Yesterday I met Åse and Espen, two friends from development studies, at Mir at Grünerløkka to hear "The Sad Beads" play Nick Cave. I got the chance to show off my camera phone, but the result was a bit blurred, as you can see. My flashy phone triggered a debate about capitalism and development. Can my work contribute positively to development, or is all about making money? I think it is both. For a commercial company to take any interest, there has to be money in it, either through direct sale or through reputation as a company with "social responsibility". But it is possible to earn money on selling products that people can use to better their life situation. Getting the right prices on chicken in the nearby market through her mobile phone gives a poor widow the information she needs to know whether the middle man who takes them to market for her is cheating her or not. It doesn't give her the power to challenge him, but at least it gives her facts to base her challenge on, if she will take the fight. And this is only one example. For more, read the short version of Prahalad's "The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid" at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/ict4b/Fortune-BoP.pdf
1 comment:
Hi
You are spot-on and I agree with what you say.
Poor people want choice and dignity.
Do-gooders give and give and give and all that the poor want is freedom to choose.
In Africa and specifically Mozambican, women pay the price because they use solid wood fuel for cooking. Only commercial modern fuels can stop the 16 million cubic meters of wood used every year for solid wood fires.
But taking the wood is nothing compared to the time and money it takes to collect solid woods.
So let's get a commercial solution for that, because only(!) while you do well, can you do good.
By doing good only, you may have this great feeling that are at least doing something.
Rather not.
By doing good only
you take a way dignity and
choice.
Please tell your friends to read the book you recommend and to start "doing good while doing well".
Wishing you well
Johan Horak
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