Rethinking social work
The Blue Ribbon Movement
New thoughts for a new revolution
The Blue Ribbon Movement started as a youth NGO in 2000. The original idea behind starting was “Together we are stronger”. The belief was that if a group of people came together, they could accomplish much more. Structurally it was modeled on Rotaract with an India avenue added.
Somewhere within its first year the philosophy moved to “Green India. Great India” – thus identifying the two changes that BRM sought to bring about. The aim was to create changes in civic and environmental areas.
After some projects the movement began to look inward. “Be the change that you want to see” got added to the core ideology. This meant that we needed to create a change in ourselves before we change the society. Alongside, self development became increasingly important and the key objective towards organizing projects and activities was to learn from them.
Eventually the ideology evolved to “Youth-India-Development”. This represented a consensus on the need to work with the youth. Developing them would lead to the development of the country.
While this was the paradigm, questions about a lot of issues kept coming up to members. Being India centric for example would be too nation-state focused. Some projects could be totally meaningless if seen from the larger context. Members too faced issues regarding their own commitment etc.
The evolution of this thought has now come to take the next leap. The aim of the new paradigm is to address some questions that have emerged in the past. At the same time it seeks to embrace current reality, and start to work from there on.
I have chosen to contrast the new ideology with that of a ‘standard NGO’ to help the reader understand the reason behind adapting this better.
Blue Ribbon: The UN-NGO?
Traditional NGO (NGO)
Selfless service by members for a greater cause
The New BRM (BRM)
Complete focus on and recognition of self interest of members
NGO
Pro-anti stands, reaction to events
BRM
No pro-anti stands.
Examine who is deriving benefit from current equilibrium (source of force against the change)
Arrive at alternative equilibrium that increases the overall utility of all stakeholders i.e. is more beneficial to all
NGO
Local solutions applied where the problem is
BRM
Systemic solutions applied at the point of the root cause
NGO
Serve greater numbers, grow in size to create greater impact
BRM
Do less ourselves, CAUSE more change to happen, make ourselves redundant
NGO
Donation Financed
BRM
Sponsored projects that provide benefits to the sponsor too
NGO
Use of force, protest and advocacy as primary tools
BRM
Use of creativity and flexibility with focus on outcome rather than effort
NGO
Guardians of morality, question others
BRM
Consistently question ourselves, moral principles totally a personal matter
NGO
Change the world
BRM
Change our ways till we can change whatever part we want to
NGO
Think and act on the same scale
BRM
Think big, act small
NGO
Work with timelines, execute after certain conditions are met
BRM
Work at our own pace to create change, begin as and wherever we are
NGO
Asking “WHY”
BRM
Asking “How”
The model draws inspiration from a variety of sources. NGOs like Praja and Phase Five, disciplines of Systems thinking, Gestalt and NLP, and most importantly our own experiences with social work and change creation. The challenge we now face is to translate this into action that creates measurable long term change.
New thoughts for a new revolution
The Blue Ribbon Movement started as a youth NGO in 2000. The original idea behind starting was “Together we are stronger”. The belief was that if a group of people came together, they could accomplish much more. Structurally it was modeled on Rotaract with an India avenue added.
Somewhere within its first year the philosophy moved to “Green India. Great India” – thus identifying the two changes that BRM sought to bring about. The aim was to create changes in civic and environmental areas.
After some projects the movement began to look inward. “Be the change that you want to see” got added to the core ideology. This meant that we needed to create a change in ourselves before we change the society. Alongside, self development became increasingly important and the key objective towards organizing projects and activities was to learn from them.
Eventually the ideology evolved to “Youth-India-Development”. This represented a consensus on the need to work with the youth. Developing them would lead to the development of the country.
While this was the paradigm, questions about a lot of issues kept coming up to members. Being India centric for example would be too nation-state focused. Some projects could be totally meaningless if seen from the larger context. Members too faced issues regarding their own commitment etc.
The evolution of this thought has now come to take the next leap. The aim of the new paradigm is to address some questions that have emerged in the past. At the same time it seeks to embrace current reality, and start to work from there on.
I have chosen to contrast the new ideology with that of a ‘standard NGO’ to help the reader understand the reason behind adapting this better.
Blue Ribbon: The UN-NGO?
Traditional NGO (NGO)
Selfless service by members for a greater cause
The New BRM (BRM)
Complete focus on and recognition of self interest of members
NGO
Pro-anti stands, reaction to events
BRM
No pro-anti stands.
Examine who is deriving benefit from current equilibrium (source of force against the change)
Arrive at alternative equilibrium that increases the overall utility of all stakeholders i.e. is more beneficial to all
NGO
Local solutions applied where the problem is
BRM
Systemic solutions applied at the point of the root cause
NGO
Serve greater numbers, grow in size to create greater impact
BRM
Do less ourselves, CAUSE more change to happen, make ourselves redundant
NGO
Donation Financed
BRM
Sponsored projects that provide benefits to the sponsor too
NGO
Use of force, protest and advocacy as primary tools
BRM
Use of creativity and flexibility with focus on outcome rather than effort
NGO
Guardians of morality, question others
BRM
Consistently question ourselves, moral principles totally a personal matter
NGO
Change the world
BRM
Change our ways till we can change whatever part we want to
NGO
Think and act on the same scale
BRM
Think big, act small
NGO
Work with timelines, execute after certain conditions are met
BRM
Work at our own pace to create change, begin as and wherever we are
NGO
Asking “WHY”
BRM
Asking “How”
The model draws inspiration from a variety of sources. NGOs like Praja and Phase Five, disciplines of Systems thinking, Gestalt and NLP, and most importantly our own experiences with social work and change creation. The challenge we now face is to translate this into action that creates measurable long term change.
posted by The One at 6:27 AM
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