While reading the Deccan Herald (published in
According to an official of the National Pulse Polio Programme, out of 111 polio cases being reported globally this year till April 17, 54 cases were from Nigeria, while India registered 31 cases."
See http://www.kidsrisk.harvard.edu/ for further details.
Their study goes to prove that "prevention is cheaper than cure".
Isha Garg, MD
RDVP Fellow, Stanford
In a few weeks from now we would have passed through the hallowed portals of Stanford for the last time, each of us on the way to greater glory in our chosen profession. So, was our stint at RDVP and flirting with social entrepreneurship just a diversion? A stepping stone to a corporate career? Perhaps, perhaps not. Whatever we may do in future, it is time to reflect on what we have achieved and what we could have done better. Is there anything amongst the myriad choices that Stanford offers, that we may have missed out? I am sure there are many more things I could have done if only the day had 32 hours, instead of 24!
The precise definition of "Social Entrepreneurship" still eludes me though I suspect I know a bit more now, than before I came here. Under normal circumstances, "social" and "entrepreneurship" would have been at two different ends of the political spectrum. But these are not normal times. Socialism has failed and capitalism is the undoubted winner. "Social" was short-form for "socialism", an ideology that has been declared failed the world over, ever since the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union and its satellites. "Entrepreneurship" or the process of "creative destruction" is the new mantra. Adam Smith would be happy to be around today. But so am I, though it may not appear so from my ramblings so far. All of us fellows were already entrepreneurs the day we threw away our corporate careers and secure jobs to come here. We were probably all of a "socialist" bent of mind to even think of serving society!! Loonies that we all were, we didn't know we were social entrepreneurs. But now we do know better.
The young sages of Silicon Valley say that capitalism is the only way. But as these sages go older and richer, they also seem to have more time to reflect on this. Maybe, get a bit wiser. So, maybe, there is another way. Aha, we shall call it "Social Entrepreneurship", entrepreneurship with a heart!! Voila! We have a new term. Just like we invent new and better mouse-traps, we coin new terms. New terms for presumably new paradigms.
So Fellows, in light of the new flavour of the decade, I am now a "Social Entrepreneur". The problem I have with that it has taken so long for most other people to get it. Why do they get it only when they are older and richer? Why not start early?
That is where the concept of a Digital Vision Program that nurtures Social Entrepreneurship comes in. It not only teaches us to become entrepreneurs, it also provides our potential benefactors an opportunity to reflect on societal obligations a bit more. It is a two-way street for sure.
So what have I learnt? Well, all is not lost. I certainly did not waste my time here. I have certainly learnt that any organisation, in order to achieve its mission, needs to be self-sustainable. It needs to be scalable and replicable. It needs to have well defined and articulated goals. It needs to have a plan, and it needs to have a sound implementation strategy. It must also have quantifiable metrics to measure performance. But, did you hear "social" in any of this? Well, I did. It hit me clearly when we learnt of outcomes and impact. That is when I started to understand the concept of social entrepreneurship. Bereft of all the clutter, the concept is actually quite simple and elegant. We need to be able to specify the kind of impact we intend our project to have on civil society, and find the tools to measure such impact.
So I can go back home happy, secure in the knowledge that my project on using mobile technologies for Disease Surveillance will have societal impact if it can help people at the margins of society stay healthy or treated quickly, should they happen to fall ill. I need to articulate my definition of social impact.
Overall, my stay at Stanford has been absolutely fantastic. There are many more things I would have liked to do but couldn't. Remember, focus? The memories of the strong bonds of fellowship that we developed here will always remain and I hope to continue to nurture these friendships. The exposure to people with different skills and experience has been over-whelming. All the speakers have been outstanding and we are thankful for the quality time they spent with us. Our mentors have been particularly helpful and shall be lifelong friends. We had a mini-United Nations here and it was absolutely thrilling to come in every day and see the passion and this tremendous diversity.
I do hope to go back and create such a programme in my country with the hope that social entrepreneurship will take root in youngsters. Stanford, the DV Program, and many other similar initiatives on this campus have all been very valuable experiences for me.
What would I love to do if given another opportunity? Well, this "bleeding heart liberal" would like to storm that bastion of conservatism across the campus and spend some time on another fellowship there. Know what I mean?
Cheers,
Shashank
RDVP Fellow, Stanford
