X PRIZE for efficient cookstoves??

Inefficient cookstoves are a major problem for the poor in the developing world. The soot has serious implications on health and poverty; and population growth, and rising energy costs leave the poor with no choice but to forage for their fuel resulting in environmental degradation, . (Picture source: columbia.edu)

One of the organizations I consulted for a couple of years ago, called the X PRIZE Foundation, where I helped develop the Global Development vertical has moved forward with a partnership with IIT Delhi and the Government of India to develop and launch a prize for developing efficient cookstoves.

Approximately 70% of Indian households -- more than 160 million households, comprising about 770 million people – are estimated to depend on simple but polluting cookstoves that burn solid fuel, mainly wood or coal. It also is estimated that approximately 400,000 to 550,000 people – primarily women and children – die of the resulting indoor air pollution each year in the country. This makes the cookstoves problem in India and the potential market for cleaner cookstoves amongst the largest in the world.

The cookstoves competition falls under the X PRIZE Foundation’s Education & Global Development prize group, which tackles major challenges in areas such as learning, hunger, health and water. Addressing the grand challenges of our time, the X PRIZE Foundation generates innovation through incentivized competition. Through the strategic design of ground-breaking competitions with significant, multi-million dollar prize purses, X PRIZE spurs collaboration among the world’s most brilliant minds to tackle the most pressing issues and create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. More here.

Looks pretty interesting and exciting. Definitely a worthy issue. More about the cookstove problem is here and here.

Doing what is right

How often have you seen this picture in the media?? Look at their boards. Not what you expected??

One of my fundamental beliefs in the world of aid and global development and peace and unity is that change will NOT happen unless it comes from within (this applies to people on a personal level too). Indians need to take responsibility for their own and help develop their country; Africans need to do the same with Africa; and Americans need to do the same with America. Don't like what's going on in your community?? Then find a way to fix it!

Its why I am so proud of the Indian muslims for making a silent, public statement about their religion. During the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai when several innocent people were slaughtered by terrorists who were doing their "jihad" in the name of Islam, the Indian muslim community vocally supported the innocent victims and stood behind their core religious values of tolerance and love. For anyone who is angry with Islam, go read the Holy Koran. There are pages and pages about love and peace and unity, yet the terrorists and the media never focus on them. The real muslims need to come out and show the world what their religion is really about.

Now their voices are even louder, and I want to thank Tom Friedman of the NYTimes for highlighting this story. To date, none of these so-called "martyrs" of this terrorist plot have been afforded a proper burial.

All nine are still in the morgue because the leadership of India's Muslim community has called them by their real name - "murderers" not "martyrs" - and is refusing to allow them to be buried in the main Muslim cemetery of Mumbai, the 7.5-acre Bada Kabrastan graveyard, run by the Muslim Jama Masjid Trust.

"People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim," Hanif Nalkhande, a spokesman for the trust, told The Times of London. Eventually, one assumes, they will have to be buried, but the Mumbai Muslims remain defiant.

"Indian Muslims are proud of being both Indian and Muslim, and the Mumbai terrorism was a war against both India and Islam," explained M.J. Akbar, the Indian-Muslim editor of Covert, an Indian investigative journal. "Terrorism has no place in Islamic doctrine. The Koranic term for the killing of innocents is 'fasad.' Terrorists are fasadis, not jihadis. In a beautiful verse, the Koran says that the killing of an innocent is akin to slaying the whole community. Since the ... terrorists were neither Indian nor true Muslims, they had no right to an Islamic burial in an Indian Muslim cemetery."

I'm proud of the Indian muslims, particularly the Mumbai muslim community, for doing what is right. It is quite often, very hard to do what is right. Doing this, has made the Indian muslims vulnerable to threats and every kind of low-level mediocrity that their lesser "brothers" will use against them; and more so, in a country where they are a significant minority. But they've stood up and stood loud. And as a human being, that makes me proud!

Links I liked

Here are my favorite links from the week:

1. They are digitizing the soils across Africa which I thought was absolutely fascinating, and a project with tremendous potential for agro-development. Truly gargantuan, but important!

2. The Places We Live is a really well-done site (accompanies the book) about slum life around the world. Read/view and be moved!

3. Ranking Rich Countries in the World and their giving. This was pre-Obama, remember!

4. The Destiny of Girls, an article in the Washington Post about the inequality of women in India.

5. Solvatten has been making waves in the blogosphere. What do you think??

$100 Incubator

An IDDS participant works hard on building the incubator. (photo courtesy: IDDS blog)

If you are a regular reader of NEXT BILLION or any of the other big global development blogs, you might have come across the amazing press generated by MIT whiz, Amy Smith's, worldchanging IDDS (International Development and Design Summit). One of the many things that have come out of the IDDS Summit and her classes is the $100 incubator.

Recently NPR did an interview profiling the incubator and the team behind it. check it out here:
http://www.here-now.org/shows/2008/08/20080812_5.asp

Interesting aid Tweets

A couple of links I liked:

1. A sweet, yet sad look at how resourceful street children carve out a life in India. I often wonder how well these kids would do if they were adopted and looked after in some circumstance. Imagine if every middle class family took on one of these kids, paid them to do chores, sponsored their education, and gave them a place to sleep and eat, what a different world India would be!

2. A has done an excellent two-part write-up on the differences between the work/impact of Relief and Development Aid agencies. It gives a fairly clear idea of the strengths and weaknesses of this process, as well as outlines holes and inefficiencies. I see good dialogue happening from this topic.

3. Another potentially great debate will be stimulated by this post about How True is your Altruism? The author muses about altruistic fatigue...do people get tired of giving? and how genuine are their feelings of giving? Do political affiliations, for example play a role?

4. Manuel Borego blogs about stimulating BoP markets in disaster areas as a means to Relief. I think its easier said than done. BoPs are the first hit in disaster zones; they worry first about survival, and coping with the tragedies in their lives. Stimulating a market that has had its coping mechanisms ripped apart takes time and dedication, which relief organizations don't foray into. Essentially, great idea...but not so practical.

5. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has put out a great report on Women and Entrepreneurship. Turns out that women entrepreneurs significantly contribute to economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. It also says that women with strong social networks are more successful...this is not surprising considering that word-of-mouth plays a significant role in market consumption. Finally, all those neighborly housecalls and gossip have paid off well :-)

The White People's Guide to Development (TWPGtD) #5

Part 5 from guest blogger Victoria. Again, to jog your memory, here are the first four TWPGtDs:

1. Remember that old saying, "If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?: Practice tact in your speech.

2. Discern what [behaviors, superstitions, objects] hold special significance and is sacred to the locals, and act accordingly. Discriminate more, be discerning. Practice tact in your behavior.

3. Learn the pace of time in that culture. Quit being so up-tight. Take a chill pill.

4. Socialism and Sharing. Your kindergarten lessons will come in handy...SHARE everything!

And now...

#5 The Rigidity of Truth; The Role of Exaggeration and Story-Telling.


Take a lesson from the Pope! :-) (source: cartoonstock.com)

The white liberals who jump into development and NGO work tend to be terrible at the cadence of poetry, arts and story telling, which is so integral to traditional cultures and the feeling of belonging to a closer more intimate unit. Maybe it comes from the practice of sitting around a bonfire and listening to revered grandparents, but it's something lost in modernity these days. Sometimes details will be exaggerated for comedic effect, or at least to keep the audience rapt attentively. Most of the time, it doesn't do any harm, but puritanical and record-keeping whites always tend to spoil the fun by fact-checking and causing the story-teller considerable humiliation by holding him/her accountable to his/her version of the event.

If you are serious about going into the field, you should try to tell something about your family without jumping on the "lies" of the stories of locals. Practice discretion and know when to keep your mouth shut. This isn't a Western courtroom, and exaggerations and inconsistencies are to be expected. And in certain cultures it's actually self-absorbed to not add in a light-hearted personal anecdote of your own. It isn't that you're incompetent, it's just that you tend to see revelations as inappropriate intimacy, you tend to jump into debates and cross examinations, which isn't what conversation is about. Flawless logic has its role sometimes, but for so many cultures it must be tempered with parables from the holy script, or passages from respected fables. Oh, and if they make a joke at your expense, learn to take a joke...

The White People's Guide to Development #4

Part 4 of guest blogger Victoria's series. Just to jog your memories, here're points 1-3:

1. Remember that old saying, "If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?: Practice tact in your speech.
2. Discern what [behaviors, superstitions, objects] hold special significance and is sacred to the locals, and act accordingly. Discriminate more, be discerning. Practice tact in your actions.
3. Learn the pace of time in that culture. Quit being so up-tight.
   

And now...

#4 Socialism and Sharing: Your things are the community's things


Learn from the little guy...share!! (photo credit: Melanga)

Don't panic, I'm not talking about communism. Traditional cultures mean big families, and extended relatives, half-cousins and great nieces and nephews. The impoverished community you spend time with is likely going to remain very medieval in their beliefs, and they might expect you, the rich visitor, to share everything you have. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Sharing food. Sharing water. Sharing your pocket knife and compass, and your iPod.

In some communities, everybody is supposed to be equal. The flaunting of better things---particularly the REI premium goods and the waterproof map---is a source of resentment. Better to leave your best stuff at home unless you are prepared to pass it around to everyone. To those who believe in closing their purse strings after they've given what they've judged to be enough, working with communal-minded people can be frustrating. After all, if you don't fork up the best things you've got and you're supposed to be the person who has had the means, you violate a code of honor and sense of brotherhood that is meant to deem you a good member of the community. Best leave the nicer things at home, and prepare to donate and write off your "losses".