How do we decide whom we support? This is quite a different question from how you choose proposals; it is a question about the core values of the organization. It was a thoughtful question, one that I am still thinking about weeks later. Of course, these are just my thoughts, and perhaps, other SIA Board members would have different ideas.

I think the simple part of the answer goes back to last week’s post. We support people we trust. And we actively work on building trust with people we may support. Del Anderson strongly believed in developing a working relationship with people before supporting them financially. This relationship is built through sending many letters (before email this could be a very slow process!), providing relevant self-help information, and sharing experiences, ideas, and prayers. Part of the process that I still employ faithfully is listening to the needs and ideas of the people who write me letters and responding with encouragement, information and ideas. *

We are upfront about wanting to develop relationships with people. I really like this letter that Marsha Johnson (the previous SIA Administrator) wrote to share about our philosophy with a new contact:

“We welcome new relationships like with you, and hope to get to know one another, pray together, and follow God’s guidance in how we can work together in service to those in need in your community and in our world. Our desire is to serve God and humankind, without encouraging dependency on us, but by working TOGETHER, developing ways that people can grow their own food, start small business when they have a saleable skill, and become increasingly self-sufficient and growing in their faith in God as well.”

We don’t just work in one area or one country, which means that we depend on recommendations from our international network when we are considering a proposal or building a new relationship. One of our strongest sets of connections is Camps Farthest Out International (CFOI), an organization that provides leadership training and organizes non-denominational Christian retreats promoting peace. Many of the people we engage with are also involved with CFOI and the camps create a built-in accountability system, especially since people traveling for CFOI are often able to meet other SIA partners and check in on their projects. Right now, most of SIA’s relationships are built on email and letter correspondence and recommendations from CFOI. I hope that someday soon I’ll be able to meet some of our international partners face-to-face and further deepen our connection!

Dennis Kiprop (Kenya) and Jacob Lipandasi (DRC) meet to exchange ideas about improving their communities.

*This is perfectly parallel with the findings of the Listening Project, which found that international aid recipients want more long-term relationships with aid organizations and crave more “listening in open-ended” ways. Read the very interesting summary.

Ben has some interesting points about the many aspects of trust – how trust is an evolving process, relies on equal exchange, and has many difference ingredients. Ongoing correspondence and a strong relationship with the people he supported were very important for Del and these practices continue to be important criteria as the SIA Board evaluates grant applications.

Ultimately, for me, it is a matter of faith and seeing the God-light in others that I am able to depend on our partners to serve their communities with integrity. Trust is a very important part of what we do and I love seeing how building trust and developing a strong relationship leads to confidence and good works.

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Rethinking Trust (and a Doggy Footnote)

August 19, 2010

For one reason or another, I have been thinking about trust this week. Trust is regularly cited as a critical factor in effective aid organisations, is seen as the essential for partnerships, and creating it is seen as a primary task for aid leadership.

But all too often trust is mentioned as if it can simply be designed, imposed and managed. As a concept, trust is both over-used and poorly understood.

From the viewpoint of aid organisations as complex social processes, and drawing on Chris Rogers’Informal Coalitions approach, trust has three specific features which are overlooked or ignored.

First, trust is a property of relations and interactions. Second, trust is multidimensional. Third, trust is emergent. It’s worth looking at each of these in turn.

1. Trust as a property of relations and interactions

“…people’s sense of trust is embodied – or not – in the unscripted detail of each and every interaction that they have with one another.  It is personally and socially constructed – both consciously and subconsciously – in these moments that people come together.  As such, it reflects participants’ past history of interactions, their future hopes and expectations about this and/or other important relationships, and the current immediacy of the exchange. At the same time, the emerging outcomes of this ongoing process shift the ways in which ‘the past’ is recalled, ‘the future’ is constructed and the present is lived – all in the here and now.”

2. Trust is multidimensional:

“…we might believe that someone is being genuine and truthful when they say that they intend to do something, and yet still not trust them to do it because we don’t think that they have the necessary competence.

The dimensions include:

• character (perceived integrity and trustworthiness)…
• community (whether the person is recognized as being ‘one of us’, with shared perspectives, common interests and sense of identity)
• communication (perceived openness, honesty and straightforwardness);
• confidentiality (sense that it is ‘safe’ to share confidences) – “I believe that I can be open with you, without fear of you taking advantage of me or breaching that confidence.”
• credibility (whether or not the ‘story’ makes sense and is believable in it’s own right) – “I believe that your ‘story’ (proposition, strategy, system etc) is credible and makes sense in its own right.”
• capability (perceived knowledge, skills and abilities in relevant areas) –“I believe that you have the necessary capacity and competence to do what is needed in this situation.”
• context (whether the patterns of taken-for-granted cultural assumptions are tending to channel behaviour in ways that enhance or undermine trust) – “I believe that the organizational culture and climate fosters an environment of trust.”
• commitments (dependability in keeping agreements and promises) – “I believe that I can depend on you to do what you say you will do.”

3. Trust is Emergent

Complexity science has long been used to understand issues of trust and cooperation. In his now-classic work, noted complexity thinker Robert Axelrod showed how trust can emerge even in situations where there are self-interested actors with no central authority. More generally,

“People derive their sense of trust from the detail of the actions, interactions and transactions that comprise everyday life in the organization. The sense they make of their world, including the feeling of trust (or mistrust) that this evokes, emerges from this ongoing interactional process.  Also, the more that a particular ‘sense’ of trust is ‘taken up’ by others, through the diverse interplay of conversations across an organization (or fragments of it), the more generalized it becomes. It is then more likely to be taken up in similar ways by those same people in future – and, potentially, by others with whom they interact… It is the self-organizing process of ‘shared’ meaning-making, through which patterns of assumptions emerge and become taken-for-granted over time. These patterns create expectancy and tend to channel ongoing sensemaking, imperceptibly, down familiar ‘pathways’.  Since this patterning process is self-organizing, it means that trust cannot be ‘designed and built’ by managers, as part of a structured ‘culture change programme’. However, a major influence on this ongoing sensemaking and action-taking is people’s observation of the behaviours of those in formal leadership positions – throughout the organization.”

These different properties of trust may be essential to understand if we are serious about furthering aid efforts. For example, in aid reform processes, trust is repeatedly highlighted as one of the enduring challenges facing progress. On the development side, the Paris Declaration advocates for harmonisation between donors and mutual accountability with national governments; on the humanitarian side, the Cluster approach seeks to coordinate international relief efforts by bring the NGOs together in UN-led, sector-specific networks. Both approaches have been stymied by, among other things, a lack of trust between diverse actors.

The central take-away from the above should be that trust is not some box to be ticked in order to achieve aid success. Trust takes time, effort, presence, engagement, commitment and humility. Trust means putting a human face on overtly technical endeavours. Trust means starting something without necessarily knowing how it is going to end. Creating the space for trust in aid may mean re-casting aid as being primarily about relationships, as Ros Eyben and others have argued, and seeing what might emerge as a result.

Scary, eh?

FOOTNOTE: All of this makes the recent revelation in the Economist all the more intriguing. New research seems to indicate that just having a dog around can boost human cooperation levels—potentially altering well known game theory results.

“….The researchers explored how the presence of an animal altered players’ behaviour in a game known as the prisoner’s dilemma…Having a dog around made volunteers 30% less likely to snitch than those who played without one.”

So, should the next Paris Declaration meeting have canine observers?

Praying together and sharing ideas helps build trust between group members.

With deep gratitude, Tanya

First, it is important to think of everything as making baby steps towards progress. Each relationship I build is an opportunity to encourage people and give them (and myself) hope. Each one person I help then has the opportunity to go and positively affect someone else.

I am by nature a “glass half-full” type of person and I gain energy by thinking about the possible goodness of a situation, rather than worry about all the things that could go wrong. Still, keeping this attitude takes faith and reassurance that must be renewed everyday. Del Anderson talked about needing fresh manna everyday. In 2005, at the age of 99, he wrote, “Day by day is growth, change, fresh manna each day.  Yesterday’s manna is not good enough for today.”

One way that I take in this fresh manna is through Unity’s Daily Word emails. Each morning I get to read a positive, uplifting spiritual message with an affirmation from the Bible. Some of the regular topics are peace, praying for others, inspiration, and guidance, all of which are so closely related to my work with Spirit in Action.

I have one particularly inspiring email taped in front of my desk so that I see it often. It builds me up in the morning and prepares me for a day of loving interaction with the world.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 — Energy

I am energized by the power of God within me.

Energy is the inherent power of God within that responds to my desire to accomplish things. In whatever I do today, I am expressing the power, vigor and strength of God. I am God-energy in action.

I am a force for good, expressing my talents in positive ways. I am mindful of the balance between work and rest, giving and receiving, striving to accomplish and letting things work out in their own time. Energized by the power of God within, I discern what is mine to do, and I accomplish it as Spirit directs.

From the smallest step to the longest journey, I know the spirit of God goes before me to guide my way. I move forward with confidence and gratitude.

The God who has girded me with strength has opened wide my path.–2 Samuel 22:33

Don’t you feel ready to take on the world with that vote of confidence? I do!

Dennis Kiprop, a Spirit in Action partner in Eldoret, Kenya wrote recently to share with me about environmental movements in his country and explain how people are employing bio-intensive agriculture to replenish the nutrients in the soil. Dennis, SIA-supported small business leaders, and many others are planting trees to create a “greener Kenya”.

Kenya emits significantly less CO₂ than the United States and still Kenyans are seeing the effects of global climate change. Currently, only 3% of Kenya’s original forests remain, a result of trees being cut down for timber and firewood. To help reforest their environment, four new tree nursery businesses were started with $150 Spirit in Action Small Business Fund (SIA SFB) grants in early 2010.

The SIA business groups grew indigenous seedlings for two reasons. First, they are businesses, so they harvest the trees in a sustainable manner and sell the wood to neighbors. The businesses have so far been very successful and all have reported high demand for their product.

Secondly, they are working with other groups from three surrounding villages and Samuel Teimuge, a long-time SIA partner, to raise and plant the seedlings to protect their local water source. This part of their work receives additional support from Trees for the Future, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that has been supporting reforestation efforts for over 30 years. Since 2008, Trees for the Future has distributed just under half a million seeds to partnering organizations in Kenya, including Samuel Teimuge’s Ukweli Training and Development Center.

After a meeting with the groups to discuss their goals, Dennis reported, “They will protect six streams whose waters drain to Lake Victoria by planting around the catchments to maintain the reservoirs. They also want to eradicate predicted dryness. I like the way they are giving their time and energy more in long-term investments.”

As with all Spirit in Action projects, these groups are also thinking about how they can pass on the gift they have received. Dennis is enthusiastic as he tells me, “I think reforestation is one of the largest dreams for Kenya and we are all participating in Sharing the Gift and “paying it forward” to the three villages and their surroundings that benefits the entire region for a long time.”

“Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.” –Psalm 96:12

Dennis Kiprop tends to the tree seedlings.

I like to glance at his entries every now and again to be able to reconnect with Del’s strong spirit and passion for service to others. This morning I’d like to share the entry from Del’s journal for this day in 1998.

July 27^th, 1998

Beholding as in a mirror the glory (that is the beauty) of Christ we are changed into the same image from one stage of character growth to another. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

It is a process of contagion, perseverance and growing in the Spirit. For life there must be a plan, a pattern, a purposeful intent. Life must have unity, humanity and purpose – with serenity, and a spirit of adventure with a resolute will. There must be a sharp focus on compassion, mercy, and justice for the common good.

All so often, we have great gratitude for the will to act, even as we often regret our failure to trust and obey. It is as we nurture our souls, we let God come forth: in, for, with, and through us. This living from within out is our passage to victory.

It is in nurturing our heart (intention) actively we grow from sense to soul, from self to Christ. Love, joy, peace, etc. are feelings. To partake of God’s character and nature, we need to feel the heart process of our nature.

If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. (John 7:37)

One such grassroots organization that Spirit in Action has supported is Welfare Concern International (WCI), in Livingstone, Zambia. Moses Chibanda, the current director, left a job in teaching in 2005 to run WCI full-time because he felt a deep calling to help those around him work their way out of poverty. The organization’s mission, in Moses’ words is “to bring hope and give people life survival skills through training and economic empowerment programs”.

Community members meet to pray and plan for the new WCI building.

Most of WCI’s members are widows who have lost their spouses due to the AIDS pandemic, and many are working to have enough money for their children to attend school. Moses explains, “One of the crucial problems faced by guardians is lack of capital to start their own income generating activities to sustain themselves and their families.” WCI provides skills training and small loans for new Income Generating Activities (small businesses) for the widows.

To help WCI in their efforts, the Livingstone City Council, donated an old building (pictured right) that will house a resource center and serve as a place for skills training and other economic empowerment activities. Not wanting to let any space go to waste, the group will use the land around the center to raise chickens and plant a vegetable garden. Spirit in Action will continue to follow their renovation progress and encourage them to reach out to more widows in their community.

Through the challenges of starting to build a center for WCI and seeing the mounting poverty around him, Moses continues on, always expressing dedication to his mission and acting as a strong role model for those who are able to do great works in their community by starting small and dreaming large. Moses shares, “I desire to serve the less privileged people to the best of my ability and take Welfare Concern International to great heights of success. There are moments in my life when I have felt like giving up but because of Spirit in Action’s encouragement and prayer support I have continued to soldier on to drive the work of WCI.”

Part of our mission at SIA is to serve God by empowering others. The passage above clearly states that, indeed, the best way to serve God is to help others, especially those in need. In the Bible parable, those who helped did so by providing clothing, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison.

Prison officers and their wives enjoy Moringa-enriched meat pies.

An inspiring expression of this good action, Newton Amaglo, a SIA grant recipient and professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, is now working with over 400 officers and 2,000 inmates at four prisons new Kumasi to help them improve their diets.

So far Newton and his team have contributed free samples, 50 grams for each prisoner, of the highly nutritious Moringa leaf powder to the prisons. That’s a significant supplement to the prison diet, especially considering that just one gram of Moringa has the same nutrients as:

Considering the rumors of poor food in prisons in the US, we could take this as a lesson!

In these Ghanaian prisons, now, the leaves are used in tea and as a supplement in meat pies. Newton and his team have also recommended Moringa for use in the infirmary because of its many know medicinal healing qualities.

This is not just a handout; Newton also knows the importance of training the inmates. When giving aid the best help leaves the recipient with skills they can use long into the future. As such, Newton claims that the greatest success of the project so far is that “the prisoners are learning the technology of Moringa cultivation and processing so that they can live their lives on it even after serving their sentences.”

Not only do we want to care for our brothers and sisters, we also want to care for our earth. Moringa helps with this too. Newton, who also works as Scientific Manager for Moringa Partners, a Moringa discussion forum, recently recorded this podcast about the ways that Morniga can help combat global warming. (His voice is pretty difficult to hear, but the information is very interesting.) Since Moringa grows so quickly, it can help reforest the denuded land. Its green leaves are also high in chlorophyll and in the podcast Newton tells how these trees can absorb carbon dioxide at a faster rate than an average tree. Another interesting fact: there are currently studies being conducted to see if Moringa can reliably used as a biofuel, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. If you want to read more, Trees for Life has a good, reputable resource page about Moringa.

Wow! Every time I read about Moringa, it is a bit clearer why people call it the “Miracle Tree”. And Newton’s work visibly embodies our passion for providing individuals with simple tools that can drastically improve their lives.

50g Moringa samples are handed over to the prison officers

The book, for children and adults alike, clearly shows how micro-finance works to change the lives of a family, community, town and country. On the grassroots level, people in a community pool their savings together to create a small loan fund. As the story explains “None of the twenty families in the village have very much money, but they do have a good idea. Each family promises to save a bit of money so that one family can borrow all the savings to buy something important” (p.7). The families take turns borrowing the money to start or expand their businesses. When they pay back the loan, another family gets a chance to borrow the funds.

SIA small business grant recipient in Kenya with her chickens

This idea is what Spirit in Action calls a “merry-go-round” loan or a micro-savings group. In fact, one of the grant proposals approved at the June 2010 Board meeting helps establish a small-scale chicken project in Malawi, where the profits are added to the micro-savings pot, to be lent to different communities members on a rotating basis.

Giving people a chance to borrow money gives them a chance to make an investment in their future. In the story, which is based on the real life story of Kwabena Darko, Kojo borrows a few coins to buy one chicken. He takes care of the chicken, selling its eggs in the market so that he can pay back the loan and buy more chickens to expand his flock. He and his mom also eat some of the eggs to add more protein to their diets. After a year Kojo has made enough to go to school!

Kojo and his mom also benefit emotionally from the initial loan. “Kojo is proud of his eggs. And his mother is proud of Kojo. Bit by bit, one small hen is making a big difference” (p. 11).

Del Anderson knew just how much a few words of encouragement could bring hope to a person’s life. People who know they are loved and supported are more confident in all their enterprises! That’s why, for SIA, sharing and communicating with all our international partners is an important part of our mission. As Del always reminded people: Don’t let impossibilities intimidate you ~ do let possibilities motivate you.

This women's small poultry business experienced high demand for eggs

If you want to find out about just how successful Kojo is in his chicken enterprise, why not check out One Hen? And then read it to a friend or a child and get them thinking about how one small gift can make a significant difference in our world.

As Boyd Cothran wrote in the Fall 2009 SIA Newsletter, “We take small amounts and give entrepreneurs in developing countries the opportunity to succeed. We don’t ask that they pay us back but that they use their success to give someone else in their community a chance to get ahead.”

The following story, written by SIA SBF Malawi Coordinator Canaan Gondwe, shows that one small act of generosity can put a new roof over a family’s head.

Winkly Mahowe with a family size of four entered the SIA SBF program in 2007 through the Sharing of the Gift program. The family received one piglet of seven months old in May. It was indeed a small beginning and it was as if there will be small impact. But today, the impact on the family is big and there are celebrations all over for this achievement.

In Malawi, 75% of the households live in houses that are grass-thatched and very small in size. Most people are not well accommodated especially these low-income earners. These houses leak during rainy season. Most of these households can’t afford the iron-roofed house and it really becomes a miracle to attain such a house in this category of people.

After successfully benefiting from the gift, the pig in 2008 gave birth two times in the year and there were 19 piglets (11 female and 8 male). These were sold at three months of age at the cost of MK 5000/each (USD$32). Money realized was MK 95000 (USD$626)! The family bought 38 iron sheets of 12 feet. In the year 2009 the pig farrowed twice again to 16 piglets and they were sold at MK 5000/each and the family realized again MK 80000 (USD$527) and bought 32 iron sheets. Total iron sheets were now 70 and now they have built a house and roofed it.

For a long time, the family was struggling financially to get the iron sheets and through the Sharing of the Gift of SIA they have managed. It is smiles on the family as they no longer stay in a house that does not leak. The family is thankful to the program as they can witness the love of Christ emanating within fellow Malawians.