met quite a few interesting people including an Indian with a PhD in Physics from Harvard, who lived in the US for more than 20 years, but then moved with his wife to Delhi 6 months ago to work in the microfinance/development sector. His culture shock experiences were similar to ours. We also met a Venture Capitalist that split his time between San Francisco, Mumbai, and in his sailboat exploring Penobscot Bay. I never imagined that I would ever have a detailed conversation about Maine’s coastal communities in Hubli, India…Small World!

Dinner at Hotel Naveen (aka a lesson in Darwin’s survival of the fittest): Stay tuned, as this deserves a blog post of its own…

Scenes from the Development Dialogue – Day 1

Last week, we headed back to Hubli for the Deshpande Foundation’s annual conference, the Development Dialogue (DD). The conference is an annual reflection on the Deshpande Foundation's three core themes: (1) Innovation, (2) Entrepreneurship and, (3) Scale. At least 200 people attended the event, although most were from NGOs in the ‘Sandbox’ region of NW Karnataka that are funded by DF. The few others that came from the abroad, especially the Ashoka Fellows from Brazil, South Africa, Nepal, Indonesia, and beyond gave a lot of good insight and were really fun to talk to.

Here are some highlights from day 1 of the event...

Kick-off Event (aka Emil-palooza): The opening event had a mix of live performances and original films that highlighted some of the key programs and NGOs funded by the Deshpande Foundation. It was organized by another Sandbox Fellow and our good friend Emil, who worked on it for weeks. The effort that he and others put on really showed, as it was quite an impressive spectacle, especially for Hubli. Two of the films that were produced by Emil and his sidekick Chetan are available online, and we highly suggest you check them out:

1. Short Documentaries of 4 Deshpande Foundation funded NGOs

2. A day in the life of a sandbox fellow (note that we are not in this because we are living in Bangalore and not Hubli, where it was shot)

Desh’s Speech: ‘Desh’ Deshpande, the founder of the Deshpande Foundation along with his wife Jaishree, introduced the theme of the DD as ‘Changing Perspectives.’ The idea behind it is that NGOs that focus on the development sector in India should run their organization less like a traditional non-profit and more like a business in the corporate sector. He repeatedly stressed the need to produce metrics, follow up with quarterly reports, and strive to make your operation as efficient and scalable as possible. While these ideas are nothing new to those involved with DF (again, the motto is innovation, entrepreneurship, and scale), it was apparent from the reaction from the audience that a lot of the NGOs in attendance are not totally on board. Perhaps this is because NGOs in NW Karnataka have not been exposed to this type of thinking before, or perhaps it is because things are not that cut and dry out in the field when you are working with a variety of different people and conditions as they might be in the boardroom (we believe that it is a mix of both). Regardless, it appears that Desh is going to continue to press these ideas until his model is completely disproved.

Stay tuned for reports on the other two days in upcoming posts.