Santa Clara University

My Visit to Anudip, GSBI Class of 2005
With Dipak and Radha Basu

A Small and Quiet Revolution of the Human Spirit

Reflections of Jim Koch, Director
Global Social Benefit Incubator
June 12, 2009

My last evening in Calcutta concluded with a stimulating conversation with Radha and Dipak and followed a long day into the West Bengal region to visit two of the twenty sites where Anudip's work is reaching into these remote rural regions with IT skills training. Our visit included meetings with students from two dollar a day families who are learning IT skills and being certified by Anudip, starting or aspiring to start small businesses, gaining access entrepreneurship training in addition to micro-loans, and even being recognized by regional pod governments as eligible for government jobs based on the credibility of Anudip's work. What is happening here is a small and quiet revolution of the human spirit and collective agency. . . people, local governance groups (panchayats), partners, and inspired leadership with adaptive models of social change combined with imaginative organizations and business models to serve the poorest of the poor. Radha shared Anudip's hope of their work offering alternatives to urban migration and the associated dehumanizing and exploitative realities that accompany such migration. Prior to dinner we attended a mass at the Missionaries of Charity, visited the tomb of Mother Teresa, and ascended the same steps she ascended for nearly 50 years to the tiny room where she rested from her daily work with the poorest of the poor at the street level below.

Radha, Dipak, and I discussed their work in the context of other lessons from the GSBI and how our efforts can provide a new path to thinking and acting within a new model of economic development. For example, what is possible when you combine the insights from Mohammed Yunus on micro-finance, with IT access and skills, as well as entrepreneurship training, and new market linkages to livelihoods—as Anudip is doing? And, what other factors in combination with these innovations might change the prospects for hundreds of millions of people? Its interesting how comforting and energizing such a conversation can be at the end of a long day and more than 12 time zones from the comfort of my own bed half way around the world.

Read an article on Anudip Foundation in AsiaAge

See Jim's Photo Album in India

GSBI - Small and Quiet Revolution of the Human Spirit