Strategising to tackle poverty

Had a very gruelling yet fruitful day today. I compiled my week and a half’s worth of observations of MSS’ operations into a 4-page Discussion Paper and presented it to Vijay, along with briefing on Strategic Plans and a selection of articles on women’s empowerment. I pushed through my fear, uncertainty and cynicism and in return had a very productive discussion with him about women’s empowerment and non-profit work.


Surprisingly, Vijay was very open to my suggestions; he said a lot of them made sense to him. I was worried that my criticisms would depress him but when I asked if he was depressed he said, “No. We’ll find a solution. I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s there.” I was so relieved! I felt it was necessary to play the devil’s advocate for the girls we are working for; there is no point planning a programme that will not ultimately benefit its participants and the society in large.


In my Discussion Paper, I urged Vijay to think about the consequences of his plans on this wider economy. The fact is that there are so many women’s empowerment groups teaching women how to made handicrafts that there is an excess of handicraft-skilled labour, and this drives down the prices of labour and the handicrafts. The big problem with this type of trainings is the dearth of a market. Our programme must find a market and, when it does, cannot simply be replacing workers who are in similar poor circumstances.


It was very scary to lay this out before him; I felt like we were tottering over a very high cliff, staring into the abyss, unsure how far it went and whether we would be able to get back if we fell. To Vijay’s credit, he remained very optimistic, and when I had run out of ideas, he used his businessman acumen and sketched out a rough plan—one of the plans I think he’s had at the back of his mind. It made sense to me but I was hesitant to agree. At the same time, I don’t know Indian society and the Indian market as well as he does, so I have to trust him, and maybe conduct some field research.


When we were done talking about MSS, I asked Vijay about his construction business. What exactly did he do? He told me the story of his business and I was amazed at his creativity and opportunism. If he can build a self-sustaining company like that, he can do good things with this non-profit. I left him with some homework: a long document on poverty and women empowerment written for the International Labor Organization and a couple of articles on women’s empowerment from the New York Times. I wanted him to get a sense of what others were saying about women’s empowerment, to force him to look at the issue on the macro level instead of on the micro level. Hopefully with this information in mind his plans for MSS will truly be sustainable for individuals, the organisation, and the economy.


As Vijay’s intern, part of my job scope involves acting as a consultant. That’s always scary because I’m not sure if Vijay will really take my advice. And yet as an intern, subordinate to him, I will have to listen to him and eventually do what he says. I hope he comes to understand that education seems to be the only sustainable way to lift families out of poverty, and that he should place an emphasis on getting children to school, regardless of what his final strategic plan is about. I hope we will be able to work together towards this goal.