Citi Center for Financial Literacy

Financial literacy can broadly be defined as providing familiarity with and understanding of financial market
products, especially rewards and risks, in order to make informal choices. Viewed from this stand point, financial
education primarily relates to personal finance to enable individuals to take effective action to improve overall well
being and avoid distress in matter that are financial. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) has defined financial education as the process by which financial consumers/investors improve their
understanding of financial products, concepts and risks, and through information, instructions and/or objective advise,
develop the skills and confidence to become more aware of financial risks and opportunities, to make informed
choices, to know where to go for help, and to take other effective actions to improve their financial well being.
Thus financial literacy is the ability to know, monitor and effectively use financial resources to enhance the well being
and economic security of oneself, ones family and business, and also for improving the understanding of the financial
service providers. In our case, our focus of financial literacy will be SHG members and their families and all other
organizations who are involved with them. This includes Bankers, Panchayat members as well.
The concept of Financial Literacy, is essentially spreading the knowledge of good money management practices. It
encompasses all monetary transactions that a person enters into such as earning, spending, saving, borrowing and
investing. These transactions cannot be avoided and they are all integral parts of a person's life, and hence the
introduction of financial literacy will help people, especially women to manage these transactions to their advantage.
With financial literacy, poor will have opportunity to learn skills related to,
a) Setting economic goals, b) Making a financial plan, c) Managing cash flow, d) Minimizing debt,
e) Planning for future. And also f) Socially responsible actions without jeopardizing the economic conditions
The Citi Centre for Financial Literacy (CCFL) is one of the core wing of the school established in September2005
with the ideology of disseminating financial literacy, amongst poor, specially women, by building their knowledge,
awareness and skill for enabling them to avail financial services and manage their personal finance efficiently. The
CCFL functions from the Ahmadabad office with the support of regional centres. The activities of CCFL also expand
in the other state with NAFiL partners. The prime activity of CCFL is to share the concept of the financial literacy
across the country, with the estimated outreach of 500,000 stakeholders from 89 Micro Finance organizations, out of
which 400000 are Self Help Groups.
Concept Sharing Workshop is an important activity of CCFL and generally conducted with the key functionaries of
the organization. It is usually conducted for two days and covers the major component of financial literacy with
approximate of 25 participants. This concept sharing workshop is a discussion forum, where participants are gained
knowledge about the subject and provide necessary suggestions for effective training for field level officials.
Mass Awareness Campaigning is also another key activity of spreading financial literacy among masses. It is a one
day programme and aimed to introduce the subject among grass root beneficiaries in a particular area. It results into a
clear understanding about the area of emphasis and the degree of emphasis required for bringing about the desired
change. These campaigns are conducted in an audio visual mode and usually reach out towards 800 populations.
Training of Trainers on financial literacy: In order to provide the knowledge on personal financial management,
financial inclusion and explain various financial products and services this five days training programme were
organize with various stakeholders like NGOs, Bankers, SHGs, individuals and MFI for enhancing their capacity on
same. Rigorous efforts were made to introduce innovative participatory training methodology to make the training
effective for the participants.
Concept Sharing Concept Sharing Workshop: Concept Sharing Workshop is an important activity of Citi Center
for financial literacy and generally conducted with the key functionaries of the organization. It is usually conducted for
two days and covers the major component of financial literacy in a nut shell with approximate of 25 participants. The
objective behind such workshops is to introduce the subject to the participants.
The need of an organization is understood best by those who work there. Hence, concept sharing workshop serves as a
discussion forum, where participants are expected to understand and gain knowledge about the subject thereby
providing necessary suggestions for effective training of field level officials in their organization. Thus, a concept
sharing workshop serves as a need assessment platform both for the school as well as the client organization.
In the year 2010-11 a number of concept sharing workshops were conducted by the School in the different parts of the
country with various government and non government organizations like banks, management institutes, NGOs,
Government departments, International Development Organizations etc
Mass Campaign Mass Awareness Campaigning is also another key activity of spreading financial literacy among
masses. It is a one day programme and aimed to introduce the subject among grass root beneficiaries in a particular
area. It results into a clear understanding about the area of emphasis and the degree of emphasis required for bringing
about the desired change. These campaigns are conducted in an audio visual mode and usually reach out towards 800
populations.
Training of Trainers on Financial literacy Poor people are confronting the common problem of economic security
for themselves, their families, and future contemporaries. The main difference is that they have fewer resources and
opportunities. Most live in high-risk and unpredictable environments. In these circumstances managing the little

money is vital. Good money management is critical for meeting day-to-day needs, dealing with life cycle events and
unexpected emergencies, taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves, and planning for the future.
Training is essentially the process of instructing others about the information new to them and its applications. It may,
and often does, involve the teaching of new skills, methods and procedures. Training of trainers is a process to bring
the change in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude to satisfy the gap between the people. The Training of Trainers
segment of Financial Literacy provides the information and knowledge based on six Modules which are
Fundamentals of Financial Planning, Matured Borrowings, Smart Savings, Intelligent Investment, Wise Spending and
Awareness Campaign. The entire course design for each training under financial literacy is covered in duration of five
days. The trainees come to know about the following after the five days programme.
From these trainings participants understand and assimilate the concept and role of Financial Literacy for the
Financial
Inclusion
particularly
of
the
poor
and
disadvantaged
groups.
Participants are able to know and explain various financial products and services to the ultimate beneficiary to help
them take financial decision on informed choices.
Participants are able to bring the positive change in the attitude of dealing with money and financial behavior of the
ultimate beneficiaries to save / build capital for a better and secured future.
Participants are able to understand the application forms, formalities required for the opening and operation of the
account and grievances redressal mechanism and will gain competence to handhold facilitate the target group to avail /
utilize the financial services properly
Participants are able to use training tools and techniques effectively for conducting the awareness campaign, field
training and extending handholding support for meaningful Financial Inclusion of the given target group
Participants are able to develop rapport with the formal financial institution and other agencies.
Less than half of the world's population can answer this incredibly simple financial question A teacher gives a
lecture at a cram school in a Goshichon, which means "exam village" in Korean, in Seoul December 13, 2012.
A major survey on financial literacy has just been published, and the results are absolutely terrible.
Between them, McGraw Hill Financial (which owns S&P), the World Bank and Gallup have produced the S&P Global
Financial Literacy Survey, which attempted to get an idea of how financial literate the world is by polling 150,000
adults in more than 140 countries.
They've defined financial literacy as the ability to answer three of four really simple questions about inflation, risk and
interest. Take a look.
One of the easiest questions on the test is about interest. There's no compounding involved, and the numbers
themselves aren't at all complicated. Here it is:
"Suppose you need to borrow 100 (country currency). Which is the lower amount to pay back: 105 (country currency)
or 100 (country currency) plus 3%?"
So it's a bit terrifying that only 49% of the people polled around the world could answer that question. The country
results range hugely. In Yemen, just 16% of people answered the question correctly, in comparison to 79% in
Turkmenistan. Even once the poorest parts of the world are excluded from the test and only OECD member rich
countries are included, the proportion getting the answer right only rises to 59%.
Only a third of the total number surveyed could get three out of four of the questions correct giving the world as a
whole a financial literacy rating ofjust 33%. Again, when that's only using the OECD countries, it rises to 53%, but
it's still pretty depressing.
Here's how the global variation looks:

Women will not earn as much as men for more than one hundred years Actress Jennifer Lawrence is famous for
speaking out against the pay gap between men and women.
It could be more than one hundred years before women across the world earn as much as men, according to a damning
new report from the World Economic Forum. The annual Global Gender Gap Index launched on Wednesday night, and
the findings aren't hugely encouraging for female workers. The report, which looks at the gender gap in health,

education, politics, economics, and other factors, shows that the gap between men and women in terms of health,
education, and politics has narrowed by just 4% in the past ten years.
In economic terms that number drops to just 3%, meaning that on average, women earn just over half of what their
male counterparts do. Current data shows that the average earnings for women worldwide are $11,000 (7,200),
compared to $21,000 (13,800) for men. This has grown from just $6,000 (3,900) in 2006, but the slow rate at which
the pay gap is narrowing is a big concern for pay equality campaigners
One of the most startling statistics in the report is this; women are just now earning the same amount as men did in
2006. The World Economic Forum says that if pay changes continue at the same rate, it will take 118 years for men
and women worldwide to be earning the same.
Men still hold most senior roles Another issue raised by the Gender Gap Index is that women are failing to obtain the
most senior roles in the workplace in the majority of cases.
Saadia Zahidi, the chief author of the report said "More women than men are enrolled in universities in nearly 100
countries but women hold the majority of senior roles in only a handful of countries. Companies and governments
need to implement new policies to prevent this continued loss of talent and instead leverage it for boosting growth and
competitiveness". Once again in big surveys, the highest rated countries are the Nordic states. In the WEF's official
ranking, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden make up the most gender equal countries on earth. Zahidi believes this
is due to great government initiatives surrounding women: "They have the best policies in the world for families," she
said, adding " their childcare systems are the best and they have the best laws on paternity, maternity and family
leave." One piece of good news for women to come out of the report is that since 2006, more than 250 million women
have entered the global workforce, although in the same period, another 375 million men have entered work.
EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM IN SOUTH AFRICA In
recent years, innovations in financial products and service delivery have dramatically increased the availability of
financial services for the poor and unbanked. Yet low financial literacy may limit their ability to fully access these
services. Researchers investigated whether a financial literacy program improved financial knowledge and practices,
and increased financial service use among low-income individuals in South Africa. Offering a training improved
knowledge about budgeting, increased self-reported savings, and reduced loan applications but the evaluation did not
detect other significant improvements in financial knowledge or practices.
LOCATION: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa
SAMPLE: 43 Old Mutuals burial society support plan (BSSP) groups and 36 womens development businesses
(WDB) borrowing groups TIMELINE: 2011 2012 SECTORS: Finance ; POLICY ISSUE: Financial Literacy
Policy Issue: In recent years, innovations in financial products and service delivery have dramatically increased
financial access for the poor and unbanked. Yet in developing countries 59 percent of adults and 75 percent of the
poorest income quintile do not have a bank account at a formal financial institution. Low financial literacy may limit
their ability to fully access these services. Moreover, low financial literacy is correlated with poorer financial decisions
about cash, asset, and debt management. In response, policymakers and financial institutions around the world have
invested in training programs that aim to improve financial knowledge and skills among the poor and those with low
financial literacy. Such training could potentially allow these individuals to benefit from the available financial
services, and in turn boost their economic opportunities. However, there is limited evidence on whether financial
education increases financial knowledge, and the extent to which it is effective for improving financial outcomes.
Context of the Evaluation: To improve financial literacy and access to financial services, the South African
government adopted the Financial Sector Charter in 2004, which requires all financial services institutions to
contribute 0.2 percent of their annual profits to financial education programs. In 2011, only 54 percent of adults in
South Africa and 35 percent of the poorest income quintile had a bank account at a formal financial institution.
Financial literacy levels also remain low.
Old Mutual, a leading financial services provider in South Africa offers a financial literacy program to people in both
rural and urban areas, which reached nearly 36,000 people in 2011. The objective of the program is to improve
peoples financial skills, help them make sound financial decisions, and encourage saving. This randomized evaluation
was conducted to help Old Mutual understand its programs effectiveness and improve the current curriculum.
The participants in this study were primarily women (89 percent). They were poorer than the median South African,
who made 1,850 rand per month, with median monthly incomes of 1,050 rand among Burial Society Support Plan
(BSSP) members and 1,260 rand among Womens Development Businesses (WDB) members. They were also more
likely to be self-employed and have slightly fewer years of education than the average South African.
Details of the Intervention:
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to investigate the impact of Old Mutuals financial education program
on financial behaviors. The sample consisted of members of 43 Old Mutuals Burial Society Support Plan (BSSP)
groups and 36 Womens Development Businesses (WDB) groups in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. The
WDB group members consisted of women who borrow from WDB, while BSSP members belonged to burial societies
popular community organizations that provide members with funeral insurance that subscribed to Old Mutuals
funeral cover plan. Researchers created group-level pairs among the BSSP and WDB groups, and within each pair, one

group was randomly chosen to receive Old Mutuals On the Money financial literacy program while the other served
as a comparison group.
The one-day financial education course comprised five modules designed to improve participants financial knowledge
and skills, target common misconceptions about money management and financial institutions, and improve
participants ability to understand financial concepts. The modules covered savings, financial planning, budgeting, debt
management, and investing, and were delivered in the native language of the group using slides and educational
videos. The curriculum was complemented by various individual and group activities, such as creating a budget and a
financial plan for the future. The baseline survey was conducted between JulyNovember 2011 and the financial
literacy trainings were run between SeptemberDecember 2011. The follow-up survey was conducted approximately
six months after groups received training.
Results and Policy Lessons: Offering a one-day financial training improved knowledge about budgeting, increased
self-reported savings, and reduced loan applications but the evaluation did not detect significant improvements in other
types of financial knowledge or practices. Of the 589 individuals offered the training, 71 percent attended the training.
The results below describe the average effect of offering a financial education program to a given population, and not
the impact of the training on only those who attended.
Effects on financial awareness and attitudes: The offer of financial training increased knowledge about budgeting, for
which initial awareness was low, but it did not improve awareness about savings accounts, loans, insurance, or the
importance of separating business and household accounts. Awareness about different aspects of budgeting was 6.1
percentage points higher among individuals offered the program at 53.2 percent compared to the comparison group at
47.1 percent. This increase was driven by individuals with less education. Individuals with low education levels who
were invited to the course showed increased awareness of savings accounts and purchasing on credit relative to
individuals with low education levels in the comparison group. The impact on financial attitudes and perceptions
towards financial institutions and products was mixed. For example, within the BSSP sample, people invited to the
training were significantly less likely to be nervous about going into a bank, but they displayed a lower recognition of
the importance of saving early for childrens education relative to the comparison group. While BSSP members invited
to the course displayed improved attitudes toward financial institutions and products, the WDB members showed a
slight decline overall. These results were not driven by different education levels.
Effects on savings and borrowing behavior: Offering the financial training had a positive impact on financial
behavior related to savings, borrowings, and money management. For people offered the financial training program,
savings-related outcomes improved significantly, both in terms of the number of people who reported saving and the
average amount of savings. This was true for people belonging to both BSSP and WDB groups, as well as with
different education levels. Among the group of people offered the program, there was a 12.9 percentage point increase
in saving in any form from a base of 73.3 percent. However, financial education had no impact on ownership of a bank
account. People offered the training also showed an improvement in their debt management-related practices relative
to the comparison group. Fewer of these individuals had applied for loans in the past six months. They were also more
likely to save than gamble, and had a higher risk-tolerance level. However, these individuals showed no change in their
financial planning behavior, in terms of being financially prepared for an emergency or having a retirement plan in
place. Many Canadians are not good at managing money matters, so the government has launched a new initiative to
help them. Its called the National Strategy for Financial Literacy-Count me in and is accessible to Canadians via
the internet. Financial literacy is defined as having the knowledge, skills and confidence to make responsible financial
decisions. How is Canadians level of financial literacy?
Financial literacy levels pretty low Its pretty low, says Ellen Roseman, a personal finance columnist at the
Toronto Star and instructor at the University of Toronto. Weve seen a lot of studies that indicate that people dont
have a good ability to track their own finances.
They dont understand concepts like compound interest, especially when it comes to debt. They are often confused
when it comes to things like interest rates and how they affect the price of bonds if theyre investing in bonds. So
theres a lot of knowledge that evades them.
ListenFew independent sources of information There is very little teaching of finances in schools and, for adults,
there are few independent sources of information. Too often, Canadians rely on people who have a vested interest
because they are selling a product. For example, when buying a house they may get advice from banks, brokers,
lawyers or real estate agents. Theres nobody really out there whos giving you objective, independent financial
information. It just doesnt pay them to do that, says Roseman.
When buying a house, Canadians often get financial information from people with a vested interest rather than from
independent sources. Aaron Harris/Reuters
Resources come from diverse sources After the financial crisis in 2008, the Canadian government decided Canadians
needed help to learn how to protect themselves from such events and how to better manage their money. It created a
task force to figure out how to do that and now has come up with a strategy to centralize online resources provided by
governments, financial companies, non-profits and educators.
Canadians invited to join in

The stated goal is to help Canadians manage money and debt wisely, to plan and save for the future, to prevent and
protect against fraud and financial abuse.
Some resources have already been posted and more will be in future. Individuals and organizations
THE IMPACT OF MOTHER LITERACY AND PARTICIPATION PROGRAMS ON CHILD LEARNING IN
INDIA LOCATION: Indian states of Bihar and Rajasthan SAMPLE: Around 9,000 households in 480 villages
TIMELINE: 2010 2012 ; SECTORS: Education ; POLICY ISSUE: Student Learning
Policy Issue: There is a growing body of evidence which suggests that parents education, particularly mothers
education, significantly impacts childrens academic performance. Observationally, more educated parents tend to be
more involved in their childs education, have higher expectations, allocate more resources to education, and have
more educational materials at home, all of which could potentially support a childs learning. But what happens in
places like rural India, where most mothers have few, if any, years of schooling, and the majority of mothers are
illiterate? Can a more beneficial home environment be cultivated through a simple community-based literacy program?
Can teaching mothers who have no formal education how to read or how to support their childrens education improve
child learning outcomes?
Context of the Evaluation: Following the passage of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which guarantees free and
compulsory education for all children up to age fourteen, India has achieved almost universal enrollment. According to
the 2011 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), only 3.3 percent of children between 6-14 years are currently not
enrolled in school. However, most children showing up for class are learning very little. In 2011, 65 percent of children
in Standard III could not read a Standard I level text, and this number has actually increased 10 percentage points in
the last three years. One possible remedy could be promotion of parental involvement, but this is often difficult when
parents have little formal education themselves. According to ASER 2011, 46 percent of mothers of children in school
have not been to school themselves.1
Details of the Intervention:
Together with Pratham, one of the largest NGOs in India, researchers evaluated whether a mothers literacy program
could encourage parental involvement and subsequently improve childrens learning outcomes. Mothers of first- and
second-grade children who were enrolled in another Pratham program were assigned to either one of the following
three treatment groups or a comparison group, which received no additional services.
Mothers Literacy Classes (ML) were held for two hours every day. The classes used Prathams accelerated learning
techniques, which have been proven to improve childrens reading levels in just a few months (See related evaluation).
Childs Home Activities and Materials Packet (CHAMP) were intended to help illiterate mothers interact with their
children to enrich the learning environment at home. Children were given workbooks with a specific activity assigned
for each day. Each activity included a visual description of each activity (e.g. a picture of a book for reading, a pen
for writing, etc.) so that illiterate mothers could participate. Before the intervention began, the goal of the booklet
was explained to each mother and they were encouraged to make their child use the workbooks to practice.
ML and CHAMP combined the first two interventions. However, since mothers theoretically would be learning to
read at the same time, the activities component was more elaborate. Every day, the first half of class was dedicated to
teaching mothers structured learning activities they could do with their children, while using the workbook as a general
guide. Mothers were also trained to identify their childs current learning level and to monitor any progress.
Both mothers and their children were tested at the start of the intervention and again one year later. This data was
complemented by a detailed household survey that focused on mothers outcomes, childrens outcomes, and motherchild interactions.

The educational centres are at two geographical locations. These are the slum areas adjoining posh colonies. The
people have settled here from different parts of the country, and, are mainly living upon casual labor, domestic help
and related service activities mainly associated with the nearby posh colonies.
REMEDIAL EDUCATION :
Remedial education is provided to the school going children facing problem of coping with the pace of education.
Purpose of remedial education is to bridge educational lag of educationally backward students. Remedial education is
particularly helpful in checking drop out of such students. The parents of the children are regularly contacted
regarding educational and other developments of these children. At least one monthly meeting is held with the parents
by the teacher. Similarly school teachers are contacted about the in-school activities and educational progress of the
children. The children are provided an environment of friendly warmth and acceptance. They are assigned
responsibility regarding management of the centre as well.
NON FORMAL EDUCATION :

on centres mainly provide opportunity to the children who either never been to school or dropped out of the school.

d either in the streets or working with local shops. The children in 6-14 age group are provided education at par with
. The children not only have academic inputs but also provided opportunity to play, enjoy, interact and express. These
mitted to the government schools or linked with National Institute of Open School for further continuation of schooling.

"ALAMB", came in existence in the year 1992 as a dream of local youths determined to elevate quality of life of the peop
disadvantage considering human as the most important resource. The organization was formally registered as a charit
organization
under
the
dynamic
leadership
of
Mr
Rustam

The name of the organization (ALAMB) reflects its strategic approach of leading the people towards autonomy, i.e., ALA
means self sufficiency. True to its name the organization made a very humble beginning by interacting with the people in sm
meetings. Consequently, the amorphous community started forming different interest groups. The number and scope of
organization continued growing. The never dying attitude of ALAMB have now touched upon lives of more than 110
people over a span of 16 years by taking needbased initiatives with the active participation of the people valuing their wisd
and cooperation. ALAMB is now working with the people of three districts of Delhi with a plan to expand its activitie
more areas in due course of time.

Alamb with a vision to work towards an exploitation free society wherein equality, social justice and sustainability
have setup a GRC-SSK under Samajik Suvidha Sangam Mission Convergence by Govt. of Delhi in September 2010
In the Southwest district of Delhi (Mohammed Pur village South-West District of Delhi Mohammed Pur, Azad
Basti, Adarsh Basti, Kumhar Basti, Munirka,Motilal nehru camp, coolie Camp, Shiva Camp, Shiva Camp-1, Coolie
Camp, Basant Village, Bhanwar singh Camp and Nepali Camp). The Objective of the project

Samajik Suvidha Sangam Mission Convergence

Young Health Programm supported by Plan India in 2010

Targeted population:- youth (10 to 24 year old)
To make a meaningful difference to health and well being of marginalised and disadvantaged adolescents
by helping them to make informed choices to protect their health, now and in the future
Capacity building of adolescents by providing relevant information, knowledge on lifestyles and better
choices that will help enhance responsive health seeking behaviour
Peer to Peer training
Health Information Centre

Economic empowerment of women through vocational training

Social empowerment and self reliance of women through institution of women, self help group
Rights awareness through legal workshop and legal aid
Health and nutrition awareness through camps
Literacy through non formal education
Strategically ALAMB keeps focus on people in different roles at all stages of development considering followi
steps:
Interaction with people
Consider family as basic unit and work for whole community
Organize people as interest groups
Plan at micro level
Develop human resource
Value and utilize local wisdom
Involve people at all levels of development process
Delegate responsibilities and corresponding powers
Linkages development with resource organizations
Participatory monitoring and immediate feedback
Rigorous follow up and timely inputs

Phase out after promoting sustainability

Remain available for support for the groups

Empowering Adolescents Girls through education and vocational Supported Vibha -HIV/ Aids Prevention support
by Delhi States Aids Control Society Delhi Govt. The Delhi- Jaipur highway is very busy road. It has a number of conta
places of truckers and transporters. The road side hotels/dhabas provide them place to relax and have contact for s
workers. There are number of slum areas around and in vicinity of the highway. A large number of female sex workers a
active in these locations. The project covers a large part of the area, i.e., Munirika, R.K Puram, Moti Bagh, Satya Niketa
Safdar Jung, Bheeka Jee Kama place, Ber Sarai, JNU Jungle. The project laid emphasis on empowering the women grou
most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. It involved a massive awareness generation program for the general masses in general a
for the target groups in particular. They were provided clinical services available for STD check up and treatment. Referr
were done for specialized services, blood checkups for HIV positive. Female sex workers with High Risk behaviour a
referred to ICTC. Focus group discussions were held to go to the basic issues and related difficulties. Advocacy meetin
were held to increase awareness level of different stakeholders on HIV/AIDS for effective implementation of the HIVAID
control program. Linkages were developed with other like-minded actors, and their services were utilized to reinforce t
campaign and access information about safe sex behavior. Behavior change communication in all of the colonies was
regular feature of the program. Condom were made accessible within the community. The sex workers were helped
elevate their confidence and think about different options of livelihood as well. Self help groups have been formed to ma
FSW financially independent & self sufficient. It increases the habit of saving among FSWs. Member can avail of facilit
for taking loan at the time of need. Peer educators and other members of the team were imparted extensive recurri
training on HIV/AIDS prevention.
The project has two important components, i.e., education for the out of school children and vocational
training for the adolescent girls and women.
EDUCATION :
Non formal education was imparted to the non attending children 6-14 years of age. They were imparted
education at par with primary level of schools.
Remedial education was imparted to the school going children to reinforce their learning process.
Counseling services were imparted on different developmental issues and role of adolescents
VOCATIONAL SKILL TRAINING :
Vocational skill training was imparted in the trades of tailoring, beauty culture, and computer. The trainees were
given inputs on entrepreneurship development, consumer behavior and marketing as well. They were provided help
for their rehabilitation.
OTHER SERVICES :
Health check up and health counseling was done by the qualified doctor. Information was provided on different
issues relating adolescence health and development. The trainees were given education on their rights and civic
responsibilities. In fact the project was used as a platform to help the children to access and continue education, and
the girls and women to have vocational skill and develop earning capacities.
(Targeted Intervention for Female Sex Workers)
The Delhi- Jaipur highway is very busy road. It has a number of contact places of truckers and transporters. The
road side hotels/dhabas provide them place to relax and have contact for sex workers. There are number of slum
areas around and in vicinity of the highway. A large number of female sex workers are active in these locations. The
project covers a large part of the area, i.e., Munirika, R.K Puram, Delhi Cantt., Dhaula Kuan,Vasant Vihar Mahipal
Pur and Basant Kunj. The project laid emphasis on empowering the women groups most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
It involved a massive awareness generation program for the general masses in general and for the target groups in
particular. They were provided clinical services available for STD check up and treatment. Referrals were done for
specialized services, blood checkups for HIV positive. Female sex workers with High Risk behavior are referred to
ICTC. Focus group discussions were held to go to the basic issues and related difficulties. Advocacy meetings were
held to increase awareness level of different stakeholders on HIV/AIDS for effective implementation of the

HIVAIDS control program. Linkages were developed with other like-minded actors, and their services were utilized
to reinforce the campaign and access information about safe sex behavior. Behavior change communication in all of
the colonies was a regular feature of the program. Condom were made accessible within the community. The sex
workers were helped to elevate their confidence and think about different options of livelihood as well. Self help
groups have been formed to make FSW financially independent & self sufficient. It increases the habit of saving
among FSWs. Member can avail of facilities for taking loan at the time of need. Peer educators and other members
of the team were imparted extensive recurring training on HIV/AIDS prevention.
Three blocks of Mangolpuri are covered under the project. This is a thickly populated resettlement colony lacking
basic facilities and sanitation. The project has been initiated with the objective of improving mother and child
health by enhancing know how level, linking with available health facilities, and ensuring basic health care services
to every mother and child. The project involved a massive awareness raising campaign, educational initiatives,
health services, referrals and follow up activities. Consequently, a health care system has been developed. The linkminded organizations like, Govt Hospitals, TB Association, MCW Centre, Govt Schools, Bhartiya Kala Mandal,
Prayas, Neev and ministries have played wonderful role to execute the project with cooperation of the people. Now
the people are coming forth for services.
ALAMB Considers Human as the most important resource having all power and capacity to carry out their
developmental responsibilities. provided support is provided at the appropriate time. ALAMB takes care of the
developmental needs of stakeholders at all levels, i.e., staff, participants and community groups.
Staff Capacity Building
Each staff members has specific responsibilities, hence capacity building also emphasized specific role related
capacities along with common developmental themes. However, capacity of the staff was enhanced by giving
adequate job orientation in the beginning and conducting refresher initiatives. Themes based input sessions were
organized for the common issues for the concerned staff. Staff was conscientized to work as a team utilizing their
strengths and minimizing their weaknesses. The common themes included operational aspects of the community
development process.
CBO Capacity Building
Community based different groups were formed by identifying the active and interested participants of different
project activities forming representatives structure of the community. The participants were initially involved in the
development process as stakeholders with specific responsibilities and corresponding powers. They were educated
about different steps of development as active members of team. Later they were given independent
responsibilities. Thus trained members were organized as community groups and further given inputs on specific
aspects of CBs like planning, implementation,
CCCD Project
CCCD Project (Child Centered Community Development) Program supported by Plan India
This is a child sponsorship program considering child as major source of association with the family as a basic unit for
integrated community development. The project has been undertaken in South west and West Delhi district of Delhi
with the guidance and cooperation of Plan India. Health, education, livelihood, shelter are among the major sectors of
intervention of the longitudinal developmental project. Presently ALAMB is working in Dwarka Sector 15 and 16A,
Krishna Colony (Transit Camp Hastsal) , Shiv Vihar Major responsibility is for sponsorship on that basis we assure the
children centered community development. Alamb works in communities where the Girl children are discriminated
against in all aspects. The project involved community ownership through awareness building along with Sensitisation
to the stakeholders.
Empower adolescent girls through education, health and vocational training.
Education of children who are at risk/ disadvantage or vulnerable and dropouts or never been to school up to
14 yrs.
Safe mother and child through community participation in modern health facilities
Safe drinking water and sanitation
Disaster risk management
Quality education and school improvement
Empowering women through Self Help Groups.
Capacity building of Teachers through Training.

Prevention of HIV/AIDS among commercial female sex workers through safe sex education, testing of HIV
and counselling, STD and STI treatment.
Environment promotion
Infrastructure Development
Economist identifies useful education reforms in India Jim Berry believes that economics can be a force for good.
His projects in India use economic studies and principles to uncover the best ways to alleviate poverty and inform
policy. His most recent work shows that although government officials in developing countries tout increases in
enrollment as a sign of improvements in primary education, test scores show actual learning hasnt matched this
progress. Berry, assistant professor of economics, began his work in India as part of his dissertation at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with MITs Jameel Poverty Action Lab, where he is an affiliate. He lived in
India from 2002-03 as a research assistant. His research shows that adding a volunteer teacher outside classroom time
or offering teacher training and supervision can make a substantial difference in a childs learning.For his current
research project, Berry considered the many challenges India faced in its educational system: lack of classroom
furniture and materials, automatic grade promotion, low parental involvement and poorly trained teachers. Since past
research had shown little educational improvement from infrastructure changes, Berry focused on changing curricula,
teacher training and evaluating reforms originally devised by education-focused nongovernmental organizations
that he and his co-authors call teaching at the right level. The method encourages teachers to split classes into
smaller groups based on ability and use targeted materials and methods to teach students at their individual level.
Berry conducted randomized evaluations in four rural regions of India. Students were tested before and after each
intervention and results were clear: Those in schools with outside volunteers saw a statistically significant increase in
test scores, and those who received new materials and were taught by a trained teacher with supervision saw even
greater gains. We found that you cant just change the curriculum at the top and expect teachers to be trained and to
follow through, Berry said. But with additional training and teacher monitoring, we saw higher test scores across all
levels.
Costs of the interventions were minimal, Berry said. Materials were not expensive and teacher monitors already
exist in Indian schools, they just needed to be refocused. Local nongovernmental staff members could provide teacher
training at a low cost, he said. Even with these strong results, the question is still will the government buy in?
Berry said. In one region in India, the government chose to expand a different program that had national government
backing, even through Berry had tested that program and found it didnt perform as well as his. In another region, the
teaching-at-the-right-level approach is being implemented.
Evidence-based policymaking is always our goal, Berry said. But in a lot of contexts it doesnt happen. For
example, in the U.S., you see a lot of very effective interventions (e.g., universal pre-K) that dont get scaled up for
political reasons.
Berry said his group of researchers will replicate the study in other countries. He believes the methods provide a
promising approach for other developing countries where learning in schools is lagging.
Berry presented his research in March at a lecture sponsored by the South Asia Program of the Mario Einaudi Center
for International Studies. He also presented results from his work in January at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Berrys co-authors come from Harvard, MIT and ASER Centre/Pratham, an organization working to educate
underprivileged children in India.
To quantify in terms of dollars, the economic effect of a nonprofits spending is divided into two
components: direct spending and secondary spending. Direct spending is the money a nonprofitor visitors in the
regional economy due to the activity of the nonprofitspends directly. Its re-circulated throughout the regional
economy, creating secondary spending. This encompasses subsequent rounds of spending in the regional economy and
is divided into two parts: indirect and induced spending.
Indirect spending represents gains in industries within the regional economy where the direct spending occurred. For
example, when demand for services at a nonprofit hospital grows, patient payments increase (direct spending), and the
hospital must increase its spending on supplies and personnel resources (indirect spending) to keep pace. Induced
spending represents increases in regional spending due to increased income associated with direct spending. If the
hospitals employees work overtime to keep up with the increased demand, for example, the money they spend in the
regional economy with their extra earnings is induced spending.
Economists first gather information about direct spending associated with the nonprofitoften from the organizations
financial statements, surveys of people who benefit from the nonprofit, or analysis of macroeconomic information.
They create estimates of secondary spending through input-output models that trace the spending through the regional
economy by accounting for industry interactions. These interactions are the spending by each industry to acquire
inputs (such as raw materials and labor), which are necessary to produce outputs (such as goods and services) used
within the regional economy. The models also account for the various outflows from the region to the rest of the
nations economy (commonly referred to as leakages). Finally, economists use estimates of direct spending and
input-output models to calculate secondary spendinga frame they can also use to measure economic impact in terms

of jobs. For instance, analyzing a food banks impact can shed light on how its services are contributing
financially to the employment, health, and education of community members. When a nonprofit ameliorates food
insecurity within a community, children achieve higher academic success and, ultimately, more gainful employment.
Providing food also reduces illness, which minimizes parents time away from work and can lead to reductions in
medical services. An economic impact study examines and quantifies all direct expenditures by the nonprofit to
support the family, and then calculates the total economic impact within the community by estimating the secondary
spending throughout the economy. TWEETWORTHY These 7 policies could "serve as a springboard to the middle class"
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin OMalley have all taken positions
on inequality and the middle class, withSanders especially vocal on wealth inequality. At the second Democratic
debateon Saturday night, Sanders called out the countrys massive levels of [both] income and wealth inequality."
Wealth is often neglected in the inequality conversation. Income gaps are only part of the story when it comes to
economic inequalities in America. Wealth inequality is even greater. And lack of wealth creates its own set of longlasting harms, often handicapping economic mobility and leaving families exposed to financial risks. Policies aimed at
helping low-wealth families save for emergencies, a child's education, a home, and a secure retirement can improve
families financial stability and serve as a springboard to the middle class. As the candidates continue to flesh out plans
to address inequality and expand opportunity, what evidence-based policies should they consider? Based on our
research, weve identified seven promising policies to shrink wealth inequality:
Promote emergency savings with incentives linked to savings at tax time.
Offer matched savings such as universal children's savings accounts.
Reduce reliance on student loans while supporting success in postsecondary education.
Reform safety net program asset tests, which can act as barriers to savingamong low-income families.
Ensure access to homeownership and maintain programs that can help lower-income families become successful
homeowners.
Limit the mortgage interest tax deduction and use the revenues to provide a credit for first-time homebuyers.
Establish automatic savings in retirement plans.
By more efficiently and equitably promoting saving and asset building, more people may have the tools to protect their
families in tough times and invest in themselves and their children.
Resilience: to shift from a state of reactivity to one of resourcefulness in times of stress and crisis
The Art of Leadership Transformative Personal Leadership Development for Nonprofits and Social Change makers
Do you want: to live and lead from your life purpose for social change? to learn how to build and maintain
collaborative partnership?
to bring your life and work into balance, so that you can sustain your energy for a lifetime of activism?
Join Rockwood's Network of over 5,000 social change leaders across the country by participating in the Art of
Leadership!"The Art of Leadership gave me the tools to authentically ground myself in a space of personal power." Sarah Jaynes, Washington Progress Alliance "I believe that I now have a greater capacity to learn from my allies and
from my adversaries." - Tzeporah Berman, Forest Ethics
After the Art of Leadership Training, You Can Expect To: Articulate an inspiring and clear vision for your work
Deal more effectively with organizational and leadership challenges; Skillfully manage relationships to increase
personal and organizational effectiveness; Build strong partnerships inside and outside your organization and
community
Art of Leadership is: A five-day intensive residential retreat that teaches powerful visioning, listening, speaking,
presentation, team-building and feedback skills to emerging and established social change leaders.
Taught in an intimate learning community limited to 24-30 emerging and longtime leaders, working across a wide
range of issues: climate change, human and civil rights, arts and cultural work.
Led by nationally recognized thinkers, educators and activists who are experts at sharing in-depth insights and
innovative leadership practices.
All retreats are held in beautiful retreat settings in California and on the East Coast.
The Training Curriculum Includes:
Inner Reflection - Many social change leaders are so focused on their organizations that they don't have space to
reflect on their own needs as a leader. The Art of Leadership offers leaders time and reflective space to examine their
strengths and challenges.
Practical Tools - Over the course of five days, leaders engage in hands-on practice in planning, public speaking,
stress-management practices and courageous conversations. Leaders receive a personalized 360 degree leadership
assessment to help set leadership performance goals.
Powerful Community - Each training convenes 24-30 leaders working in different organizations and issue areas. The
Art of Leadership fosters learning partnerships through pair and small group work, as well as post-retreat peer support.
Renew your commitment to yourself and your work?

Join a group of women leaders for the 8th Annual Art of Leadership for Women Working in Racial Justice and
Human Rights. This special training will bring together a select group of women of color and white women leaders
engaged in reproductive justice, education, immigrant rights, environmental justice, indigenous communities and many
other racial justice issue areas to strengthen their leadership skills and further their social change goals.
After the Art of Leadership Training, You Can Expect To:
Articulate an inspiring and clear vision for your work.
Deal more effectively with organizational and leadership challenges.
Skillfully manage relationships to increase personal and organizational effectiveness.
Build strong partnerships inside and outside your organization and community.
I am returning more focused, committed and compassionate. I'm rejuvenated by the training and excited to
implement all the tools and practices I learned for my own work as well as to share with others.
After the Advanced Art of Leadership Training, You Can Expect To:
Create breakthroughs in your leadership to create more ease and effectiveness in your work.
Increase your ability to work across differences, collaborate and build teams.
Create a new relationship to power and responsibility in your life, and in your organization.
Identify and establish personal habits that support lifelong health and sustainability.
Build long-lasting and meaningful relationships with leaders across the country within Rockwood's Network.
The Training Curriculum Includes:
Inner reflection - The Advanced Art of Leadership creates space for leaders to reflect on their strengths and learning
edges as leaders. Leaders receive coaching from nationally recognized facilitators.
Practical tools - Leaders engage in hands-on practice in coaching, stress-management, and communication skills that
they can bring back home to their organizations. Each participant receives an Interpersonal Leadership Styles
Assessment to learn more about their leadership style and the styles of others with whom they work.
Powerful community - Each training brings together leaders working in a wide range of issues areas who all have a
shared
commitment
to
deepening
their
leadership.
"In the final day of the training, I had a breakthrough moment that transformed me. It is not an understatement to say
that a calmness has been with me since that time. I know that this will change how I show up with family, friends,
colleagues, and the broader movement building space. Thank you for helping me find my best self."
- Kelly Miller, Executive Director, Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence
"I have already integrated a profound practice of beginning each day and long meetings with mindfulness practice.
Being rooted in my purpose and my own leadership commitments is a phenomenal meta frame for my day-to-day
work."
- Mei-ying Williams, Operations Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) Upcoming Refresher
Programs: Please check back in early 2016 for program offerings.
After Strengthening the Practice, you can expect to:
Be reconnected with your purpose and learn practices to help you stay connected to it over time.
Gain tools to increase your resilience in moments of stress and conflict.
Be more confident in your courageous conversations.
Have a peer support partner for continued learning.
Receive three months of weekly emails with exercises to help you strengthen your leadership.
"The Refresher re-energized and re-focused me on what I am doing well and what I could improve in terms of
leadership practice. I felt like I could apply many of the tools to my current challenges."
Strengthening the Practice is: An overnight, 24-hour retreat held in a beautiful retreat setting. The session begins at 1
PM on the first day, and ends at 1 PM on the second day.
An intimate learning community of Rockwood alum limited to 24-30 nonprofit and social change leaders
Led by nationally recognized thinkers, educators and activists who are experts trainers.
Training Curriculum
Weekly practice emails help you integrate the tools and ideas from the Art of Leadership into your workweek.
Cost Typically, it costs Rockwood around $1,000 per participant to produce a Strengthening the Practice Program.
Room and board fee at Westerbeke Ranch is $225 for one night. We offer the following sliding scale for tuition fees to
make the program as accessible as possible to nonprofit leaders. border: 1px dotted #000000; border-collapse:
collapse;" cellpadding="5">
Transformational Leadership Training for Nonprofit and Social Change Teams
Is your organization experiencing internal challenges around: Teamwork ; Founder/Executive Director transition ;
Board engagement; Communication ; Burnout ; Diversity; Partnership
Bring Rockwood directly to your organization to transform your team.
The Program Rockwood's Organizational Leadership program is designed to serve the needs of leadership teams
within your organization to increase their internal capacity for collaborative leadership. Using real life organizational
contexts and challenges, the program is designed to align your leadership, vision, goals, and communication styles to

create a balanced and collaborative leadership circle. In many cases, organizations have utilized Rockwood's
Organizational Leadership program as a first step in the process of a larger organizational strategy.
"The beauty of sending your staff to a Rockwood training is that you can count on people gaining skills in how to be a
more effective and authentic leader. The bonus for us as an organization is that more staff are bringing forth their
creative imagination, which we believe is core to envisioning strategic breakthroughs to the complex problems of our
time."- Pamela Chiang, former Director of Organizational Learning at Center for Community Change.
Program Elements
Art of Leadership Key staff from your team (usually in groups of 3-4 per session) will go through Rockwood's
signature training, the Art of Leadership. The Art of Leadership is:
A five-day intensive residential retreat that teaches powerful visioning, listening, speaking, presentation, team-building
and feedback skills to emerging and established social change leaders.
Taught in an intimate learning community limited to 24-30 emerging and longtime leaders working across a wide
range of issues (e.g. climate change, human and civil rights, arts and culture work).
Co-facilitated by two members of our expert training team.
Held in a beautiful, natural retreat setting on the East or West Coast.
360-Degree Leadership Assessment Each member of your team will receive 360-degree self and peer surveys that
identify individual strengths and areas for improvement. They will work with the results of the surveys during the Art
of Leadership (below), and Rockwood will use the surveys to develop a profile of your team's performance.
Organizational Leadership Integration Within six months after your team has completed the Art of Leadership,
a Rockwood-approved coach and/or trainer will facilitate a training at your offices designed specifically for your needs
that could include: A half day, or full day training to go more deeply into one, or more of the six practices (purpose,
vision, partnership, resilience, performance, personal ecology) your team was introduced to during the Art of
Leadership.
Take-back-to-the-office assignments to use with your team throughout the year.
Individual coaching with a Rockwood-approved coach
A four-day intensive Advanced Art of Leadership retreat for key staff (usually in groups of 3-4 per session) at a
discounted group rate.
"Our senior leadership team is more in alignment, and now we have real clarity about the underlying issues at play in
our personal dynamics." - Ren Dietel, Associate Partner, Dietel Partners
Results After completing the Organizational Leadership Program, you can expect your team to: Share an
organizational purpose and vision. Be able to have "courageous conversations" as a team. Think about their work in a
new way.Build authentic partnerships. Create an organizational system that hums!
Leading from the Inside Out Yearlong Personalized assignments and practices to bridge learning between sessions
Benefits The Yearlong Fellowship is designed to help experienced leaders to: Create, communicate and sustain a
powerful vision ; Inspire, align and manage individuals and groups ; Ensure accountability and high performance ;
Become more skillful at mediating conflicts; Learn self-care, including the ability to manage stress and burn-out
Develop strategies for major organizational change ; Take advantage of the opportunities inherent in the diversity and
complexity of an increasingly interdependent world
How will India Train 40Cr People by 2022 under Skill Development Initiative? In India, young people who will
soon be entering the labor and manufacturing market, would constitute the largest segment of the demographic
structure. In recent years India has rapidly expanded the capacity of educational institutions and enrolments but
educational attainment remains low. While India has a well-institutionalized system of vocational training, it has not
sufficiently prepared its youth with the skills that todays industries require.
Thus, to speed its economic growth and take advantage of its demographic dividend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has launched four initiatives as a part of which over 40 crore people will be trained in various skills by 2022. As much
as it is important to drive such initiatives, we must accept that the on-going techniques and implementations could be
treacherous to track outcome oriented initiatives.
Over all, here are some of the challenges pertaining in skill development initiatives: Lack of common certification
systems ; Lack of awareness and mentoring process due to poor mobilizations ; Lack of replicable mobilization
model ; Lack of basic infrastructure, training facilities and a sense of social disapproval for women attending skill
training courses ; Lack of soft skill training and its practices; Lack of effective assessment criteria
Some of the up-gradation and changes which must be inculcated: Robust monitoring & evaluation mechanism to
ensure successful implementation of the policy initiatives . Unless modern technological tools like internet are used to
impart vocational training, skilling cannot be scaled up in a country where millions of youths are to be covered in our
diverse land scape. Mobile based portable authentication solutions to ensure the scheduled training are delivered in all
the rural, semi-rural areas and urban area ; Mechanism for on-the-field assessments of the trained candidates
Solutions driven by scalable and portable technology for trainers and skill development intuitions to have strong hold
on their trainee to avoid surprise drop out, lack of interest or social disapproval ; National as well International level
Industrially approved common certification systems ; Mass awareness and counselling channels with technically

advanced tool for replicable mobilization ; To formalize convenient yet effective career counselling bodies ;
Formulating outcome oriented policies ; Impart mechanisms to reward the success and penalize the failures
Welcome to the Financial Literacy Resources Page!
Financial Term to Know
Budget by omission noun. Meaning: When you refuse to write down or otherwise track your
spending. Many scrape by with a budget by omission until creditors come knocking or they have an
emergency and unpleasant realities have to be confronted.
Having a budget will help you to figure out where you are spending your money and where you could
cut back. The tricky part is sticking to your budget. Need help with creating a budget you can live
with? Check out Money Matters or any of the websites and resources below.
Financial literacy is an essential skill that needs ongoing attention todays labour markets dictate
that individuals have a high level of financial literacy. If left unchecked, the low numeracy skills in
Canada could affect Canadas ability to compete in the global economy.
CanLearn Society is partnering with TD to provide financial information to learners across Alberta.
Money Matters Created by ABC Life Literacy Canada, Money Matters is a free workshop to help adult
learners including new immigrants, Aboriginal Peoples, single parents and low-income families
become more confident in dealing with personal finances. TD is the founding sponsor of the program,
and hundreds of TD volunteer-tutors deliver the program in community learning centres across Canada.
Nearly 50% of Canadians struggle with simple tasks involving math and numbers. The focus of Money
Matters is numeracy, money management skills and educational savings opportunities that will help
families plan their financial present and future. Money Matters is a free financial literacy course. If
you are interested in offering Money Matters at your organization or program, please contact us !
Below are some free financial literacy materials if you want to find out more about Money
Matters, ABC LifeLiteracy Money Matters . This website is also available in French.
Money Matters Booklet One ; Money Matters Booklet Two ; Money Matters Booklet Three
COMMON CHALLENGES
But I have poor credit Under Canadian law, you have the right to open a personal bank account at a federally
regulated financial institution even if you don't have a job, have poor credit, have been bankrupt or don't have money
to put into your account right away. Credit unions and other provincially regulated financial institutions are not
required to provide a customer with a bank account (for example, they can refuse a customer based on poor credit).
Where can I get help if I have poor credit? The first thing to do is to get a copy of your credit report. You can get a
free copy of your credit rating report mailed to you from either of Canadas credit bureaus: Equifax and TransUnion.
For a charge, and if you have a credit card, you can also get your credit report instantly online.
Not-for-profit credit counselling agencies offer free services to help with debt and credit issues. You can meet with a
credit counsellor to discuss all the options available to you to manage debt and improve your credit situation. Money
Mentors offers not-for-profit credit counselling services in Alberta.
But I don't have ID Don't have the required ID to open a bank account? No problem. You can open a bank account
with any two pieces of ID from List A, or one piece of ID from list A and one piece of ID from list B.
LIST A Valid driver's license issued in Canada ? Social Insurance Number (SIN) card ? A provincial or
territorial health insurance card ? Document or card with your photograph and signature issued by any of
the following authorities: ?
Alberta Registries Department of Community Government and Transportation of the Territory of
Nunavut ;Department of Government Services and Lands of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador
Department of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations ; Department of Transportation and Public
Works of the Province of Prince Edward Island ; Department of Transportation of the Northwest
Territories ; Insurance Corporation of British Columbia ; Saskatchewan Government Insurance ; Service
New Brunswick ; Valid Canadian passport ; Old Age Security card issued by the Government of Canada
Birth certificate issued in Canada; Certificate of Indian Status issued by the Government of Canada
A Permanent Resident card or Citizenship and Immigration Canada Form IMM 1000 or IMM 1442
LIST B Employee identity card, issued by an employer that is well known in the community, with your
photograph ; Bank or automated banking machine or client card, issued by a Canadian bank or credit
union, with your name and signature ; Credit card, issued by a recognized banking institution, with your
name and signature ; Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) client card; Foreign passport
Will a bank put a "hold" on my money? Banks can put a hold on non-government cheques up to a maximum of five
days to ensure there are funds in the account from which the cheque is written. Typically, as you build a history with a
bank, they will reduce hold times on your cheques. There are no holds on federal government cheques up to $1,500 or
on electronic transfers of money such as direct deposit or account transfers.
Does a bank account impact my credit rating? Your bank account will positively impact your credit rating if you
add overdraft protection to your account or line of credit, and if you promptly pay back loans. A bank account will

negatively impact your credit rating if there are outstanding amounts owed to the bank or if you write bad cheques due
to insufficient funds in your account.
Can a creditor take funds from my bank account without permission? Not if your credit accounts remain in good
standing. Yes, if you have delinquent accounts at another financial institution (e.g. a credit card in collections), then
that financial institution can obtain a court order to recover funds from your bank account. Also, if you have borrowed
money from the same bank at which you have a chequing or savings account, your bank may have an"offset" clause
that allows it to access your account in order to recover funds for unpaid credit, without a court order.
Will outstanding child support payments be collected if I open a bank account? Wages can be garnished from
your bank account if there are amounts owing. The Alberta government runs a Maintenance Enforcement Program
(MEP) to collect funds owed for child support payments. The MEP will send support deduction notices (SDN) directly
to employers to collect funds owing. An employer must comply with an SDN, and in effect, garnish wages from an
employee who owes child support.
Bank Fees Different banks charge different fees, so make sure you compare them before opening an account. Below
are the different types of fees a bank may charge: Transaction fees - Fees charged per transaction; ATM fees The cost to withdraw money from an ATM. Typically this is free within the bank's own network (e.g. a
BMO customer using a BMO ATM), but there is a charge when an out-of-network ATM is used (e.g. a
BMO customer using an RBC ATM); Monthly fees - Monthly fee charged by the bank to maintain the
account. NSF (not sufficient funds) fees - A fee charged if a customer writes a cheque over the amount the
customer has in his/her bank account (e.g. $10 cheque when there is only $5 in the account)
Stop payment - Fee charged to cancel a post-dated cheque
Email money transfer - A bank may charge a fee for transferring funds via email
What are the federally regulated financial institutions? Federally regulated financial institutions include: Bank of
Montreal (BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Canadian Western Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia
(BNS), HSBC Bank Canada, Tangerine, National Bank of Canada, President's Choice Financial, Royal Bank of
Canada (RBC), Toronto Dominion Bank (TD), among others.
What can I do if a federally regulated financial institution refuses to provide me with a bank account?
1. The bank must give you a letter saying that it will not open an account for you. If you do not receive it,
ask for it. The bank must also tell you how to contact the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC).
2. Tell the bank you want to make a complaint. By law, all banks must have a complaint-handling process.
3. Call FCAC toll-free at 1-866-461-3222 for more information.
Poor financial literacy leave Australians vulnerable 04 May 2015
Australians are increasingly at risk of making the wrong decisions in crucial areas, such as superannuation
investments, because of poor levels of financial literacy, according to a leading researcher at the Business School.
Professor Susan Thorp says that while most Australians are coping, fewer than half can answer basic questions related
to interest rates, inflation and the diversification of risky assets, and are therefore highly vulnerable.
If you are going to manage your credit card, you need to understand interest rates or you need to understand how
inflation might affect the spending power of your wages, and you need to understand risk if you are going to manage
your superannuation investments, says Professor Thorp.
What we see is that people who have poor skills in this area are much less likely to have prepared for their
retirement, she said. They are likely to have found these decisions difficult and alienating and they dont want to
think about it.
People are dealing with increasingly complex decisions sometimes involving very large sums of money without
understanding the basics, such as compound interest, she adds. By any objective measure, many lack vital financial
skills. Professor Thorp, who joined the Business Schools Discipline of Finance this year, was recently appointed to
the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) research committee on financial literacy.
The 34 member OECD says that while a complex financial landscape has evolved rapidly since the global financial
crisis, the ability of regulation alone to effectively protect consumers has remained limited.
According to the OECD, the financial crisis demonstrated the negative effects of low levels of financial literacy for
society at large, financial markets and households. As a result, it says financial literacy has become a long-term policy
priority in many countries.
In an effort to assist, the OECD has joined with the International Network on Financial Education (INFE) to improve
financial literacy levels worldwide. The OECD/INFE will be advised by an academic committee focusing on the
synergies between research and policy development.
Professor Thorp says the committee will work to broaden and deepen research into financial education to ensure
more effective and measurable outcomes in this area.
There are financial literacy programs being delivered all over the world. ASIC is funding literacy programs here in
Australia. As an academic research committee, our role will be to help to make these programs as effective as
possible, said Professor Thorp.

The 13 member research committee is made up of financial literacy experts drawn from the worlds leading
universities. Professor Thorp says that the key to developing financial literacy is adequate numeracy skills. You need
to help students when they are at school to get a good foundation in mathematics and feel confident with numbers,
she concludes. Secondly, financial institutions and financial regulators must support adults who are making difficult
decisions.
Illiteracy and Educational Problems in India India though is fast developing as super power with impressive
industrial growth and economic development, it is falling behind on human development index. The education
scenario is alarmingly dismal at the grass-root level. Indias education program is falling behind other nations. It is a
country with population already touching one billion while only one third is able to read. Worlds 30%illiterate
population comes from India.
India though is fast developing as super power with impressive industrial growth and economic development, it is
falling behind on human development index. The education scenario is alarmingly dismal at the grass-root level.
Indias education program is falling behind other nations. It is a country with population already touching
one billion while only one third will be able to read. Due to various social and economic problems Indias education
programme is besieged with many problems. Of the biggest victims are those living in the rural areas. Allocation of
government funds and the conditions of the destitute rural schools contribute to the low quality of education by rural
children. Many children living in rural areas receive a level of education which is very poor. Overall enrolment in
primary and middle schools are very low.50% of the children living in these areas leave school before the 5th class.
These children leave school for many reasons lack of interest, working in the fields where hours are long and pay is
low. A large percent of dropouts are female children. Forced by their parents most girls perform chores and tend the
family at home. These are some of the reasons why female literacy stands low in India.As these children grow into
adults, many are still illiterate by the age of 40.These uneducated adults are also reluctant to send their own children to
school. This creates a vicious circle where whole section of the community remain uneducated. A large number of
teachers refuse to teach in rural areas and those that do are usually are under qualified. In recent years the number of
qualified teachers has increased because of increased efforts by the government and civil society groups to improve
general education and professional training of teachers. Those who refuse to teach in the rural areas cite distance and
lack of interest by students as problems. Many teachers lack enthusiasm due to their meagre salary. Another obstacle
faced by the schools is that obtaining more teachers because of state guidelines that approve of high student-teacher
ratio. Lack of books and learning materials seem to be a widespread problem. The use of high-tech devices such as
computers are very rare. Most of the rural schools operate without toilets, drinking water facility and electricity. The
distribution of government funds is major hindrance to the educational system. According to a recent study,30% of the
total educational funding goes toward higher educational institutions. This is an important factor as the percent of
students enrolled in these institutions are much lower. Lack of education has resulted in growth of unemployment,
poverty and substantial increase in the growth of population.Illiteracy has proven to be a major handicap.It has
percolated through various systems affecting the Indias growth.India needs policy changes in the way we look into the
education system in the country.Government should ensure that the funds should reach where they are meant for and
not get exhausted in the pockets of few. India though is fast developing as super power with impressive industrial
growth and economic development,it is falling behind on human development index.The education scenario is
alarmingly dismal at the grass-root level.Indias education program is falling behind other nations.It is a country with
population already touching one billion while only one third is able to read.Worlds 30%illiterate population comes
from India.
National Literacy Mission Literacy is the backbone of a progressive and the heartbeat of a developing nation. A
literate nation is free from any kind of slavery and open to varied arenas of progress. But, to remove the scourge of
illiteracy from a vast country like India is a tough mission. To convert this tough mission into an achievable one, the
Government of India initiated the National Literacy Mission (NLM) External website that opens in a new window in
1988. The mission aims at imparting functional literacy to millions of Indians, especially those in the age-bracket of
15-35 years.
The National Literacy Mission works at two levels:
General Council Executive Council The General Council is headed by the Ministry of Human Affairs and the
Executive Council by the Secretary (Elementary Education and Literacy). The Directorate of Adult Education provides
necessary technical and resource support to the National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA).
The following are the three major campaigns under the National Literacy Mission:
Total Literacy Campaigns (TLC) External website that opens in a new windowThis model is the dominant strategy
for the eradication of adult illiteracy in India. TLC campaigns are area-specific, time-bound, volunteer-based, costeffective and outcome-oriented. The campaigns are implemented through district-level literacy committees which are
registered under the Societies Registration Act as independent and autonomous bodies to provide a unified umbrella
under which a number of individuals and organisations work together.
Post Literacy Programme (PLP) External website that opens in a new windowPost-literacy programmes attempt to
give interested learners an opportunity to harness and develop their learning potentials after completion of a course in

basic literacy. Post literacy programmes are open to neo-literates in the age group of 9-35 who have completed the
basic literacy course under the total literacy campaigns, dropouts from primary schools and pass outs from Non formal
Education (NFE) programmes.
Continuing Education Programme (CEP) External website that opens in a new windowAfter the impingement of
literacy and adult education programmes another challenge that came before the National Literacy Mission was to
create a Continuing Education System and maintain a channelled continuous and life-long learning process. Thus, the
scheme of Continuing Education was taken up. The Continuing Education Scheme is multi-faceted and is postulated
on the principles of treating basic literacy, post literacy and later continuing education. Above all the scheme aims at
addressing the socio-economic situations of the community to provide infrastructure for larger development initiatives.
View the state-wise position (External website that opens in a new window) of Total Literacy Campaigns (TLC), Post
Literacy Programme (PLP) and Continuing Education Programme (CEP) sanction status.
Support to Non Governmental Organisations (External website that opens in a new window)NLM also provides
assistance to NGOs in the field of adult education. The objective of the Scheme is to secure extensive involvement of
NGOs in National Literacy Mission. NLM provides monetary grants to NGOs for undertaking projects of basic
literacy, post-literacy continuing education and other projects, including evaluation of literacy/adult education
programmes and for establishing resource centers. This scheme widens the scope of NLM as NGOs operating in
remote areas can undertake literacy projects and educate rural people.
View the highlights of 2001 census literacy rate (External website that opens in a new window) in the States and UTs
of India. NGOs can apply for financial assistance for carrying out literacy missions by downloading the Application
Form for NGOs (External website that opens in a new window); NLM and Womens Empowerment
NLM has played a significant role in creating an environment where women themselves demand knowledge and study
to empower themselves. As a result of these literacy programmes, the female literacy rate during the period 1991-2001
increased by 14.87%. This was 3.15% more compared to male literacy rate that was 11.72% in 1991-2001. This
substantiates the role NLM has played in women empowerment.
Realising the critical importance of education in development of the country, in the last few years, the Government of
India has increased its investment in education and have taken several positive steps towards exploring the potential of
technologies at all levels of education. National Literacy Mission is one such great step towards educating India.
Related Websites National Literacy Mission (External website that opens in a new window); Ministry of Human
Resource Development (External website that opens in a new window); Department of Secondary and Higher
Education (External website that opens in a new window); Directorate of Adult Education (External website that opens
in a new ndow) Presidents address on International Literacy Day (External website that opens in a new window)
Financial inclusion = financial access + financial literacy

In India and the world at large, financial inclusion is viewed as a strategy for providing the
poor with greater financial stabilityand, indirectly, better lives. Bill Gates summarized the rationale in a recent op-ed
for Live Mint: Lacking access to a bank account, he wrote, makes it much more expensive to be poor. Millions of
[Indian] families live on the border between self-sufficiency and destitution, and financial exclusion pushes them in the
wrong direction.
India is at an inflection point on the road to financial inclusion.
On the one hand, the country has made considerable progress in the last few years. According to the Microfinance
Information Exchange, the countrys microfinance sector now serves some 35 million clients. That figure, up from an
estimated 22 million in 2010, is expected to climb rapidly every year. And the governments financial inclusion
ambitions are even loftier: on January 7 of this year, the Reserve Bank of India set a goal of ensuring that every adult
in the country have an account by 2016.
On the other hand, financial inclusion is about more than access. Its about participation. Its about using the available
tools. And even among Indians who have accounts, usage is low.
The missing links: Familiarity with new financial tools, and products and programs that can scale
Accion, the 53-year-old granddaddy of global microfinance-focused organizations, stipulates as part of its core
definition of financial inclusion the existence of a financially capable clientele. In a world of expanding financial
products, such capability assumes not just access, but also knowledge of how best to use products to build financial
stability. The shorthand term for knowledge is financial literacy. Among Indias poor, financial literacy skills are
lacking. So, how do we instill these skills among tens and hundreds of millions of people? Over the last four years, the
foundation has worked with a number of institutionsincluding Swadhaar FinAccess(SFA), Jana Urban
Foundation, Samhita Community Development Services, the Parinaam Foundation and Ujjivan Financial Servicesto
pilot sustainable models to address Indias financial literacy gap. While we havent fully cracked the riddle of
financial sustainability, we have adopted a handful of design principles to better ensure impact in a sustainable manner.
These include:

Linkage with microfinance operations. Linking financial literacy programs with microfinance operations ensures
such programs have a built-in base of clients. This approach reduces the cost of mobilization; it also helps to ensure
that new clients actually put new tools to use.
Long-term engagement rather than stand-alone, one-off training programs. Changes in behavior, whether toward
better eating habits or use of financial tools, require continuous reinforcement. Financial services are no different.
Longer-term engagements also enable influence on the ways that people use financial products on an ongoing basis,
discouraging them, for instance, from becoming over-indebted, educating them about setting realistic savings goals,
etc.
Proximity to clients: Just as distance from outlets that offer formal financial services has historically been one of two
main barriers to financial access among the poor (the other is transaction costs), lack of proximity to training centers
can also be a significant barrierespecially if the goal is long-term engagement. To ensure ongoing participation in
training, financial education centers should be located near clients.
Appropriate impact measures. Whats the right way to track the success of financial literacy programs? In the first
few years of our work, we tracked the number of customers trained. Over time, however, we have evolved other
metrics such as product linkages, product usage and behavior patterns. We also partner with third-party assessment
agencies to determine the impact of the programs on clients, in order to fine-tune future programs.
Client incentives. Rewarding clients who have completed financial literacy programs can encourage attendance and
completion of training. Our partners have had success with offering awards such as direct loan deposits into bank
accounts. Another potentially powerful incentive is upgrading certified clients, for instance, to an individual (rather
than group) loan product with a differential interest rate.
Regulatory changes, client-centric products, technological innovations and responsible business practices are all pieces
of the financial inclusion puzzle. Relevant financial literacy trainingtraining that is low-cost, highly effective and
that helps to ensure Indias poor make full use of the new services increasingly availableis an often forgotten, but
equally critical piece.
500M Indian youth need new job skills: Can Indias entrepreneurs help? By 2020, India will account for nearly a
quarter of the global workforce, and the average age of Indias population will be 29 years (compared to 37 for the US
and China). To reap the benefits of its so-called demographic dividendwhich is paired with a growing demand for
skilled talent across the countrys services and manufacturing sectorsthe Government of India created the National
Skills Development Mission (NSDM).
NSDMs vision is to train 500 million people (1.5 times the population of the United States!) with employable skills
by 2022. To achieve that goal, NSDM has promoted a public-private partnership (PPP) model of financing, through
the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), for various models of vocational training programs. One result
has been a rise in the number of private players focusing on vocational training programs in India today and positive
momentum for the sector.
Addressing Indias ongoing skills gap: The view from the field Despite this massive government investment in
vocational training, however, Indian workers continue to acquire very limited employability skills in schools.
McKinsey & Companys education to employment survey showed that Indian employers leave around five to 10
percent of positions unfilled; 40 percent attribute vacancies to their inability to find candidates with the right skills. To
overcome this gap, surveyed employers spend a substantial amount, offering new hires an average of roughly 30 days
training in their first year, compared to an average of 21 days by global companies.
Given the fact that the skills gap disproportionately impacts urban poor youth, the foundation has worked to catalyze
the vocational training sector in urban India since 2007. As a result, I get to interact with some of the brightest minds
working on this problem. Based on these interactions, I believe any entrepreneur trying to build a sustainable and
scalable business in skill development must address the following four issues:
1. Understand student need versus market demand: I speak with many entrepreneurs who assume that, given the
demand supply gap, there must be a huge demand for high-quality vocational training products. They make a
fundamental error by confusing need with demand. We may believe students need training, but that belief doesnt
map to what un- or under-skilled youth are actually demanding. As a result, most vocational schools have trouble
achieving break-even capacity.
Why is there such a mismatch? One of the main drivers for vocational training is the belief that it will lead to higher
income; however, even when students get jobs after vocational training, employers often fail to correctly value their
new skills. So training may not lead to immediate, significant increases in income or placements in jobs that students
aspire to. My advice? Any entrepreneur wanting to build a successful business must focus on placement rates for
instance, without a good job placement rate, your offering has no value to students. Costs permitting, student
counseling might also be an effective way of aligning student expectations and preparing them for the work force.
2. Understand employer demand: As customers of (and revenue sources for) vocational training programs,
employers are at least as important as students. Employer demand stemming from staffing and retention challenges is
real and acute. The opportunity for entrepreneurs is to develop training that complements what employers offer inhouse. Offerings to increase retention, especially those co-developed with employers, also have huge potential.

3. Design products that meet both student and employer needs: Successful models typically have strong ties to
employers plus a student fee thats optimized so that graduates can recover their investments over a short period
even through small income increases. Other models may address the needs of working students who are looking to
up-skill. These may include shorter duration courses or weekend courses that demand less time away from work.
Finally, both students and employers benefit most from programs that recognize that a significant number of students
havent worked in formal jobs before. The most successful programs pair classroom and hands-on training, and
address soft skills and work readiness skills such as time management or other disciplines that students need to
succeed in these new job environments.
4. Focus on unit economics: Understanding unit economics is critical for any successful startup. Taking a unit
economics approach to individual training centers and making each one operationally sustainable makes it easier to
replicate success and scale solutions.
Most models have a high dependence on government funding to achieve breakeven. However, entrepreneurial startups
have to contend with unreliable payment cycles. A rule of thumb used by one of our entrepreneurs is to only open a
new center if youre confident of getting revenues from two of the following sources students, employers or
government.
A window of opportunity Indias political focus on skill development has opened a window of opportunity for social
entrepreneurs, the most successful of whom will address ecosystem challenges such as the mismatch between need and
demand. Funders, in turn, will need to combine a mix or grants and patient capital to help committed startup entrepreneurs fine tune their offerings and establish a firm footing. Getting the balance right could mean the
difference between achieving the ambitious goal of training 500 million students or not.
youth education is the real need, to see himself/herself, in a demanding situation, but the sad part is that getting a loan
is the biggest reality,not due to financial crisis, but the person should have to in touch with some minister/union leader,
only then he or she may get the loan and have to give some money to minister/union leader. corruption is in the blood
of govt. officers or the leader concerned. this point is the real education which a person should have, only then he/she
can think of scaling the EVEREST(education).
This is typical Indian psyche Everyone wants to tell what should be done but none wants to do it. You want
Entrepreneur to do xxx. But when he approaches a bank he is asked to first show collateral. When he approaches
PE funds, he is asked if their money can be turned at least 10 times in 2 years?? I still believe best alumni of IIM is
Harsha Bhogle He has set an objective for rest Earn money by commenting only.
Why dont Michael and Susan Dell foundation set some funds for social sector entrepreneurs who will give you less
than phenomenal returns?
I am a retired employee of L&T Construction division. I have been involved in setting up the Construction Workmen
skills Training institute at Chennai.Just to share some learning of my experience: 1) There should be a clear vision of
the purpose of the training. 2) It may be worthwhile to have a distinct difference of imparting Knowledge of the trade
& the imparting of Skills of the trade. 3) In the scenario of shortage of skilled labor at project sites it be worthwhile to
concentrate on imparting skills at project sites. 4) First pre determine the Quality of workmanship & the productivity
expected of a workman for executing a particular item of work of the concerned trade in the project. 5) Depute the
workmen to do that item repeatedly till the accepted Quality & Productivity is achieved. Then only certify the
workman. 6) Issue a trade competency certificate with a provision to periodically take a trade test to validate the trade
competency. 7) Make it mandatory for contractors at project sites to employ trained/certified workmen. Start with a
small % & slowly increase this.
Subhalakshmi DuraiswamyApril 20, 2014 at 5:43 am Great post Rahil! In addition to working on skill development
directly, the two major ecosystem building opportunities that social entrepreneurs can participate in, are :
1. Addressing the large information gaps that exist today between students, institutes and employers. As an
unskilled youth today, I may not know the list of skilled-job-options available let along those where I get
free/subsidised training and therefore often just settle for whats available through family/neighbourhood networks. As
a result, institutes face a challenge in mobilised youth to participate even in free/subsidised programs.. and as already
documented, employers face a challenge in finding right-skilled employees. An employment portal which connects the
three by disseminating information on courses and jobs that are available can help youth connect to these two.
While babajobs.com is a good start to getting the informal livelihoods sector online, this is a massive opportunity for
many others to work on.
2. Addressing the awareness gap of students in helping them understand what they are best suited for in terms of
skills and aptitude and helping them look beyond College Degrees to find meaningful employment. This is a key long
term solution needed to address immediate term challenges of dropouts / certification rate and longer term concerns of
retention (from an employers standpoint) and realising earning potential (from the individuals standpoint).
Hope to see those with the entrepreneurial gene rise to the challenge!
Past gains, new capacities: What weve learned so far in our fight to transform the lives of children living in
urban poverty Editors note: We invite you to read our latest giving report to gain more insight into the full scope of
our global activities and the ways in which theyve evolved in recent years.

Some numbers: 400,000: The number of students directly reached through foundation-funded Indian education
programs that were active in 2012 ; 18,000: The number of youth we helped to place in new jobs in India in 2011 &
2012 ; 589: The number of Dell Scholars who had successfully completed college by the end of 2012 6,500: The
number of Texas teachers who, using foundation-supported tools, gained access to actionable, data-driven insights into
student needs in 2012. 108,000+: The number of new charter seats that will ultimately be created based on foundation
investments in 2011 & 2012 181,500: The number of slum residents projected to gain access to permanent housing due
to 2011 & 2012 investments in a new company in Indias emerging micro mortgage sector; 50,540: Number of lowincome, at-risk Central Texas students who, in 2011 & 2012, received foundation-supported during- and after-school
case management and other services to improve their academics ; 19.5 million: Number of children in New Delhi and
Rajasthan who, in 2011, received deworming treatments thanks to government programs supported by the foundation
2: Number of South African students who completed the Dell Young Leaders program in 2011
Why do these figures matter? For two reasons. First, because each aggregate number can be broken down into
individual stories: a Mumbai childwho was three years behind grade level catches up to her peers; a teacher in
Lubbock, Texas, has the insights needed to begin helping students overcome specific deficits and build on strengths on
the very first day of school; a young dropout from New Delhi obtains skills and training to increase his income by
roughly 300 percent; a low-income couple in Washington D.C. opts to enroll their son in a high-performing public
charter school; a first-generation South African university student gains access to the range of supports shell need to
stay in school, graduate and begin a career. These are numbers that can change lives.
New pressures and new opportunities
The second reason these figures are important is because each number points toward much broader scale change.
The foundation seeks to find breakthrough solutions that enable individuals to break the cycle of poverty. And while
impact at the individual level is incredibly powerful, systems-level shifts are ultimately far more transformative. On
this front, 2011 and 2012 were watershed years. We saw the cumulative impact of our efforts align with broader
changes in the world; new pressures and opportunities came together to help us push ahead in unexpected ways. We
worked with innovative companies like Indias Micro Housing Finance Corporation not only to provide low-income
buyers with low-interest mortgages, but to help size and shape the challenge of catalyzing an affordable housing sector
in urban India. We worked with the Texas Education Agency not only to get data-driven insights into the hands of
thousands of teachers in Texas, so they could more easily and quickly address their students needs, but to build tools
and resources that would benefit other states across the nation to do the same. At home in Austin, we began exploring
how to apply what weve learned about the power of specific programs used in localized efforts in Chicago, Santa Ana
and Philadelphia to find lasting ways to improve childhood health in a single zip code. Meanwhile, across the globe in
South Africa, we found our technical and practical expertise in education data in demand.
New ways of using resources to address the impact of urban poverty on children
To ensure we had the most flexibility and broadest impact possible, we also began to institutionalize our use of a wider
range of financial tools. These tools include not only grants, but mission-related impact investments in sectors such as
high-quality vocational training centers in India; program-related investments to support related businesses such
asDouble Line Partners, an education data and technology firm that specializes in the development of performance
management systems for state and local education agencies in the US; and the establishment of the non-profit Ed-Fi
Alliance as an independent subsidiary of the foundation, focused on supporting the US-based effort to ensure that
educators get the tools they need to personalize education for every child in their classrooms. Around the world, we
also partnered with government to help scale effective programs, connecting governmental organizationssuch as
school districts in the US, school and health ministries in India, and the Department of Basic Education in South Africa
with organizations capable of helping them to implement priority programs aimed at improving education and
childhood health.
A clear guiding principle: Impact today Across all these efforts, we maintained a laser focus on one guiding
principleimmediate, positive impact for children and familiesfiltering every decision through a consistent lens:
How could we deploy our limited resources to hit above our weight? How could we use the tools available to ensure
the biggest and most lasting benefit for children and families? Every person at the foundation knows what a huge
responsibility weve taken on with this work, and what a huge opportunity we have. And every one of us is committed
to asking the right questions to ensure we make a difference every day.
Read our latest giving report for more insight into our work to transform the lives of children living in urban India,
South Africa and the United States through improved access to high quality education and health supports.
Social change at scale: Unleashing the best that government has to offer As a philanthropy, were acutely aware
that, on our own, we cant drive social change at the scale we seek. Instead, our most effective role is often to leverage
and optimize other forces. We see three primary avenues to accomplish our goals: we can seek to shift markets; we can
seek to catalyze government action; we can help high-quality nonprofits achieve greater impact.
None of these strategies is simple, of course, and each has its particular challenges. In the case of government, our
experiences in India have shown us that using the right tactics in the right combination can help to catalyze
governments substantial (and often dormant) resources.

Mumbai, Rajasthan and Delhi: What weve learned Working hand in hand with governments to implement largescale interventions such as the successful Rajasthan and Delhi deworming programs, and to launch the
ambitious Mumbai School Excellence Program, the foundation has identified a handful of tactics that can help unlock
governments wheels.
Technical support provision: Funding technical implementation experts to work with governments to execute
existing programs allows philanthropies to deploy limited dollars for maximum gainwhile also shoring up
governments long-term capacity to develop and act on best practices. Professional capabilities such as program
management can help ensure that programs are implemented effectively at the start, that they are adequately
documented, and that they are designed to last.
Investment in market-based service providers to enable them to expand their reach:By helping reliable service
providers expand their offerings to meet governments recognized needs, funders can enable broadscale execution of
solutions that work to address concrete problems and needs. (For instance, the foundation worked with one provider of
mobile sanitation units for construction workers a.k.a. porta-potties to offer the same market-based solution and
maintenance packages to slum communities.)
Relationship-building: In their capacity as relatively disinterested third-parties, philanthropies are ideally situated to
help forge relationships across disconnected government agencies. This function which involves an investment of time
and the ability to network, but little in the way of financial investment, can result in major shifts in the way programs
are carried forward to achieve scale.
Coordination across sectors: Even well-funded government programs have little chance of success unless they
achieve buy-in from a broad range of interested stakeholders. One low-investment, high-impact role for funders is to
coordinate consultations involving representatives from a range of sectors: federal and state governments, multilateral
agencies, community organizations, commercial service providers, funders, NGOs and technical experts.
None of these tactics will guarantee success over the long-term. But used effectively and in coordination, they have the
power to unleash the very best that government has to offer.
Context counts: Five development lessons from Indias urban slums In the five years Ive been at the foundation,
our partner organizations have taught me a number of lessons about what it takes to address community needs. The
residents of the communities they work in, typically in urban slums, have often shared even more valuable insights.
Here are a few of the key rules Ive internalized along the way:
1. Understand your client Before you set up your organization/start implementing a project in a new area spend time
to profile and understand your client. But be prepared that this client can and will differ from area to area, city to city,
state to state. Every community is different and comes with a unique set of challenges. For instance, a client living in a
slum in Delhi likely has greater access to information and markets than his rural counterpart.
Even within communities, you should expect different motivations. While some families might want a toilet for better
health, others might want it for greater dignity, improved social status or even to avoid sexual harassment during visits
to the field for open defecation. Segmenting clients by motivation and identifying the potential change agents (e.g.,
women or parents of young children), decision makers, and likely detractors are critical elements of success.
2. Invest the time required to change behaviors It takes time for awareness to translate in to actual behavior
change, especially if a model relies on a product/service that costs money. In a community toilet pilot in a slum in
Delhi, we found that people initially preferred a pay-per-use model. Once they were convinced that the service
provider was addressing some key concerns such as keeping the toilets clean and locating them where they were
actually needed (rather than a kilometer away, for instance,) they were willing to switch to a monthly charge. In some
cases, organizations might even need to provide services free of cost to begin with and convince the community over a
period of time to start paying. Other organizations have found that the tipping point for adoption doesnt occur until
one or two families have made an initial investment. Mahila Housing Trust (MHT), an organization that works with
poor communities to help them access water and sanitation services, has found that although families may initially be
reluctant to pay for an in-home water connection, they often come around after seeing their neighbors get connections
and witnessing the resulting benefits.
3. Tailor community awareness campaigns Community engagement needs to take into account cultural factors as
well as the programs run by government and other local organizations. Levels of awareness vary considerably between
communities a slum dweller might be well aware of why drinking clean water or using a toilet is important, but
might need education about construction or financing processes. Especially for push products like certain types of
supplements, medicines etc., basic awareness strategies should be adjusted for local audiences. Deworm The World, an
agency that provides technical support to governments for implementing large-scale deworming programs, has used
different awareness strategies like wall paintings, street theatre, newspaper appeals from politicians and radio jingles to
create awareness prior to the actual deworming day. The media and campaigns they use vary dependent on the
community mores and habits in the various states where they work.
4. Hire field staff who will become powerful advocates Field staff interact extensively with clients. Hiring staff
from within communities empowers them to become role models and also help create brand loyalty for the
organization. Operation ASHAemploys semi-literate counselors (often from slums themselves) at its treatment centers

and offers them incentive-linked remuneration and an attractive career path. In another context, their minimal
educational qualifications might have denied these counselors a successful career. But at ASHA they play a critical
role.
5. Establish feedback mechanisms Organizations must create structured ways (in addition to the unstructured
feedback that is continuously obtained through field staff) to obtain feedback from customers. Independent monitoring
and customer surveys conducted by external agencies also play an important role, since organization field staff may be
biased and clients might be hesitant to express their concerns/criticism unequivocally. MHT receives feedback through
its field workers and directly through the community-based organizations. Operation ASHA relies heavily on
counselors for community inputs, but also enables direct channels of communication with the senior management.
Solving complex social issues requires more than great technology or iron-proof theories of change. It requires that we
operate in context. And in this work, the context is humanity, with all its needs, desires, loyalties and strengths. Until
we address that, well fall short of our goals.
Water and sanitation in Indias slums: What corporate best practices can teach the development community A
couple of years back I met a lady in a slum in Delhi. She had recently taken out a loan for a water and sanitation
project: constructing a toilet. She told me that her family had lived in the same slum for nearly 20 years but had never
thought of building a toilet in their home. This made me curious, and I became eager to understand why after so many
years of using community toilets or practicing open defecation, shed finally decided to invest in a toilet of her own.
Her response was simple. No girl is willing to marry my son unless I have a toilet in my house, so this has made my
son more eligible.
Water and sanitation: The challenge is less in explaining their value than in understanding why they are (or arent)
prioritized; During my five years at the foundation, Ive come across numerous training manuals that have been
created with the objective of educating communities and spreading awareness about why toilets are important. While
they cover the health and hygiene aspects of water and sanitation fairly well, most do not highlight the social and
cultural issues that underlie decision making and behavior change.
In the mainstream corporate world, tactics like listening to your customers, understanding their behavior, tailoring your
message, creating brand loyalty and soliciting feedback are standard practice. In the development space, those
approaches are not as common. In fact, Ive more than once heard statements like, Of course a toilet is good for them.
It will improve their health and productivity.
Those of us working in development have to dig deeper. We need to understand, in detail, how and why someone who
has never used a toilet in their lives would pay every day to use one. We need to ask (and answer) the question, why on
earth would a family spend INR 10,000 (US $180) to construct one when their average monthly income is only INR
3,000 (US $54)? Why is this sort of inquiry so important? Because until we understand the motivational nuances at
play, we may build some toilets, but well miss the real target: Changed behaviors and improved health.
The urban poverty paradox: Its good for you. Why wont you do it? For anyone thinking about ways to address
urban poverty, it might be hard to imagine how something as fundamental as a toilet is not at the top of a familys
priority list. Or to understand why a patient stops taking his tuberculosis medication even though its free. (Especially
if hes aware of the serious consequences of failure to complete treatment.)
But the reasons are simple: People living in extreme poverty face numerous challenges and conflicting priorities every
day. When financial stability is so precarious, tradeoffs are necessary and constant. And of course, the poor are like all
of us: New habits dont come easy, even when we know they are good for us. Thats human nature 101.
Helping people address these issues requires pragmatism and creativity. It demands the flexibility to broaden the focus
of our mission-driven work just enough to enhance effectivenesswithout drifting into undisciplined scope creep.
Its not an easy balance to achieve, but a number of organizations working in urban India have found effective ways to
creatively cluster solutions that people both want and need.
1. Mahila Housing Trust: Fostering the communitys ability to address urban poverty During a conversation with the
field staff of one Ahmedabad-based grantee, Mahila Housing Trust(MHT,) I learned that in addition to helping slum
families obtain basic water and sanitation services (through education, community empowerment efforts, and linkages
with local government agencies and microloan organizations), staff also provide guidance on a range of other issues.
For instance, if someone has a chronic health problem, MHT staff try and link them with another NGO or government
program who can help. Over a period of time, MHT transitions this role to the community by fostering the creation and
capacity building of community-based organizations. This sort of cross pollination of solutions gave rise to MHT
itself, born out of insights gained by another organization. The Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA,) a 31year-old nonprofit, provides low cost loans to self-employed, female workers in Ahmedabads slums. One SEWA
survey found that clients didnt simply want traditional microloans to grow their businesses. They also wanted loans to
address home improvement concerns such as improved water and sanitation services.
2. Operation ASHA: Fighting TB, headaches and stigma Other organizations have increased their effectiveness
using similar strategies but different applications (e.g., clustering treatments versus social services.) For
instance, Operation ASHA, a nonprofit that sets up tuberculosis treatment centers in slums, started providing patients
and their families with antacids and pain killers along with the TB medication.

This strategy addresses a couple of barriers to compliance. The first is fairly straightforward: Tuberculosis drugs cause
unpleasant side-effects, so people may not take them as directed. But the second issue is both less obvious and more
powerful: TB carries a huge social stigma, so many people would (quite literally) rather die of the disease then let
people know that they have TB. By providing antacids and pain killers, ASHA also helps minimize this stigma. No
one who sees a patient walk into the ASHA treatment center is necessarily a TB patient. They might just have a head
or stomach ache. This simple strategy not only kept more patients from defaulting on their treatments; it also created
goodwill for ASHA among families.
3. Saraplast: Pairing services to encourage adoption The approach is equally relevant for socially oriented
companies working in the for-profit space. Saraplast is a commercial company that sets up and maintains portable
toilets in slums, and operates them on a fee-based model. The company is in the early stages of collaboration with a
partner who provides clean drinking water. The reason? In many of the slum communities where Saraplast works,
clean drinking water is a priority need among residents. Saraplast has discovered that community members are far
more likely to do business with them if their sanitation services are paired with access to clean water.
Creativity + pragmatism = A whole solution thats more compelling than its parts Models that cluster
complementary services with one another make good sense, from both the business and development perspectives.
Successful programs must be designed to address the conflicting priorities and incremental needs of the people living
in urban poverty. They cant stray too far from their central purpose, but they should creatively group simple solutions
that make the whole solution more compelling than its parts. By more effectively addressing peoples interlocking
needs and motivations, we can dramatically increase chances of lasting progress.
Skill development: Better to prepare than repair As I recently strolled through a shady, tree-lined walkway in one
of Lucknows colleges, many of the oft repeated critiques of government educational institutions came to view. For
many, the sight may seem bleak: A dilapidated building in need of urgent repair, disinterested students who near
graduation lack the skills they need to secure employment in the modern workplace and an educational institution not
yet equipped with the analytical tools required to track its graduates employment rates.
The same scene is depicted at most second- and third-tier general stream[1] colleges in India. A graduate degree from
such institutions often fails to equip students with relevant skills and empower them to enter the employment market
after graduation. In fact, most of those students have refrained from placing any job placement assistance expectations
on the colleges. They seem to have resigned themselves to the fact they will fend for themselves in the job market.
Its a system in need of well-documented repair.

Though Skill Development has been a buzz word in most policy

related discussions in India of late, skill training has been prioritized for a limited population of youth outside the
formal education system. Today, most skill development courses cater to this audience while ignoring the necessary
improvement of skill training within educational institutions. A recent study by Aspiring Minds reveals most of the
general or engineering stream graduates in India are unemployable in todays job market.
Ironically, investments required to repair the skill development and employability problems are better spent when
helping students prepare for employment while they are within the formal education system.
A few ambitious entrepreneurs have launched innovative business models to provide quality skill training to this
neglected segment. Medha, a Michael & Susan Dell Foundation grantee, is one such organization offering third-year
college students on-campus, Career Boot camps. They provide skill training and then assist students with identifying
job opportunities, preparing for interviews and negotiating salaries.
One student says the preparation is one of the best things to happen to him during his three years of college. This is
the only place where I feel that college is preparing me for my future life. All other classes only serve to push an
outdated curriculum down our throat, whereas this session actually teaches us skills that are relevant in todays world.
Founded by Chris Turillo and Byomkesh Mishra in 2011, Medha aims to impart skill training to students from colleges
in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two of the least-developed states in India. The training takes a two-pronged approach: inclass training in areas such as business communication and teamwork, then internships impart industry-specific skill
training to students. The organization has already assisted more than 1,000 students and looks to train 10,000
additional students over the next three years. Given the overwhelming need for skill training, more entrepreneurs are
required to enter the business of preparing students for employment. A preparatory college model has obvious
advantages over the standard skill training models:
Lower cost, better sustainability The training providers can use the college infrastructure and resources, thereby
reducing both setup and operational costs.
Captive and engaged audience Such models have significantly lower dropout rates; Ambitious, engaged college
students with proper training have the capacity to improve future employment outcomes.

More transformative engagement In-college courses are longer than traditional training models, often spanning the
entire three-year graduate course. Thus, it is possible to introduce more intensive and transformative interventions.
Repairing the low employment rates and skill development issues in India requires a multifaceted approach. Better
preparing students for employment while they undergo graduation in college is one proven, effective approach that
should be implemented by more colleges and universities.
[1] General stream colleges cater to Arts, Commerce and Science streams
Skill India: Small steps will lead to great achievement When the government announced its skill development
training totals for 2014-2015 last month, critics were quick to condemn the Skills Ministry and government
departments that fell short of the training goals. Prashant K. Nanda summarized the data collected by the National Skill
Development Agency (NSDA) in Livemint:
As per data collated by the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA)part of the newly created ministry of skill
development and entrepreneurship21 departments and ministries trained 7.6 million people in 2014-15, as against a
target of 10.5 million people.
In other words, central ministries and departments fulfilled 72% of their target in the last fiscal, almost identical to the
figure notched up by the previous government in 2012-13. The NSDA has been collating skill training outcomes for the
last four years.
Among the ministries, five missed the target by at least half, with four among them reaching less than a quarter. The
ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation managed just 7.37% of its target, home affairs 7.83%, the
department of higher education trained just 24.67% and the ministry of social justice 24.72% of their targets.
Critics of the governments results feel its commitment to increasing skill development last year was hollow
especially given the poor training performance against the countrys loftiest goals to date:
In the last one year, the government at the highest level has talked about the need for skill development and reaping
the demographic dividend. But the latest data is not very encouraging, said a government official, who declined to be
named. All departments need to improve their performance and the new skills ministry has to make sure that
implementation is on track, said the official, adding that in 2014-15, the country for the first time set a target of
training over 10 million people.
Our team at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, on the other hand, does not view the annual results as a failure;
rather, an indication of the enormity and the complexity of the Skill India initiative. Across all ministries and
departments, the government managed to train 7.6 million peoplestill a massive figure and giant step toward
increasing the access to skill development for Indias youth.

The Takeaway The achievements (and shortcomings) in the previous year provide opportunities for the government to
refine its own approach while empowering others to take a pragmatic approach to increasing the number of young
people trained in the coming year.
We believe there are three variables that can enable the government to exceed this years targets and achieve
significantly larger scale:
Coordination: The streamlining of skill development activities nationally through the Ministry of Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship is a step in the right direction.
Demand Financing: The government needs to catalyze innovative financing approaches such as skill vouchers, training
loans, and CSR scholarships. The recently launched skill loan scheme has the potential to be transformational in
enabling marginalized students to gain access to high quality courses.
Employers: Scalable, sustainable skill development in India is not possible without strong participation from
employers.

Our experience has taught us that massive, seemingly insurmountable obstacles can only be overcome through a long
series of small steps that lead to larger achievement. India has several more steps to takeand more time to take them
before achieving its enormous goals of providing skills training for millions of job seekers. Were optimistic that a
few large strides in the near future will put India back on track to hit the 2025 Skill India target.
Blazing a trail for financing skill training in India This post is the fourth of a multi-part series about the skill
development sector in India and how to solve the challenges of increasing both formal and informal sector
employment. While skill development is a common term these days, we must appreciate that the skills required of each
industry are nuanced, as is the training requiredand the costs associated with specialized skill development vary. A
single funding model would fail to pay for high-quality training across all sectors. Government funds cannot possibly
scale to meet the extraordinary training demands through 2022. Innovative, sustainable financing options for skill
training are imperative.

In my last post, I discussed Indias first skill voucher programme, the

Vikalp Voucher model. The programme incentivises students to choose between multiple training providers and
coursespaid for using a voucherrather than receive free, low-quality training from a government-funded provider
in a mandated vocational area. Yet, even with skill voucher programmes, specialised loans for vocational training will
be an essential part of the equation to increase the number of skilled workers in India.
The realities of lending Among the millions of ambitious young people, there is a great demand for loans that can
help solve the national skill development crisis. Conservative estimates put the investment needed at INR 4 trillion
($800 billion USD). But lenders have historically been apprehensive about extending even the smallest of loansINR
10,000to underprivileged students for vocational training for fear of high payment default rates. Young people ages
19 -25 seldom have access to credit, nor collateral to offer banks in exchange for training loans. Few private investors
have contributed to the presently nascent market for skill lending funds.
Market-based lending systems could reduce the capital needed for vocational training loansby as much as ten times
but existing banking products and processes are not designed for the skill development sector. Alternative credit
systems with annual interest rates of 300 percent would exacerbate skilled students financial struggles. While the
urban microfinance industry has seen positive growth, most MFIs have failed to bridge the gap between group lending
systems and vocational training (individual lending) loans.
MILAAP: sustainable skill development funding The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has attempted to support
innovation in vocational training loan institutions and supported six MFI pilots to uncover insights into the skill
development market and implications for skill financing. Those findings have shaped the loan products and processes
for training through MILAAP, a provider of skills training for underprivileged students, which have benefited 4,000
students to date. MILAAP has evolved from partnering with investors to provide low-cost loans to, with the
foundations support, assuming a more active role throughout the skill financing process. Meanwhile, MILAAP
continues to fine-tune three key areas of their skill development lending that can guide similar financing programs:
Loan Products and Lending Architecture MILAAP secures funds via partnerships with training agencies,
disperses the loans to students and manages processes. Meanwhile, training agencies source, train and place students;
thus are well-positioned to facilitate loans and recovery of delayed payments. This model allows students outside of
the microfinance ambit to secure loans at a reasonable 18 percent interest rate.
Risk Management Strategies and Processes Private investors have not been keen to fund vocational training loans
for fear of risks involved. MILAAP mitigates those concerns through precise processes and clear criteria which can
protect against defaults, lack of employment placement and future low salaries. Additionally, training institutes that
guarantee job placements can share the risk.
Relationship Management MILAAP shares the Foundations belief in a collaborative approach to skill
development. All the players employers, training institutes and students must work together. This model fosters
collaboration while implementing systematic measurement processes to track a students potential pre-enrollment,
training performance, post-placement and repayment
While there are still challenges in the process like loan repayments MILAAP is one model that could span skill
development in multiple sectors and put us one step closer to achieving Indias goal of 500 million skilled workers by
2022. Look for future posts in which Ill further explore other innovations and ways to solve the challenges of our skill
development sector.
Read the third post in the series: Let students feet do the talking: The skill voucher model
Read the second post in the series: Skill India: Sector Skills Councils as the bedrock of quality
Read the first post in the series: Skill development for the future

States can ease the burden of skill development in India As Indias newly formed Ministry of Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship shoulders responsibility for skill development initiatives that can meet the target of training 500
million workers by 2022, it is looking to states and Union territories to help carry some of that weight.
In a May LiveMint article, Prashant Nanda cited the states vital role in developing a combined vision for Skill India
and executing the governments plan for training millions of youth. While the skill development ministry will provide
broad direction on skill development and entrepreneurship issues, states will be accountable for driving skill
development at the ground level and directly responsible for moving skill development and job creation forward.
The Ministrys efforts to convene stakeholders from various state governments in early May was a critical step in
creating this shared vision and implementation structure for skill development in India. As the article rightly points
out, building on local context is key to a robust skill development ecosystem, and the states are uniquely positioned to
do so: The effort is to prepare a system which shall help in creating skilled workforce as per local requirementsit
shall be region-specific and demand-driven.
There are pockets of excellence in states, too, but that needs to be scaled up. Some states shall share their best
practices with others and the skills ministry will be a facilitator.
We at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation agree that states have the potential to play a strong leadership role in the
movement to scale skill development. Innovative states can establish themselves as centers of innovation and
excellence in the skilling ecosystem in India. Today, states employment generation strategy is to compete for the
attention of investors. If the states prioritize and innovate skill buildingbased on region-specific demandthe
investments will naturally follow.
Certain Indian states are leading the way for others: Rajasthan was the first state in India to establish a mission on
livelihoods, which has expanded today to become one of the most innovation state-level skill development agencies in
the country. The Kerala Government has launched the ASAP project, focusing not just on vocational training, but also
prioritizing vocation education in schools. Andhra Pradesh has established a cutting-edge public private partnership
(PPP) to spearhead skill development in the state with participation from the state government, National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC), as well as other private partners.
BARTI, a skill development agency in the state of Maharashtra, is the first state organization in the country to
pilot skill vouchers as an approach for financing student trainings.
The Takeaway Today, the primary determinant of economic success at the state level is driven by both foreign and
domestic private investment leading to employment and growth. However, there are significant differences between
states ability to attract investment. One RBI study shows that the top six Indian states accounted for over 70 percent of
FDI equity flows to India. A robust and innovative skill development ecosystem will help marginalized states turn the
tables and offer top-notch talent, attract investment and fuel growth.
At the same time, transformation in Indias skill development ecosystem requires collaboration at many levels. Efforts
must be simultaneous, synergistic and efficient between the states and the central government. Our hope is that states
will continue to learn from each other, as well as leverage the support of the skills ministry to nurture innovation and
quality in skills training.
Involvement of states is conspicuous. I must agree that for an effective transformation in skill and training in India, a
synergy is required and we must learn from each other. Having said that, we have challenges like almost all the states
are currently running the courses which were in accordance with industry standards of late 80s which got formulated
in 11th five year plan. Replicating as is from the past would not help much because we have a new goal post, industry
standards which would require new strategy and methodologies. Also, trainees enrolling for such vocational classes are
mostly influenced by the social factors around them. Each of the state has its own socio-economic status, one should
be vary while taking up the success stories from neighboring states.
In terms of up gradation in the way and methodologies, we have recently published this short article on How will
India Train 40Cr People by 2022.
Vocational Education: One spark to ignite change in India Understandably, there is an international, preconceived
notion that students who graduate from all institutes of higher education with formal qualifications or degrees are
assured immediate, meaningful employment. The reality in Indiawith its exploding population within the
employable age rangeis that young people who are well-educated in a traditional sense still find it difficult to secure
jobs, remain underemployed and struggle in the workplace. Its a crisis that has become a well-documented skills gap
that exists across all industries and service sectors.
As weve discussed for some time, an issue of such enormity requires a multidimensional, holistic approach to
transforming skills training, thus we have supported alternative approaches to increase the number of young people
with access to high-quality training programs. One such pragmatic approach is to expand Vocational Education,
making skills development an integral part of students formal education. Young people would acquire horizontal
workplace readiness skills like communication, teamwork and technology skills, as well domain-specific vertical
skills, while working toward graduation.

One innovator in the countrys Vocational Education movement, Deputy Director at the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences (TISS), Neela Debir, this week authored a blog that suggests skill development, done correctly, could open
employment opportunities beyond the confines of Indias borders:
In the Indian context, the need of the hour is to adopt an appropriate strategy for skill development that will help in
producing a large number of skilled workers for the national needs as well for the international job market. The model
for skill development has to be scalable, sustainable and cost-effective. It should also assure quality that can match the
international standards. In fact, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has tried to develop a model which can be
suitable for universities in India.
The TISS entered into the field of skill development in December 2011 by establishing the School of Vocational
Education (SVE) with a seed grant from the ministry of HRD through AICTE. It is an effort to demonstrate how
universities and higher education institutes can impart vocational education. The TISS-SVE, in fact, has tried to
develop a robust model that involves partnership with training institutes and industries from different sectors for
imparting quality vocational training to a large number of young people pan India.
The maturing TISS SVE models emphasis on hands-on, practical learning, quality standards and demand-driven
coursework is a positive step forward. Other companies leading the Vocational Education movement, such as iStar, are
constructing pioneering business models to help colleges effectively prepare their students for the 21 st century
workplace. Similarly, organizations like a spiring minds and Mettl are establishing employability assessments to equip
students, colleges and employers with common indicators of job readiness.
The Takeaway We are encouraged by the momentum in the vocational training ecosystem. The government-formed
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a public private partnership, has initiated the creation of highquality, vocational education institutes. Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) have been established to support the
standardisation of training and certification requirements across industries. Market-based, philanthropic and CSRsupported models continue to catalyze vocational training opportunities for a growing number of young people. And
there is evidence that student-led demand financing, such as skills vouchers, provide an elegant solution to reduce the
stress on government funding and gives students the power to exercise choice and demand quality.
Still, Indias plight to employ a staggering 500 million skilled workers by 2022 is far from over. Until the government
prioritizes Vocational Education within schools and collegesnot just outside skills development through programs
such as the low-quality, free vocational training funded by state and central governmentsthe existing strategies to
address this critical need will fail to scale and flourish. If we evolve the vocational training ecosystem in India and
make certain those who are trainedwhether in or out of schoolsecure jobs within their chosen industries, we would
create the best opportunity for Indias youth to succeed. We would ignite systemic change. Its a transformative fire
that, with many of us working together, could spread and be impossible to extinguish.
A monstrous challenge: Access to quality skills training in India In an October 2014 interview with Amrita
Premrajan of TimesJobs.com Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO,National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), discussed
the need for investment in vocational skills training of Indias youth and cited key focus areas to ensure individuals
who are trained secure jobs within their chosen industries. We at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation agree that a
holistic, multidimensional approach will transform the vocational training ecosystem in India.
Chenoy emphasized:
The need to make vocational skills aspirational through a multi-pronged national campaign: Various, less exciting
skills which are in high demand must appeal to Indias youth.
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) impact on high quality training: Collaboration with Sector Skill Councils
(SSCs) and others can improve training standards and quality.
Human Resource leaders have critical roles: They must acknowledge certifications, hire certified employees,
encourage existing employees to get certified, mandate all suppliers and service providers to have certified employees
and attempt to direct their CSR funds into skill development.
Making headway in skills training quality
Access to skills training is a monstrous challenge, yet pales in comparison to the challenge of quality. The sector has
seen an influx of training providers, yet only a small margin are able to impart high-quality market driven skills that
results in sustainable employment for the trainees. NSDC has made strides toward the creation of occupational
standards, accreditation of training institutes, training of trainers, assessments and certifications. There is still
expansive room for improvementespecially if India wants to realize its vision of leveraging skills training as an
engine for employment and growth. Free skills training programs funded by state & central governments leave youth
with few choices, low-quality training options, and few jobs. Consequently, young people have also lost trust in the
system, whereby vocational training is rarely seen as a pathway for productive employment.
In his Live Mint opinion editorial, Ravishankar Iyer, an entrepreneur based in Pune, also notes that student-led demand
financing is key to reduce reliance on government funding for skill development.
The issue is the approach. A vast majority of skill development programmes are structured in a similar manner: the
government funds almost the entire training and incidental costs. Students may pay a token amount and the industry
pays nothing. Typically, programmes entail just two-three months of classroom training (given limited budgets,

governments aim to reach as many youth as possible) and have a minimum-placement clause of around 70% of
students trained (since governments need tangible outcomes at the end of training). If placement targets arent met,
training providers stand to lose money. To be fair, several skilling companies are trying promising alternative methods
by engaging directly with employers, but the government-funded approach is the dominant one.
We at the foundation understood this challenge early on and began prototyping alternative approaches. Skills
vouchers, for instance, provide an elegant solution to reduce the stress on government funding and gives students the
power to exercise choice and demand quality. The Vikalp voucher model, piloted by Centre for Civil Society (CCS)
with support from stakeholders like the Dell family foundation, NSDC and BARTI, is being implemented successfully
in the state of Maharashtra. The voucher not only incentivises training providers to deliver high-quality skills to
students and prioritize job placement at the end of the course, it also empowers students to make rational, informed
choices. As we push forward, we can learn much from pilots like Vikalp, as well as the robust, parallel impact
evaluation study CCS invested in, to understand if this approach had any impact on student outcomes. This study
provides us evidence that the voucher model works. Though the pilot has not been without challenges, those present
momentous teaching moments.
The Take Away If we are to meet the skill training needs of the estimate 10 million people joining the Indian
workforce every year, market-driven discipline is needed to reform the skills training sector. The implications will be
positive: students will only pay for courses which lead to meaningful employment which will weed out low-quality
training providers and employers will respond positively to students with a robust set of relevant, employable skills.
Theres consensus: no single entity or initiative can solve the skills training challenges alone. So, lets keep working
together. Lets keep exploring what works and what doesnt. Theres evidence that innovative approachessuch as
skills vouchershave an impact on outcomes for vocational students. This should inspire us to press on and inspire
Indias youth to remain hopeful about the future. good points raised here the only way i feel to reach the goal is to
have industry recognised certification and best practices to be adopted give basic guidelines and then let companies
come in to do the last mile delivery. I read your article and it resonates strongly with me. I am one of the co-founders
of Basil Advisors, and we work in the skills development space with a specific focus on ecommerce. We have been
working with the likes of Flipkart and Delhivery for some time,on training their employees and also new hires. We
now want to push into the space of reaching out to rural India to source manpower that can help fill up the massive
manpower needs at companies like Flipkart from there. Flipkart has indicated plans to hire 40,000 people this year, and
1 lakh next year. Our work would include training these youth to make them employable, offering them a soft landing
(place to stay) in the city etc. thus creating more opportunity for them. I wanted to explore the possibility of gaining
the support of MSDF in this endeavor. Please do let me know if this would be interesting to you, and whom I can
contact to pursue this conversation. .Skill development for the future By 2020, India will be the youngest country in
the world with an estimated 64 percent of the population in the employable age range. While the economic potential of
this is great, unless many changes are made from education to mindsets many youth will remain unemployable.
Just ten percent of Indias youth enter higher education and many families endure much hardship to get them there.
Not every student can become a doctor or lawyer and a growing number from this group continue to be partly
employed or unemployed.

While Indian industry points to a need for around 500 million skilled
workers by 2022, the question remains as to where these skilled workers come from. We also need to continue to ask
ourselves how to change mindsets and add respectability to skills-oriented professions. The speed of change in the last
three decades- from rural to urban, from agriculture to manufacturing is witness to that.
Fortunately, movement has taken place on many fronts in the vocational training eco-environment. Recognizing the
need for a much larger supply of skills than is presently available in the country, the National Skill Policy for
Development was set up in 2009. Under it, the government has formed the National Skill Development Corporation
(NSDC), a public private partnership between the Government and industries. NSDC has begun the challenging task of
creating high-quality, for-profit vocational education institutes with more than 100 training organisations and other,
smaller ones that operate independently. Their collective goal is to meet 30 percent of the training needs of the 500
million required by 2022.
However, many more hands must come together to make the movement successful. As an organisation dedicated to
supporting poverty alleviation through educational skills and financial services for more than a decade now, we at the
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation recommend a holistic, multidimensional approach. As a stakeholder and leader in
the vocational training space, one of our own strategies has been to play an active role in funding early stage pilots and
companies. Over the past six years, we have invested more than Rupees 60 crores in fourteen organisations. Through
this, we have co-created intellectual property (IP) for market-based vocational training providers like Labournet and
catalyzed vocational training opportunities for a growing number of young people. We also believe that it will take
some time for market-based models to penetrate the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) so philanthropic or CSR-supported

models will continue to be required for poor students. The foundation has also helped training organisations which
were completely dependent on donor money achieve scale and sustainability. One example, Dr Reddys Foundation,
has grown three-fold in the last six years.
While our aim is to impact the lives of some 500,000 youth directly and one million youth indirectly by 2018, there is
still a great need for more collaboration between a greater number of stakeholders. For example, most interventions to
date have focused on formal sector-led employment, yet 90 percent of Indias economy is served by the informal
sector. Any model of solutions for skills training must also be inclusive of this very large micro-entrepreneurial sector.
I have a three-pronged approach to ensure such efforts lead to a positive shift in the sector:
Create access for youth to a quality supply of training programmes
Create access to funding for training and/or entrepreneurial opportunities
Create access to market opportunities for jobs, services and products
In my next post, Ill look at the first of this three-pronged approach, namely the need for a quality supply of training
programmes and how we might collectively create it.
Mission Capital: A new approach to community challenges This blog is part of a series that highlights the work of
our partners. Austin residents know this to be true: From gridlock traffic to taller buildings, Central Texas is growing
rapidly with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Central Texas one of the fastest growing regions in the county has
seen increased community need as Austin has grown and transformed into a mecca of technology and innovation.
Residents have responded by taking action. Recent statistics show that Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
now has more nonprofits per capita, totaling nearly 6,000, than any other major MSA in the Southwest U.S. If Austin
residents are working so hard to meet the needs of their community, why is there still so much work to be done?
For the last 14 years, Mission Capital (formerly Greenlights for Nonprofit Success) has been equipping Central Texas
nonprofits with the knowledge and tools they need to be more effective. Through trusted relationships and in-depth
consulting across many types of local nonprofits, Mission Capital works to improve the social sector by guiding
existing nonprofits to achieve their greatest potential.
A new vision The large surge in the number of Austin-area nonprofits led Mission Capital to develop a new approach
to their work. In February, they announced a focus shift they believe will go beyond consulting to give the organization
more of a change-agent role in the field. These key actions will give Mission Capital a more holistic, hands-on
approach to their work:
They will study the nonprofit sector as a whole to find what is and is not working and grow the sector based on that
research. They know that certain elements make a nonprofit successful clarity of purpose, exceptional leadership,
intentional partnerships and sustainable business models and they will develop organizations based on this
knowledge. They will encourage strategic collaboration and collective action. No single person, organization or idea
can make a sustainable impact alone. They recently restructured their summit now called Mission Driven to focus
more on unlocking innovation to scale an organization. They believe innovative organizations leave no resource
untapped. They will develop the critical elements required to bring about lasting, positive change. This includes giving
social entrepreneurs and nonprofit innovators equal access to human and financial capital, developing more creative
and effective ways to invest in the community and making Austin known as a leader in social innovation.
Innovative thinking Not only does Mission Capital have a unique, overarching view of Austin philanthropy, but they
are also establishing programs such as the Accelerator Program to help nonprofits achieve their end goals. When
Mission Capital merged with the organization Innovation+ in January 2014, they had new capacity to place skilled
volunteers in under-staffed organizations, freeing up space for nonprofits to scale and try new things. The support and
programs Mission Capital put in place were the first of its kind in the Austin area, opening up new, innovative
possibilities for local nonprofits. An example of this: Beginning in the summer of 2014, the foundation enlisted
Mission Capital expertise and management support on a project with the Travis County Collaborative for Children
(TCCC) and the TCU Institute for Child Development (ICD) to benefit the Central Texas child welfare system with the
opportunity to scale to the state of Texas and beyond. In this partnership, Mission Capital will support the ICD with a
goal to deepen partner and stakeholder engagement, promote sustainability and ensure ongoing impact. The ultimate
goals of this collaborative are:
Reduced number of placements and time in care for children
Improvements in childrens behavior and the parenting skills of caregivers
Organizational changes at the respective agencies
Overall system changes overall
Without the support and partnership of Mission Capital, organizations such as TCCC and TCU could never have
achieved such ambitious goals.

Making an impact Since 2012, Mission Capital has logged over 5,200 consulting hours to better improve local
organizations. They have increased their budget by 191% and have nearly doubled the size of their staff since 2010 to
increase capacity for greater impact. They are a key player in transforming Austin into a social innovation hub.
Mission Capital has proven that the sum is greater than its parts: The combined efforts of Austin-area nonprofits are
more impactful than the efforts of each organization alone. Through their innovative and tireless work, they are a
trusted thought partner who has demonstrated they can and will evolve with the growth of the community theyre
serving.
Education Cities: Redefining whats possible in education This blog is part of a series that highlights the work of
our partners. Students in low-performing schools are in desperate need of high-quality talent. How do we solve the
problem of finding and retaining great leaders for these schools?
Poaching can be a loaded word in the education sector. Many cities shy away from finding talent in other places
because they believe its smarter to improve schools using only talent in their own backyards. But what if the lack of
poaching in education is actually keeping schools from reaching their full potential?
This is the issue Education Cities tackles in a recent report How Cities Can Compete For Great School Leaders.
Simply put, the report states that high-performing schools are founded on innovative leaders. These leaders must be
sought out from near or far and then inspired to grow their impact in areas with few high-quality school options.
Education Cities Education Cities is a nonprofit organization committed to a vision of a future where all children can
access great public schools. Its currently comprised of 31 member organizations in 24 cities. Member organizations
serve as harbormasters and work in their own cities to increase high quality seats in schools. Like maritime
harbormasters, who facilitate safe and cooperative navigation in a challenging space, education harbormasters build
and coordinate the efforts to improve education in their city. As a result of these partnerships, Education Cities has an
overarching view of the challenges, problems and wins that are occurring in todays schools. With this wide lens, they
have a deep understanding of best practices based on their findings across many cities.
This broad view of education practices distinguishes them from others, along with:
Consulting: While Education Cities finds similar levers across many school districts, they do not believe in a one-sizefits-all approach. Working as consultants, the team gets to know the individuals and the context in each city before
assessing next steps to improvement.
Collaboration: Education Cities is a hub for harbormaster leader networking. The members of the organizations can
collaborate and participate in working groups, each tackling a major issue facing member organizations.
Thought leadership: Education Cities serves as a thought leader in the field. They look beyond data at their
relationships with member organizations to find new information about what is or is not working for cities.

Progress in the field In 2014-2015, member organizations collectively invested more than $100 million to ensure
students have access to great schools. Most of these resources were used to invest in quality schools by creating and
replicating great schools and helping low-performing schools to improve. Members also invested to recruit, train and
support great teachers and administrators, support community engagement efforts, and create the policy conditions so
schools can thrive.
The result: More than 50,000 children across the country were positively impacted, whether it means they attended
a new quality school, experienced personalized learning models or had access to teachers who were trained in
improved preparation programs.
This is innovative and difficult work, to say the least. But its also work that is moving the needle for students and
bringing us closer to achieving educational equity for students of all income levels.
And, lets face it, every student from every zip code deserves it.
Marathon Kids: Scaling nationally so more kids can go the distance Improving the health and physical activity of
our youngest generation: This is the issue Marathon Kids, an Austin-grown nonprofit, has been tackling for the last 20
years. By promoting daily physical activity, along with healthy eating, the organization works to boost confidence and
health by putting younger generations on the path to a lifetime of wellness.
But how do you reach more kids, affect more lives and help more families across the country improve their health?
Marathon Kids seems to have found the perfect formula: Partner an evidence based program (Marathon Kids) with the
marketing power of a multinational corporation (Nike). The effect of this partnership, which was announced last
week, is that the program, which previously served Austin, Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, Baltimore
and Los Angeles, plus seven small Texas towns, will now expand to 15 additional cities including Chicago, New York
City and Miami in the coming year. That means they will begin to reach over half a million kids across the country in
the next two years.

Every kid can run: The model for success The new program model supports the idea that children need 60 minutes
of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, an amount that most kids have not been getting in recent years. In
partnership with Nike, students of all physical activity levels are encouraged to walk or run at their own pace and
quickly learn that they can go farther than they ever thought possible. In the last year, more than a quarter of a million
kids aged four to 12 completed the program, running 26.2 miles incrementally over the course of several months. With
the new model, students set a goal to run four marathons (104.8 miles) over the course of the running season or school
year to maximize their daily physical activity.
And heres why it matters. Being active is associated with kids who: Work and play better. Score up to 40% higher on
tests. Are 15% more likely to go to college. Have increased concentration, better school attendance and behavior,
healthier eating habits and a stronger sense of self than inactive kids.
Running full speed ahead The growth of Marathon Kids shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. The
partnership with Nike is a move that will allow them to continue to improve and scale their program nationally. It is a
mutually beneficial partnership as Marathon Kids will introduce Nike to the programming aspect of physical activity,
while Nikes immense capacity for marketing, outreach and high-quality products will help Marathon Kids reach more
families. Both Marathon Kids and Nike share the mission to end the current physical inactivity epidemic. And just as
physical inactivity can lead to serious consequences, an active lifestyle early in life has profound effects on overall
health and longevity. So the real winners of this partnership are the kids, nationwide, who will have access to improved
physical activity and better long-term health. More and more kids will have the support to get out there and just do it.
LEAD Public Schools: Chartering restart work in Music City This blog is part of a series that highlights the work
of our partners. Were not doing anything magical, were just doing the hard work. Chris Reynolds, CEO,
LEAD Public Schools The mission of LEAD Public Schools is to support, educate and train the next generation of
responsible citizens. Helping them realize their potential takes good, hard work on the part of the school, the teachers
and the students. And it must be done with fidelity.

LEAD Public Schools is Nashvilles first-ever non-profit charter

management organization and was founded in 2007. It is also the first charter management organization in the state of
Tennessee to operate a turnaround school in partnership with a local school district in this case, Metropolitan
Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and has grown to nearly 2,000 students across Nashville. LEADs original focus
was successfully starting new schools in the area; they then shifted and took on the call of restarting the lowest
performing schools in the city. They are committed to serving some of Nashvilles most deserving neighborhoods.
Their restart work, based in partnership with the Achievement School District (ASD) and MNPS, is a commitment to
schools that have scored in the bottom five percent of performance on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment
Program, or TCAP, the state standardized test students take each year.
Partnership matters LEADs partnerships with students, parents, families and the community is the backbone of
everything they do. Their students dont just take the bus, attend class and go home at the end of the day. LEAD is
committed to creating environments where relationships and learning go hand in hand and a school is a community
space. The organization works directly with communities to present viable skillsets, lessons and experiences that will
best prepare them for college opportunities down the road.
And theyve seen success: LEAD Academy has graduated 100 percent of its first two senior classes in 2014 and 2015
and all of our graduates were accepted into college many of whom were the first generation of their families to attain
such a feat. Senior-signing day and the graduation ceremony are true LEAD hallmarks, of which they are incredibly
proud. LEAD recently announced that three of our schools, LEAD Academy Middle, LEAD Academy High, and
LEAD Southeast, were named Reward Schools for growth (top 5% of all schools) by the Tennessee Department of
Education earlier this month. A fourth Reward School, Cameron College Prep, earned that designation in 2013-2014.
That type of effort by students and fidelity to the mission are but two reasons they see such success.
LEAD Academy Middle School had a terrific year, showing major improvement in TCAP scores and was one of the
top performing schools in Nashville in terms of growth as one of our four schools earning a Level 5 ranking.
LEAD Prep Southeast continues to impress as a Level 5 TVAAS school and proficiency levels exceed the state in math
and science, with math scores being among the highest in the entire district. The small group instruction occurring at
this school is exceptional and they over enrolled yet again.
The transformation at Cameron College Prep, the states first-ever turnaround school, continues to be a tremendous
success with strong growth, Level 5 TVAAS scores yet again, and TCAP proficiency rates much higher than they were
when we began the transformation process.
Whats next? Neither the results, nor the work, are easy. But the commitment is. When LEAD looks to its mission,
they look to the very foundation on which the network was founded: they will do whatever they can to ensure that
every student in their network is prepared and ready for both college, and life.
The promise of restarting schools This is part of a blog series about one way we can help our nations lowest
performing schools. In this series, we will introduce the concept of restart and will highlight: Whos doing it, how it
works and, ultimately, does it work. You can find the entire series here.
I recently traveled to Memphis, TN to learn about efforts to improve schools in a city where more schools are in the
bottom five percent than any other city in the state of Tennessee. While there, I met a group of parents who banded
together for one purpose to make sure that other parents are aware of how their childrens schools are performing.
Parents and communities are appropriately demanding this information, wanting to know what can be done to change
the trajectory of their childrens lives by ensuring they attend good schools. And, lets be clear: They are entitled to
good schools. Its not a privilege for wealthy families or a lottery of geography but rather a right that every child
should have the option to attend a quality school. When equipped with this information, parents often want to know
what can be done NOW. Besides the usual playbook of putting more money into failing schools, opening new
schools, and closing failing schools, what else is there?
Restart as a viable option

While there is no one right answer for all communities, we are seeing
positive results through an alternative pathway: Restarting the lowest performing schools. My colleague, Joe Siedlecki,
wrote a post recently outlining why we need to include restart as a tool for cities to better serve our children. Of note:
Despite the acknowledgement that restart is more difficult than starting a school from scratch, more and more high
performing school operators are taking up the call to serve students in these restart schools.
Operators such as Scholar Academies and LEAD Public Schools have decided to only grow by adding restart schools.
Operators like UP Education Network were created to solely serve restart schools with impressive results.
The number of effective restart operators is growing. While still limited in scope, many would be surprised by the
number of restart schools across the country. As of 2013, approximately 115 schools were identified as having
undergone a full restart managed by a restart operator through the use of School Improvement Grants (SIG). A slight
majority (60 percent) of the 115 schools are directly accountable to charter organizations as opposed to district schools
managed by contract (40 percent). These organizations have established themselves as a viable option for restarts.
To learn more about the efficacy of these efforts, we commissioned a national analysis of the test score data (with a
focus on proficiency, as locally defined) of restart operators across the country as of 2013. Recently, the National
Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report profiling the turnaround efforts of three of the operators Green
Dot Public Schools, LEAD Public Schools, andMastery Charter Schools.

Source:

Parthenon

Analysis
While the field is still evolving, here are a few things we have learned so far:

High school restart is difficult. Among the restart operators included in this
analysis, there are significantly more K-8 schools operators than those with a high school focus. Within the sector, high
school restarts are viewed as more difficult due to the accumulated achievement gap of incoming ninth graders and the
inability to control the feeder patterns of incoming students. Thus, only one quarter of restarts have occurred in high
schools and the few that have accepted the challenge of doing so have emphasized how difficult high school restarts
are.
The debate between phase-in and full-turnaround is still active. As of 2013, the majority of restarts were full
turnaround, however, we are learning that more operators are utilizing phase in approach to manage the restart of the
school. The longitudinal data are limited, and the results are too varied to reach a conclusion as to which approach
leads to better performance over time at this moment.
The Takeaway While we are still learning about this field, one thing is clear: The number of restart operators who
specialize in this work is growing as more and more communities are demanding an alternative way to improve results
for our children. We continue to grapple with critical questions that will be addressed in this blog series: Does restart
work? Shouldnt we double down on opening more high quality new start schools? What do restart operators need to
be successful? But one thing is certain: Even if the solution is complicated and difficult, these children, these families,
these communities deserve more. And they deserve more NOW.

How can we accelerate social change? A cross-sector approach is key Real social
change is hard, long, exhausting work. As Daniel Ben-Horin says This making a difference stuff can be a real
grind.Nell Edgingtons July 8 post in Unsectored, Why Social Entrepreneurship Shouldnt Abandon the Nonprofit
Sector, calls for social entrepreneurs to partner with nonprofits in the hard work of driving social change. The post
struck a chord with us. Were committed to and knowledgeable about the discipline required to execute lasting change,
we believe in the power of social entrepreneurship to accelerate that work, and we believe that adding new tools such
as mission and impact investing to the philanthropys traditional financial toolset is critical to working smarter and
bigger. Particularly in the last few years, weve recognized the benefits of using a wide range of financial tools to
address challenges of children and families living in urban poverty. In some cases, that means partnering with social
entrepreneurs to help them enter new sectors (e.g., urban microfinance.) In other cases, it means working with high
performing nonprofits to develop entrepreneurial, for profit businesses that address the needs of the poor with
affordable, high quality services (e.g., vocational training.)
And in still others, it means helping our nonprofit grantees increase their ability to measure results and refine ways of
working to drive greater impact.
A cross-sector approach to social progress Edgington issues a call to action to remake [the non-profit sector], reenvision, restructure and reinvent it What does that mean? she asks. Her answer:
It means that the best and the brightest in the social innovation field need to figure out how to innovate in the nonprofit as well as for-profit sector. It means that the emerging social capital market should also support social
entrepreneurs in the non-profit space. It means philanthropists should share investor prospects with impact investors,
and vice-versa. Whats more, innovation requires that investors interested in a social return own portfolios that include
not only social businesses, but also non-profit deals. Many more foundations should explore mission-related investing
so that their money can go to both non-profit and for-profit social change efforts. Nonprofits interested in growth
should have access to capital and management expertise to scale. And a non-profit thats solving social problems
should get just as many resources, respect and mind-share as a social business thats doing the same.
In essence, we need an unsectored approach to social change.
Bringing governments along Wed also add one more wrinkle to this call for unsectoring: the inclusion of
government. Philanthropies have a role in linking social entrepreneurs, technical advisors, management experts and
others to governmental agencies tasked with tackling complex social problems. Such linkages can help ensure that
agencies benefit from effective program design and best-in-class implementations developed in other sectors. This type
of coordinated effort can help unleash ambitious but deeply complex programs such as school-based
health and citywide excellence programs in urban centers such as Mumbai. Look for more posts on this subject on the
blog in the coming weeks. Thanks so much for your very thoughtful reply to my post. You raise an excellent point.
Government absolutely must be included in this unsectored approach. I am delighted to hear that MSDF embraces
these ideas of breaking down the barriers between sectors and taking a holistic approach to social change. It is
heartening to see a leading foundation making such progressive and innovative strides.
Thanks for featuring our post! Appreciate you adding the government to this conversation. To truly be unsectored,
we need to consider the strengths (and weaknesses) of all sectors. Each sector and each organization has something to
contribute to these complicated problems. The sooner we can bring in everyone, as you say, the sooner we can come
up with sustainable solutions.
Ashley CraddockJuly 9, 2013 at 3:08 pm We loved the original piece. We see huge potential in bringing cross-sector
strengths to bear where sector-specific weaknesses have created barriers. Weve applied systems-mapping as a tool to
help us evaluate how organizations from different sectors can be coordinated to effect greater change. You might
appreciate this article from SSIR:http://ow.ly/mO5BT
jraderstrongJuly 9, 2013 at 3:42 pm
I loved that piece! I follow your work with interest. Itd be great to feature some of your stuff on UnSectored
sometime. Feel free to contact me at jeff at unsectored dot net and we can think through ways to work together!
Impact investing: Are conventional impact measures too limiting? (Part 1 of 2) Debates about the merits

of impact investing typically focus on two key variables financial

returns and social returns (the so-called double bottom line) and whether they are co-related or at cross purposes.

From where I sit, the rush to view potential returns through the lens of just these two variables is limiting and in
terms of the goals impact investment seeks to achieve, it actually diminishes potential social returns.
How? By restricting impact investors ability to unleash market-based solutions that reach families at every strata of
the income scale.
The need for broader latitude in defining the correct balance of risk and reward Id argue that if the goal of
impact investing as a whole is to put the market to work to drive social progress, we do ourselves and the world a
disservice by falling prey to taking an overly rigid position on what risk and reward should look like. The reality is
that, as we seek to establish new products, services, and especially markets that serve the poor, we need plenty of
latitude to adjust our view of what the correct balance is.
Why, then, do so many of us in the impact investment community insist on this over-simplification?
Is impact investing an asset class? Or an investment approach? Let me start with a quick nod to the two dominant
schools of thought about impact investments. The first is that they comprise a distinct asset class. In the view, all
impact investment share similar risk/ return profiles. This model lends itself to a more simplified risk/ reward equation.
The second school of thought is that, as suggested in the World Economic Forums report, From the Margins to the
Mainstream, impact investing is an approach not a distinct class in and of itself. In this latter view, impact
investments span different asset classes, from philanthropic, high-risk, market-making capital on the extreme left to
fully market-based commercial capital on the extreme right. The bi-variable view is far less relevant here.
The foundation, of course, ascribes to the latter view point, and sits on the left-end of the impact investing spectrum.
Investing thats rooted in programmatic goals: The foundations view
Were interested in social impact above all else, and we take an investing approach that is rooted in, and driven by, our
programmatic goals. This orientation, as well as our social mandate and access to flexible capital, allow us to invest in
higher-risk plays than most other investors. Were careful to invest responsibly, but we can take concessions in returns
to enhance scale or depth of our impact. Besides mapping investment opportunities against programmatic goals (for
instance, ensuring an investment helps to expand access to high-quality after-school learning for poor children in
Indian cities), we also evaluate potential investments to make sure they meet a second criteria: additionality. In other
words, we look at the broader landscape to determine whether our dollars fill a specific market gap that more
traditional investors, with their purer focus on profits, are unlikely to prioritize. We then evaluate each potential
investment with an eye toward a nuanced view of risk and reward that goes well beyond conventional impact first or
finance first considerations. We know for instance, that dependent on the context in which we invest whether were
providing seed stage funding, funding to extend access to a far greater number of people, or funding to help lowerprice points the relative balance of financial and social returns will (and should) shift. The bottom line is that, if
impact investors want to shape market forces so that they address at least some of the huge gaps faced by the poor, we
need to remain agile. We have to move beyond the current either/or debate, and embrace a certain amount of necessary
complexity. In my next post, Ill look at the foundations current approach to doing exactly that. This post is part of an
occasional series on mission-related impact investing, and on its role as a tool for extending and accelerating social
progress that directly benefits children and families living in urban poverty.
Impact investing: Six flexible success metrics promote greater impact (Part 2 of 2) In my last post, I argued that a
view of impact investing as an asset class with a rigid risk/reward calculus radically limits investors ability to put the
market to work to address the challenges of poverty. Like others, I believe that we can unleash the true power of the
market to drive social progress and equity only by embracing a broader view of impact investing that is more tolerant
of a wider range of possible risks and rewards.
How does this work in practice? The foundations approach to impact investing: Managing a shifting balance of
returns

I can offer up the foundations approach as one example. We evaluate potential impact
investments first and foremost through the lens of the foundations programmatic goals. But in order to accomplish
those goals, we evaluate them with an eye toward what we see as necessary complexity. We know for instance, that
risk and reward are dependent on context. Depending on our goals, the relative balance of financial and social returns
that were looking for will (and should) shift.

Of course, necessary complexity is one thing; chaos is another. To manage the complexity, we look at all our
investments against a web of six interrelated variables. These variables address a number of distinct types of impact:
Width/ Scale of client outreach: This is a numbers play. If a given program has the potential to provide far more
clients with quality education, skills training, or access to microcredit, in a more cost effective and/or customer
responsive manner, concessions may be in order.
Depth of client outreach: This variable is about the nature and extent of impact that a given product or service has
for instance, students in one after-school program may see 20 percent improvement in learning levels versus five
percent in a control group, or youth who complete jobs-training programs may obtain better jobs. Alternately, deeper
outreach may mean more equitable access to needed products or services among people at more extreme levels of
poverty.
Sustainability. To be transformative, solutions have to be lasting. We assess the sustainability of our investments
under different growth and market scenarios, as well as at a unit level and an organizational level. We also examine
time frames and the riskiness (e.g., untested assumptions) for achieving such sustainability.
Market-shifts or market-making. The opportunity to radically shift market dynamics is rare but can have huge
positive ramifications. In 2006, at a time when the industry in India was primarily rural, we saw an opportunity to
catalyze an urban microfinance sector. Other opportunities to spur equally transformative market-shifts exist, but
require the availability of philanthropic or other risk-tolerant investment capital to get off the ground. Opportunities
with such potential might have lower returns in terms of metrics like width of client outreach or sustainability (at
least during the tenure of our investment), but their potential to open wholly new sectors is a valid and important
consideration.
Leverage. We recognize the constraints of the size of the foundation versus the scale of problems we are trying to
address thus, our role as catalytic investors. Our goal in almost allearly-stage investments is to prove out a model or
sectors viability, establish client-centric norms and governance, and stabilize the sector to the point where it attracts
investors with the greater capital needed to achieve true scale.
Asset protection. Each time we choose to structure funding as an investment rather than a more traditional grant, we
carefully assess the risk-return profile. Were willing to make relatively high-risk investments in hopes of catalyzing
breakthrough solutions, but we still have an obligation to protect our assets and ensure that they achieve the goals
weve set out. At the same time we plan an exit strategy that will allow us, when the time is right, to reinvest any
financial returns into new programs.
Point-in-time analysis This six-point framework allows us to evaluate each investment against relevant programmatic
goals, whether in education, childhood health, or family economic stability. More importantly, it allows us to articulate
expected returns, whether financial or social, based on point in time analysis. For instance, if the goal is to enhance
scale or depth of social impact, we can take concessions in financial returns while we work toward that goal.
Meanwhile, point-in-time mapping allows us to roughly predict a shifting balance of returns. We know that early in an
investment cycle, financial returns may be low or even negative; however, as businesses and sectors mature, the
balance will shift ultimately attracting more commercial investment, achieving sustainability and allowing us to exit.
Why share this framework? Because I believe that the market can and does have the potential to increase access to
many of the products and services that can help even the very poor begin to break the cycle of poverty and achieve
better lives. However, by boxing ourselves into a simplistic view of impact investings range of potential returns, we
run the risk of rejecting high-impact opportunities. If our goal is to catalyze market shifts that impact the lives of
millions, we need to remain creative and flexible, while still working against a clear set of metrics. Our six-sided web
offers an illustration of how we approach the challenge. Wed love to hear other perspectives as well.
This post is part of an occasional series on mission-related impact investing, and on its role as a tool for extending
and accelerating social progress that directly benefits children and families living in urban poverty.
Impact investment: The case for early-stage investments With impact investments expected to reach between $400
billion to $1 trillion over the next decade,1 those of us venturing into the field from an impact first perspective face a
series of questions. Among the most pressing: Should impact investors provide capital to back high-potential, earlystage solutions? Should we provide capital to back later stage, socially oriented companies? Should we focus on
providing capital for sectors that will always need subsidies?
Guardrails: What tool when? Why ask these questions? From the foundations perspective, theyre important
because, across programs and geographies, weve begun to expand the range of financial tools we use to accomplish
our mission. As we move forward, we need to establish clear guardrails that govern when, how and why we use a
particular tool to accomplish particular goals. From the perspective of the larger sector, such guardrails are important
in helping to ensure thatimpact investing doesnt casually drift away from the social side of its agenda.
In my last post I explained the foundations basic POV on impact investing. My next few posts will address the
questions listed above. Ill start with early-stage investments.
Should impact first investors provide capital to back high-potential, early-stage solutions?
Yes, definitely. In early stages of innovation, commercial capital tends to be scarce. Low-income populations have
little money, and their cash flow is irregular. As a result, theyre usually ignored by market-based services and

solutions. Helping to incubate innovations specifically designed to address these customers needs, gives us the
opportunity to demonstrate proof of concept (as well as the potential for profitability.) Just as importantly, taking an
early seat at the table allows impact-first investors to help establish sector norms that adequately balance social and
financial ROIbefore commercial capital rushes in to take advantage of the new opportunity. Lets look at how this
dynamic played out in one sector.
What we learned in urban microfinance A decade ago, microfinance in India was purely a rural play. This wasnt
due to scale of need. Just like their rural counterparts, urban families had a clear need for access to formal financial
tools. Commercial investors, however, were reluctant to back urban MFIs. So, in late 2006, the foundation began
working to open up an urban microfinance sector in India.
Our objective was explicit: We wanted to do more than help start a handful of institutions. We wanted to demonstrate
that a sustainable, market-based model could effectively delivermicrofinance to impoverished urban families. We
believed that by taking early risks and showcasing the viability of microfinance in a new environment, we could
catalyze other investors interest and kick start the sector. The end game? To open a new market that provided
impoverished urban families with the baseline economic stability they needed to keep their kids in school and help
them stay healthier.
Over the next three years, we invested in eight early-stage microfinance institutions (MFIs,) all focused on serving the
urban poor. We saw signs of success: By 2009-10, urban microfinance was a recognized asset class . It had begun to
attract high and sustained levels of interest, indicating that the market itself was ready to support growth of the sector.
Then, in October 2010, the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis hit. The industry as a whole received a shock. The
crisis led to a number of reforms, innumerable articles, and substantial industry turmoil. It also reinforced the
overarching responsibility that early-stage, impact-first investors have: Establishing responsible norms for protecting
customers who are both low income and highly vulnerable. (A subject more than worthy of its own series!)
Risks: Exploitation, lack of adoption, political interference, etc. How can vulnerable clients be protected? Its a
question that we work to address every day. In the case of microfinance, the foundation has supported important
global and India-based efforts on responsible finance. Just as important: Our early investments have allowed us to sit
on the boards of urban microfinance investees, where we can directly influence norms and compliance a mechanism
whose importance is hard to overstate at the earliest stages of establishing new markets. In terms of industry standards
for client protection, for instance, we ensure that our investees have the ability to conduct accurate credit checks to
guard against over-indebtedness, that theyve established adequate internal controls and procedures for client
interactions, that they support client efforts to develop client awareness, etc. Of course, the risks of kick starting
markets through early-stage investment extend into areas far beyond concerns about client vulnerability. A partial run
down: Identifying social entrepreneurs who have the right combination of inventiveness and pragmatism (not to
mention the ability to stay what will be a long and grueling course.)
Motivating adoption among target customers. Navigating the high number of variables and unknowns that keep the
risk levels high in any untested business model. Even supposing that impact investors select investments that surmount
those obstacles even supposing that they manage to identify early-stage companies capable of showcasing unit
economics and the promise of scalability risks still abound. Among them: political interference, escalating costs and
reduced margins, and competition from larger, established companies that see the potential of a new market segment.
So why take the plunge?
Rewards: Moving the needle in truly unprecedented ways Because the goal of impact investment is to move the
needle on social progressand to do it in ways that are both scalable and replicable. Early-stage investments have the
potential to foster truly breakthrough innovations that serve the poor: low-cost mobile banking applications, programs
that link water and sanitation solutions with microfinance, low-cost emergency medical loans, effective educational
data tools. The list of opportunities goes on. Philanthropies have a unique and powerful role on this front. Social
impact is in our DNA. Its the sole reason we exist. By taking a seat at the table early, we can, reduce inequalities in
access, and define the ways in which these new sectors mature to ensure that, as they grow, they adequately prioritize
and protect customer interests. If commercial capital was willing to take these risks and responsibilities,
philanthropies could avoid the messy world of market creation. But commercial capital rarely plays in this space, and
even more rarely focuses on the social side of the equation.
Heres how we see it: The tools are there. So are the opportunities. We owe it to our principals, and to the families and
children were seeking to help, to step up and take on higher risks, and to shape markets in ways that others will not.
In the next post, Ill look at impact investors roles in other scenarioswhen companies are more mature, and when
theyre neither high risk nor high reward.
This post is part of an occasional series on mission-related impact investing, and on its role as a tool for extending
and accelerating social progress that directly benefits children and families living in urban poverty.
1 Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset Class published by J.P. Morgan Global Research as the result of
collaboration between Social Finance at J.P. Morgan and The Rockefeller Foundation in partnership with Global
Impact Investment Network.

How can we accelerate social change? A cross-sector approach is key Real social change is hard, long,
exhausting work. As Daniel Ben-Horin says This making a difference stuff can be a real grind.
Nell Edgingtons July 8 post in Unsectored, Why Social Entrepreneurship Shouldnt Abandon the Nonprofit
Sector, calls for social entrepreneurs to partner with nonprofits in the hard work of driving social change. The post
struck a chord with us. Were committed to and knowledgeable about the discipline required to execute lasting change,
we believe in the power of social entrepreneurship to accelerate that work, and we believe that adding new tools such
as mission and impact investing to the philanthropys traditional financial toolset is critical to working smarter and
bigger. Particularly in the last few years, weve recognized the benefits of using a wide range of financial tools to
address challenges of children and families living in urban poverty. In some cases, that means partnering with social
entrepreneurs to help them enter new sectors (e.g., urban microfinance.) In other cases, it means working with high
performing nonprofits to develop entrepreneurial, for profit businesses that address the needs of the poor with
affordable, high quality services (e.g., vocational training.) And in still others, it means helping our nonprofit grantees
increase their ability to measure results and refine ways of working to drive greater impact.
To Boost Individual Donor Giving, Nonprofits Need a Plan A new report shows that creating a fundraising plan is
paramount for organizations looking to increase individual donor gifts. Theres a lot of advice out there about how
nonprofits can raise money from individual donors. But many nonprofits remain overwhelmed and confused about the
best options for their work. Last year, I studied 29 nonprofits with budgets under $2 million to identify opportunities
for small nonprofits to strengthen individual donor contributions specifically. My big question going into this years
projectwhich included research from 87 organizationswas, what exactly makes an individual donor fundraising
program successful?
I hypothesized that board involvement or the relative experience of the person primarily responsible for individual
donor fundraising were the greatest influencers of success. But it turned out that the clearest predictor of success was
something else: having a formal fundraising plan. Now, a fundraising plan can take many forms. For some
organizations, its an annual calendar of activities such as events and mailings; for others, it is a set of goals and
strategies for revenue streams, such as individual donations, private foundations, and fee-for-service work. But in all
cases, the nonprofits I studied that were most successful took the time to create a written plan; they didnt simply react
to fundraising opportunities as they arose.
The fact is that if you have a plan, other investments you make in your fundraising programmore staff, higher-paid
staff, or more one-on-one meetings with current and potential donorsnaturally lead to bigger impact. For example, at
organizations I surveyed that had a formal fundraising plan:
Investments in staff paid off in more individual donor dollars. Every $1 increase in salary for an organizations
individual donor fundraiser led to an average increase in individual donor income of $4.25. Put another way, for every
$10,000 investment an organization made in the salary of their fundraiser, they saw $42,500 increase in individual
donations. For those organizations without a plan, there was no correlation between salary and fundraising results.
Devoting more staff time to individual donors led to more donations. Each full-time person working on individual
donor fundraising raised an average of $280,000. This holds true at any level; people working 25 percent of their time
on individual donor fundraising raised an average of $70,000. For organizations without a plan, there was no
correlation between staff time and fundraising results.
Face-to-face meetings with current and potential donors resulted in increased donations. Every donor meeting led to an
average individual donor revenue increase of $5,000. Thats not to say that every donor gave $5,000 (wouldnt that be
great?), but total revenue went up by $5,000. If an organization did not have a plan, there was no correlation between
donor meetings and revenue.
Ongoing Trends This years research also showed that some aspects of individual donor fundraising have stayed the
same for the past two years. For example: The average smaller nonprofit raises 36 percent of its annual overall income
from individual donors. Individual donors give about $435 a year on average, whether big or small, online or offline,
recurring or one-time. Smaller nonprofits are raising 17 percent of their annual individual donor income online. We
expect to see that number creep up, but its been steady for the past two years.
Organizations raise about half of their annual individual donor income from donors giving $1,000 or more.
On average, about four of every 10 board members take an active role in individual donor fundraisingby making
introductions to potential donors, attending donor meetings, and taking on other activities.
This years project also identified a number of other useful data points for smaller nonprofits including:
The average online donation from an individual is $210 per year. This is about half of the overall average gift ($435),
so organizations transitioning to more online campaigns will need to recruit even more donors to raise the same
amount of money. On average, organizations that have a recurring donor programwhere donors can set up an
automatic monthly or quarterly gift paymentraise about $23,000 from 50 donors each year. The average recurring
donor gives $520 over the course of the year, which makes this type of donor solicitation more lucrative for
organizations than other methods. Finding the perfect donor-tracking database continues to be a challenge for smaller
nonprofits. The highest-rated database options are Little Green Light, DonorPerfect, Salesforce, and NationBuilder.
(Note: Little Green Light helped sponsor this research.)

The average organization meets with 17 donors face-to-face throughout the yearonly about nine percent of their
donor base. That low number means that theres a great opportunity for organizations to meet with donors and
potential donors in person to make the case for support and generate significant new income.
What Next? Keeping this data in mind while your organization determines where it might focus fundraising energy
may help improve outcomes. If you have a small recurring donor program that could blossom with a little more
attention, for example, it might be worth spending resources there. But most importantly, if you dont have a
fundraising plan, the first step is to create one. Even a simple outline detailing your individual donor strategies and
goals over the next few months could help you achieve better results.
Heather Yandow is a nonprofit consultant, trainer, and coach at Third Space Studio in North Carolina. She received
her Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University and is a co-founder of the Beehive Collective, a giving
circle based in Raleigh. Yandow has been tracking data through the Individual Donor Benchmark project for four
years, and loves to talk about data and fundraising.
BY TJ Tate ON December 1, 2015 12:59 PM I would also like to note that there is a shift happening in the traditional
giving model. now there are free ways to make giving a part of your donors everyday life. like KarmaKart.com. This
income doesnt even come from the donors but from big retailers in the form of commissions and a good way for
donors to give back without really giving anything but a conscious effort to switch methods of shopping.
There are some interesting findings here. Id love to know whether the author has any insights about the extent to
which some of these trends apply to larger nonprofits (say $10M or less)or dont.
- See more In Development Work, Plan for Sailboats, Not Trains Much of the international development
community remains stuck in its old ways, focused on short time horizons, rigid planning, and unproductive evaluation.
The proposal asked us to improve access to justice in Somalia, in nine months. With quantifiable results, exclaimed
one horrified aid implementer. I was giving briefings around the world on improving program design and measurement
for economic development programs. Government aid officials nodded and described new initiatives in problemdriven enquiry, political-economy analysis, adaptive management, and iterative programming. But implementers, like
the woman above, sighed: little of this thinking was changing how programs are actually delivered.
Thus, a chasm is opening between the new conventional wisdom and the old ways of programming.
Government donor organizations, like US Agency for International Development (USAID), blame elected politicians
for short time horizons and poor evaluation requirements. Donors know that programming is political, and therefore
requires flexibilitybut feel they must justify spending to legislatures with catchy numbers and zero risk of
corruption. Therefore, they force implementers to stick to detailed activity-based budgets and forecast spending years
in advance. They know that opponents regroup and push back, making sustainable reform non-linear and generational.
But to meet politicians political cycles, they require proposals to state clearly defined measurable results within a few
years. Donors know that development moves in paths that mimic sailboats, but they are forced to program for trains.
Ironically, this is exactly the quandary developing countries face, suggests the crowd of researchers pushing for more
political thinking. Politicians are not the sole culprits. Donors overly-monolithic thinking about what programs are
best has been at fault, too. Donors are now beginning to understand that questions of how to get something done are
fundamentally different from what should be done. Yet in their search for rigor, they are still enamored of randomized
control trials and other forms of evaluation that are poorly suited to path-dependent, timing-sensitive questions of how
to make change in complex systems.
What Is to be Done? How does the development community move forward? How do we match what we now know,
to what we actually do? How can the development community create and evaluate programs in one- to five-year
funding cycles that can contribute to political, local, non-linear reform that may take fifty years to show results?
First, the development community can move from delivering programs, to catalyzing change. To deal with the
vastly different time scale of funding versus reform, they can change the frame from what programs donors can
deliver, to what locals can do with donor support.
We know that change happens through local leadership, broad coalitions, and networks. The strength and health of
these networks, and the position of graduates from leadership programs, are measurable. Thus, instead of
quantifying worthless output measures, or wringing hands because impact cant be measured in short time frames,
donors can measure the strength, relative position, and resilience of coalitions and agents of change they are helping.
For instance, USAID ran an anti-corruption program in Georgia in the early 1990s. It failed. But the person who ran
the program continued to dedicate his life to good governance, founded an influential nonprofit, brought many of the
anti-corruption ideas into government after the Rose Revolution, and is now Speaker of the Parliament. What if the
program had measured the human capital it had catalyzed, rather than the program it had unrealistically tried to deliver
during an inhospitable political period?
Second, the development community can focus on changing incentive systems and other rules of the
game. Most development programs are like throwing a rock in a pondthey make a big splash, but little change.
Altering the rules that shape a system is like moving rocks along the waters edgemove enough of them and the
stream will follow a different course. Among the most crucial ways to alter the rules of the game is to empower
citizens. Growing numbers of governments around the world, from Algeria to Cambodia, are erecting legal and

logistical barriers to their citizens free speech and organization, because civil society groups can be so effective at
holding them to account. Tearfund, a Christian charity, has found a measureable, network-driven method to address
this problem in difficult situations. It has catalyzed approximately 15,000 self-help groups in Ethiopia to bring together
women to save money. But unlike most groups, they also help women problem-solve together. A pyramidal structure
enables local leaders to meet at regional and national levels to brainstorm shared national problems. Under an
authoritarian regime, such groups can constitute nascent elements of grassroots democracy, when a window for
reform opens.
Third, donors in the development community, knowing that reform requires multiple battles, can budget to
build on success instead of moving to the next issue of the moment. For instance, a group of Romanian NGOs
implemented a well-executed program of accountability throughout the country, and managed to pull down a corrupt
government and prevent a new crop of corrupt parliamentarians from taking office. But funding ended when the
country entered the European Union. The corrupt officials regrouped, fired the Minister of Justice, and resumed
business as usual. Creating a network is more difficult than maintaining one. Continued support could have enabled
the civil society groups to continue holding their government accountable.
Fourth, the development community can target measurement to different audiences. One goal of evaluation is to
reassure donors that their money is well spent. Another is to enable programs to learn and improve. These require
different metrics, which most development agencies get backward.
Development experts assume that politicians want numbers. But raw figures mean little to non-experts, and often lead
to useless output measurements. Instead, politicians need short, clear stories that succinctly describe theories of change
and reasons for success or failure. Stories carry meaning. They also allow a development agency to illustrate why
funds are better spent doubling down on success and fighting backlash, rather than tossing inadequate funds at
politically sexy problems that it may be ill-suited to address. Oxfam, for example, has put such rigorous and
thoughtful stories on everything from airport advertisements in the main terminals used by members of the US
Congress for their weekly trips home, to its websites, and brings the domestic reformers to Congress to tell their stories
directly. While anecdotal stories are an important tool, too often they serve as good-enough learning in development
agencies strapped for measurement and evaluation resources. Instead, more rigorous iterative measurement of
outcomes should be used more frequently. In talking with practitioners worldwide, Ive been struck by how many are
confused by outcome measurement. Most need more training on how to set goals that can be clearly attributed to
program activities, but can be unchanging and have intrinsic meaning towards the desired impact.
New thinking can make development agents more impactful. But altering action requires confronting the political
economy of our own bureaucracies. Are we brave enough to turn the lens inward?
Fostering Systems Change Five simple rules for foundations seeking to create lasting social change. Systems change
in the social sector seems like an idea whose time has come. Several major foundations, including the Ford
Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation have recently realigned their
strategic visions and priorities, choosing systemic change (defined, for the purpose of this article, as a fundamental
change in policies, processes, relationships, and power structures, as well as deeply held values and norms) as the
pathway to achieve their goals and make positive social gains sustainable at scale, whether its around increasing
equity, improving health, or reducing poverty. Foundations are increasingly using language around big bets, as a
new SSIR article highlights.
Were concerned, however, that there remains a gap in philanthropys understanding of what a systems-change
approach means for various aspects of a foundations work. To gain that understanding, we believe that foundations
should pay close attention to five simple rules. (We have purposefully borrowed the term simple rules from the field
of complexity science. Whereas bureaucratic rules tend to have lots of dos and donts, these rules are less explicit
recipes, and more guidelines to adapt based on context and need.)
1. Build on existing trends and momentum in the system. To create change in the system, foundations first need to
be acutely aware of current trends. They need to know where momentum and energy lie, and they need to know what
the arc of long-term change has looked like. These include not only trends and momentum closely related to the topic
at hand, but also those related to adjacent social issues and the broader society. When foundations do not explicitly
surface and respond to these dynamics, they miss opportunities to accelerate progress by amplifying supporting trends
and dampening ones that could impede their efforts.
Adopting this rule means putting sensing mechanisms in place to generate this sort of information on a regular basis.
These mechanisms might include inviting external stakeholders (including beneficiaries) in to share their views, and
employing trend-mapping and landscape analysis tools.
2. Pay greater attention to connections and interdependence. Systems change needs contributions from a multitude
of actors who are connected to (or disconnected from) each other in a myriad of ways. The traditional go-it-alone
foundation approach, often driven by a boards need for attribution, conflicts with what is truly needed to move
systems. To be effective, foundations need to pay close attention to other organizations and agencies working in the
space. They need to know how their efforts are connected (or not), and they need to be able to spot potential synergies,
redundancies, and opportunities. They need to become matchmakers and collaborators, not just grantmakers.

Adopting this rule means intentionally looking for connections (or lack thereof) through tools such as system mapping
and social network analysis, widening the lens on who needs to be around the table, and facilitating connections
between actors who can move the system forward.
3. Employ rigor after the strategy has been developed. Over the past two decades, we have seen foundations
increasingly embrace the idea of strategic philanthropy, chiefly by creating detailed strategic plans. However
(as we and others have written about) working amidst complexity demands a different view of strategy, one that is less
about being perfect upon creation, and more about being good enough to set the course. The real rigor needs to
happen after the strategy has been developed, through intentional feedback loops that help surface information,
reexamine assumptions, and course correct strategy.
Adopting this rule means redefining the role of learning and evaluation from post-hoc to real-time, and creating an
intentional compass by developing and using a set of learning questions and feedback mechanisms (for example,
research, monitoring, evaluation, beneficiary feedback).
4. Be systematic about measuring systems change. While foundations currently spend energy and resources on
measuring activities and population-level outcomes, they seem to pay little attention to what has often been called the
black box in the middlethe set of system and behavior changes that precede population-level outcomes. These
could be shifts in funding flows, changes in policies, inter-disciplinary collaborations, and improvements in
professional practices. To effect lasting systemic change, its critical to understand the factors that are combining to
achieve the population outcomes at scale. Adopting this rule means more explicitly articulating desired systems change
outcomes and indicators, incorporating more qualitative data, shifting mindsets about what constitutes valuable
evidence, and being increasingly comfortable with contribution rather than attribution.
5. Be the change by building internal adaptive capacity. Lastly, no foundation can accomplish any of the above
without undergoing at least some sort of internal transformation. Systems change is not possible without shifts in
individual and collective habits of mind that have been entrenched in the way foundations operate, such as valuing
content expertise over traits such as systems thinking. Adaptive capacityin other words, the ability to seek new
information, see connections, and make ongoing changesneeds to be built at three levels: the individual, the team,
and the organization. Adopting this rule means helping foundation leaders and staff build self-awareness (of existing
strengths and limitations) and breadth of perspective, creating flexible and agile teams that learn, and changing
organizational structures, processes, and systems so that they support an adaptive way of working.
Many foundations are focused on changing the world, and increasingly they are seeking better tools, resources, and
know-how to do it. Some are already adopting the practices weve just mentioned. The Colorado Health Foundation,
for instance, recently went through an adaptive strategy process that included participatory mapping of existing and
planned advocacy-funding strategies across Colorado funders. The McKnight Foundation has adopted an adaptive
action protocol than involves systematically scanning the external context for key trends and patterns, and examining
the implications of those trends for how the foundation deploys its resources. The Consumer Health Foundation now
asks grantees to include information in their reports on what other organizations are working in the area and to what
extent they are working together.
The five simple rules weve laid out here are not rocket science. Nonetheless, they will help foundations be more
effective practitioners of systems change in a complex, inter-connected, and fast-changing world.
Srik Gopal (@srik) is a director at FSG, where he co-leads the firms strategic learning and evaluation practice. He
previously led evaluation and learning efforts at New Teacher Center and Ball Foundation.
John Kania (@johnvkania) is a managing director at FSG, where he oversees the firms consulting practice. He was
previously a consultant at Mercer Management Consulting and Corporate Decisions, Inc.
BY Rashmir Balasubramaniam ON November 22, 2015 11:58 AM Excellent article. Systems thinking is much needed
in the social and philanthropic sector. In addition, to the 5 things mentioned above, Id add the importance of being
willing to take a long term, yet adaptive, view.
BY Srik Gopal ON November 24, 2015 09:27 AM Rashmir - Thank you for the kind words. Taking a long-term, yet
adaptive view, certainly fits the qualities we talk about in the article. Thanks for making it explicit.
BY Ben Hecht ON November 24, 2015 01:39 PM This is a great piece, John & Srik. Two things you focus on, in
particular, rigor after the strategy and measuring impact, are the two, critical missing pieces most often missing.
Interestingly, in all of our collective impact work, adaptive change is the most in demand training that the people on
the ground value. Having funder competency in that area is really important. Well done
BY Srik Gopal ON November 24, 2015 Thank you, Ben. Appreciate your comments. The capacity for adaptive
change is certainly emerging as a key areas for funders, especially if they expect grantees to have that capacity!
ON November 25, 2015 12:54 AM Glad to see adaptive capacity being promoted at multiple levels (individual, team
and the foundation itself). The 4th crucial level is the ecosystem, where, as your article suggests, the foundation is
sensitive to and works with the existing dynamics in its field of system-change interest. See my book with Joe McCann
Mastering Turbulence (Jossey-Bass 2012).
BY Kate Wolford ON November 25, 2015 09:59 AM Thanks for noting The McKnight Foundations embrace of
adaptive action and how we put the simple rules into practice. Just to add to your final point about be the change, I

would explicitly include the board of directors in the mix. Our strategic framework is both a product of an adaptive
action process and it highlights our use of adaptive action in our work within complex systems. Our board-staff
discussions and deliberations have become richer and more engaging using principles and tools of adaptive action.
Board members eagerly ask about emergent learning in messy, complex cross-program and cross-sector efforts, and
together we make meaning of data, observations, and patterns.
BY Srik Gopal ON November 29, 2015 03:03 PM John - Thanks for your comments. Your book seems like an
excellent resource to think about the four levels, thanks for pointing it
BY Srik Gopal ON November 29, 2015 03:06 PM Kate - Great point about including the board of directors in being
the change. The board plays a critical role in setting the tone for leadership and staff. We are thrilled to hear that you
have been able to engender rich discussions within the board and between board and staff that recognize and build on
complexity, as opposed to turning a bling eye to it. Bravo!
BY Bob Hill ON December 2, 2015 11:29 AM The sweet spot of rigor and adaptive action, as you note, is essential to
achieving impact. For those who partner is systemic change work (consultants) it is a most important part of being
the change. The elegance of simple rules is powerful!
BY Srik Gopal ON December 2, 2015 12:04 PM Bob - Thanks for pointing out that the simple rules are also
applicable to consultants who partner in systems change work. In our work, we often highlight the need for the
consultant to actively model the very habits of mind that we seek to foster
BY Abraham Ray ON December 2, 2015 12:50 PM Great articleidentical to the approach were taking at
transforming the Child Welfare and Runaway and Homeless Youth domains with Oliver (https://oliverservices.org or
http://partnersforourchildren.org/projects/oliver).
Show Me the Money Its time for more foundations and philanthropists to make $10 million plus grants to social
change organizations. As managing editor of Stanford Social Innovation Review, I receive lots of news releases
trumpeting a large gift made by a philanthropist or a foundation to a nonprofit. Many of these are six- and seven-figure
gifts, but some are eight figures or morewhat the authors of this issues cover story call big bets.
Youd think that these big bets (of $10 million or more) were always a good thing, but all too often thats not the case.
The problem with many of them is that they go to institutions that are already well funded or that do little to improve
societys ills. Instead of donating $25 million to build a homeless shelter or to expand an afterschool program, most
wealthy donors give money to construct a new museum wing or build a new university gym.
According to data collected by the authors of Making Big Bets for Social Change, during a recent 12-year period
about 80 percent of big bets went to nonprofit institutions (such as universities, hospitals, and cultural organizations),
and only 20 percent went to nonprofit social change organizations (such as human services, conservation, and
economic development). Other writers have taken the wealthy to task for giving such large sums to institutions that
largely serve to prop up their own class. And still others have criticized the US tax code for allowing the wealthy to get
a tax deduction while doing so. But few researchers have dug deep to understand the social change organizations that
have gotten big bet gifts and why they were able to do sothe outliers and positive deviants. Thats what makes
this article so interesting.
It turns out that some nonprofit social change organizations are actually pretty good at garnering big bets. In fact, 28
social change nonprofits received four or more big bets between 2000 and 2012 (the 12-year study period). You could
probably guess the names of some of them, like Nature Conservancy and Teach for America. But others might surprise
you, like Youth Villages and Institute of International Education.
Of course, not every nonprofit needs a $10 million-plus gift, or could make good use of that much money if it did get
one. But plenty of nonprofits are proven and ready to tackle a social problem if they only had enough money to do so.
And yet few wealthy donors are willing to step up and fund them.
One donor that is willing to bet big on nonprofit social change organizations is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The foundation has been criticized for many thingssome of them rightfully. But one thing you have to give the
Gateses credit for is that they put their money where their mouth is. Between 2000 and 2012 the Gates Foundation
gave almost as many big-bet dollars to social change as all other US donors combined. Thats all donors, not just all
foundations. Yes, Gates has more money than other foundations, but the threshold for a big bet is $10 million, not $100
million. Plenty of donors could write that big a check for social change if they wanted tobut they dont. Social
change nonprofits must do a better job of making themselves big bet ready, but its ultimately the bettors themselves
who decide where to put their money. Its time that more of them begin to invest in social change.
A Sense of Site The places where social change work occurs can shapeand, in some cases, complicatehow that
work unfolds. We had an intuition that where social innovation happened matters, but we didnt realize all of the
different ways that it matters, says Thomas Lawrence, professor of strategy at the Said Business School at Oxford
University. We started looking at specific places, and we were surprised at the diversity of places that matter.
Along with Graham Dover, executive director of the Mindset Social Innovation Foundation, an organization in
Vancouver, Canada, Lawrence studied how the use of...
Small but Not Silent Done right, small organizations can hit above their weight and use communications as a
foundation for growth, sustainability, and scaling. The relatively young grassroots conservation organization we work

for, Lion Guardians, promotes the co-existence of people and wildlifeparticularly lions. Two years ago, the
organization embarked on a strategic planning process to figure out how to expand its award-winning field model from
southern Kenya to other sites and countries. One of the important outcomes of that process was a decision to make
greater investments in communications capacity to raise the organizations profile, attract additional funding, and
identify potential partners and build relationships with them. Since then, Lion Guardians has made communications a
strategic and integral asset that has helped it more than quadruple its donor base, double its donor retention rate,
increase revenue by more than 30 percent, and broaden its network. In addition, the communications function has
supported Lion Guardians expansion to new project sites in Tanzania, as well a new training program rollout.
Typically, small grassroots organizationsparticularly in the demanding setting of rural Africaplace
communications far down on their list of organizational priorities. These organizations often scramble just to keep up
with day-to-day operational demands. Communicationsespecially the interactive websites, sophisticated graphics,
and animated videos that are increasingly the norm for top-playing nonprofitscan feel out-of-reach to organizations
with limited human and financial resources. It can also feel excessively corporate or inauthentic to some
organizations that want to focus on their constituents and not their donors.
But communications are critically connected to advancing an organizations goals. And strengthening an organizations
communications (and paying closer attention to potential supporters in the process) doesnt have to break the bank; nor
does it have to take away from programmatic focus or compromise an organizations values. Instead, new technology
such as free social media platforms, myriad affordable online digital editing software, and do-it-yourself websites
are helping level the playing field in a way that didnt seem possible a decade ago.
So how can a small nonprofit turn a basic communications program into a strategic asset? Here we share four lessons
from our experience that we think might be useful to other grassroots organizations.
1. Leadership commitment provides a foundation for success. Leadership gives an organization direction and
agency, ensuring that its values and beliefs channel into action. The same leadership mindset must apply to
communicationsan organizations top managers need to inspire, focus, and drive the process. Lion Guardians
leaders, recognizing that they were missing opportunities to attract new supporters and partners, made the critical
decision to employ a full-time communications manager. The move represented a major investment of time and money
one that they werent sure would pay offbut it was the first step in taking their communications to the next level,
as a force to drive the organizations sustainability and growth.
2. Values should guide communications. Values help shape an organization, and these same values should guide its
communications. Because communications itself felt commercial and inauthentic to Lion Guardians leaders, they
were unsure whether a greater investment in it would be compatible with the core values of a grassroots, communitybased initiative. Such misgivings are commonplace in the nonprofit sector; Nathalie Laidler-Kylanders and Julia
Shepard Stenzel describe the issue in their Nonprofit Brand Idea framework, which seeks to establish a new brand
paradigm. Drawing on that framework, Lion Guardians leaders were able to articulate their core values, which later
shaped the way the organization developed its communications strategy and brand.
As part of the process, Lion Guardians developed a brand book that includes conventional visual branding elements,
such as the organizations logo and color palette. It also includes language about Lion Guardians values and mission,
which are central to the brand and overall communications. As Lion Guardian seeks to expand across borders and
work with new partners, this book will help ensure that its branding efforts are clear and consistent, and truly reflect
and build on the organizations values.
3. Have a system and measure results. What works for one organization might not work for another. But its
important to have a system in placeand not rely on ad-hoc communications efforts. Its equally important to measure
results so that the organization can understand whats working and whats not. For example, if Lion Guardians receives
a media request, it uses a simple evaluation method to determine whether or not answering that request is a productive
use of its time. When drafting newsletters, staff members write for specific audiences, with clear objectives. When
running a fundraising campaign, there is a purpose and a goal. And just as the organization surveys lion population
densities to measure the effectiveness of its conservation model and makes changes to improve its work based on what
it learns, it analyzes its communications efforts and results, and adapts accordingly.
4. Select investments wisely. Resources are always going to be limited, but some investments are worth making. For
example, one Lion Guardians volunteer offered to create a new website, pro-bono. However, because the
organizations website is such a critical communications tool for all of its audiences, Lion Guardians opted to pay for a
Nairobi-based firm to do the work instead, to ensure timeliness and a product it could control.
Additionally, organizations should be wary of easy ways to broadcast messaging. Technology has opened the door
for small, grassroots nonprofits to gain a voice and presence on an international scale. But technology alone isnt
enough. Organizations need to ensure that it aligns all communications with their values, operations, and
organizational capacity. Done right, small organizations can hit above their weight and use communications as a
foundation for growth, sustainability, and scaling.
Giving Is not Enough: Increased Urbanization Demands That Indian Philanthropy Shift Focus Indias cities are
home to roughly 377 million people. An estimated 26 percent 97 million are officially poor.1 Thats equivalent to

the combined populations of the U.K. and Canada. Now, imagine that half the expecting mothers in the United
Kingdom and Canada dont have access to safe delivery options. Imagine that 71 percent of the nations children are
anemic and 47 percent are malnourished. Imagine that 62 percent of all U.K. and Canadian citizens defecate in the
open. Its hard to wrap your brain around, right? And yet, those are the estimated percentages affecting Indias urban
poor. The Time Is Now With Indias urban expansion on track to happen at an unprecedented speed (McKinsey
projects that Indias urban population could soar to 590 million by 2030, twice the population of the United States
today) the time to address these issues is now. Unless we tackle urban problems like the nations affordable housing
deficit and its crumbling infrastructure and unless we give urban residents the tools, and financial and educational
access they need to begin carving their own paths to upward mobility an already difficult situation will become
exponentially worse. There arent, of course, any easy answers about how we do this. But there are clear steps that
those of us working to find solutions, especially those of us in the philanthropic community, can and must take to
begin addressing the challenges facing Indias growing population of urbanites. Given the scale of this challenge
philanthropic funds alone wont make a dent in this problem. Donors need to:
Strengthen and support existing institutions to maximize their impact. This means partnering with central, state
and city governments to improve their programs for the poor ranging from housing, to education.
Play a catalytic role in pioneering new markets and ecosystems that can create large scale impact. (Monitor
Group recently released a report making the case for philanthropy in impact investing.) A great example of the
importance of this type of approach is the Kenyan success story of M-PESA (a mobile payments platform,) which was
developed by Vodafone with significant grant support from the UKs Department for International Development
(DFID). Rigorously measure our impact to continuously improve and refine our programs. Transformative
change takes time and patience, and we cant expect short term results. However, measuring and tracking interim
outcomes will ensure that programs are on track and that challenges can be dealt with quickly before they derail the
entire initiative.
Acknowledge and embrace failure. Doing all of the above is challenging and risky. We will never have all the data,
and there will always be some subjective decisions that exacerbate the risk of failure. In reality, if you dont have
failures, youre playing it too safe and likely wont have the impact youre looking for. These failures are fantastic
learning opportunities for yourself and your peers. David Damberger says it best in his Ted Talk.
Catalytic Giving: A New Focus for Indian Philanthropy India is making progress. The government has recognized
the challenges faced by the urban poor and has pledged additional resources through urban-focused interventions such
as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY) and National Urban
Livelihoods Mission (NULM). Indian business leaders including Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
have made large pledges to address some of the challenges of poverty in India. But as FSGs research on Indian
philanthropy makes clear, philanthropists must shift focus from the simple amount given to strategic thinking about
ways to increase the impact of every dollar given.
1
The 26 percent estimate is per the Indian government, whose poverty line is significantly lower than the $2 a day
standard set by the World Bank. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation focuses on urban poverty initiatives
that directly and measurably transform the outcomes of impoverished urban children around the globe. In India, we
supplement traditional philanthropy with a focus on catalytic impact. We support the development of new, socially
oriented markets such as urban microfinance, and support pilot programs aimed at enabling government to adopt and
maintain high quality health and education programs that address issues related to urban poverty.
The ABCs of Change: Health Advocacy for Everyone For many of us who care about preventing obesity and
keeping our families healthy, the idea of advocacy can be difficult. We understand that it has a role to play, but day-today, its tough to step up to the plate. For those of us in public health, the barrier can be that the other side often looks
bigger, badder and better-funded. For the rest of us moms, dads, teachers it can be hard to even know where to
start. But at every level, from nation to neighborhood to corner store, action and advocacy are the keys to health.
Margo Wootan: Truth, Justice and the American Breakfast On the national level, Margo Wootan is one of a rare
breed who seem to say more often than not bring on the bigger and the badder. Strategic advocacy seems to be
Margos middle name. As the director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Margo
has had a profound impact on our nations health. With her leadership, CSPI has achieved several significant obesity
prevention victories for children and families. These wins have included the requirement that fast-food and chain
restaurants post calorie counts and that packaged foods include trans fat information. Theyve included improvement
in school foods, and the reduction in misleading junk food marketing aimed at kids. In the public health arena, Margo
is a true hero: An advocate who seems motivated by the seeming inequity of a fight. Margos detractors accuse her of
supporting a nanny state where personal decisions are dictated by the government. They position the public health
initiatives she advocates as an attempt to eliminate free choice. But that argument only stands up in a house of mirrors:
Margos efforts are all about giving families choices. Parents may or may not choose to feed their kids sugarsweetened cereals. What Margo argues is that they should know what theyre doing rather than being tricked by
packaging or predatory marketing practices. What Margo argues is that the public should be armed with the truth.

Ofelia Zapata: A Champion for Change On the local level, Ive met influencers and leaders (even grocers) who have
become passionate change agents. Here in Austin, Ofelia Zapata is a remarkable and inspiring health advocate. For
years, Ofelia wasnt a fighter. Life got in her way specifically, a vision impairment that rendered her legally blind.
She also believed, like many of us, that her opinion didnt count, that those with decision making power were better
educated and too busy to be bothered with her ideas. For a long time, Ofelia though she had nothing to contribute to
important conversations. She struggled to hold her own in the face of authority. She was silent.
No longer. Today, Ofelia is a champion. She may be visually impaired, but she sees her community for what it is, what
it needs, and what it has the potential to be. She chairs meetings. She raises issues; she organizes for change; she
collects data; she shares it; she speaks up with community opinions; she helps community members engage in efforts
to improve their neighborhood. Ofelia develops community agendas, strategic planning, mobilization efforts. She is
looked to as an authority by those who live in her immediate neighborhood as much as by city government. She is a
local legend, and her voice is heard.
The Power of the Purse: An Apple a Day Which brings me back to my larger point: We must all be advocates. We
owe it to our kids, who, thanks to living in a world that makes obesity harder and harder to avoid, face the prospect of
living sicker and dying younger than their parents generation.
Those of us in public health have it easy. We entered our field because we wanted to speak on behalf of those with
whose voices are compromised or unheard. Our job is simply to stay in the game and on point, even when the going
gets tough and our detractors get loud. But theres a place along the continuum for everyone to stand up and be
counted: Moms, dads, kids in neighborhoods, in schools, even in supermarkets, where buying the apple (and the
carrot and the broccoli) instead of the cookie (and the Pop-Tarts and the soda) can convince owners that healthier
options are smart business. Here in Austin, there is a large supermarket chain with a strong commitment to improving
the health of its consumers. Yet when we visited their location in one of our partner neighborhoods, healthy options
were lacking and unhealthy choices abounded. Why? we asked. Would they be willing to partner to increase healthy
options in the store? Certainly, they countered. If customers in the neighborhood showed their support by
demanding healthier options and by purchasing those already offered. The fact is that, in some cases, health advocacy
has nothing to do with using our voices; we advocate with our wallets, too. We can be demand agents, purchasing,
using and frequenting healthy options (be they parks or sidewalks or fresh fruits and vegetables) with abandon. Not all
of us will make as dramatic a transformation as Ofelia. Not all of us will be as bold as Margo. Not all of us have to.
But in our own ways, in our own settings and our spheres of influence, we must act.
Now, whos ready to go buy that apple? Together with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the Michael & Susan
Dell foundation just released A Year of Being Well: Messages from Families on Living Healthier Lives. The book is a
13-month action guide featuring practical, step-by-step strategies to kick-start and stick to a healthier lifestyle. Its
available at no cost in both Spanish and English at www.BeWellBook.org.
Malnutrition in India: Taking Interventions From Implementation to Institutionalization School-based
deworming programs are gaining steam as a major public health initiative in India. In the wake of recent Delhi and
Rajasthan efforts that targeted some 19.5 million children, more and more states have begun to evaluate the possibility
of launching large-scale programs of their own: Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Orissa are all exploring the possibility.
Bihar initiated a deworming program in 2011. This momentum is undeniably good news for Indias children, many of
whom suffer from malnutrition. But as more and more states come on board, we face a critical challenge as well as a
significant opportunity. The challenge? Rajasthan and Delhi must now move from successful implementation to
institutionalization of their deworming programs. The opportunity? The states are well positioned to help establish a
blueprint for taking programs from implementation to scale.
A Blueprint for Sustainability: Key Success Factors in the Fight Against Malnutrition Our own experience in the
field we partnered with Deworm the World, a technical agency with deep expertise in launching sustainable
deworming programs around the globe, and other organizations in both Delhi and Rajasthan has led us to a clear
point of view on key steps that need to be taken to ensure these programs become entrenched and repeatable.
As states launch and plan for long-term success, they must: Establish a strong steering committee comprising of
key stakeholders from various government departments to ensure ongoing prioritization of deworming
programs. Getting the right players with the right authority on board helps ensure that implementation challenges that
arise during future efforts can be appropriately addressed. The ministries of education, health, and women and child
development should all be involved.
Employ standardized toolkits to help ensure fidelity over time. Deworm the World, at the request of the Michael &
Susan Dell Foundation, is developing such a toolkit to support Indian state governments in launching, scaling and
sustaining mass deworming programs. The toolkit will include the following components:
Basic guidelines for scoping and implementing a mass deworming program
A framework for accurately budgeting the program An explanation of process differences between rural and urban
areas and guideline about how the model needs to be adapted for the two settings (having worked with Governments at
the state level across Bihar, Delhi and Rajasthan, Deworm the World is well positioned to do this)
Guidance on planning for and conducting a survey to determine the prevalence of parasitic worms

A teacher training kit, including monitoring forms, to ensure that teachers know how to effectively administer the
medication
Implement a comprehensive school-health framework that addresses malnutrition and includes deworming as
an integral component. The effort to institute school-based health programs is gaining steam. Last month, at a
meeting hosted by the foundation, ministers from two central government ministries, Human Resource Development
and Health & Family Welfare, announced their interest in collaborating for strengthening the implementation of school
health programs in India a significant step, since its the first time two such ministries have jointly committed to
collaborating on the implementation of Indian school health programs.
Develop a comprehensive communication strategy that targets the local community where the program is being
implemented especially the parents. Again and again, seemingly well-designed public health efforts have failed
because of a simple assumption: That if theres a problem and theres a solution, the people who are suffering must be
clamoring for the solution. The fact is that people have to be educated about the risks, benefits and ease of any given
problem and solution before they buy in. Designing a communications strategy that speaks to parents real concerns
and motivates them to demand meaningful interventions is a lynchpin in long-term success.
Centralized Expertise With more states adopting deworming programs, theres also an emerging need for centralized
technical expertise in the form of a national deworming cell that can provide ongoing technical and monitoring support
to state governments. Deworm the World estimates that it can take up to five years to institutionalize a program. In a
perfect world, state governments will not require intensive hand holding five years in. But the reality is that
unexpected implementation challenges may crop up in any given year, and governments will benefit from targeted
support from such a cell. This cell would also provide a critical auxiliary function: Conducting follow-up surveys to
assess changes in the worm prevalence levels after at least three rounds of deworming. These surveys will help build a
home-grown evidence base for mass deworming a key piece of the puzzle for ensuring that deworming programs
remain a priority intervention for state governments that have implemented them. Theyll also provide the evidence
that may motivate other states to kick off programs of their own. (In fact, it was in the wake of Delhis first effort early
this year that the government of Rajasthan reached out to Deworm the World to express interest in implementing their
own program.)
Staying the course Careful planning now will help ensure state-by-state adoption of well-designed programs. And if
that happens, we may achieve a future in which intestinal worms are a rarity, not a baseline expectation, especially
among the poor. By the same token, if we fall off task now, well just face more of the same: Millions of kids whose
health and futures are compromised by an easily treatable condition that we couldnt get organized enough to address.
Part 2 of 2: The first post in the series focused on Rajasthans deworming program, which was launched last
week. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation worked with Deworm the World and others to launch both last weeks
Rajasthan program and the February 2012 Delhi program.
Deworming Delhi: A low-cost, high-impact approach to public health India has over 250 million school-age
children, a significant number of whom suffer from intestinal worms. For these children, the consequences of worm
infection range from malnutrition (since worms abscond with the bulk of nutrients) and iron deficiency to permanently
stunted growth, impaired learning ability and high rates of absenteeism from schools. And the consequences dont stop
at the level of individual children; some estimates claim that the physical and cognitive disabilities associated with iron
deficiency alone cost less developed economies as much as 4 percent of their GDP.
The good news is that the treatment for worms is simple, safe and cost effective. Children need to receive a single dose
of a deworming drug. Administered annually or bi-annually, depending on the prevalence of worm infections in a
particular area, each dose costs only pennies per child. Rigorous research has demonstrated that the impact of
deworming on childrens health and education outcomes is substantial.
Moreover, administering this treatment in schools (where children are found in large numbers) through teachers has
been identified as one of the most cost-effective developmental interventions. The bad news is that mass deworming
programs arent yet widespread. Given the enormity of the problem and the simplicity of the solution, the obvious
question to ask is why? There are a lot of reasons, of course, not least among them competing public health priorities.
India has no dearth of health issues to deal with. But one of the biggest reasons is the logistical challenge of reaching
out to several million children.
Over the past couple of years in India, the foundation has been taking a long hard look at how to most effectively
tackle the many health issues affecting the millions of children who live in poverty in the countrys major cities. The
questions we asked were simple:
What are the baseline conditions that affect the greatest number of children?
How can we make sure each dollar we commit has the biggest possible impact?
And who can help us do the hard work of coordinating mass programs that reach millions of children?
As we continued to evaluate the landscape, intestinal parasites a chronic underlying condition that affects hundreds
of millions of kids, but thats also easily treatable began to emerge as a clear candidate for consideration. Mass
deworming is clearly possible. The efforts of Deworm the World, a technical agency that works directly with
governments and other stakeholders to launch, strengthen and support school-based deworming programs, have made

that clear. In India, the state government of Bihar, supported by Deworm the World, recently conducted the largest
school-based, deworming initiative in the world. The Bihar example, which reached some17 million children, has
paved the way for several state governments, like Delhis, to follow suit with mass deworming programs of their own.
In fact, on February 21, the government of Delhi supported by Deworm the World kicked off a massive, schoolbased deworming effort, administering a single tablet to each of an estimated 3.5 million children.
One of the largest health initiatives of its kind in Indias capital city, the effort was the culmination of more than a year
of coordination and partnership. The intervention, which had foundation support, comes at a time when a study has
revealed that nearly 70 percent of children in Delhis government schools are anemic. There will be a mop up day on
February 27 to administer deworming pills to any kids who were missed.
Based on the existing body of evidence about the effectiveness of the treatment, were confident that the Delhi project
will have significant positive effects on childrens health and school performance. But we also have a bigger goal in
mind: Our hope is that this effort serves as the catalyst for a more comprehensive school-based health program in
Delhi, and that it becomes a model for other Indian cities seeking to embark on public health programs with the
potential to help millions of children get healthier and stay in school.
Delhi: A project-management perspective On February 21, the government of Delhi kicked off a massive, schoolbased deworming effort, administering a single tablet to each of an estimated 3.5 million children. One of the largest
health initiatives of its kind in Indias capital city, the effort was the culmination of more than a year of coordination
and partnership. A mop up day on February 27 sought to administer deworming pills to any kids who were missed in
the initial round of distribution.
Deworming may not be the most glamorous of health intervention efforts. But from our perspective, its benefits are
undeniable. Deworming is simple, safe and cost effective. It offers one of the biggest bangs for the buck/rand of any
public health initiative. Children need a single dose of a deworming drug administered annually or bi-annually,
depending on the prevalence of worm infections in a particular area. Each dose costs only pennies per child. Moreover,
the benefits of the treatment extend beyond health and into education. One Kenya-based study showed that deworming
programs reduced student absenteeism by 25 percent and increased classroom participation by seven percent or more.
One of the key takeaways from the Delhi program is that mass, school-based programs are possible. But given how
daunting the task of coordination might seem, we thought it would be worthwhile to outline the key elements of the
Delhi project that, from a pure project management perspective, made the exercise possible:
Basis in research and data The Delhi program (like a similar Bihar effort that reached 17 million children) was
initiated after detailed studies estimated the prevalence of worm infections in the area and made the case for mass
deworming efforts.
Stakeholder buy-in and coordination Rolling out deworming at an unprecedented scale required buy-in from and
close coordination amongst all the stakeholders (government, drug companies, funders). In Delhi, a committee with
key representatives from the government and a technical agency, Deworm the World, was set up and served as the
anchor for all aspects of program implementation. (NOTE: The time and perseverance required for ensuring sustained
coordination cannot be underestimated. The Delhi project required a year of intensive partnership and coordination
before the first deworming tablet was ever handed to the first child.) Deworm the World, the grantee we helped fund to
coordinate the logistics of Delhi project, had previously worked with the Bihar government to successfully launch its
successful deworming program. The organization excels in terms of having the technical know-how and commitment
to help governments execute on a grand scale.
The ability to leverage and streamline existing structures Instead of putting in place a parallel system, Deworm
the World partners with governments to identify and use existing infrastructures and resources for teacher training,
community sensitization, drug delivery and monitoring.
Independent monitoring Theres a wealth of impact data to show the effectiveness of mass deworming from a
health perspective. So the objective of monitoring should be to assess the effectiveness of a given implementation and
confirm that every child receives a deworming pill.
The benefits of deworming are proven, and the Delhi government together with Deworm the World has
successfully modelled the implementation methodology for mass, school-based, urban health interventions. Now its
time to expand on what weve learned. In the wake of the successful Delhi effort, we hope state governments
throughout India will weigh the significant benefits and low costs of deworming efforts against the high costs (in terms
of our childrens health and educations) of inaction, and commit to mass programs of their own.
TOOLS FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROFESSIONALS As a social services professional, your focus may or may
not always be on the personal finances of your clients, but you know that the financial aspects of any given situation
greatly shape the circumstances of people facing a variety of challenges. As you develop strategies that improve the
well-being of those with whom you work, use Financial Workshop Kits to increase your knowledge and confidence
about basic money management skills. Financial Workshop Kits offers customizable tools and resources addressing a
number of specialized audiences facing unique hardships. By using these tools, you can effectively address peoples
needs with relevant information and resources.

What's Behind Your Financial Decisions? Have you ever wondered why you feel good about spending money on
vacations, but avoid saving for retirement? Why you buy new golf clubs, but procrastinate when it comes to giving
your kids an allowance? The answer may lie in your unique LifeValues and how they influence your financial decision
making. Most of us dont realize whats behind the thousands of financial decisions we make every year. And, if we
are in a relationship, we are even less certain about why our partners make the decisions they do. If you want to
demystify your money behaviors, start here with the LifeValues quiz.
Now you are ready to get started! Bear in mind that there is no wrong answer. You are simply identifying your
preferences. Remember that your answers are intensely personalresist the urge to choose an answer someone else
might believe is right for you. Quickly choose only one answer.
G E T T I N G O U T O F P O V E R T Y TAK E S M O R E T H A N F I N A N C I A L L I T E R A C Y
August 17, 2015

Helping people work their way out of poverty isnt just about money. It requires addressing the beliefs
and culture around money that may be keeping people stuck both financially and emotionally.
Like many of my financial planning colleagues, I have an interest in finding effective ways to help middle- and lowincome people increase their financial health. One method Ive used from time to time is teaching community classes.
Ive offered classes on basic financial skills like managing money or the fundamentals of investing. Ive also tried
offering classes focused on money scripts or other aspects of money psychology. Guess which classes fill and which
ones dont? No matter what their income level, people tend to shy away from looking at the relationship between
money and emotions. There seems to be a widespread money script of, More financial knowledge is all I need in
order to have more money. Yet Ive seen time and time again over the years that this simply is not true.
Helping low-income people increase their financial literacy is a start, but it isnt enough. This was confirmed for me
recently, at the annual Financial Therapy Association meeting, when I heard a talk by Louis Barajas, CFP. A
notedauthor and expert on giving financial advice to the poor, he said, All the financial literacy in the world is not
going to help the poor.
Born into a poor family in East Los Angeles, Louis managed to become the first Hispanic CFP in the US and pull
himself out of poverty. After a successful career, he returned to the barrio to live his passion of helping his community
transcend poverty. It turned out to be far more challenging than he ever dreamed.
As Louis said in his talk, he discovered that, Most people in poverty are unaware that their cultural beliefs hold them
back. He described some of those beliefs, which I would call money scripts. A few of them are:
A sense of fatalism, that this is just how things will be. An assumption that working for someone else is the only
option. A group dynamic where anyone who reaches for too much success is pulled back down into the communitys
financial comfort zone. A victim mentality of blaming and feeling powerless to change. Relying for financial advice
on the wealthiest or most successful person in the neighborhood, without the knowledge to evaluate the validity of that
advice. Barajas has found that telling someone about a better way doesnt work. He had to find a way to experientially
expose them to it. As he said, If you dont see a brighter future, you wont plan. But even before that, people need
help to take care of their urgent needs first before they can even consider that a future exists.
Hearing Barajass talk only confirmed for me how important it is to consider peoples beliefs and emotions about
money. This is essential knowledge for financial advisors, debt counselors, social workers, volunteers, and anyone
working to help people get out of poverty. More money or more knowledge about money is simply not enough to help
people who seem stuck in poverty or in a repeated pattern of financial missteps.
The easiest way to advise people who are struggling financially is to focus on the mechanics of managing money. Yet
anyone who really wants to help people make lasting changes in their money behavior needs to find ways to help them
look deeper. Ironically, the need to look beyond the money in order to build financial health is one important thing the
poor and the wealthy have in common.
outh Dakota is tops in many things. We are consistently rated as among the best in the nation for business climate, trust
law, clean air, low taxes, and the best cities to retire in. It annoys me, then, when we are last in something important,
like teachers salaries.
But how do our lower cost of living and low state and local taxes affect our low salary ranking? Certainly salaries must
buy more in the way of lifestyle in South Dakota than in states that have higher salaries but also higher taxes and living
costs. I was willing to bet, when the annual salary of a South Dakota teacher was adjusted for cost of living and taxes,
that we really wouldnt have the lowest salaries in the nation.
To find out, I first consulted data from the National Education Association to get the most current average state salaries
of teachers. South Dakota was dead last with a $40,641 average. It was no surprise that the highest salaries in the
nation are paid by coastal states of New York with $76,865, Massachusetts with $71,620, Washington DC with
$70,906, California with $70,887, and New Jersey with $70,367.

I adjusted all the average teacher salaries for state and local taxes using data from the Tax Foundation and for the cost
of living using data from the Council for Community and Economic Research as presented by the Missouri Economic
Research and Information Center. As I suspected, the amount of the salary isnt as important as the amount people
have left after paying all their taxes and living expenses.
While teachers in New York are the highest paid in the nation, when you factor in what they pay for living expenses
and taxes, they fall to 22nd place with an adjusted salary of $50,022. The adjusted salaries drop the second-highest
paid teachers of Massachusetts to 37th place with $45,939, while those in the District of Columbia fall from third to
42nd with a comparatively low $43,379.
Which teachers in the nation really make the most money? If you want the best lifestyle as a teacher, apply for
positions in top-ranked Michigan where the adjusted salary is $61,020. The second-highest adjusted salaries are in
Wyoming with $59,679, followed by Pennsylvania with $56,528, Ohio with $56,480, and Delaware with $55,211.
What state had the honor of coming in dead last? Hawaii. It ranks 20th for its average teacher salary of $55,757, which
becomes a stunningly paltry $30,200 after adjustments. To my surprise, South Dakotas adjusted average of $38, 644
only moved it from last place to second from last. Rounding out the bottom five are Maine with $39,216, New Mexico
with $40,686, and West Virginia with $41,324.
Adjusting the average teacher salaries for various states cost of living and tax rates, however, does make a significant
difference. For example, comparing only salaries shows the average South Dakota teacher makes $30,265 less than the
average teacher in Washington DC. After adjusting for purchasing power, the South Dakota teacher earns just $4,735
less. While South Dakota teachers make $15,116 a year less than those in Hawaii, after adjusting for purchasing power
South Dakota teachers make $8,444 more.
(To see the complete rankings with and without adjustments, click on the Teacher Salary Chart.)
While the results could be slightly skewed by comparing 2011 tax numbers (the latest I found) with 2015 salaries and
living costs, my research it suggests two conclusions. One, while South Dakota certainly is in the bottom tier of
teachers salaries, in terms of buying power we are nowhere close to being as far behind as it appears. Second, if you
are a teacher in Washington DC, you might consider heading west to Michigan or Wyoming.
One of the challenges in financial planning is the strong taboo in our society against talking about money. Another
powerful taboo is talking about death when someone has a serious illness.
When someone is diagnosed with cancer, for example, the focus is almost always on treatment and recovery. Rarely is
there any discussion of what happens if the treatment doesnt work. There seems to be an unspoken belief that if we
dont talk about it, it wont happen.
Not talking about death isnt limited to family and friends, according to Dr. Carol McClanahan, MD, CFP. In a recent
presentation to financial advisors at the Insiders Forum in Phoenix, she pointed out that many doctors shy away from
talking about dying until the very end.
Given this strong reluctance to talk about both money and dying, how can you work with a financial advisor to deal
with the financial and emotional issues that go along with a family members serious illness? Here are some
suggestions based on Dr. McClanahans talk.
1. Dont expect someone facing a serious illness to give you an accurate prognosis of their disease, as they are often in
denial. McClanahan suggests turning to Dr. Google for accurate information. Specifically, she recommends
theNational Institutes of Health, which has statistics on every disease imaginable.
2. Learn to interpret what doctors say. For example, when a cancer patient is told chemotherapy has a 25% chance of
working, the average patient hears working as being cured. Working actually means there is a 25% chance of
the tumor shrinking. Often the chances of being cured are far less than 25%, and the physical effects of chemotherapy
can be devastating to ones remaining quality of life. McClanahan says, Most of what we do to people at the end of
life is unnecessary torture.
3. Find out early about options for palliative care. This is multidisciplinary care focused on treating the symptoms of
treatment, relieving suffering, and improving the quality of life. Because of denial and unwillingness to talk about
what happens if they dont get better, many patients never get into palliative care or get into it way too late. Similarly,
most patients wait too long to get into hospice care. The average time in hospice care, according to McClanahan, is just
19 days.
4. Share your money concerns with the advisor. McClanahan says that anxiety over having enough money to pay for
their care and the resulting effect on the family finances are two of the top concerns patients have. Interestingly, most
financial advisors focus instead on whether advance directives, estate documents, and funeral plans are in place.
5. Call the advisors attention to signs that a persons illness is advancing. These can include a shortened attention
span, not remembering details of conversations, word-finding difficulties, inability to multitask, mental fuzziness, and
depression. Ask advisors to deal with these symptoms: meet early in the day, address the most important issues first,
keep meetings short, include family members as appropriate, and put action items in writing.
6. Realize that sharing your emotions is part of financial planning. Serious illness affects people in many different
ways, but the underlying concerns are always emotional. Discuss those concerns with the advisor, and work together to

create a comprehensive plan addressing both death and recovery. Remember that, as McClanahan put it, preparation
for a negative outcome does not reduce the risk of cure.
The role of a financial planner is to help clients prepare for the future, including the end of life. When that future
becomes now, dont hesitate to ask for the planners emotional support as well as financial advice.
Do the poor need financial literacy? Olga Morawczynski is Project Manager for Grameen Foundation's financial
literacy project in Uganda. When I started the financial literacy project at the Grameen Foundation in Uganda, I was
faced with some very fundamental questionswhat exactly is financial literacy? And do the poor really need it, or
even want it? Aside from my own questions, I also faced some reservations from colleagues in the field. Many were
very frank in their opinions. There is no need for financial literacy, they told me. What the industry needs is
appropriate financial products. The learning bit will take care of itself.
I have spent the last months travelling around Uganda and speaking with individuals who depend on a wide variety of
livelihoods, from fishing to trading and farming. And I have made some extremely interesting discoveries. Amongst
the people I spoke to, there was a clear demand for financial information. Many of my informants did not have a lot of
money, and their inflows of cash were extremely irregular. But they had many questions on how to manage it better. A
significant portion wanted advice on savings and budgeting. As one farmer explained, when you have so little, you
have to become an expert at managing it. If not, it will disappear from your hands before you even had the time to
count it. But what makes one an expert at managing their cash? When times are good, you put cash away, the
farmer explained. So when the cash is not flowing, you have something saved. I asked what happens if you dont
have something little saved. The farmer pointed to a small herd of his cows. You sell one of them, he said. So maybe
that brings us a little bit closer in our understanding of what financial literacy is and what it should do. That is, helping
people to plan accordingly so they are prepared for the periods of cash deficits. And when you are an expert, you get
to keep your cows.
Comments Greetings from the United States; I would have to say, take a look at the Native American Indians. Look at
my race and you will see that Financial Literacy is essential to move into financial prospects; such as the Real Estate
business or the Grocery Industry.
Financial literacy in Uganda hasn't been given the attention it deserves. A good number of the rural poor have lost
the little they have because of borrowing from the mushrooming village banks and saccos. Neither the borrowers nor
the lenders are financially literate. No lending should be effected if source of repayment cannot be ascertained yet
currently the most important consideration is that if you have some property then it is ok. This approach has not only
impoverished the rural communities but also scared them from further borrowing. Educate both borrowers and lenders
to realise maximum benefits from microfinance.
Financial literacy is absolutely necessary not only for the poor but also for the rest of the population. Can you imagine
that Uganda's savings levels are categorised as the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa? Yet savings drive investment and
that's why we remain poor! We are so glad to know your project proposal, we are praying for you. Thank you.
Well, you've explained what financial literacy is; will you also enlighten us about the tools used to make the poor
better money managers?
I think the poor need financial literacy since it is due to their little money that they have to learn how to budget for it in
order to survive and may be later save some money and get out of poverty. It is crutual becoz of various reasons.
This is from "Engedi Foundation" Regd. 2001. We are now propose a project on basic education for destitute
children's, so, please kindly help me the way to get funds for said project. Thank you.
Submitted by Rev.khupkam vaiphei on September 14, 2010 - 9:43pm I am a member of Hope Foundation but am very
disappointed that Grameen Foundation can come on my home soil and i miss such a great opportunity to offer them
my contribution towards the financial literacy cause for my dream is in changing lives through financial
empowerment. pliz i beg for your cooperation with me
Submitted by MUKASA Hasan on October 8, 2010 - 9:02am Hi! I have been a fan of the Grameen Foundation since I
have read Dr. Yunus' book, "Banker to the Poor." It has inspired me to do my part to our society. We have here some
initiatives going on, but still very unpopular. I desired to have a big change in our country.
I am now a part of a group who teaches financial literacy to Filipino people here in the Philippines. We're teaching
participants to use non-monetary approach to enterprise building. I hope we can make some "dent" in improving the
quality of life amongst our poor. Regards
Financial literacy Getting it right on the money A global crusade is under way to teach personal finance to the
masses. EVERYBODY wants it. Nobody understands it. Money is the great taboo. People just won't talk about it.
And that is what leads you to subprime. Take the greed and the financial misrepresentation out of it, and the root of
this crisis is massive levels of financial illiteracy.
For years John Bryant has been telling anyone who will listen about the problems caused by widespread ignorance of
finance. In 1992, in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots, he founded Operation HOPE, a non-profit organisation, to
give poor people in the worst-hit parts of the city a hand-up, not a handout through a mixture of financial education,
advice and basic banking. Among other things, Operation HOPE offers mortgage advice to homebuyers and runs

Banking on Our Future, a national personal-finance course of five hour-long sessions that has already been taken by
hundreds of thousands of young people, most of them high-school students.
That many poor people do not have a bank accountand that few of them understand why this puts them at a
disadvantage (let alone other essentials of personal finance)is at the heart of the civil-rights issue of the 21st
century, says Mr Bryant. He calls the attempt to help people help themselves out of poverty through financial literacy
and economic opportunity the silver-rights movement.
In January George Bush appointed Mr Bryant vice-chairman of his new President's Council on Financial Literacy. This
was launched as part of his administration's increasingly frenetic response to the financial crisis that followed the
meltdown in subprime mortgages, many of them given to borrowers who may not have understood the risks. Often
borrowers did not even realise that their monthly payment would rise if interest rates went up, says Mr Bryant.
Subprime borrowers on adjustable interest rates, whose mortgages make up just 7% of the total, accounted for more
than 40% of the foreclosures begun in the fourth quarter of last year (see chart).

The council is not short of expertise. It is chaired by Charles Schwab, eponymous boss of a broking firm. Its other
members include the head of Junior Achievement, which has been teaching children about money since 1919, and a
co-author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a self-help bestseller. Already, it has approved a new curriculum for middle-school
students, MoneyMath: Lessons for Life. (Lesson one: the secret to becoming a millionaire. Answer: save, save,
save.) It is starting a pilot programme to work out how to connect the unbanked to financial institutions. And it is
supporting what, echoing the Peace Corps, is called the Financial Literacy Corps: a group of people with knowledge of
finance who will volunteer to advise those in financial difficulties.
April has been declared Financial Literacy Month by Congress. The need to make this more than a slogan is especially
apparent this year. But America is not the only country where doing something about the widespread ignorance of
personal finance is on the agenda. Governments from Britain to Russia are declaring their commitment to financial
education. This month the World Savings Banks Institute, which represents retail and savings banks from 92 countries,
will hold a summit in Brussels about financial education in the light of the subprime crisis.
Meanwhile, on March 17th a new campaign to promote financial literacy in the developing world was launched at a
conference in Amsterdam. Called Aflatoun (Explorer), after a cartoon character based on a Bollywood star, it is the
brainchild of Jeroo Billimoria, a social entrepreneur who previously worked with street children in India. Among other
things, she founded a successful emergency 24-hour telephone service, called Childline. She found that many of the
children she helped were entrepreneurial (indeed, such spirits may have played a part in their decision to leave home)
and became convinced that, given better education, they would have done well in life.
Ms Billimoria addresses herself to children aged between six and 14, whom most educators consider too young to
understand money. Having begun with experiments in rural India, her non-profit organisation, Child Savings
International, has piloted the Aflatoun course in 11 countries, including Argentina, South Africa, Vietnam and
Zimbabwe, since 2005. It is now extending the course to 35 developing countries. Only recently, after suggestions
from the Dutch central bank and the European Commission, has Ms Billimoria started to adapt Aflatoun for rich
countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, Ireland and perhaps America. My mistake. I never thought it would be
needed in developed countries, she says. If only.
Fools and their money It is a well-established fact that a substantial proportion of the general public in the
English-speaking world is ignorant of finance, writes Niall Ferguson, an historian at Harvard University, in his
forthcoming book about the history of finance, The Ascent of Money. He produces a long list of evidence to support
this conclusion. According to one survey last year, four in ten American credit-card holders do not pay the full amount
due every month on the credit card they use most often, despite the punitive interest rates charged by credit-card
companies. Nearly one-third said they had no idea what the interest rate on their credit card was.

There is similar evidence elsewhere. For instance, a survey in 2004 by Cambridge University and Prudential, a big
insurer, found that some 9m Britons are financially phobic, meaning that they shy away from anything to do with
financial information, from bank statements to savings accounts to life assurance. Research by the British regulator,
the Financial Services Authority, found that one-quarter of adults did not realise that their pensions were invested in
the stockmarket.
Financial illiteracy is not limited to subprime mortgage borrowers, then; it is pervasive in all age groups, income
brackets and countries. Subprime is a mere symptom, says Mr Ferguson, noting that many of the students he has
taught in the best universities in the world, including MBA programmes, don't even know the difference between the
nominal and real interest rate. This problem is more pressing than ever, he adds, because governments and businesses
have pushed more of the responsibility for financial well-being onto individuals, whether by encouraging
homeownership or by promoting personally-managed retirement accounts rather than defined-benefit pensions.
The education system deserves much of the blame, says Mr Ferguson, who recalls having learnt nothing about
personal finance at school in Scotland. In the 2007 survey of American credit-card holders, over half of the
respondents said they had learnt not too much or nothing at all about finance at school.
Americans still leave school not knowing much about money. A sample of high-school pupils aged 17 or 18 gave
correct answers to barely half of a set of questions about personal finance and economics posed in 2006 by researchers
at the State University of New York, Buffalo. Less than one-quarter knew that income tax could be levied on interest
earned in a savings account. Three-fifths did not know the difference between a company pension, Social Security and
a 401(k) savings account.
The same survey, undertaken every two years for Jump$tart, a coalition of 180 organisations in America that promote
financial literacy, found that one in six had taken part in a course dedicated to personal finance. A further one-third said
they had learnt a bit from studying other subjects, such as business or economics. Laura Levine, the head of Jump$tart
and a member of Mr Bush's financial-literacy council, says things are moving in the right direction, but that progress is
slow. The results of the 2008 survey, which are unlikely to show much change, are due to be published on April 9th. At
present only three American states require that students take a course in personal finance. Another 15 insist that it be
incorporated in other courses. Beyond that, it is a case of persuading schools one at a time. Personal-finance
education is not a hard sell conceptually, says Ms Levine, but only when it comes to getting it prioritised. School
principals will usually agree that financial literacy is worth teaching, but they are reluctant to give it time and
resources. Even when personal finance is taught, the right lessons are not necessarily learnt. Wherever you look in
America or the OECD, classes in financial literacy don't do much good, says Lewis Mandell, an economist at Buffalo.
As an educator, I'd like to believe you can teach people to do anything right, but clearly the way we are going about
teaching personal finance needs to be improved.
To Mr Mandell's frustration, the only classroom method that seems consistently to raise financial literacy among highschool pupils is playing a stockmarket-investing gamewhich rewards taking high-risk bets. Most other approaches
tend to show only short-term increases in financial literacy, he says.
According to Mr Mandell, one problem is that if financial literacy is taught, it tends to be before a student's final year
before she has faced any important financial decisions, such as buying a car or taking out a credit card. Another is
that teachers are often financially illiterate, too. Financial literacy may be less about acquiring knowledge than forming
good habits, something that is arguably better done before high school, let alone adulthood.
This is where Aflatoun comes in. Ms Billimoria encountered a great deal of scepticism when she developed her
financial-literacy programme for six- to 14-year-olds. Yet she was convinced that starting with youngsters would be
more effective, because that is when their concept of themselves is developing and by 14 most of their habits have
formed. An important part of the teaching is getting the children to start saving, ideally by opening bank accounts.
Typically, they have only tiny amounts, but this is enough to get them used to handling money properly. At first this
faced a lot of resistance, as people asked, How can young children handle money? recalls Ms Billimoria, but it soon
caught on and parents started giving children money to save. To demonstrate its broad applicability, Aflatoun was
piloted in economies beset by different difficulties. Zimbabwe, for example, was selected for its astronomical inflation
rate. The course was adapted to encourage children to save by buying assets such as pencils, which, unlike the
country's money, could be a store of value.
A nudge in the right direction The depressing truth is that financial literacy is impossible, at least for many of the
big financial decisions all of us have to take, says Richard Thaler, a behavioural economist at the University of
Chicago. Aptly for someone who has built his career on the study of irrational financial behaviour, Mr Thaler admits
that even he finds it hard to know the right thing to do. If these things are perplexing to people with PhDs in
economics, financial literacy is not the right road to go down.
Instead, policymakers should focus on making the world easier, he argues in a new book, Nudge: Improving
Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, written with Cass Sunstein, a law professor (and an adviser to Barack
Obama). By this he means defining more carefully and simply the financial choices that people have to make, and
building sensible default options into the design of financial products, so that the do-nothing option is financially
literate. Today, the best choice typically requires some working out and an active decision.

This does not mean that the same choice is right for everyone. The growing complexity of financial choices in part
reflects remarkable innovation, much of which has benefited consumers. As Operation HOPE's Mr Bryant points out,
thanks to the availability of subprime mortgages, homeownership has lifted many poor people out of poverty; the
challenge is to make the product better.
Sweden's system of saving for old age contains an example of what Mr Thaler means. It offers Swedes a choice of
funds to invest in, but includes a well-designed low-cost default option, which has become the choice of 90% of the
people. The same approach might be taken to America's company 401(k) retirement plans, in which today's choices
require a high degree of financial literacy. Employees might also be automatically enrolled in savings plans, with a
right to opt out, instead of today's under-used opt-ins.
Mr Thaler deserves to be taken seriously, as one of his earlier attempts to apply behavioural economics to saving has
had impressive results. Recognising that people find it harder to save money they already possess than to promise to
put aside what they might have one day, he designed the Save More Tomorrow scheme, which gets people to commit
themselves to saving a slice of any future pay increases. Where implemented, the plan has already brought about sharp
increases in saving rates.
Another idea would make it easier for people to choose a suitable credit card, by obliging card companies to supply
customers with two downloadable files, perhaps once a year. One would explain the issuer's charging rules; the other
would list the charges the consumer has actually incurred. The consumer could then upload this to one of several
websites that Mr Thaler believes would soon appear. With one click, the most suitable card would be recommended. A
similar system could work for America's Medicare prescription programme, in which preliminary research suggests
that matching the drugs a person needs with the right insurance plan would save on average $700 a year, he says.
Better product design and financial education need not be alternatives, points out Mr Mandell. They can work in
tandem. He is enthusiastic about schemes such as the Child Trust Funds introduced in Britain. These baby bonds
give every child a fund that matures at adulthood, letting everyone start out with a nest-egg. Mr Mandell is particularly
excited by the curriculum being designed to be taught in conjunction with these funds, starting when children reach the
age of seven. Teachers will be able to talk about money realistically, because the kids will have ownership of wealth.
If you can make it there One of the most interesting attempts to combine teaching and superior products is taking
place in New York, championed by a mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who made his fortune selling financial information.
He has created an Office of Financial Empowerment, which is trying to use the powers of government to promote both
financial education and better design of financial products.
The city's regulatory powers mean that it can crack down on firms that exploit financial literacy, and educate the public
at the same time, says Jonathan Mintz, New York's Commissioner of Consumer Affairs. It has found that many taxpreparation agencies are offering rapid refunds which, as many consumers do not realise, are in fact loans in
anticipation of refunds. Its publicity blitz about these loans led to coverage on news programmes in 22 states and
Canada, allowing the city to promote the message that anyone promising a tax refund within two days is selling a
loandon't do it.
Another initiative is to use the city's system of helping people to apply for the earned income-tax credit as a chance to
encourage them to open a bank account. As well as explaining to applicants the importance of saving, the city is
working with banks to offer carefully designed accounts, and has even persuaded some philanthropists to provide
matching funds for the first $250 someone saves. You are not just educating me, you are allowing me to nod my head
and say yes, and get a windfall, says Mr Mintz. Financial education is much more effective when it is connected to
something real that is happening.
With Miami, San Antonio, San Francisco, Savannah and Seattle, New York has formed the Cities for Financial
Empowerment Coalition, which met for the first time to share ideas on March 18th. There was general agreement that
education and better product design should go hand in hand. Most big banks have started to sponsor financial-literacy
efforts, if only to cover their backs. However, Mr Mandell remarks, by increasing the charges for bank accounts with
only small balances they have in effect deprived children of what was traditionally the best practical educational tool,
an account of their own. Indeed, one of the biggest problems may be the illiteracy of financial-service firms, which
often fail to provide the products that poor consumers most want. That, at least, seems to be the conclusion of a recent
survey in two of New York's poorer neighbourhoods. Many people were using fringe financial products such as payday loans or money orders rather than the services of mainstream banks.
The mainstream financial providers are missing genuine markets, says Mr Mintz. One of the open secrets in this
industry is that when people are engaged in behaviour that seems irrational, often it has a rational basis. Which only
goes to show that consumers are sometimes only as literate as the products the financial-services industry chooses to
sell them. Mr Bryant makes the same point more colourfully, noting that some of the first people to be hit by the
subprime-mortgage crisis were the very brokers who had sold people inappropriate mortgages. Having drunk their own
Kool-Aid, they found themselves with enormous debts and no job. It takes less credentials to be a mortgage broker
than a pimp on a street corner in Harlem, he says. Because a pimp needs references.
Op-ed: Why anti-poverty aid needs financial literacy Across the United States, it is not uncommon to see billboards
and advertisements for a local lottery. These are often joined by other joint lotteries, some of which cover several

states. While the variety is seemingly endless, all the ads and sponsorships of the games share one trait: a warning.
Often found in the fine print of a ticket or displayed along the bottom of a massive billboard, some variation of the
following wording is included by the organizations running the lotteries: Not to be used for investment, retirement or
savings purposes.
These warnings hardly seem necessary. The odds of winning big at the lottery are one in tens of thousands, often
millions. And yet, people keep purchasing tickets and entries, especially the poor. Nationally, according to a survey
from the Consumer Federation of America, 21 percent of Americans believe the lottery is the most effective and
practical strategy to accumulate several hundred thousand dollars. This percentage jumps to 38 percent for low-income
respondents.
Herein lies one of the most difficult problems facing anyone concerned with poverty alleviation: a lack of basic
financial literacy. Whether it relates to wealth accumulation, credit-card debt, or simply saving money for a rainy day,
financial literacy around the globe is remarkably low.
A Harvard study in 2007 found that 40 percent of American credit-card holders do not pay the full amount due each
month despite exorbitant interest rates. Similarly, a survey in England found that one-quarter of adults did not realize
that pensions were often invested in the stock market.
This lack of knowledge has serious repercussions for programs, especially those aimed at breaking the devastating
cyclical poverty that is all too common in inner cities as well as poor rural regions. Without the proper accompanying
financial literacy, all the money in the world will not solve the plight of those families caught in the cycle of poverty.
Thankfully, the problem of financial illiteracy is gaining more attention worldwide, leading to new efforts and
organizations stepping forward to help those in need.
One of the most successful and well-known organizations is the nonprofit Operation HOPE. Founded in 1992 after the
Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, Operation HOPEs stated goal is to make free enterprise work for everyone,
especially focusing on the working poor and the struggling middle class. Its main weapon of choice in this fight for
those in need: financial literacy.
For example, an initiative called Banking on Our Future aims to break the cycles of poverty related to high-risk youths
by teaching basic financial skills. Classes are offered free through schools or through the community. Fully trained
volunteer teachers focus on financial empowerment, responsibility and hope by teaching basic skills that might seem
second nature to some people. Simple topics are covered, such as savings accounts, checking accounts, how to
properly use credit cards, and the need for savings.
Another program is 700 Credit Score Communities. Usually targeted at underserved neighborhoods and adults, this
program focuses on helping people avoid the debt spiral common in poor families. Operation HOPE provides
community members with a credit report, free one-on-one consultations, assistance with credit disputes, money
management workshops, and budget preparation services.
While the availability of these programs is commendable, the best part is that the programs are showing a significant
effect. Parents and children who participate have better credit scores, less debt and, most important, increased savings.
Through the dedicated work of organizations like Operation HOPE, we can break the cycle of poverty and maximize
the effectiveness of aid given to those in need. John Hoffmire is director of the Impact Bond Fund at Said Business
School at Oxford University. He runs Progress Through Business, a nonprofit group. Jerald Ben Young, a colleague at
Progress Through Business, did the research for this article.
Why-anti-poverty-aid-needs-financial-literacy. Homeowners, and Tenants Too
Coachella Valley's 200 mobile home parks provide the only available housing for many agricultural workers in
Riverside County, California. But living in the parks, which often lack electrical, water, and sewage systems, can be a
hazardous proposition. Faulty wiring in one park caused two fatal accidents in 1998. The county responded by filing
lawsuits against a number of park owners who were operating without permits and against their tenants. These lawsuits
are not likely to improve the residents' conditions. In fact, if their parks are forced to close, residents will have to move
to more remote areas, where they will face even worse conditions. Many residents, unable to move their homes, will
likely face homelessness.
Mobile home parks originally became popular among laborers flocking to urban areas for war-related employment
during World War II, because they were not affected by wartime restrictions on certain types of construction. After the
war, mobile home producers, now known as the "manufactured housing industry," expanded into larger, factory-built,
site-specific housing. Today, the industry's most productive region is the south, with Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and
Florida leading production. Though some of these homes are shipped out of state, a large percentage of mobile
homeowners live in these states as well.
There are roughly 19 million Americans of various means living in manufactured housing today, but mobile
homeowners are still subject to social stigmas which developed shortly after World War II. Trailer parks, now largely
home to people with incomes below $20,000, are often perceived as homes for the destitute and disreputable. In recent
years, the manufactured housing industry and the federal government have made an effort to stem this stigma by
encouraging use of the terms "manufactured homes," and "manufactured home communities." This campaign seems to

have had little effect on the social standing of mobile home parks, and according to Janet Dermotty of Vermont's
Mobile Home Park Project, "Most of the people who live in the parks [still] say 'my trailer'."
Hidden Costs Assembly line construction keeps the cost of all types of manufactured housing down, but single-wide
"mobile" homes remain by far the most affordable category. They're not as cheap as they first appear, however. Mobile
homeowners generally have monthly rental fees for a homesite on top of their mortgages. Mortgage companies often
discriminate against mobile homeowners by demanding inflated interest rates, and retailers frequently qualify people
for mobile homeownership without fully explaining the range of expenses, such as water, sewage, and electrical costs,
as well as any fees the park owner may charge for certain appliances or pets. The cost of buying the home itself,
combined with the cost of renting the site, most often makes even mobile homes less than affordable without a subsidy.
And unlike stick-built homes, mobile homes don't appreciate in value, producing no equity for their owners.
Why would people buy mobile homes under these conditions? "It's still cheaper than everywhere else," says Dermotty.
Lack of Options Once a mobile home is purchased, residents are often subject to the whim of the landlord when it
comes to rent increases and park regulations. Park owners often supplement their standard rent increase with other
charges throughout the year, or enforce restrictive regulations that help them to cut costs. One park owner has
forbidden residents to remain outdoors after dark, so he won't have to install proper security lighting. Other
regulations, such as forbidding pizza delivery, seem more arbitrary, but can still create substantial inconveniences for
park residents. "People don't mind regulations if they're fair and reasonable," says Deborah Chapman, chair of the
National Foundation of Manufactured Home Owners. But too often, landlords implement regulations to cover up for
the lack of security or maintenance.
Residents have very little opportunity to contest these costs and regulations, because they frequently find themselves
left unprotected by state landlord/tenant legislation that only covers tenants who rent housing itself, not those who own
a home and rent land. Residents paying only lot rent usually fall under much weaker legislation.
Moving out is not always an option, either. To move, traditional renters simply have to move their possessions, but a
mobile home resident has to move an entire house. "We have to get over the fallacy that mobile homes are mobile,"
says Dermotty. "They're not."
Even if they can move, finding a place to go is tricky. While corporate owners make profits off their large share of the
nation's mobile home parks, the number of affordable parks is actually decreasing. Usually located on the outskirts of
towns and cities, mobile home parks tend to be on land that is attractive to developers of "big-box" discount
commercial centers. More and more park owners are selling to these developers, leaving displaced tenants with fewer
places to move their homes. What new parks there are tend to be pricey and focused on retirement and recreation.
Some owners will only allow new trailers, which can cost up to $50,000. Since mobile homes can't build equity,
current low-income homeowners are unlikely to be able to "trade-up" to these new models, further decreasing their
range of options. Also, despite the implementation of the Fair Housing Act, some park owners continue to discriminate
against children, limiting options for families.
Home and Park Safety Affordability and location are not the only issues facing mobile home owners. The unsafe
conditions in the Coachella Valley can be found across the country. According to Jan Breidenbach, of the Southern
California Association of Non-Profit Housing, mobile home parks are, at times, "nothing more than moveable slums."
Though HUD Code supposedly delineates the standards for the manufacturing process, including the installation of
plumbing, heating and electrical systems, many mobile home parks still have problems maintaining safe conditions.
Faulty wiring and wood stoves, most often found in older mobile homes, often contribute to fires. Furthermore, some
chemicals used in the production of mobile homes can be hazardous to asthmatics. While suitable warning labels are
required, they are often missing. But most safety hazards in mobile home parks are not due to problems with the
houses themselves, but rather to faulty systems in the park's infrastructure or faulty installation of the home at the park.
According to Chapman, 51 percent of mobile homes are improperly installed. Most often, the tie-down process, which
connects the home to its foundation, is carried out incorrectly, leaving the home unstable. It's often unclear whether
installation is the responsibility of the manufacturer, the retailer, or the park owner, so nobody is forced to shoulder the
blame. Safety problems do not end with installation. Mobile home parks effectively put landlords in the position of
local public works director, in charge of roads, sewers, water pipes, and electrical systems, seriously magnifying the
effect of an owner who neglects repairs. Park owners, like many landlords, are also known to cut corners when they do
make repairs. Dermotty recalls a landlord who installed an old oil drum in place of a septic tank.
One of the most well-known safety issues particular to mobile homes is their trouble resisting severe weather
situations, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and flooding. A recent study by FEMA's Building Performance Assessment
Team indicates that no mobile home can withstand even a medium-grade tornado. While Ted Wimpey, of the Vermont
Tenant's Association, suspects that one might expect similar results with a large percentage of the stick-built housing
stock, there are certainly factors that would make mobile homes especially susceptible. The frequent problems with
tie-down make mobile homes more likely to be carried away by high winds or flooding. Also, most mobile homes
have very little storage space, so many homeowners construct make-shift storage sheds outside. Not only can these
sheds not resist any strong storm, debris created by their destruction can damage the house itself. Finally, mobile home
parks tend to be located on the cheapest portion of the park owner's land, often an area prone to flooding, or generally

unprotected. When these disasters occur, mobile home owners are often left without a financial safety net. While
homeowner's insurance premiums are often as high for mobile homes as they are for stick built housing, mobile homes
aren't worth as much, and the payout for them is significantly less.
Sealing Up the Cracks Vermont, unlike most areas of the country, does provide some protections for mobile
homeowners, showing that being halfway between tenant and homeowner doesn't mean low-income residents have to
fall through the cracks. Vermont park owners wishing to raise the rent more than once annually must present
substantial justification and obtain the approval of at least 50 percent of the park residents, after which an outside
mediator is brought in to negotiate the amount. State regulations on park habitability outline necessary maintenance
procedures that both park owners and tenants must perform. Park owners making major repairs to park infrastructure
need a permit, preventing landlords from forfeiting safety in favor of profits.
Park owners in Vermont are also required to give residents a thirty day notification before selling the park. During this
period, the residents have the opportunity to either form a cooperative and purchase the land, or enlist the help of a
nonprofit to purchase the land for them. In either case the landlord is not allowed to force the tenants to compete with
any counter-offers. In order to encourage landlords to sell to tenants rather than developers, the state has offered tax
breaks to any landlord who sells a park to a nonprofit. If a landlord intends to close a park, the tenants must be given at
least one year's notice. Vermont's legislation is a good place for other states to start. Also needed are mobile home park
safety codes that address proper installation of homes, and adequate information on fair mortgage and insurance rates
for mobile home buyers so they don't fall prey to discriminatory practices. Those wanting to take the first step should
contact the National Foundation of Manufactured Home Owners, which has been working on these issues for over 30
years. The Foundation, a national, nonprofit volunteer organization, and a member of HUD's national partners in
homeownership, fights for protective legislation for manufactured homeowners, provides information to Federal
agencies regarding manufactured home standards, legislation, and technical issues, facilitates communication among
various tenant and state associations, and assists residents attempting to form associations.
They're Not Going Away For now, mobile homes continue to be an unpopular option for new low-income housing
developments. In the case of Coachella Valley, Riverside county resolved the lawsuits by agreeing to pay $16 million
dollars to build new stick-built housing for farm workers and low-income residents, rather than improve conditions in
the existing parks. But as long as mobile homes themselves continue to be cheaper to produce than stick-built houses,
they are likely to retain a place in the affordable housing spectrum. And as long as parks continue to house significant
numbers of low-income families, the conditions of mobile home parks and the rights of mobile homeowners need to be
on the radar screen of tenant activists and affordable housing advocates. Many of the fights are the same.
o the Editor: The July/August issue of Shelterforce featured credible though biased observations and opinions about
manufactured homes. (See article.) Journalistic balance suggests interviews with manufactured housing (MH) industry
spokespersons should have been included to compare with the tenant activists quoted.
Some corrections: Contemporary manufactured homes not only appreciate when sited on privately-owned homesites,
but can also do so in landlease communities under two stringent conditions: new homes are maintained in pristine
condition over time, and are sited in well-located and well-cared for MH communities, again, over time.
On the question of relocating a manufactured home, Rosenbloom misses a key solution to the stated problem:
amelioration of local regulatory barriers to all forms of affordable housing. That's where Shelterforce devotees should
be concentrating more attention, rather than browbeating businesspeople willing to risk capital developing, renovating,
and managing multifamily residential rental housing.
Rosenbloom writes, "Some park owners continue to discriminate against children..." For the record, former homesite
renters who've banded together to purchase their land and become a resident-owned community are the most
commonly guilty of this practice.
Faulty wiring and wood stoves and chemicals hazardous to asthmatics are as prevalent in old and new stick-built
homes as they are in older mobile homes. Be fair.
The following unsubstantiated statement defames all property owners/managers through guilt by association: "Park
owners, like many landlords, are also known to cut corners when they do make repairs." Certified Property Managers,
Accredited Community Managers, and a host of other property management training and certification programs are,
and have been, in effect for years to address just such conduct.
Which specific FEMA study states "no mobile home can withstand even a medium-grade tornado"? I'd like to know, as
a consultant to the MH Industry who studies every report available.
And this statement is generally, if not patently, false: "mobile home parks tend to be located on the cheapest portion of
the park owner's land."(emphasis added) Actually, properly entitled, appropriate raw land for MH community use is so
difficult to come by that when available, developers use every bit of it. So potentially valuable has this type of
development become that companies have been formed of late to option appropriate raw land, get it zoned properly,
and then market it to the highest bidder. Lastly, a far more comprehensive landlord-tenant program than Vermont's has
existed, for decades, in Florida, under Chapter 723. Florida MH community residents enjoy as many, if not more,
protections than just about anywhere else in the U.S. and Canada. Plus, the state is home to the nation's largest tenant
organization, the FMO, and has a healthy resident-owned community base.

While new mobile homes, "maintained in pristine condition," and located in sites which are "well-located and wellcared for," may appreciate in value, the fact remains that it's extremely difficult for a person of moderate means to
meet those conditions, which Mr. Allen himself acknowledges are "stringent." As for safety concerns, with the
decision to purchase a landlease community comes certain responsibilities to the tenants, including maintenance of a
safe, healthy environment. Many owners meet those responsibilities, it's true. But many don't. And focusing on "local
regulatory barriers" will not change the fact that some parks lack safety lighting or adequate sewage systems. FEMA's
Building Performance Assessment Team study of the 1999 Oklahoma and Kansas tornadoes can or requested at 1-800480-2520 (publication number FEMA-342 Item 9-1035). Mr. Allen is correct that the language "no mobile home can
withstand even a medium grade tornado" does not appear in the study; it was meant as a summation. The study does
state that mobile home codes are only designed for "extreme thunderstorm winds" and that "In general, manufactured
housing did not resist wind forces as well as conventional site-built detached single-family dwellings for inflow winds
of violent and strong tornadoes and vortex winds from all tornadoes. This primarily was because of inadequate
resistance to uplift and overturning provided by anchorage and tie-downs used in the foundations."
To the Editor: We were pleased to see Phil Rosenbloom's article. Protecting and improving mobile home parks has
been a priority in Vermont for several years. Mobile homes represent approximately 10 percent of all housing units in
Vermont and roughly 40 percent of them are located in mobile home parks.
Unfortunately, the article misinterpreted Vermont's lot rent increase mediation law. First, mobile home park residents
have the right to request mediation of an increase if increase is more than a percentage determined each year by the
Department - 3.3 percent in 2000. Vermont law does not allow more than one increase per year. Second, the owner
does not have to obtain pre-approval from the residents, but must provide justification if a majority of the park's
residents petition for mediation. There is no cap on the amount a park owner can propose for an increase or charge in
total. If a dispute over an increase is not resolved by mediation, the residents can sue the park owner in Superior Court
and let a judge determine whether or not the increase is "clearly excessive" as defined by law.
If a mobile home park owner raises the lot rent to recover the cost of a major capital improvement to the mobile home
park, a "Capital Improvement Surcharge" allows the owner to pass along the cost of any major repairs or replacements
to the residents, but the surcharge expires once the cost has been recouped and the lot rent must be reduced to its
previous level. This past spring, as a result of nearly two years of collaboration among five state agencies, Vermont
enacted further mobile home park legislation that promises to improve water and wastewater problems in its mobile
home parks. Two-thirds of the state's 267 mobile home parks were built before our major environmental, land use, and
mobile home park laws were enacted in the early 1970's. Those parks were grandfathered from the state's permitting
requirements and have avoided any state oversight concerning construction or repairs of water and septic systems.
Many of Vermont's mobile home parks were built on soils completely unsuitable for an on-site septic system, or in
dangerous flood zones. Under the new legislation - which has the support of residents' advocates and the Vermont
Manufactured Housing Association, which represents park owners - mobile home parks with failed water or
wastewater systems lose their grandfather status and fall under the jurisdiction of the Agency of Natural Resources.
Vermont has also committed millions of dollars in federal block grant and HOME funds, plus Vermont Housing and
Conservation Trust fund money, to thirty-three mobile home parks that have been purchased by nonprofit housing
agencies on behalf of the residents since 1988. Thank you for taking up the issues facing mobile home park residents.
Sincerely yours,
Financial literacy and low-income families
STORY I don't think there is any doubt that financial literacy matters more than before. The traditional paternalism of
society's major institutions, from business to government to education, has crumbled. Individuals need to learn more
about money and finance because they have more responsibility.
That said, I think there are two universes of financial literacy. One is for middle-class families and workers. Financial
literacy largely means understanding the basics of owning a home vs. renting, a fixed-rate mortgage compared to an
adjustable-rate mortgage, asset allocation and diversification with retirement savings, the difference between term and
whole life insurance, a Roth IRA, a traditional IRA, a 529 college savings plan and so on.
Financial literacy for low-income families is very different: I have some thoughts about financial literacy for lowincome families in a commentary for Marketplace Money. Low-income families don't have money to waste. Financial
literacy is all about reducing that cost. Think debt, precautionary savings, and most importantly, public benefits.
Here are some additional resources:
What determines the Luce Foundations targets for payout and new grants? Adhering to the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) requirements, the Luce Foundation each year distributes five percent of the value of its assets. Some
foundations and endowments use three-year or twelve-quarter rolling averages of asset-valuation to determine the level
of their distribution. For the past eight years, the Luce Foundation has used a current-year formula, basing its payout
on the average of the asset-valuation for the 12 months of the calendar year. As the IRS allows, the Luce Foundation
counts administrative expenses toward the payout requirement, but maintains a voluntary cap of 15 percent on those
expenditures. Most grants are paid on a multi-year basis. Each fall, the Luce Foundations board tallies its
commitments for the coming year, estimates the average asset-valuation, and then sets targets for the approval of new

grants. During the year, those targets are reviewed and modified if market conditions change.
Can you say more about how the Luce Foundation makes decisions about new grants? Prospective grantees
often begin the process with an email or phone call to the director of the appropriate program. Before inviting a full
proposal, the program director usually asks for a brief inquiry-letter, outlining the organizations project and goals.
This allows the program director to assess whether the proposed activity is a good fit for the Foundations mission and
the programs priorities, and also whether the needed funding is within the Foundations capacity. Further conversation
and evaluation follow during the development of a proposal. When the proposal and all supporting materials have been
submitted, the program director makes a recommendation first to the president and then to the board of directors,
which takes action on all grants larger than $50,000. In competitive programs (like the American Art programs annual
exhibition grants), the program directors are assisted by panels of outside experts. In the Clare Boothe Luce program,
decisions about new grants are made by a selection committee jointly appointed by the Luce and Heritage foundations,
rather than by the Luce Foundations board. For grants under $50,000, the president approves new awards upon the
program
directors
recommendation
and
reports
the
approval
to
the
board
chair.
What areas are not supported by the foundation? The Luce Foundation does not directly support health care,
medical projects, disaster relief or international development projects, or the performing arts.
The Starr Foundation is a major funder of the Campaign's work with homeless veterans. Recently, they answered our
questions about shared values and why they support our work.
Tell us about your organization and its mission. The Starr Foundation has made $3 billion in grants since 1955, in a
broad range of areas including human needs, education, medicine and healthcare, public policy and culture. In the
human needs area, we have supported affordable housing, food banks and soup kitchens, educational programs for
disadvantaged children, many programs for the elderly, and primary care clinics in underserved communities.
What do you do for the Campaign? Our grant focuses on the need for housing for veterans of our armed forces.
Why has your organization chosen to support the Campaigns work? In this particular instance, we are concerned
about veterans returning from active service who are finding it difficult to live a decent life in the United States. We
saw this after Vietnam, we are seeing this now after Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why do you believe ending homelessness is possible? It is possible, but very difficult, because right now America
lacks the political will and discipline to craft sensible long-term solutions to problems like homelessness. Even in New
York, where we have had an innovative, pragmatic, and forward-looking mayor for many years, it has been a tough
process. We know, for example, that supportive housing for the chronically homeless population that is mentally
ill/chemically addicted would be a very cost-effective solution for society as a whole. We know that children will do
better in school if they have a clean, safe place to live. We cant seem to translate that knowledge into consistent,
sensible action. But it isnt just housingpolitical paralysis is hindering the country in every area.
Everyone on the Campaign team has pledged to do something silly and fun to celebrate when the Campaign
reaches 100,000. What will you/your team do? For the record, we are never silly.
The Pay-for-Performance Approach to Reducing Recidivism The early success of a Pennsylvania program for
parolees shows the potential for one form of privatization. There's no doubt that privatization can save money and
provide other benefits. But it can just as easily turn into a boondoggle. If done right, pay-for-performance contracts can
help governments end up in the former category. Since 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has been
paying private operators of community corrections centers -- halfway houses that help parolees transition back into
society -- based on the centers' performance at reducing recidivism. To achieve their goals, contractors provide
services such as cognitive behavioral therapy, substance abuse counseling and educational/vocational programming.
RELATED The Myth That Privatization Is Always the Solution ; Go to Jail, Go to School ; Protecting Taxpayers
When a Privatization Partner Goes Bust; An Intriguing New Approach to Funding Social Programs
Before the pay-for-performance contracts were adopted, 60 percent of the parolees in halfway houses were being rearrested. After two years of decreases, that number is down by about half. During the last fiscal year, the decline in
recidivism prevented an estimated 122 Pennsylvania residents from becoming crime victims, according to state
Corrections Secretary John Wetzel. The private halfway houses that Pennsylvania contracts with can receive an
incentive bonus depending on their success at reducing recidivism, while those that see recidivism increase for two
consecutive years are subject to having their contracts terminated. For the fiscal year that recently ended, six of the 42
centers received an incentive bonus equal to 1 percent of the client per-diem rate, and one was placed on warning
status for exceeding the baseline recidivism level.
Pennsylvania's initial success in dealing with recidivism is solid evidence that performance contracts are more likely to
succeed than traditional privatization contracts because they focus both government officials and contractors on
outcomes. But just using performance contracts hardly ensures success. To work, the desired results must be
quantifiable and government must choose the right metrics. And as always with government contracting, the devil can
be in the details. Two problems have often resulted in privatization deals going south for taxpayers. One is when
private contractors are more sophisticated than the government officials they contract with, resulting in contract terms
that can cause unforeseen difficulties. The second comes when state and local governments resort to privatization only
as a last resort, after a problem has gotten so bad that they see no other option. This leaves the public sector with little

leverage in negotiations. If it's also an area in which public officials have little experience, there can be a mismatch in
terms of both subject matter knowledge and negotiating leverage. While performance contracting can increase the
likelihood of privatization delivering for taxpayers, success is never automatic. As with all forms of privatization,
public officials must perform due diligence to ensure that the service in question is appropriate for outsourcing and that
the contract is written to supply the desired outcomes.
Why getting good data is really hardWe just completed the baseline survey for one of the projects Im working on
in Cagayan de Oro, the Philippines. Consequently, Ive been spending most of my time the last few weeks thinking
about how to get good data. Getting the right information might seem simple; figure out what you want to know about
people and then ask them. However, in practice getting good data proves much more difficult.
First, even if you know what you want to know, figuring out how to actually ask the right questions remains very
difficult. Were usually doing surveys at peoples houses and we have limited time (both because of surveyor costs and
because people wont complete an excessively long survey) and consequently we often can only devote a few minutes
to each topic. For example, for the Informative Advertising and Spillovers project we wanted a basic measure of
financial literacy. However, we really only had space for 3 or 4 questions on financial literacy. Clearly, we cannot
measure all aspects of financial literacy well with only 3 questions. Therefore we had to carefully figure out what
exact financial knowledge or skills we wanted to test and calibrate our questions to ask exactly those skills or items.
Second, getting people to agree to complete a survey is not always easy; people are busy and sometimes distrust the
motives of people asking them questions. In Cagayan de Oro, the residents of one neighborhood were extremely
hesitant to answer our questions because they had a bad experience with an NGO that had previously surveyed the
area. That NGO had not gotten the requisite approval from the local authorities and people had not been happy with
what they had done (Im still not clear on the exact reasons for this unhappiness). We had the appropriate permissions
from the authorities, but I had not provided each surveyor with a signed copy of the approval, and consequently the
surveyors had no hard proof that we were there legitimately.
Finally, survey conditions can make obtaining accurate answers difficult. For the Informative Advertising and
Spillovers project we have some math questions designed as a very rough measure of cognitive ability. To my
surprise, many people enjoy these questions. However, they enjoy them so much that often times peoples neighbors
or family members will crowd around us while doing the survey and try to help with the math questions. We
appreciate the enthusiasm, but we want to know whether the person were talking to can answer the questions, not if
they have a neighbor who can do so.
Making sure we get good data is not the most glamorous part of being a Project Associate; it involves relentlessly
making sure that every question is clear both to you, the surveyors and the respondents as well as making sure that
every survey is properly recorded and stored. However, I really think its one of the most important parts of my job. In
order to figure out what works and what doesnt we need some good data first.
Evaluating the Efficacy of School Based Financial Education Programs Could financial literacy training for
children lay a foundation for good financial decisions and a better quality of life in adulthood? If so, what type of
training works best? In this study, IPA partnered with Aflatoun, a Dutch non-governmental organization, to evaluate
the impact of two forms of financial education on primary school children across Ghana.
Policy Issue Research on financial knowledge and behavior indicates that individuals in both developed and
developing countries around the world lack adequate knowledge to make informed financial decisions. In response to
evidence that financial literacy is correlated with well-being, many service providers, donors, and policymakers have
begun including financial training and business education as part of their broader anti-poverty strategies. Intuitively,
financial education provides useful tools to people of all ages, yet empirical evidence for this impact is meager and
often mixed. This project tests two financial education curricula for primary school students. Specifically, it measures
the impact of financial education on student behavior attitudes, and outcomes.
Context of the Evaluation Saving and finances are part of daily life for many youth, yet traditional school curricula
often overlook the specific issues and challenges students encounter with money. This curricular gap represents a
missed opportunity for students and teachers. Aflatoun, a Dutch non-governmental organization providing social and
financial education to 540,000 children in 33 countries, operates a voluntary after school club in Ghana for primary
and junior high schools. Aflatoun uses a uniquely designed social and financial education curriculum to improve
childrens saving habits as well as financial attitudes and self-esteem. Aflatouns training on handling money, saving
on a regular basis, and spending responsibly aims to teach children, at a young age, lessons and behaviors that they
will carry with them throughout their lives.
Aflatoun operates in collaboration with local partners to implement its programs. Two project partners in Ghana - the
Women and Development Project (WADEP) and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) - trained
instructors and managed program implementation. SNV Ghana worked with three other implementing partners in two
regions to train teachers and monitor the implementation of clubs: Berea Social Foundation (Western Region), Support
for Community Mobilization Projects and Programs (Western Region), and Ask Mama Development Organization
(Greater Accra Region).

Details of the Intervention The study included 5,000 primary school students aged 9 - 14 in 135 public schools in
semi-urban and rural Ghana, including 30 schools in Greater Accra, 60 in Volta, and 45 in Western District. One-third
of the schools in each region were randomly assigned to each of three different groups: the Aflatoun program, Honest
Money Box (HMB) intervention, or a comparison group without treatment.
The Aflatoun curriculum includes lessons about planning, budgeting, saving, proper spending, as well as self-esteem
building exercises. It uses songs, games, and worksheets, which put children at the center of the learning process.
Aflatoun also adapts its messages and activities to the context of the countries in which it operates, focusing on
cultural heritage and community in order to foster a collective sense of empowerment among participant children. The
HMB intervention, in contrast, is solely focused on financial education and is designed to provide a comparison for
Aflatouns unique social and attitudinal curriculum. IPA developed the HMB intervention as a group savings scheme
with a financial literacy curriculum. Some of the topics covered in the curriculum include: What is Money?, Saving
and Spending, Planning and Budgeting, and Entrepreneurship, as well as lessons in how to use the Money Box, a
lockbox that stores group savings.
To implement the two programs, local partner organizations trained approximately 200 teachers (two teachers in each
selected school). Teachers instructed two multi-grade clubs, with an average of 54 students per club, and delivered the
assigned curriculum, in addition to providing a secure storage space for the money saved, generally in the teachers
locked office. Clubs met, on average, once a week after school at a time decided by the members. Students saved
money from their pocket change and recorded transactions on individual passbooks. IPA and partner organizations
monitored the teachers to ensure that implementation met pre-determined standards. The evaluation was conducted
over the course of one school year. Between 20 and 40 children per school were chosen to be surveyed.. The baseline
survey was conducted in September 2010 and the endline in August 2011. The surveys collected data on financial
well-being of students and their families, cognitive function, and perspectives on savings and time and risk preference.
The endline survey captured the same information as the baseline, in addition to a financial education endline
assessmentand a psychosocial module to understand students outlooks and levels of self-control.
Child and Youth Savings
Providing access to formal financial services and a secure means of saving, as well as encouraging good financial
practices through financial education, are widely considered effective ways to promote financial inclusion. Children
and youth may be a sensible target audience for such interventions, especially if healthy financial habits that are
learned at a young age benefit individuals for the rest of their lives.
In three recent studies by IPA, researchers measured the impacts of offering savings accounts and delivering financial
education to children and youth in Ghana and Uganda. These studies tested the effectiveness of different combinations
of savings account designs and financial education or information campaigns.
In all three evaluations, researchers observed positive short-term results from one or more of the tested interventions
on savings behavior, savings attitudes, and income. Key results include the finding that strict restrictions on how
savings can be spent may deter deposits; that encouraging children to save without providing social education may
encourage them to work more at a young age; and that access to savings accounts and financial education may
improve savings and earned income when offered together, but similar increases may be possible even when they are
offered individually.
The Evidence Smoothing the Cost of Education: Primary School Saving Students in Uganda who received a
school-based savings program saved more when their savings were returned in cash, which they could spend as they
wished, rather than in the form of a voucher, which had to be used to purchase school supplies. This suggests that a
tighter restriction on expenditures may have deterred students from saving. Furthermore, students who received the
cash payout and whose parents were offered an outreach program about how they could support their children's
education bought more school supplies and had higher overall test scores compared to the comparison group. This
supports the hypothesis that, though the parent outreach program did not impact how much students saved, it may have
affected how the students spent their cash savings.
School-Based Saving and Social and Financial Education for Children Students in Ghana who received either
financial education alone or a combination of financial and social education scored higher on a savings behavior index
than students who received neither program. However, no effect on total savings was observed, so students may simply
have shifted existing savings into school, or the measure of total savings may have been inaccurate. Students who
received financial education alone worked more, though no impact was observed on their school attendance (although
the difference between these two estimates is not statistically significant). The combined curriculum had no impact on
labor outcomes.
Financial Education and Savings for Youth Church youth clubs in Uganda who were offered financial education,
savings accounts, or a combination of the two reported similar improvements in total savings and earned income
regardless of which intervention they received. This suggests that financial education and access to savings may have
been substitute methods to generate higher savings and income, but that they did not have any additive effect when
offered together. The groups receiving financial educationeither alone or in combination with a savings account
had higher financial knowledge and higher account savings compared with those who received only a savings account.

Can the poor pull themselves out of poverty? By Diane Brady, June 25, 2014, Bloomberg Businessweek: Amid all
the debate over povertys causes and cures right now, little focus has been on what the poor can do to help themselves.
Theyre more often cast as the victims of concentrated wealth, misguided policies, and a laissez-faire capitalist system
thats created more crises and fewer opportunities to succeed. As President Barack Obama noted on June 23 at the
White House Summit on Working Families: There are a whole lot of people who are working harder than ever and
cant seem to get ahead. When it comes to such issues as trade and taxation, workers obviously dont hold much sway.
Almost half of Americans now attribute poverty to factors other than individual initiative, according to a recent NBC
News/Wall Street Journal poll. In 1995, less than a third felt that way. Yet many Americans continue to move into
higher income brackets, despite stagnant wages and job growth. They pay for cars, cell phones, and college without
getting crippled by credit card debt. Theyre able to buy homes and save for retirement. To John Hope Bryant, an
entrepreneur and founder of the nonprofit Operation HOPE. . . Helping kids get in school and learn while there. Low
school attendance, absent or overwhelmed teachers, and underperforming schools are on-going impediments to
educational attainment for the poor around the world. While many more children are in school than a decade ago, there
are still58 million children out of school, and even when these kids are in school and complete a few years of
education, they are often still unable to read, write, and do basic math. The Education Program Area at Innovations for
Poverty Action works to rigorously evaluate programs that aim to improve education outcomes, increase access to and
quality of early childhood education, and improve school attendance.
Education is crucial to improving outcomes for the poor. Yet billions of dollars are spent each year around the world
with the aim of improving education, with little evidence that these programs have an impact on our ultimate goal:
improving kids ability to read, write, and become productive members of society. The Education Program Area at
Innovations for Poverty Action aims to solve this gap in evidence of what works for education and to go a step further
to ensure that this evidence is used by local decision-makers. In partnership with academic leaders in the field, our
work has produced evidence on how to keep kids in school, such as through school-based deworming or sharing
information on the benefits of schooling, and on how to make sure kids learn while there, such as in our teacher
community assistant initiative in Ghana and through incentives, such as merit scholarships for students.