How to evaluate whether and which aid is needed in Indian villages
Just imagine...
... that we could find out what kind of aid is really needed by the inhabitants of Indian villages, people who are classified by the West as poor. And that these needs could be setup as projects on the betterplace.org platform (or any other donation platform that exists). Now imagine too that these people would not only have the chance to communicate their needs externally to others but also to network with people in neighboring villages in order to coordinate for solving one problem or another. All of this in an area with little to no internet access.
Now, we started imagining this in detail a few days ago...
... and thanks to a new project on betterplace.org and our recent cooperation with TickerTXT, we've started thinking tangibly about how to test and put this possibility into action. This is the next step in our Stakeholder Feedback Project, which tests the various methods of collecting feedback and impact measurement from proejcts in the social sector (for example, with videos or SMS).
What exactly are we testing?
Wiebke Koch, the founder of The Glass is Half Full, is going to travel to India with a colleague to research what the local populations feel about their living standards (in contrast to the Western definitions of poverty). They will find social entrepreneuers who can listen to the people and learn about the local needs. This group will communicate the collected together in order to think of ways how they can put the local ideas into concrete action towards solutions.
And that's where we come in! With our TickerTXT partner, we will act first as the communications channel for Wiebke and secondly, and more importantly, we will offer a collective SMS feedback possibility for the village inhabitants. Asking questions about needs as well as posing challenges, both of which are sent via SMS, we will also act as the collecting platform for all of the answers which we receive via SMS. The answers will be accessible for the participants, most likely from several villages in order that the platform can be larger and more effective. In the future, we could even imagine coupling this needs- and feedback-generation method with the betterplace.org donation platform.
The success of this project depends on our ability to learn what kinds of participation incentives are required onsite.
Our first steps are to develop appropriate questions to ask to the local populations, but we also need financial support. All of us (the betterplace lab, Wiebke's Project, and TickerTXT) are now starting to campaign for support to that end. Trial and error along the way in India will also show us what further steps we will need to take. Wiebke will need to identify individuals in villages who are interested in participating and building the project. She will also need to find out what kinds of incentives will encourage participation as well as to learn about the various needs and problems which we will tackle along with the local people. So let's get to it!
(Translated by Becky Crook)
