Our housing entrepreneur, Tasneem Siddiqui, recently wrote this article in Pakistan Dawn. Tasneem is right not only about Pakistan but about the whole world — people are tired of waiting for governments to do things and are taking solutions into their own hands. Acumen Fund exists to identify, support, strengthen and highlight these initiatives which are driven by private citizens and companies for the most part. It is why we don’t focus first on policy, look warily at “pilot projects” and must have a good reason to go to conferences that move from theory and not what is happening on the ground. What the world needs now are concrete examples of real people doing real enterprises that bring scalable solutions to the poor – and that see the poor as consumers and not as passive recipients of charity.
Archive for December, 2005
A view from a Pakistani social entrepreneur
Sunday, December 18th, 2005Dealing with Pakistan’s distorted housing markets
Saturday, December 10th, 2005Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz has been visiting earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan, and documenting her travels in a journal. Excerpts of each day’s entry will be posted.
December 6-8 – Islamabad to Karachi
Over my last two days in Pakistan, we meet with many individuals and organizations, including a potential pipeline deal to create a new housing development company for the poor. We speak with other organizations doing relief and reconstruction work, like the large Poverty Alleviation Fund and the umbrella organization for all of the National Rural Support Program groups. In short, we meet a number of potential partners.
On our last day, we reconnect with Tasneem Siddiqui, the entrepreneur behind our low-cost housing investment and overall expert in the field. Like our other partners, Tasneem believes there is potential in an organization that manages supplies and delivers needed design and management assistance for longer-term housing. People will take care of themselves, he cautions, but we need to look at where and how to add value as we start thinking a bit differently about the delivery of critical goods to the poor. This is especially true of housing after disasters and is also especially difficult in such highly distorted situations. (more…)
Finding hope in a tent city
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz has been visiting earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan, and documenting her travels in a journal. Excerpts of each day’s entry will be posted.
December 6 – Balakot
We make our way down from the mountains again into terraced land surrounded by rolling hills. This part of Pakistan is so much poorer than Kashmir. Many of the people are Afghan refugees, living in tented villages for more than two decades now. The thought that some of the new “refugees” from the earthquake might spend the rest of their lives in tents took my breath away.
We finally reach the tent city. All of the men are out working so only women and children remain in the twenty or so tents that house a total of about 50 people. We all sit inside of one of the distributed tents. Twenty or so women pile in with me, as do about a dozen children who gather closest around. The women are polite but angry. They are cold, they tell me, and don’t have enough quilts and blankets. The tents aren’t winterized and their children are getting sick. Life is hard, they say. (more…)
Healing a wounded Pakistan
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz has been visiting earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan, and documenting her travels in a journal. Excerpts of each day’s entry will be posted.
December 6 – Balakot
Balakot lies at the beginning of the Kaghan Valley. It was a major stop en route to the mountain areas known for tourism, with a resident population, including those in the valley around it, of around 40,000. On October 8, in a matter of minutes, the initial shock of the earthquake killed tens of thousands. It is estimated that in total, 75% of all residents ultimately were killed.
Seventy-five percent. Three out of four people. Thirty thousand people.
The city itself is a heap of dust and rubble spread over little hills and concentrated by the river, whose edge is littered with broken concrete – shards of what used to be small buildings. (more…)
Building delivery systems to the poor
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz has been visiting earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan, and documenting her travels in a journal. Excerpts of each day’s entry will be posted.
December 5 – Muzaffarabad
The earthquake in Pakistan has caused the greatest logistical nightmare ever faced with a natural disaster. People have lost their homes across an area as big as England. Families are scattered to the tops of high mountains in rugged, unforgiving territory with terrible roads and a harsh winter season that will make transport all but impossible in some areas.
In a tiny office above a bank in the middle of Muzaffarabad, we find The Citizens’ Foundation (TCF), which is mounting a powerful citizens’ effort to do something positive about the disaster. The operation is run by a dynamic entrepreneur, Adnan Asdar. When the earthquake hit, he quickly decided to give a year of his life to making a contribution. His wife and two young children remain in Karachi, and he visits every couple of months. That’s his way – a no-fuss, quick-decision kind of man with a big heart that he is unafraid to follow. (more…)