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read Global is an international
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nonprofit that uses community libraries
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as a platform for creating social change
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in rural Southeast Asia Professor
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Michael yusim interviewed Tina shaba
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executive director of Reed Global which
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last month won the second annual bar and
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Marie Lipman family prize awarded to
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organizations creating positive social
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impact through leadership and
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Innovation uh so Tino welcome to the
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Wharton School good to have you here
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you're the executive director of read
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Global you have operations through India
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through Bhutan through Nepal to bring
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the resources of reading and access to
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information to those who ordinarily
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would just never see it just uh
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describing a couple words how you
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operate what you do how big an impact
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you have sure so we actually work in 67
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different Villages right now we started
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in Nepal about 21 years ago and we use
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community libraries as a platform for
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creating social change in rural Villages
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so we partner with the village to bring
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education Enterprise and Community
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Development to each community and then
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transform that Community as a result
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that's great uh in terms of the
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distinctive Edge that sets you apart
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from other initiatives in the social
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impact field like this what What Makes
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You Different um I think there's two
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things that really make the read model
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distinct and unique um one is
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sustainability and when I talk about
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sustainability I mean Financial
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sustainability so um with every read
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Center that we launch we start a
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sustaining Enterprise a for-profit
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business that can generate Revenue that
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will meet the operating expenses of the
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center for years to come so the
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community knows from the very beginning
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that they have a way to actually sustain
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this moving forward and with that
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they're very welcoming of the idea um
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and that leads to the second point which
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is it's Community initiated and
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Community owned and managed so the
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communities they involved from day one
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they have to um initiate the request we
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don't go to communities and tell them
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you need a read center it's really them
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they decide um and then they have to
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come up with a plan a proposal and
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they're involved every step of the way
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so that that sense of ownership and
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co-investment is there from day one and
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it just grows and grows and that's what
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really leads to the success of the model
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I see you ask communities to put up a
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little cash to go with all the above and
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because you're in rural Nepal for
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example where there is almost no cash it
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is very very poor it's one of the
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poorest countries in the world of course
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um how do you draw villagers into
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putting up some of their very scarce
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cash into this kind of an initi
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yeah you might actually be surprised um
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you're right it's one of the poorest
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countries in the world we've actually
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seen communities run their own
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fundraising campaigns because they want
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the center that much where they will go
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door Todo and every single villager will
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actually contribute something even if
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it's just a rupee or a handful of rice
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that can then be sold at market and the
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beauty of that is that everyone then
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knows that the center belongs to
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everyone in the community it doesn't
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belong to the wealthy people who helped
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fund it it's belongs to everyone um so
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been a really important part of our
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model from day one and we actually have
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some communities that have raised more
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than half of the funds we require a 10
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to 15% co-investment but there have been
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many communities that have raised far
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beyond that and um even continue to
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raise money after the center is open and
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they want to build upon it and expand
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what's happening there as you said they
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come to you which is then really a a way
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to ask how do they learn about you how
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do you Market how do you become known to
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villagers such that they do want to step
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forward call you and put some money up
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to make it happen right so in Nepal
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we've been working for 21 years so the
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Reed brand there is very well known um
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our libraries are all over the country
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and so we get so many requests every
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year that we can't actually handle all
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of them um and you know in a place where
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we've been working for that long it's
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easier to have brand recognition in a
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place like Bhutan and India where we've
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been working less than six years in both
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countries we do a lot of awareness
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buildings so visiting with communities
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educating them about the model
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explaining what's required and then
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really it's up to them once they know to
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make that request but we have to do a
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bit of Education they're not just going
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to come to us asking for a read Center
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unless they learn what it it's inv
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involved and what it's going to take
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from them you're different but similar
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and if other social impact groups that
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are looking to go into that region or
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elsewhere for that matter come to you
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and ask for the lessons learned about
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how to start up and sustain this kind of
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an operation what are a couple of the um
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enduring ideas that have been vital that
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you think other organizations could
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learn from um I think it is it's it's
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what we've talked about it's Community
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ownership Community engagement from the
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very beginning um not telling
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communities what it is they need but
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actually working with them to figure out
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what are the assets that already exist
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in the community and what are the really
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the most urgent needs that the community
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is facing and how can a read Center meet
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those needs um I think a lot of
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organizations have really great
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intentions and they have models that
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could be replicated but if the community
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doesn't buy in from the very beginning I
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think it's really difficult to achieve
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success and so that's something that
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Reed has done particularly well we give
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the communities time to adjust to the
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idea if they're not completely committed
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right away we don't rush things we wait
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until they are completely committed
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because we know that without that sense
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of commitment it's it's not going to
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succeed and I think that that becomes
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challenging especially in this day an
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age when so many funding organizations
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you know there's now a lot of focus on
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social impact they want to see quick
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scale quick results and that's
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challenging because if you want a
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community to take true ownership you
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don't go in and get it done in six
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months you really need to make sure you
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give the community time to understand to
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all come together to make sure there's
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no conflict around the idea and that's
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something that the read teams have
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really mastered and I think other
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organizations there are probably other
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organizations that do something similar
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but I think there are probably some um
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that would have more success if they
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would do more of the mobilizing at the
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very beginning rather than after they've
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started a project it's bottoms up
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Grassroots driven customer Centric
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you've been at this yourself as
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executive director for three years now
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the organization goes back more than 20
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years uh you're reaching some 2 million
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recipients now with your services what's
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next thinking out a couple years maybe
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even five how many people do you hope to
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reach do you look to go into other
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countries will your model change uh we
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definitely want to go into new countries
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so I'd say for the next year or two
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we're really focusing on deepening our
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impact in the countries that we're
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currently operating in we're looking to
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do a lot more with technology so um
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providing free internet access at the
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read centers but also looking at ways
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that we can use mobile technologies to
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reach people where they are um because
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we work in so many rural Villages where
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people farm and so they need to spend
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most of their day farming they may not
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be able to get to the read Center even
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if it's close by so how do we get
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information to them on their mobile
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phones that's really truly going to
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serve their most critical needs um also
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looking at making sure that the
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countries that we're in now Bhutan India
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and Nepal that they can sustain their
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own operating budgets within the next
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few years so that Reg Global as an
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organization can really look at
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replicating the model around the world
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that's great Tina you began as a
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commercial litigator and for three years
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you've been at the top of this
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organization uh couple questions about
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you uh in your visits to some of the
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operations or some of the settings some
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of the Resource Centers and let's make
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it remote parts of
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Nepal what has been most striking or
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maybe even most surprising to you as you
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have gone into the villages met some of
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the recipients Senor operations in
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action um I think what's been
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lifechanging and inspiring is how much
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communities can do for themselves you
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know there's often a sense of people
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coming from um the Western developed
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world that we have a lot of resources
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and we might have a lot of answers I
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actually think that in rural Villages
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they have the answers uh they just need
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to be given a certain amount of
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resources and the opportunity to unleash
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those ideas and their full potential
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because we have seen truly amazing
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things happening with the communities
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especially over time as they take more
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ownership and more responsibility for
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deciding what programs and services
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should be provided through the read
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Center um so I think it's just that
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respect and and understanding that most
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people have it in them to have a better
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future for themselves they just need to
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get past the most basic needs so once
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people can meet their most basic needs
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um and and that might be earning a
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living so that they can feed their
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children send their children to school
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once they can do that then anything else
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is possible I think when I started at
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Reed um I was a little frustrated
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because there's such high illiteracy
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rates in many of the communities that we
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work in and I thought well why are we
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going to put books and internet access
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in these communities if people can't
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read how are they going to access these
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resources and I now realize that we do a
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lot around livelihood skills training so
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once they get past that point where they
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can actually earn a living and have some
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Financial Resources then they can get to
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literacy and you know education in so
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many different areas so that's been a
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learning for me that you you can't do
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everything all at once you actually have
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to um tackle the most urgent needs of a
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community and then you can get to things
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like education of the parents and making
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sure that they can keep their children
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in school because they actually have the
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ability to put the kids in school
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because they don't need them working at
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home Tina you in a sense touch the two
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ends of the Earth so you've been to
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rural Nepal settings one of the poorest
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countries of the world can take days
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even to reach a a resource center there
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by foot you also have support from The
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Gates
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Foundation uh last time I looked some
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$60 billion endowment there probably
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equal to the GDP of the entire country
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of Nepal or not too far off in managing
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and working between the worlds of
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extreme poverty and development and then
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the world of the the first world and the
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wealth that is required uh the financial
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support that's required to make all this
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happen
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what have you learned about managing
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what have you had to learn about leading
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in that very complex terrain that you
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travel um I've learned a lot in the last
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three years um and you're right I'm
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working with very different audiences
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but I think the most important thing no
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matter who you're dealing with is being
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able to communicate your vision clearly
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and you know the the vision for the
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organization um as a leader it took me a
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while to realize there were often times
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when I had a whole plan in my head and I
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wasn't communicating it to the rest of
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the organization and it's really
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important when people are working so
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hard to make something happen that they
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understand what direction we're heading
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in as an organization I didn't always do
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that and I probably still don't always
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do that but I understand the importance
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of it now for people to really
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understand why we're doing what we're
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doing why we're taking on new
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initiatives and what the end goal is
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with all of
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that you have received the 2013 Barry
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Lipman prize for social innovation in a
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social impact field uh it's a
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significant cash award it recognizes you
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and all that you have done and your
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organization has
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done looking forward uh next 12 months
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or so to what that that recognition may
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do for you just talk through a bit about
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the impact of this prize on your own
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thinking and your own operations yeah I
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think for the organization as a whole
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especially in Nepal where we've been
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working for so long 21 years um having
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this sort of recognition is it's a
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GameChanger you know we work really hard
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as an organization the people overseas
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dedicate their lives to this work they
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work under some pretty grueling
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circumstances and they're so passionate
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and so committed because they know that
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what they're doing makes a difference
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but then to have the University of
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Pennsylvania and the Wharton School um
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give us this prize and acknowledge that
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yes this model is truly transformative
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and it's something that can be scaled
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and replicated it really gives us a
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sense of Pride and the work that we're
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doing it it just gives us that external
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validation that yes this really matters
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um I think also the partnership with the
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students and with the faculty is going
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to be also a game Cher and it already is
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because they're doing a case study right
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now and um we have some challenges and
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opportunities as an organization we're
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really hoping to um tackle those
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challenges together with the students
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and faculty to see if they can help
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bring some business thinking to the
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organization we have a business angle
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already but I think it's always good to
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have experts from outside of the
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organization lend their expertise and
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bring some new ideas and really help us
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understand how we can make the
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organization even stronger Tina we thank
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you for joining knowledge of Wharton
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today above all we thank you and Reed
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for all that you're doing for the people
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of India Nepal and Bhutan in areas where
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they get access now to resources they
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otherwise would have never had an
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opportunity to see or read so thank you
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very much thank you for having
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me
