Dear GKD Members, I would like to add to Meddie's comments with a couple of things that have worked well for us in Guatemala. I would also like to describe a dilemma I am going through on the issue of profitability in a NGO.
With the help of USAID/AED/EDC and World Learning, we have set up 28 school-based telecenters, all of which are sustainable (so far) and almost all are putting social service over profits. The two principles that we have applied are: 1. Select partner implementors that are really dedicated to serving the community. In our case, most centers have been given to community-run schools, but a couple of others have been small, local NGOs. 2. Let the partners cover all recurrent operating costs from the outset and some of the start-up costs. This scares off many potential partners, but has served as a good filter to ensure that the partner schools have the economic base and administrative capacity to sustain the center. When we find a partner that responds well to both of these principles, the result is a telecenter that instinctively finds a happy balance between keeping the center sustainable and providing needed community services. These centers compete fairly with the small local entrepeneurs who set up private Internet cafes. The schools have the advantage of a captive user base while the entrepeneurs have lower overhead and better capacity to respond to local demands in terms of services and scheduling. We accept this competition as inevitable and healthy because it keeps everyone on their toes. In the end, the consumer wins. While I feel comfortable with the above-stated model at the local level, I am struggling a bit with the ethics and reality of whether a mid-sized local NGO should build its sustainability off end users. For example, some people have suggested that our NGO could create a franchise scheme where our partner centers could pay us a fee for which we would provide ongoing technical and administrative support. It is certainly solid as a business plan, although I wonder about our capacity to provide quality services at a low enough cost. Regarding ethics, I would not feel comfortable knowing that my salary is coming directly from the pockets of the rural poor we are trying to help. Yet, if we are not able to offer those services, the telecenters end up paying private companies for that assistance. So, maybe I am wrong in my thinking and that this scheme would really be a win-win. Our NGO is doing its best to be transparent, so that any "profits" obtained should truly be channeled back to our target population. I would welcome testimony from anyone or any organization that has gone through these types of growing pains. Thanks, Andy Andrew E. Lieberman Presidente (Nab'e Eqanel) Asociacion Ajb'atz' Enlace Quiche 5a. Calle 3-42, Zona 5 Sta. Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala Tel. y Fax: (502) 7755-4801, 7755-0810 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.enlacequiche.org.gt Para recursos y noticias sobre educacion bilingue intercultural en Guatemala, visite: www.ebiguatemala.org ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
