Otra Fe April Report: Planting Prep for Rainy Season, Chicken Project

Noé, a member of the Atehucía agriculture group,
showing off the fully developed squash plants.
This was the first dry season planting
on the plot in the El Molino estuary.

The days when I receive the Otra Fe monthly reports are the best days. As I'm going through my International Development class, I find myself being able to relate so much of my learning to what is happening within this project. Jim tells us they are closer to establishing the not-for-profit status. I am excited for life to slow down so I can get more involved again. Perhaps once my course is finished.

We still need to have a better alternative than renting land down there. Does anyone have a few hundred thousand dollars they would like to part with, for a sustainable food security project? Wink, wink. Let me know.

In the meantime, visit the Otra Fe Blog here to read about how they are finding land to rent and taking better care of chickens than ever before, resulting in improved production of eggs and meat. And make sure to click on the reports for the pictures!

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A MUST WATCH: The Way We Think About Charity is Dead Wrong

"If you want to make $50 million dollars selling violent video games to kids, go for it and we'll put your picture on the cover of Wired magazine, but if you want to make half a million dollars trying to cure kids of malaria, you're considered a parasite yourself."

Enough said.

This is a serious subject. The issue with non-profits keeping their overhead low is the universal theme in the non-profit sector. Everyone wants to donate directly to the cause, understandably so. But what if, to get your $25 donation for a chicken to a family in Uganda, it takes a few people to facilitate? What if, to make 100% sure that that family gets the chicken, and knows how to feed it and care for it and butcher it, there are PEOPLE involved in the process? Why wouldn't we want to ensure that the touchpoints are the entire system is taken care of so that the work is as efficient and far-reaching as possible?

There are so many non-profits now so people ask, "Why aren't issues being eradicated?" A huge part of that lies in the fact that we need to keep administration costs low. Money surely doesn't inspire everything, but job security and a high quality of living do a ton to inspire great minds to choose a career path in the non-profit sector.

Maybe there needs to be more non-profits that find a way to serve economic needs locally, in order to make some money. Better yet, maybe every for-profit company could do some major work in leveraging the funds they make to go to charitable causes?! Who needs 50 million dollars?!

We need to "Revamp the whole way that humanity thinks about changing things." That, my friends, would be social innovation.

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