The Central Market in Phnom Penh, which opened in 1937
One size doesn’t fit all and that may be true with CLEW. It was suggested to me in an interview once that CLEW should be easily franchised and translatable to other countries. However, it may not be possible to franchise or clone CLEW and this is due to the special circumstances that led to CLEW’s formation. It is possible to take the lessons that we have learned and to use them in the design of a similar program but you have to consider whether the factors exist in the country you have chosen that contributed to CLEW’s success in Cambodia.
The context of your initiative is important. You will not create a professional organization with significant funding available. Your ability to travel to the region will be limited and your knowledge of the conditions in-country will be limited. So, what are the factors that you might use in assessing whether a micro-charity in one country could be successful elsewhere? Here are a few that come to mind if one was thinking of starting their own version of CLEW elsewhere:
(i). The NGO has to be in a society that allows women a reasonable opportunity to obtain an education. This would rule out countries in which female students may be shot, sprayed with acid or systematically raped as a weapon to prevent them from getting an education. The dire need for such programs in these countries is recognized but it is very difficult to manage charities from abroad. You have a real responsibility to these students and to have such a tragedy befall a participant would be devastating for those involved in the charity. Programs in these countries might be better left to international organizations or the professional charities;
(ii). A related point is that it must be safe for your staff members to travel to the country in question to manage the micro-charity. It has been our experience that we have to travel to Cambodia probably every six months to really understand the current status and demands of the program. It is easy to lose touch if you are half a world away;
(iii). The micro-charity has to be in an economy that is growing and can provide an opportunity to obtain a job. Southeast Asia is a good place to do this, given the growing wealth of these countries. I’m not sure that you could create such a program in areas of the world where there is little economic activity and little prospect for improvement. If there is no economic growth, the students will have nowhere to work. To make a micro-charity like CLEW successful, our students have to have a reasonable expectation of finding a job after they graduate.
With respect to the Cambodian economy, the CIA (yes, that CIA) Worldbook reports that Cambodia’s economy has recovered since the financial crisis of 2008. It achieved 8% growth from 2000 to 2010 and 7% growth thereafter. The garment industry has 400,000 workers and accounts for approximately 70% of its total exports (but see the earlier post: Sweatshop – Dead Cheap Fashion, CLEW and Sokmeng). Tourism increased from 2 million to 3 million between 2007 and 2012 and Cambodia’s growing popularity as a tourist destination is readily apparent to anyone who has travelled there regularly over the past ten years.
Cambodia’s economic growth is a result of its location in a region that is booming. This is in part because of the incredible success of China that has become the second largest economy in the world.
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Cambodia’s growth has occurred even though its economy is bedeviled by corruption, with the country ranked 156 out of 174 in Transparency International’s 2014 rankings. Anyone truly familiar with Cambodia over a number of years can recount anecdotes regarding questionable practices but they are better left unsaid by a charity such as ours attempting to work within the economy as we find it.
(iv). Finally, in Lesson #5, the advantages of finding an existing program was discussed. These advantages included the fact that an existing program is a proven concept with an established infrastructure and a dedicated local management. Those who established it have an intimate knowledge of the local culture and economy. You likely will lose these advantages when introducing the micro-charity to another country. The issue is how do you establish a reliable local management that has the contacts necessary to make it a success and which will not take advantage of the funding that you will be providing.
The lesson is that when looking to establish a micro-charity like CLEW, the society must be stable enough to permit it, and the economy must be capable of generating opportunities to provide a payoff for those who participate in the program. But these factors simply qualify the country as a potential target for the expansion of your program. The real work starts then in establishing it and meeting the challenge of creating an effective local management to actually establish the program and make it a success.
A micro-charity has the advantage of involving a small number of individuals who have identified a particular need amongst an identifiable group in challenging circumstances. Its disadvantages includes its amateur status, a limited ability to manage the program abroad and to protect its participants. CLEW may not be readily translatable elsewhere.
But ….. what if?
Chuck G.
Inside the Central Market, after it had been renovated in 2009