LAST SUNDAY CALL!

[Stephanie Austin]

OHMYGOODNESSS!

Who's excited for our last Sunday conference call? Wooo!

Calling in number and access code is the same.

Let's review the research, review the proposals and make our call awesome sauce.

Given the feedback I got, here's the plan, folks!

4:30pm  TEAM LOVIN', Nuts and Bolts (note taker? Nick! StartingBloc updates?)

4:40pm- Define a Problem Area to address (reference Nick's email about the Wilison paper and the pillars)

5:10pm- Consider proposed solutions.  

5:30pm - Wrap Up: Next Steps, Meeting Place in NYC? 

LETS DO THIS.

Talk to you all tomorrow,

Stephanie

[Nick Zabriskie]

Happy to take notes, but as a disclaimer I'm going to be at the 2:30 US-Germany soccer game here in DC.  I'm anticipating the game wrapping up around 4pm but just a heads up that being on the fly the notes might not be all that comprehensive and I won't be able to get a copy out to folks until later in the evening.  Sorry to be a bother guys, but obviously I will do everything I can to make this work!

Stephanie, the agenda looks great to me.

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[Nick Zabriskie]

Re-reading this now, I'm thinking maybe I just volunteered myself to take notes. Alternatively, if anyone is going to be by a computer or a desk during the call and is willing to do the notes, not only will I owe you a serious favor, but I'll love you forever!

[Stephanie Austin]

Hi team!

I'll be in the Oregon countryside, co-presenting for a grad ceremony and won't have the capability for notes. :(

- Stephanie

[Robert Avakian]

And likewise- I will need to bail on our call at around 5:00 (possibly slightly after)- working today as a favor to not get fired, since I took off so many days from all my jobs next week for the institute!

 

At this point- I realize, even though we still don't have a project to propose, this has been a pretty good excercise for us... Since our team mission was to try to make our efforts, and this project a means of networking with other SB fellows- does anyone have any suggestions of how we can use what we've done together over the past couple of weeks to facilitate that?

[Konrad Kutter]

Hey Guys,

Ill be joining Nick at the Germany vs. USA soccer game, so ill be a little out of touch as well but will make every effort to make the phone call! I might tune in a couple of minutes late. Looking forward to the call this afternoon!

Regards,

Konrad 

[Noorjahan Rahman]

Hey All, 

Meeting Notes: 

- We're creating a document with a summary/digest of the idea/topic area  we proposed/are interesting in exploring further. 

- This will help us become experts in that topic, and make it easier for us to choose our challenge solution/deliverable once we know more about social innovation/skills we gather while at institute

- It will also put us all on the same page with what ideas are and how it potentially meets all the requirements of the challenge

People volunteered to research and summarize the following: 

Robert- Aquatronics

Stephanie and Hsui- Nollywood/Media as a form of self-expression, empowering individuals to tell their story and inspire change

Joelle- How to leverage social enterprise networks to tap into resources

Konrad - TBD (possibly related to climate change)

Noor and Nick- Potential for evaluating successful non-profits to develop recommendations for low-performing/under resourced non-profits (with the added context of local culture/social organization) 

I recommend modeling your summary off of Nick's research digest earlier, and keeping in mind the list that Stephanie made about issues to address for all problems. Good summaries will be short (1 page), direct, and if possible, address the criteria Stephanie summed up. Both Nick and Stephanie's emails are copied below: 

Stephanie's List: 

Criteria for the Solution

 

1) no funding needed

2) address these areas of concern: apathy, community buy-in, cultural resistance, political changes in 2015, lack of resources

3) has an economic component that benefits local folks and can be sustainably replicated across the country

4) empowers people (define Empower)

5) uses design thinking

6) we can create a protype (can we pull in experts?) for the presentation

7) can't replicate what's out there

8) can't compete for resources w/ local people or other NGOs/etc

9) can't be boring! This is why they gave the challenge to us!!!

10) 18 month plan

11) Metrics!

12) Scalable, sustainable, versatile

 

Robert's: 

 

Background: You have a region that is one of the most densely populated in the world and its population is expected to continue to grow (expected to be the 4-most populous country in 2050). More people clamoring for the same resources will only add more stress to the system across all fields (economic, environmental, political, etc). 

Currently, 2/3 of the 32 million population in the region are under the age of 30 and 40% of those 15-24 are estimated to be unemployed.  So you have a ton of young people with few options to make a living.

80% of the country's revenue comes from oil production.  This revenue is dristibuted to all the states, but the nine oil states in the delta receive 13% of the total oil revenue on top of that (I think this is divided proportionately to the states based on the number of oil wells in each state).  The money is redistributed through diffuse channels by the 185 Local Government Areas.  State and local governments, which are expected to carry out public services, are not funded by tax payers, so as a result they are not accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.  Instead, the incentive for the people in power is to distribute revenues to the supporters that they owe their positions to - 'neo-patrimonial' system that emphasizes patronage over providing services.

The disconnect between the vast wealth derived from oil in the delta and the lack of services and employment breeds feelings of distrust, injustice, and resentment. And it also leads people to perceive themselves as even poorer and more disadvanted than measures of economic well-being make them out to be (i think there's lots of lit on poverty as a relative construct).

Finally, the intensive oil and gas production can create environmental damage and distort exchange rates to the detriment of the few other viable industries and occupations, traditional or otherwise, in the region (to say nothing of the health concerns, lack of clean water, etc.). 

They don't own ther rights to the oil underneath their feet and they don't even own the land they live on.  And yet, they have to suffer all the negative sideeffects while others reap the benefits.

Meanwhile, there are strong economic incentives for bad actors.

Bottom line, there are very serious and persistant factors at work (what the Wilson Paper calls "Structural" and "Driving Factors") befor you even get to the "Provocating Factors" that bring all these underlying factors to a violent head.

Problem:  Short of rearranging the country's social and government structures, how do you engage the community to empower them/give them hope/make them believe that they can improve their circumstances.

Challenges: The lack of a voice, appropriate/timely institutional/judicial processes, and political accountability leaves people feeling either apathetic or it drives them to violence.  

Solutions: I still think efforts to improve outcomes across the five pillars would be a good way to focus our efforts.  We aren't capable of fixing all these deep problems, but a narrow focus on one area could produce positive ripple effects.

Places to Start Looking: The brite spots (positive deviance).  Chapter 3 of the Wilson thing talks about some positive results that oil companies started to see in their investment dollars by switching from top-down programs to bottom-up, community-driven approaches to development (GMOUs on page 86-90).  We should look at any examples of success by oil companies, NGOs, etc.  Successes might give us good ideas.  I'm going to continue to mine the rest of the study for more ideas.

Noorjahan Rahman 

LinkedIn

My Website

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" -MLK (via Theodore Parker) 

[Noorjahan Rahman]

Whoop's sorry, that was Nick's email, not Robert's. 

[stephlo...@gmail.com]

Great summary, Noor!

Hsiu- email me everything you've already found so we're both on the same page. :)

-Stephanie

T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network

[Konrad Kutter]

Hey Guys,

I want to apologize for not making the call last night! After the game there was a torrential down pour and It was not possible for me to chime in :/ 

Everything looks great! I will add my bit on climate change and some more information I learned when I had brunch with the Vice President of Policy for the World Wild Life Fund (Mom's Boyfriend). He was very helpful and had a lot of interesting facts and advice about the region!

Climate Change:

Basically, we need to acknowledge and help the people in the Niger Delta accept and learn that climate change is responsible for much of the conflict in the area. It is having an effect on their everyday lives whether they know it or not. Draught, famine, temperature fluctuations and disease are plaguing this region and it is the cause to much of the unrest and conflict.

The Niger Delta will be one of the most populous regions in Africa by 2050 (great fact Rob posted? maybe Nick not sure!), but along with this by 2100 80% of the Niger Delta will be underwater because of sea level rise due to climate change. Building resiliance in the Niger Delta is about teaching and preparing the people in the region for anything the future has in store for them. They need to learn how to independently survive and innovate in a sustainable manner. Building this type of resiliance will not only help them deal with issues now, but will help them survive the in the future. It will also take the region one step closer to becoming competetive with those countries in Africa that are doing a bit better. 

To me innovation is the glue that will make all this possible and feasible in an area where many will say there is a low amount of return and no hope. I believe that our project will prove this wrong, no matter which method or solution we do end up choosing. I think we should have a common short term goal in mind for our the people of the region and also have a goal in mind for the long term (past the 18 months). I believe that learning is the best way to communicate the "smarts or intellect " each member of the Niger Delta region has. We cannot bring in many physical resources, so i believe we should use the knowledge that the people have of the region and combine it with a successful plan that we will come up with! It is a great way for the people in the region to take ownership because their ideas and background will help us build them a positive and prosperous solution that will be effective in 18months, but also stick around for many generations as these people face an uncertain fate.

Advice for NGO's: 

I think it would be an interesting and opportunistic plan to team up with another NGO and make a real impact. Especially with one that has been in the region for quite some time and knows the situation well. If we can learn from another teams success and failure, I think we will have the best chance of succeeding with our end goal!

I will be spending most of tomorrow doing more research and making some organized notes!

Have a great week! See you guys on Thursday!

Kind Regards,

Konrad

Konrad Kutter

University of Kentucky

ASCE Chapter President

Civil Engineering Undergraduate

Konrad...@uky.edu

(703) 772-5304