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Globosocial Adventures Journeys Into The Social Unknown 2009-2011 Rizwan Tayabali
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Globosocial AdventuresJourneys Into The Social Unknown
2009-2011Rizwan Tayabali
About Me
Grew up in Mumbai
Displaced during the ‘93 Riots
Riots Image
Arrived freezing and unprepared into the UK winter
Cool Runnings Image
Planned to become a doctor
A stint as an Auxiliary Nurse suggested it wasn’t for me
Studied finance & technology instead
Manchester University Image
Social Triggers
The Tiered British Education System
“Race Class & Struggle” by Louis Kushnick
Various unpredictable & disruptive events got me thinking...
“If not now, then when?”
So I got stuck in...
Between the ages of 20 and 27 I got involved on the ground
GrassrootsLiteracy
CommunitySport for All
Research Anti-Discrimination
Anti War
AdvisoryCrime & Disorder
Civil Rights
StartupDisabilities and Accessibility
Realised 2 Main Strengths
Systemic Change & Consulting
But...
Needed better skills &
A broader range of industry experience
So I switched to management consulting
In parallel started a social enterprise...
Blog: www.socialeffect.org
Didn’t prove feasible but evolved into advisory work with Non Profits & SEs
Developed and applied a range of skills
... age 32
Reached 5+ years of formal consulting and then faced a decision cross-road
regarding the social sector
Why??
1.
In an environment that incentivises only positive representation, how much second
hand information can you really trust??
2.
$500bn donated to social causes annually
Why aren’t we eradicating problems??
Realised there was so much I still needed to know
What I’m doing now
A global journey looking for answers and challenging assumptions...
...through sharing pro-bono expertisein return for insider access to social realities
Places I didn’t know enough about...
?
?
?
??
?
??
Chosen Route
Started in
2009
Covered South America, India & SE Asia 2009 & 2010
Headed to Africa early 2011
How did I do it?
Methodology =
Trusted Recommendation + Word of mouth
Funding = Self-funded
To enable independence and reduce barriers to engagement
Has it Worked?
More than 100 projects in 2 years across 20 countries
Many amazing places
Major fun with beautiful people
And plenty of participative real-life learning
Learnings
My journeys have led me to work with a wide variety of human challenges, through organisations of all sizes…
Here's a little of what I've learnt...
• Social issues are similar everywhere• Challenges faced by social entities are similar too• Meaningful rather than process models make
for successful replication• Only long-term programs truly transform lives• Co-Creation and User Centric Design are critical• Cooperatives are powerful development tools• Safeguarding through policy is often a
necessary step
Finally and most importantly...
Effective tried and tested solutions to most social problems already exist
The current drive to find new and unique models is thus unnecessary and wasteful...
The answer lies simply in getting the basics right and persevering into the long term.
Finally, a few thoughts on the recent boom in Social Enterprise
1.
True social enterprisescreate and prove financially viable
models of change...
...they are NOT simply about making money in socially beneficial ways.
The SE’s model of viable change must therefore be seen as separately scalable
from the organisation itself.
...an example from the Philippines
2.
SE’s need to be realistic about what they are trying to achieve, and the
demographics they can impact
For e.g.
Imagine the “Base of the Pyramid”
Ref: World Resources Institute
This is semantics. It is NOT accurate
Ref: End of Poverty. J Sachs.
S.E. Business models are rarely able to provide for the needs of the extreme poor.
Their viability lies in low to middle income environments
3.
Be very wary of presentation...
...both your own and that of others
“Our low cost products and services in India provide access to educational apps and games for children,
reduce exploitation through access to real time pricing, improve production through access to
weather information, improve medical care through access to health management updates…”
Don’t believe the hype
Thanks!
Rizwan TayabaliGet in touch at [email protected]
Profile & Projects:Blogs:
Connect with me via Email, Twitter or LinkedIn
More Presentations @ www.slideshare.net/rizwantayabali
