4-month wrap up

My initial 4 months at Grameen Foundation have wrapped up. Essentially the tasks assigned have been completed, plus some. It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

• In the travel analysis, I provided two alternative solutions for GFs centralized travel needs
  
• For the Human Capital Central, I developed a methodological approach for demonstrating to the MFI community how effective HR policies tangibly impact the bottom line.
• The software tool for storing the Progress out of Poverty Index measures has been completed, initially deployed in Haiti, and next week will be officially rolled out broadly. This index is meant to measure a non-profit's ability to meet their social objectives. For example, if an organization says that they plan to bring 10% of the population out of poverty... then how would an investor know that they were telling the truth? This index is meant to serve as a benchmark.
  

The experience with GF has given me great insights into this part of the non-profit sector. For instance, a number of weeks ago Sharlene was teaching me that micro-finance and social investing are not "traditionally" linked. This seems strange to me since my idea of social investing was to help make social change by investing. Microfinance seems like one of the natural ways to make that happen.

Another insight gained through this experience is how difficult it is to balance the needs of individuals getting out of poverty to the more broad social issues. For example, in Haiti a lot of people's business being financed through microfinance are charcoal businesses. This is great for getting individual families a little extra profit for putting their children into school. The resulting devastation to the country is that deforestation is at like a 90% rate there. The micro-climate in the country has changed dramatically and every hurricane washes more and more topsoil into across the countryside and into their rivers (making the water undrinkable) and into the oceans. This is making the countryside less suitable for raising crops and continuing to feed the population. This means that measuring the success of any enterprise will have to be viewed in multiple ways.

I have yet to discover what my final three weeks at Grameen will entail. Hopefully, I will know more on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I suspect I will learn what my next assignment will be. I do know, that whatever comes next, I am looking forward to my next adventure with open eyes and an open heart!