Something to reflect upon

Don't need to say much. The kids deliver the message better .

To my refugee friends

The desert roars in my ears...

the wind has torn the sand from one a hill to another...

it has dispersed it...

it has pulled it from the earth...

...it has eroded it...

will the sand mix in with this new soil, this new earth?...

will another wind blow?

where will these grain of salt and sand land next?

the wind has brought them to my face,

its sensation is so different, that I just want to remove them,

to scratch, to get them out of my skin, even if I excoriate it...

then I try to ignore it, to pretend it's not there,

but it is there...

and then I remember,
I realize that I'm one more grain of sand in the desert, hoping to blend in new ground

I realize how the sand got where it is, and the wind that scraped off its old home.

And then I receive it, I welcome it, I embrace it...

Philanthrocapitalism

In my professional life I have gravitated between the private sector and the non-profit sector. My last gig was managing two Emerging Markets indexes for Standard & Poor's . In my position, I had the displeasure to witness the Pakistani market take a nosedive after Benazir Bhutto's death, but nothing compared to last week. If there has been a tough week for the Capitalist system, this was it. The Wall Street credit crisis has managed to do something that neither the Great Depression, nor two World Wars managed to do, which was taking down Lehman Brothers , shaking the basis of the Capitalist system to its very core.

Well, while Capitalism's hub and raison d'être is self-interest, there is the parallel to this idea, which is 'Philanthropy'. It derives from the greek vocables that mean "love towards men", in other words, love for others. Can these two notions co-exist? Furthermore, can these two practices interact effectively? Can Capitalism be applied in a way destined to the benefit of mankind? From this very questions emerge a whole discussion that is taking place in The Global Philanthropy Forum. Some of the participants are Michael Edwards, which is vocal in his skepticism about the subject, Matthew Bishop, who coined the new term in the work: Philanthrocapitalism: how the rich can save the world remains hopeful.

What's your opinion? is Philanthropy doomed by Capitalism, can it actually help it?

Well, here's my two cents, a very predictable one given my professional background. Along with the many considerations and changes that both the current philanthropic and markets need to experiment, and with the risk of looking foolish and simplistic, I am a believer, I think that Philanthrocapitalism is more beneficial, rather than deleterious to humankind. Hopefully this will ignite another discussion.

You can find this entry also at : nicedeed.blogspot.com

After the Hiatus, I'll Just Train for Humanity

¡Hola Mi Gente!

It has been quite a long time since my last post. Coincidentally, I have not participated in any sort of race for years either. In fact, after participating in a Triathlon in Bountiful, Utah in 2004. I realized that this type of race became one of the most gruesome and excruciating experiences that I never subjected myself to in a voluntary manner. I had prepared myself with great discipline and tenacity; I swam, I biked, and I ran with constancy, so much constancy that it made me believe that I was ready to compete in the long leg of the race, just like any other athlete, after all, that's what I had trained for. Yes, my naivete was unmeasurable, but soon after it would be dispelled, for the moment the race started I realized how this amount overconfidence could be, ironically, humiliating.

I had signed up for the full length of the triathlon and BY GOLLY I WAS GOING TO FINISH THAT LENGTH!. Yes, I can be a determined fellow. Well, I did finish, after everyone else in the race, with the dubious consolation price of obtaining the 2nd place in my category. What was my category? the Clysdale Division. For those of you who don't know the Triathlon lingo, that's the division created for guys like me which are over 200 lbs., so I could not even brag about my level of fitness with that type of prize. Humbling, definitively humbling.

After finishing, however a very relevant question came about in my mind: "OK, Why did I just do this?". I thought that the satisfaction of THE FINISH would have been total and absolutely fulfilling...it wasn't, at that moment. Hey, it's not like accomplishing the last place of the race provokes the most exciting and rewarding feeling, so I decided to place that moment in the back of my mind. Nonetheless, the feeling of accomplishment came three years later during a public speaking engagement, when I realized that indeed I did swim, I did bike, and I did run, and most importantly...I finished the race! It was rewarding to see the positive reaction of my audience when I shared that experience: it gave them joy, it gave them as we say in Spanish "ÁNIMO", it gave them "GANAS", and most importantly, it motivated them to have confidence in thier own experiences (now go and look up those two new words).

I think that one the greatest quality of human beings is its ability to restore and renew good things in themselves, even if they were forgotten, hidden, or simply in remission. Who would have thought that such a success could have come from what seemed an evident failure?. I did not think that a Triathlon in which I was not first would become quite a highlight in my life, still it took a while to recognize it.

While sailing the blogosphere not too long ago, I found an original way to help the Darfur Crisis , which is a Human Security Crisis slipping through our minds, making us less and less aware of it. Train for Humanity is a Non Profit with the mission of combining fitness with social media and help empower people for social good while creating a humanitarian movement. I think that this is a good example of how common interests can channel into a noble purpose, thus creating synergistic action. Furthermore, it has the capacity to motivate individuals to better themselves by not only improving their own lives, but the lives of those living in insecure conditions around the globe. It took me four years to find a reason an enough motivation to do another Triathlon. I think I just found one.

Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

During his last briefing to the Security Council on June 22nd the United Nations' Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs made crucial statements in regards the protection of civilians. During his remarks he touched on many crucial points relate to Human Security. Below an excerpt from his briefing:

"...protection of civilians in armed conflict also has a particular significance in the work of humanitarian organizations and in the context of this Council’s responsibilities. For the Council, it represents a series of primary objectives outlined in your Aide Memoire, prepared at the request of and adopted by this Council, which aim to transform the security, political, legal and moral environment in which all concerned operate. These objectives include: security for displaced persons and host communities; ensuring access to those in need and a secure environment for humanitarian workers; strengthening the rule of law, in particular police and justice systems; protection of women and girls in particular from gender-based violence; involvement of women in decision-making and incorporating gender perspectives at every level and in all areas; ensuring the rights of children by preventing their recruitment, ending abduction, supporting family reunification and fulfillment of basic needs; action on disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration of soldiers: and finally, arms control, mine action, reconciliation and reconstruction programmes..."

iCare: A good idea for Humanitarian Coordination

After doing research about humanitarian coordination in Indonesia right after the 2004 Tsunami I learned how valuable it is to connect the needs of the people affected by disaster to the resources that are being offered. In that time I had what I thought would be a good idea: Why not creating an interactive system in which disaster donors and the people on the ground could connect? The idea is that the goods that are being delivered during the relief efforts would actually satisfy the needs of the individuals without what they call call in the humanitarian field duplication, or the ineffective delivery of relief supplies and services.

I thought that eventually my contribution to humanity would be implementing this idea in several years, but...Alas, this idea (like most ideas) was by no means exclusive, so it went also to the right brains. In this case right the brains were those of Anand Kulkarni and Ephrat Bitton. These two PhD students in the department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley (USA) are developing this type of program which they have named iCare (http://icare.ieor.berkeley.edu/). For more details on this initiative see:

http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/labnotes/0607/icare.html

http://media.coe.berkeley.edu/CET_Community/index.php?title=Tech_07:_iCare:_Direct_Person-to-Person_Charity_for_Efficient_Disaster_Relief

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6756641.stm

Well, despite the fact that I wanted to run with this idea and develop it, in all honesty I am really happy that people with the resources and the talent would have come up with this type of initiative. I wish them the greatest success, and hopefully I will be able to contribute to iCare in the future.

Lebanon

The resurgence of violence in Lebanon at the moment becomes one of the most vivid examples of the need to look at security at the human level. During the last few years the world has witnessed how the civilian population inside Lebanon has been caught between the fight of different political groups as well as states. for a better understanding of the conflict you can go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6173322.stm

The most recent example of civilians caught in between two warring factions is the current crisis at the Palestinian refugee camps. The clashes between radical groups and government troops have caused civilian population to be displaced to nearby cities, however many remain inside the camps exposed to the heavy fire despite the efforts of the rescue teams from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Lebanese Red Cross, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (See: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/lebanon-news-060607).

Sadly, two Lebanese Red Cross emergency medical volunteers were killed yesterday near Nahr el Bared refugee camp when a mortar shell (apparently fired from inside the camp) struck a their vehicle yesterday (see http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=36643&sc=89 ).

Until last week the ICRC in coordination with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other United Nations agencies has transported 144 wounded and 70 sick persons, as well as escorting 495 civilians from their respective camp. It has also organized 29 humanitarian convoys and assisted more in 250 families, who were driven by the fighting from their homes in Taamir, near Ain el-Hilweh, to Sidon.