Days in Delhi

Last week I attended the Microfinance India Summit in Delhi. It was nice to focus on microfinance for a few days, since my day-to-day work doesn’t really involve it, but more than anything it was great to catch up with the original leader of Team Awesome (the Microfinance Alliance), Mary Jo. She is working at the Grameen Foundation in D.C. and we met up at the conference. I attended their panel on social performance measurement, which was interesting. I also attended sessions on Technology and Value Chains in Livelihoods. Overall, I came away with the sense that 1) the profit-motive vs. social motive debate continues, 2) there is a need for significant regulatory reform in this realm in India, and 3) there is a lot of interesting work going on.

Outside of the conference, I didn’t get a chance for much touring. I booked a bed & breakfast online with no down-payment, so I showed up in Delhi ready for it to be awful or not reserved for me. It turns out Vandana’s B&B is just lovely. I stayed in one of the 3 guest rooms in her home in the park-filled Safdarjung Enclave. She even got worried and called one night when I hadn’t been home all day and it was rather late- very sweet. On the downside, everything you read about Delhi scams seems to be true. For instance, I never succeeded in getting to the Dilli Haat shopping area because the rikshaw drivers all wanted to take me to some place they know of, which is actually an overpriced tourist trap where they get a commission for bringing you. But that’s really the only lame thing I endured.

Solutions for the other 90%

Last night I attended a Solutions Twin Cities event held at the Walker Art Center in conjunction with their Design for the Other 90% exhibit. Because of this connection, this particular volume of Solutions was focused on design. Presenters from the University of Minnesota College of Design, including the Dean Thomas Fisher, provided a framework and showcased student projects. Emily Pilloton from Project H in San Francisco gave us several examples of great design that considers social impact. Gabriel Cheifietz from 612 Authentic gave us a quick lesson on the different between telling a story, like we see on the news every night, and showing a story through short documentary (there are some great short films available on their website). Marc Swackhamer of HouMinn talked about the process of discovery and innovation involved in developing alternative building materials. Of course my favorite was Peter Rich, representing the Microfinance Alliance (full disclosure: I am the outgoing president), who gave a great overview of how financing fits into addressing the problems of the developing world. Hats off as usual to Colin and Troy over at Solutions Twin Cities.