Reference:Action Research Approach To Poverty Reduction/Conclusion
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Action Research and Service Learning as Longitudinal Approaches to Poverty Eradication, Economic Development, and Human Development is a paper originally prepared for International Action Research Conference in 2007 by Warner P. Woodworth, Ph.D and Peter Jay Sorenson CMC® and is copyright of the authors. The paper is reproduced here with their permission.
| Cover page | Introduction | Third World Poverty & Attempted Solutions | From Academic Idea to Working NGO | Action Research Roles & Tools | What We Are Learning | Conclusion | Bibliography and References |
Section 13 - Conclusion
The case of HELP International described in this paper is only a small portion of some 40 projects we have designed and implemented at BYU. Others that have been instituted, or at least strengthened by BYU student and faculty participation, plus alumni and outside consultants, include such NGOs as the Ouelessebougou-Utah Alliance that has been working in Mali, West Africa, for two decades, empowering 35,000 people in 72 villages. Enterprise Mentors launched a Microcredit program in Manila, the Philippines back in 1990 out of the author’s course. Since then it has trained a million microentrepreneurs in five nations, and has raised more than $17 million. In another case, Eagle Condor performs similar work in northern Peru’s urban areas, as well as rural communities in the Sacred Valley of the Inca near Machu Picchu. Another entity is Mentores para la Microempresa (MicroBusiness Mentors), which was started in 2003, to provide entrepreneurial training and $500 loans to members of Utah’s impoverished Latino immigrant community adjacent to BYU. An additional NGO is the Academy for Creating Enterprise in Cebu, Philippines, which was started by the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Marriott School, along with several students. It trains Filipino young adults in a two month intense, live-in mini-boot camp, where students learn to write business plans, use laptop computers, and develop entrepreneurial start-ups. Still another example is that of Reach the Children, a New York-based NGO working in various African countries, focusing on education, orphanages, and other programs to improve the quality of life among impoverished children. One of the largest programs launched by BYU alumni, students, and faculty is Unitus, an MFI that has quickly risen to be one of the most successful microfinance deliverers in the world, with collaborative agreements in seven countries. Finally, beginning in 2005, the student-run NGO Empowering Nations was launched as a response to the horrific Asian tsunami by building 120 houses, establishing income-generating projects, and helping Thailand’s coastal poor recover from the devastation. During that year, some 92 volunteers raised $200,000 and served at least a month each among the tsunami-impacted villages in Thailand. Since then, other Empowering Nations teams have been sent to Ghana, Panama, Peru, Kenya, and Paraguay to perform additional work.
The 16 largest of these NGOs, which were born within the BYU incubator of the past, are now having significant impacts. In 2006 alone, some $10 million in loan capital was raised through private donations. Approximately 220,000 microentrepreneurs were trained in simple business skills. By the end of 2006 these NGOs had a cumulative total in excess of 1.2 million clients worldwide. The future of these action research and service learning efforts appears very bright at HELP and BYU, in collaboration with corporate and NGO partners. We have a strong feeling is that this kind of success can be replicated among many more universities and corporations across the world as they tap into the skills and resources of consultants and global change agents.
“Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” --Margaret Mead
