When i organized messed up information in my previous laptop the other day,
I found an application essay for HPAIR, an international conference I joined in Aug.
It was about International Development.
I applied for the conference in March, so it's already been 9 months.
Reading the essay reminded me of the old days when I just came to Seattle
and at the same time gave me a thought of how my perspectives has changed during this 9 months in the US.
Through all of the experiences I had here, such as , many encounters with social business/entrepreneurs, internship at iLEAP, kinda NGO consulting experience in Kenya, etc...
I got new...not new but more matured glasses to look at this world in a different way, which enables me to picture totally different world when I face the same idea, problem, and situation.
I am happy to re-feel this by finding the essay.
The other day, I was lucky enough to have a meeting with a developing consultant, who had been working for Gate's Foundation.
It was def great opportunity all the more for the fact I hadn't had many opportunities of talking those who have hands-on experiences in this field.
" It all comes down to humaneness even if technological support is provided.
From this perspective, the value Education can add in this field is significant."
Anyway, this essay has a lot to be sophisticated from my current eyes even if it was accepted.
Question was:
Select your first choice panel topic from the drop-down list.
(I chose "International Development")
What aspects of this panel topic specifically interest you and why? Please elaborate on any relevant academic, work, and/or personal experiences that testify to your ability to contribute substantively to the panel.(Limit: 5000 characters)
What I am most interested in is how each sector of international development can cooperate and realize efficient development. Through the experiences of several international volunteer work camps, I felt a necessity of cooperation of three sectors: NGOs, companies, and govt. When we think about the way of international development, structurally there are two important views: horizontal connection and vertical connection.
There are so many factors for development such as education, employment, infrastructure, and medical care, and these are tightly connected with each other. This is the horizontal connection. HIV problem in developing countries, for example, needs medical care and technology enough to cover all of the patients, but also needs better education on how HIV spoils children, how they can prevent HIV, and other recognitions about HIV. Here we need to improve both factors at the same time. Improvement of one segment has little impact on the matter. Bottom up of all of the factors is required in the field of development. At this point, I think that many NGOs contact with other fields of NGOs or one expands their field over some factors. An organization which I took part in in India also provided various kind of support with children. While we taught them English, math, and about HIV during the work camp, we promoted the infrastructure of the small institution where children study.
Then, how about vertical connection? In my opinion, this is what is now needed in the field of international development. Here, vertical connection means corporations among three important sectors of international development: NGOs, companies, and govt., and each sector has each capability.
NGOs stand on the closest place to local people. Most of the NGOs are always besides local people. They try to find the solution and change the situation for local people and sometimes with them. Therefore, they are of advantage about connection with local communities compared to other sectors. When we think about international development, we have to know that there are variety of cases in each country, each area, and each people. That is why each NGOs acts for specific area. This fact shows the importance of NGOs because other two sectors cannot specify narrow area.
Companies, the second sector, are basically involved in international development in the demand-supply structure. Some of them contribute somewhat to international development as CSR, but I think that it is non-essential and omissible here. Global companies were not so much interested in the market of developing counties in the past. Since the end of 90’s, however, noticing the future possibility of the market, they gradually forged ahead to developing countries and started BOP business. BOP business is a business which targets to low-income population (Bottom of the Pyramid). Companies can contribute to an amelioration of their standard of living by providing people in developing countries with products which suit their lives. For example, P&G(U.S) developed, as a part of Children’s Safe Drinking Water（CSDW）program, a purification powder which clean water, PUR(get rid of 99% of virus and bacteria, by P&G ), and enable people to get safe water easily in more than 40 countries.
Government, the third sector, can contribute to development in terms of systems, not only infrastructures, finance, and other bases. Some problems developing countries hold are caused of insufficient systems. It is said that in Cambodia highly capable teachers go overseas looking for a better-income job because salaries of public official are low. Therefore the improvement of their salaries prevents the loss of competent teacher, and this is the base of well-developed education system. By this means, by developing the systems, governments make the better bases of each factor of development. This should be done with the cooperation of other countries government of course.
These three sectors have each advantage and disadvantage. For instance, NGOs are familiar with the demand of local people, but they do not have business experience or skills. Therefore, what I am saying is if the knowledge about demands of local people and business know-how are combined, better development can be achieved. This is vertical connection I said above. PUR by P&G is also in this case. One of the reasons of the success of PUR is low cost of distribution and promotion. By cooperating with local NGOs and international institute, P&G achieved this and succeed in spreading PUR even to the lowest-income people. I think this case is great success, however this kind of cooperation is still few, in other words, vertical connection is not enough. I would like to participate substantively in the panel and discuss international development from this point of view.
