For the last several month I have been involved heavily with an organization called Nothing But Nets. They are a part of the United Nations Foundation that works to prevent the spread and contraction of Malaria across the African Continent. I have been a part of a student fellowship with the organization where I go to trainings in Washington DC and then am responsible for bringing the campaign to my campus.
The way the organization works is extremely simple; $10 sends a life saving bed net to a family in Africa. At its base-most level, this is an incredibly easy concept to get behind. Malaria kills a child every 60 seconds, creates more than 3 billion dollars in lost productivity every year, and is a highly preventable and treatable disease. It is made so easy for the average person to get involved in this campaign.
This is what makes Nothing But Nets so attractive to me in the first place; easy to get involved, hard to argue against. While Nothing But Nets and its partners have worked to raise many millions of dollars over the last 10 years or so, this is not nearly enough to reach the longterm goal of total eradication of Malaria. That would cost approximately 5.6 billion dollars, an impossible figure for a single, or even group of charity organizations who rely entirely on the goodwill of donors through grassroots campaigns to achieve. Fortunately however, Nothing Buts Nets recognizes this set back and tackles it in a way few charity organizations I have heard of do.
The Nothing But Nets model goes beyond the basic donation model and actively encourages its supporters to engage in advocacy, and engages politically as an organization. It teaches people how to, why to, and where to talk to your congressmen and senators, and the specific legislation or government funds necessary to conquer Malaria. Nothing But Nets itself works very closely with many key members of Congress as well as several organizations within the United Nations in order to assure the maximum amount of funding and on the ground support that they can receive. This is how Nothing But Nets manages to have somewhere in the range of 2-3 billion dollars of direct support going towards Malaria research, prevention, and treatment.
They still go even further with their mission however. 5 of the $10 it takes to send a bed net goes toward the actual production of the nets. This is often done in factories in areas where Malaria is pertinent in order to connect the people effect to the issue itself. The other $5 goes towards training locals to distribute nets, educate their neighbors on how to properly use them and why, and towards training local healthcare professionals in a successful attempt to build up the healthcare systems in the regions most effected.
Nothing But Nets is not a one trick pony. This is the reason I love working with them so much. They serve as an excellent model for teaching my friends and peers how to build up their own organizations or projects. The more angels from which you tackle an issue, the more connections to other organizations, the more your elected officials are invested in them, the more success you are going to have in your endeavor. Its unquestionable.
I implore you all to think about the causes you care most about, the organizations you are most involved with, and to think about what ways they can go beyond what they can see. I would love to serve as a resource to you on coming up with ways of engaging more deeply in the work that you are trying to do. Seriously, hit me up I want to be challenged, I love when people don't think their organizations can do any more than they already do, and I want to help people and groups be more successful in the important work they do than they already are.
-Jason Flatt
Jason, I really enjoyed your article, and two things in it stuck me: first, awareness, and second, allowing people affected by an issue to help fight it (rather than a paternalistic approach).
ReplyDeleteThe latter we've discussed at length in class: why it's important to give people a sense of ownership and a feeling of empowerment rather than simply doing something for them. Not only is the local production of nets good for the economy, it's good for the people. It gives them hope that they have the power to help themselves, and we're simply aiding them in that mission; it allows them to think outside the box and create even better methods for addressing the disease.
That brings us to awareness, which we discussed earlier this week. Without awareness, without advocacy, you can't have a movement. The first step to getting people involved is by getting them interested, by rejecting apathy and demanding their attention. Too often people are unwilling to face the enormity of the problem(s) at hand and simply give up out of a sense of defeat and disillusionment. Advocacy makes them aware of the fact that they do have the power and ingenuity to help people, and it does so by bringing issues that seem far away close to home. We are all humans, and we are all responsible in part for the human condition.
Jason,
ReplyDeleteI really like how this post reflects your previous discussion in class of your political stance on civic engagement. Your post really shows how you engage not just in service, but in reforming current issues. I remember going to your event last semester for Nothing but Nets and it really does seem like a great and simple organization just like you said. There seems to be an activism and an educational component to the organization which I really like. One thing that really interested me in your blog post was the idea of going beyond what you can see. I, and many others, often volunteer with organizations not thinking of the deeper impact of the organization or the issue area that it is helping. I think this self reflection is necessary. Personally, I want to use this opportunity of doing research on our issue area to better understand how much I can gain from engaging in more than just a few hours of community service.
Jason, I think this was a super informative explanation of an organization that seems to really be covering all of their bases while working toward their goal of eradication of malaria. This post really stresses how important political activity is, along with money donation and field work. From the outside, it seems like lobbying your local congressmen and representatives isn't going to get you anywhere; who knows if they even read all of the mail and emails they receive? But, as you pointed out, Nothing But Nets has over 2 billion dollars of direct support. I find it very encouraging to see that, by tying together political activism with other donations collected, they are making such a notable difference.
ReplyDeleteIts really amazing to see how much passion you have for this organization. You really seem to have 'done your homework' so to speak. You have definitely shown me how important it is to challenge an organization and be sure they are making a change in the most effective way possible.
I really like what Nothing But Nets is all about. I couldn’t have said it better myself: “it is easy to get involve, hard to argue against”. This is a very straightforward answer to why the organization appealed to you. One of the aspects that I like about this organization is how it allows for you to become politically involved in your own country while helping out a great cause in another country. I think it would be great if every organization implemented a model similar to this because it teaches the importance of political engagement alongside civic engagement. Since this organization is so involved in politics it does allow for it to have much more support monetarily.
ReplyDeleteI did some outside research on this organization to see if it is as great as it sounds and it seems like it is. Charity Navigator highlights the fact that 88% of money given goes to program expenses (7% administrative, 5% fundraising), and gives the foundation top ranking as a four star charity. This organization has done a truly amazing job to be involved politically and civically. It is a great model for how to gain awareness. Lastly Jason, I can tell through your article how passionate you are about this cause and this organization you have done a great job at expressing this through your statistics and downright passion!
Jason,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post here. I agree, for many issues, a political component is required, and the best way to achieve those ends is to make politicians notice it. In terms of Malaria, probably the toughest hurdle, is the distance people feel toward the issue as it doesn't really effect anyone in this country from the rich to the poor. With other issues which effect Americans, it is easy to see how issues like malaria can get swept under the rug. In this case, advocacy as you have done is incredibly important in order to make people aware of the issues. Without the advocacy, these issues are just tragic stories from another part of the world, but not something the average person will care about. In this case, advocacy for any issue is paramount to the success in overcoming the problem.