When people think of the “front line” it is usually in the context of war.
Yet there is a real war going on around the world, and it is an epic battle for people’s rights and dignity, a war that all too often NGOs seek to perpetuate rather than solve.
The victims are ordinary people working hard to make a living on extremely limited resources, victims of “good intentions” done without experience, victims of outsiders seeking to impose plans, victims of locals seeking to make quick money for themselves and swindle philanthropists, victims. And too often in turn they start to see themselves as victims, and problems compound.
The heros are ordinary people working compassionately, courageously, and thoughtfully to bring the right mechanisms to help provide the tools for people to uplift themselves. They are neighbors or friends, people in the same situations but who see the challenges and opportunities differently.
ZanaA is the front line of social enterprise, where the battle against the giant of systemic poverty is fought. Our weapons are such seemingly innocuous things as sanitary pads or bee hives or education in schools on self-esteem. We carry backpacks of computers, we forge markets for products, we brandish business plans and manuals, and test them with rigorous monitoring and evaluation. We fight, and sometime lose a battle, but we are confident that we will have the ultimate victory, for we are stopping nothing short of national, scalable, and replicable solutions.
Our battles are fought in Kibera slum and the Mau Forest, in board rooms forging partnership, and right here, over the internet – because the battle is also in the minds of each person who reads this site, for each of us have a role to play in making the world better or worse, and that role starts often unconsciously in the little things we do or don’t do, in the way we perceive ourselves and others. If we can help you to see the world a little differently, then we have won something really important.
Throughout this section of our website are the stories of these valiant heroes on the front line – the work they are doing, the tools they are using, and the experiences they are having as told in their own words and through photos and videos, blogs and tweets. Also in this section are the thoughts and feelings of some of us who are seeking to strategically support these special people.
