Impact of Volunteer Organizations - América Solidaria (Fall 2013)

Client Profile

América Solidaria aims to promote effective volunteer engagement among the countries of the Americas. The main objective of the organization is to promote regional and multilateral development between the different countries of the continent. América Solidaria aims to accomplish this through volunteer networks of young professionals who work with a sense of professionalism and social awareness to promote social integration and solidarity in the countries where they have been placed.  Founded in Chile, América Solidaria now works throughout South America and the Caribbean and would like to extend the scope of its work to include the United States.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with América Solidaria

Definition of Problem

Today there are volunteers coming from five different countries, but there is no consistent application, selection or support system across countries. This is an issue that needs to be addressed and remedied. Considering the first report and analysis by students of the “Development Advisory Teams” (spring 2013), America Solidaria would like to continue to deepen the analysis and the design of their volunteer programs, comparing their work with similar initiatives in the United States, especially as it relates to the application process, screening, selection and support Specifically, America Solidaria are interested in the following areas of analysis:

A. Models and Systems for Volunteer Nominations: A review of the application processes of organizations similar to American Solidaria (on timing of placement, phasing, duration, required documentation etc.) and tools used and how these tools allow them to streamline application processes.

B. Selection Process and Evaluation of Volunteers: Review of different models of selection of volunteers, stages, selection criteria and indicators of successful selection that includes looking at the impact that these volunteers make.

C. Volunteers Accompaniment Processes: Finally a review of the processes accompanying the volunteers once they start their work in their respective destinations.

Initial Steps and Options

América Solidaria would like a team of students to consider what other similar organizations have done when facing these challenges of identification, selection, placement, and measuring impact of their volunteers.  Organizations of particular interest include:

• Peace Corps
• Atlas Corps
• Global Health Corps
• Jesuit Volunteer Corps

Students on this DAT project will also work together with computer science students from Notre Dame engineering Prof. Raul Santelices’ class on some more technical aspects of building a software system for recruitment and selection of volunteers.  Many of the materials are in Spanish, so it would be helpful if some team members have a knowledge of Spanish.

Recommendation

Environmental Sustainability - Program on Conservation Innovation (Fall 2013)

Client Profile

The mission of the Harvard Forest Program on Conservation Innovation (PCI) is to build knowledge about highly effective conservation science, education, governance, protection, and stewardship practices and to communicate that knowledge to conservation practitioners, decision makers, and citizens in the United States as well as across the globe.

The PCI has five overarching goals:

1. to conduct research that informs advanced conservation practice and focuses attention on the outstanding innovation in the field
2. to educate present-day and future conservation practitioners and involved citizenry regarding emerging approaches to conserving land, water, and biodiversity
3. to award and recognize exemplary conservation initiatives
4. to convene focused leadership dialogues on critical conservation challenges and inventive solutions commensurate with those challenges, and
5. to broadly communicate with a global audience regarding important conservation innovations that may be commensurate with the complex challenges of our day.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with Program on Conversation Innovation

Definition of Problem

There are many opportunities for renewable energy (especially solar and wind) in Chile’s northern region just beginning to be explored.  Developing new power sources, of course, will also have an impact on the environment.  However, there is little analysis about the opportunities and trade-offs in sustainable energy development and its impact on the environment. In both the conservation and energy areas, there are increasing networks between the Chile and the US that lead to sharing the experience and expertise. Chile could serve as a model for alternative energy development, including in its energy siting regulations and the successful integration of biodiversity offsets on sites in which biodiversity habitat is compromised or damaged. (Explore how to use experience elsewhere to influence siting on energy sites so as to mitigate impact on the environment.)

Initial Steps and Options

• Explore energy and mitigation policies now in place, as well as the potential for policies or pilot projects which might be developed in Chile with representatives of the private sector, the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector, the public sector, and the academic sector.
• Explore international precedents for addressing such issues, including the emergence of renewable energy siting and mitigation policies at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (e.g., Kit Muller, Director of Strategic Planning, US Bureau of Land Management) (see, for example: http://blmsolar.anl.gov/; see also:http://solareis.anl.gov/news/index.cfm#solarprogram).
• Explore financial analyst assessments of the potential for renewable energy developments in Chile (for example, see reports of Deutsche Bank analysis that the photovoltaic market in Chile is at or near “grid parity” with other sources of electric power at http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/deutsche-sees-chile-as-first-subsidy-free-big-solar-market-79342)
• Explore the potential of photovoltaic and water desalinization technologies now in early development stages at MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to transform the economies of arid regions such as northern Chile (for example, see information on the relevant articles at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/how-to-get-fresh-water-out-of-thin-air-0830.html and at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/thinner-solar-panels-0626.html.
• It is important that at least some members of the group speak Spanish.

Recommendation

Digital Financial Services - BRAC (Fall 2013)

Client Profile

BRAC is one of the largest development organizations in the world, with over 100,000 employees worldwide. It strives to alleviate poverty through empowerment and creating opportunities for the poor. BRAC works on many different fronts in order to combat issues of poverty: focusing on empowerment of women and farmers, grassroots organization, health, education, inclusive financial services, and self-sustainment. The organization began as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) in 1972 to provide relief and rehabilitation following the end of Bangladesh’s War of Liberation. Over the last decade, the organization has extended its work beyond Bangladesh to 11 additional countries. The main values of the organization are innovation, integrity, inclusion and effectiveness.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with BRAC

Definition of Problem

In developing countries across the world, digital financial service platforms (i.e. provision of some mix of financial and payment services delivered and managed using mobile or web technologies) have emerged as an important enabler in providing financial access to low-income groups by offering convenient and secure transactions across geographies. BRAC’s development programs, serving approximately 110 million clients across Bangladesh, engage in a large amount of financial transactions between the organization and its clients.  Building these digital service platforms into delivery models could thus have many long-term, positive benefits for BRAC. For an organization operating at its scale, cashless transactions could also lead to significant management efficiency gains. However, digital financial services are far from the norm at BRAC, partly because mobile money is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh and partly due to the lack of clarity on the value digital financial services could add to BRAC.

However, growth of digital financial service providers and their extensive networks of agents over the past few years have created opportunities for BRAC to utilize these platforms. Several BRAC programs have initiated or are in the process of rolling out pilots that incorporate mobile money components using these services. Results have been mixed, with some common challenges including commercial viability of these models, and the difficulties of switching to a cashless system. There is, however, sufficient scope for BRAC to incorporate this technology and design more effective and efficient delivery models for its programs. Going forward, if more programs adopt this technology, there is likely to be system-wide change across the organization in terms of how we design projects. It will be useful if they could keep in mind some of the issues BRAC has faced in using digital financial service platforms, so the end product is something we can realistically take into account as we plan projects in the future. Ideally we would like to see a broader look at what works in the area of digital financial services, suggestions on what BRAC could do going forward (based on experiences of other organizations), what things we need to consider for projects such as this, and how we can evaluate our success.

Initial Steps and Options

• Explore Gates Foundation’s strategy for digital financial services for the poor (available on their website)
• Explore bKash (the first mobile money provider in Bangladesh, and a BRAC investment)

Opportunities for People with Disabilities - BRAC (Spring 2013)

Client Profile

BRAC is one of the largest development organizations in the world, with over 100,000 employees worldwide. It strives to alleviate poverty through empowerment and creating opportunities for the poor. BRAC works on many different fronts in order to combat issues of poverty: focusing on empowerment of women and farmers, grassroots organization, health, education, inclusive financial services, and self-sustainment. The organization began as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) in 1972 to provide relief and rehabilitation following the end of Bangladesh’s War of Liberation. Over the last decade, the organization has extended its work beyond Bangladesh to 11 additional countries. The main values of the organization are innovation, integrity, inclusion and effectiveness.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with BRAC

Definition of Problem

With inclusion as one of its core values, BRAC has been a leader in the development world, including in gender policy, forming a gender equality diversity team (GEDT) in the mid-1990s. BRAC describes itself as an “equal opportunity” employer. However, BRAC has never systematically assessed to what extent they practice inclusiveness hiring and support for staff, in terms of people with disabilities, religion, generational, race/ethnicity and other forms of diversity.

As part of an ongoing Organizational Change initiative, BRAC is considering starting a diversity initiative, with an initial focus on staff with disabilities and how BRAC can better create an accessible/supportive infrastructure. To some extent, BRAC does address the topic of disabilities in terms of the communities that they work with, but not systematically at the level of the organization itself.   There is scope for BRAC to create policies institutionalizing equal opportunity practices to better achieve internal inclusiveness.

Ethical Leadership Development - Centro de Investigación y Acción Social (Spring 2013)

Client Profile

Centro de Investigación y Acción Social is a non-profit organization founded by the Jesuits in Argentina that aspires to build a leadership Institute in Buenos Aires that contributes to building fairer and more developed societies in Latin America, while promoting stable democracies and politicians who serve the common good. Its mission is to train a new generation of political leaders committed to the common good and Christian values. One of its goals is to help construct a community of policymakers and politicians worldwide who share common values and see politics as a way to improve people’s lives. CIAS seeks to build a community of successful and experienced politicians who have a record of ethical conduct, and build bridges to young politicians who want to develop a career in the service of the common good.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with Centro de Investigación y Acción Social

Definition of Problem

From a foundation of excellent academic research on Latin America’s most pressing economic and political challenges, CIAS seeks to expand its work to provide effective training for current and future politicians. One possible model for training politicians seeking a more just society would be to provide university-backed graduate courses and seminars in CIAS’s areas of expertise. Key concepts to address would be:

• Bridging the gap between academic research and the world of active politicians

• Identifying best practices and successful training programs for politicians

• Determining who should participate, how to recruit participants, how to form the training program