Strategies

This first half of this week Greg taught on “Citywide Strategies,” being strategic in what we do, instead of just showing up someplace, assuming we know the problem and what to do. First we need to do research, find out what is taking place already, observe their daily activities, find out what the children need, and build relationships with people in the community. Then partner with other works in order to multiply the impact.

If we go in just making assumptions, we can end up causing more harm than good. In class, we read a case study of a man who started a shelter for street kids in India. He also gave some of the older kids jobs. After a few months, everyone was mad at him. He didn’t know that some of the kids had families, who were now upset that their child had someplace else to place to live and therefore no longer came home. Also the older kids had been part of a work which did a school program, but because of their new job, they missed so much they were not able to complete their current grade. Even his supporters was mad at him for not doing what they had expected him to do.

We also learned about “Early Encounter Project” which networks the Non-government organizations (NGO) working with children at risk, in order to form an alliance. This topic made me excited to find out what other work is going on where I'll be in India and network the them all together. I felt like I had already started. I have been contacting places in India, and ones in the states who do outreaches in India, as well as looking up other NGOs who work with street children and prostitution. I was really excited about the people I talked to and the potential work I can be involved in when I go to India in April. As I e-mailed people, they would refer me to other people/work they knew of, until at last, I got the jack-pot contact. I asked them about their children home, how to find housing, and then mentioned the things I wanted to work with while in India. Their response was pretty much that they knew all those people/things and if I let them know the dates and number of people in my team, they could set everything up for me – housing and the work schedule. That was pretty sweet, although slightly disappointing to realize there is no need for me to network these works – they already know each other and work together, which is good.