5 Regions...Strategy
Everyone has a contact - someone they've met, who knows someone in another country that needs help. With online networks like Facebook, you can now be solicited by someone likely communicating a very real need, and believe you're making a difference by paying for their school fees, or purchasing their track outfit, or contributing towards the roof on their house. However, who knows what difference you're making?
Are you using your limited resources to make a long-term impact? These were questions we had to ask. We realized that in order to make an effective global impact, we needed a strong local presence. Below we discuss how concentrating our efforts in five regions of the world is a responsible and effective way to use resources and expend energy.
3rd World Development
Global Impact
People are people. We all have the same issues. It's the environment that we live in that changes how we address those issues. The environment is not only ecological, it's also political, cultural, economic, and social.
We focus on two locations in the Western hemisphere, and three in the East. Each region has very similar issues and yet, every region requires different approaches to reach responsible solutions.
Our global impact isn't effective just because we're present in these regions, but it's the strength of our presence that will allow us to become models for other people and organizations when it comes to development.
Responsibly, we recognize that with our limited resources and personnel, it's very ineffective to spread ourselves all over the world. Not only do we limit our focus to five regions, we primarily serve one local neighborhood, and occasionally the surrounding communities.
Local Presence
A strong local presence is one that becomes personal. Too many times agencies for development talk about the people they serve in terms of numbers and other generalized ways of labeling groups of people.
We map out the entire community. Who lives where? What are their names? What are the names of their kids? We create medical records for them all. We take note of their situations concerning shelter, food production, education, employment, and sociability.
It's our aim to ensure that everyone in that localized area reach a healthy standard of living. Without discrimination, our efforts are to serve the welfare of the community within which we reside.
The strength of our local presence will be determined by the societal transformation that begins with a model on our own piece of land, moves to the public schools, impacts public utility, finds its way into the surrounding homes, uplifts through health care, and advances through employment. It's not a quick model, but it is thorough.
