Politics, Economic Inequality and the role of Charities and Social Enterprises

“We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both.” -Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice 

In the majority of countries economic inequality is increasing with a rapid pace. The total wealth of the world is divided in two, almost half going to the richest one percent; the other half to the remaining 99 percent. The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world. If it is left unchecked, our political institutions will become undermined and government will end up serving the interests of the elites only.

The World Economic Forum in Nov. 2013, ranked widening income disparities as the second greatest worldwide risk. Inequality is impacting social stability. It is important to make commitments needed to counter the growing tide of inequality.

Some economic inequality is essential and healthy for the growth and success of the economy. Those who innovate, entrepreneurs who take risks, those with hard earned skills and talents must be rewarded. However, the extreme levels of wealth concentration occurring today, threaten to exclude hundreds of millions of people from realizing the benefits of their talents, hard work and entrepreneurial skills.

Wealth concentrations can impact equal political representation. When wealth captures government policymaking, the rules bend to favor the rich. The consequences include the erosion of democracy and equal opportunities for all. Unless bold political solutions are instituted to curb the influence of wealth on politics, governments will work for the interests of the rich, while economic and political inequalities continue to rise.

There is some good news. The US, Europe and lately Latin America had reduced inequality while growing prosperous by popular politics that represent the majority, not the tiny minority. And the result has been good for their entire population, rich included.

It is appropriate to mention the contributions of some of the good charitable and social enterprises working for the poorest of the poor. They have done a commendable job by working with the donor's community and provided sustainable solutions for overall poverty reduction, rather than providing short term and superficial solutions to their immediate problems. Charitable organizations world over need to practice a strategy where they should work for the poor with the support of the donor community along with the government to tackle this global menace of poverty and to bring some kind of justice and social stability.

Let me know your thoughts.

Regards,

Khalid A. Khan

Annual Charity Best Practice Award 2014

Further to my previous blog “Charity management, do it right or don’t do it at all”, I would like to let you all know that November 22 2014 is the date set for Annual Charity Best Practice Award 2014.

The objectives of the Annual Charity Best Practices Award 2014 is to honor the outstanding professionals and organizations in the varied fields of charity management, to support continuing professional development and contribute towards raising the standards of charity management. It would promote and raise the profile of the charity sector and to provide recognition for those who are providing effective support to the sector.

The Award recognizes charities that have adopted the highest standards of governance. It is an initiative of the Brainchild Foundation; the award aims to promote good governance in the charity sector by acknowledging the excellent work of charities, while inspiring others to emulate their best practices. Its efforts in serving the community by partnering with self-help groups locally and overseas to enhance their services to the beneficiaries through delivery of structured and sustained community service programmes.

It would set excellent benchmarks in encouraging the spirit of giving in India and recognize best practices in volunteer and donor management, fundraising and corporate governance.

Being recognized in Annual Charity Best Practices Award will take the profile of your charity to the next level of excellence in governance and best practices which will benefit in terms of gaining trust of your current and potential donors and n turn meeting all your objectives.               

The website and other digital presence are yet to be launched, in the mean time I would sincerely request the charities and other relevant organization to submit their nominations for the award in the appropriate category in this application form:

     

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1f8cgBG-N4rXW1BY1WKBsXRcMaR_BgXGN7KwiTqQvPdo/viewform

Charity Management – Do it right or Don’t do it at all

Most people would say that charity is always good, but some argue that charity is sometimes carried out badly, while others think that charity can bring bad results even when it is well implemented.

Charities should not target symptoms but causes. Usually charity helps the recipient with immediate problem, but it doesn't do much to deal with the causes of that problem. Some charities do stopgap or band-aid work. But in fact, a lot of charity work is devoted to dealing with the fundamental causes of problems.

Charity is wrong when it's used to patch up the effects of the fundamental injustices that are built into the structure and values of a society. Charity, from this viewpoint, can sometimes be seen as actually accepting the injustice itself, while trying to mitigate the consequences of the injustice. Charity should not become a substitute for real justice. 

Charitable giving may not be the most effective way of solving world poverty. Indeed charitable giving may even distract from finding the best solution - which might involve a complex rethink of the way the world organizes its economic relationships, and large-scale government initiatives to change people's conditions. The effort and resources of the charity might be better devoted to pressuring governments to bring about needed change. And governments might be more likely to focus on dealing with poverty if they weren't being helped by charities. Therefore, charity can be self-defeating if it allows the state to escape some of its responsibilities. Large-scale philanthropy to support 'essential services' is wrong because it switches provision from government to charity, rather than increasing benefits to the needy. Large-scale philanthropic activity carries with it serious risks of changing the balance of funding from the public to the private sector, thereby exposing those most in need to the changing state of the market. To the extent that private funding of essential services becomes the norm, the vulnerable become the recipients of uncertain aid, which is liable to fluctuations and constant reduction.

If the charity sector increases spending in an area also funded by government then there is a risk that government will choose to spend less in that area with the result that governments save money, and extra benefits provided by the charity spend are reduced.

The issue here is whether the charity we give to devotes a high enough proportion of its funds to the needy. Responsible charities make it very clear what proportion of contributions is spent on administration and fund-raising. Charities are often accountable to the givers not the receivers. If the purpose of charity is to benefit the recipients, it seems obvious that those best able to say whether they are achieving this end are the recipients. But because the recipients of charity are often unorganized and the charity doesn't know their individual identities, it's often easier for charities to make their performance reports to the givers.

Charities should also take accountability to the recipients seriously and conduct research to tailor their actions more closely to the needs and preferences of their beneficiaries.

There is a need to ensure charities and social enterprises are aware of the best practices in the sector and work accordingly, else their hard work and the funds of their donors will not only go waste, but it also can become detrimental to the interest of the very same people, these charities claim to serve. 

Let me know your thoughts.

Khalid A. Khan

Being a Responsible Media House

Thanks to the electronic media to give this Tejpal issue sufficient visibility that led to an imminent arrest of the culprit. But we all would agree that now the airtime given only to this issue is not doing justice to other more grievous crimes that is devoid of any airtime. There are more serious cases where culprits are not even identified. Rather than discussing what will be the future of Tehelka, requesting media to be little more responsible and avoid the herd mentality. Media persons camping at Tejpal's house, Goa airport, Shoma's house and other places hoping to get a glimpse or a story ahead of their competitors is sickening. Just imagine what would the victims or their families of other more serious cases would think when they watch the news on TV. I am not suggesting to drop this story, just requesting media to cover other stories as well with the same vigor and commitment to bring the same result as it happened in this case.

Regards,
Khalid

Tons of Trash Removed from TN and Pondycherry beaches in the 1st. phase of International Coastal Cleanup 2013

International coastal Cleanup 2013 was flagged off by Worshipful Mayor of Chennai Thiru Saidai Duraisamy for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry giving a go ahead to thousands of volunteers to participate in  world’s largest volunteer effort in a single day for our oceans, seas, beaches and other waterways.

Under the aegis of the ocean conservancy, USA , the Indian Maritime Foundation, Navy Foundation and Brainchild Business Solutions organized the fifth edition of the coastal cleanup program Phase 1  on Saturday the 21st. Sept. 2013 along the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts. A total of 28 coastal blocks covering 260 kms were covered in the cleanup in the first phase, which saw record number of dedicated and public volunteers remove tons of coastal garbage. The spirit of these young volunteers was all pervasive with much impact on the coastal population.

The cleanup program, according to international guidelines, achieved the set objectives of (a) cleanup and show the way to clean coastals (b) create awareness along the coastal population to keep clean coasts with attendant socio, recreational and economic benefits.

The accurate data collected by the volunteers during the cleanup and compiled by the  INDMARFCB today reveals  plastic products as prime trash ( 36%) , followed by  wood(  16 %),  derelict fishing gear/nylon ropes ( 12 %), cigarettes ( 7 %),  glass 18% and others  ( 11 %). these data will be analysed and taken up with local authorities  for possible solutions to progressively eliminate such trash along our coast. A total of 25 tons of coastal trash was removed in today’s cleanup, covering 195 kms along the Tamilnadu and Puducherry coasts , with participation of 2892  dedicated volunteers and  approximately  500 public volunteers.

In his introductory speech at the flag-off of the volunteers at the Marina beach at Chennai, Admiral Vasan, Vice President of the INDMARFCB brought out the very significant contribution by our dedicated volunteers along Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts, which moved India’s world standing from 12th. position in 2009 to 7th. position in 2012.

The chief guest Thiru Saidai  Duraiswamy commended this voluntary action by the INDMARFCB and  sought the cooperation of  the public to shun plastics bags and avoid coastal trash . He assured the full cooperation of the Chennai corporation  in extending the reach of the cleanup program  and work with NGOs to educate the public and further bring down the garbage levels , as indeed happening in the coastal blocks where icc program is being repeated each year, mainly due to the awareness campaign by the Indian maritime foundation Chennai branch. .

The consul general of the USA at Chennai Ms. Jennifer McIntyre reiterated the commitment of the USA to preservation of the marine environment and lauded the very important coordination role by the Ocean Conservancy, USA in many facets of the marine environment.

Ocean Conservancy  believes, Trash doesn’t start and stop at the trash can, and out of sight doesn’t mean out of our ocean. From product creation to disposal, we must tackle trash at every point. The items we use – or don’t use – have a lasting impact. While solutions are built on individual actions of people, organizations and companies, it will take a collective movement to make a lasting difference. The Cleanup is part of Ocean Conservancy’s  and  indmarfcb’s larger strategy for Trash Free Seas and is one of the many ways the organization is helping find answers and solutions for marine debris.

Khalid Abdullah Khan, Chairman of Brainchild Business solutions Pvt. Ltd. given the welcome address and conducted the function attended by the eminent dignitaries.

The second phase of the cleanup in balance 5 blocks will be undertaken by the respective organizations on 28 Sept. 2013

The function was organized by the Navy Foundation Chennai Chapter and Brainchild Ltd., a Media & PR agency committed to the environment sustainability under the ICC event organizer along the Tamilnadu and Puducherry coasts ie  Indian maritime foundation , Chennai branch , and supported by the Indian Coast Guard, NCC, NSS, various educational institutions, private and govt. organizations.