Freedom From Hunger
From the
Freedom From Hunger website: "Founded in 1946, Freedom from Hunger is a nonprofit, international development organization that brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty." FFH is a training organization focusing on microcredit, health and food security. For more information, I would recommend their content management system at
http://www.ffhtechnical.org.
What makes this CIC related?
Although in my edited first draft, I wondered to what extent FFH dealt with public goods, I think it would be more correct to say that their work deals with inequality. Within the framework we have discussed in class, their focus on reducing hunger and poverty clearly places them in the "reducing inequality" sector. While the information they provide could probably be modeled as a public good, I'm not sure we'll get as much mileage out of it. My proposal then is an information input to public work, falling under the heading "enhancing the internal operations of organizations that perform public work."
What do they get out of it?
FFH works with a partner organization in Bolivia called CRECER, which has developed a database for tracking social performance indicators like family income, ability to cope with income shocks, women's confidence, social capital in terms of trust and association, and most importantly food security measures. As I understand it, CRECER has staff members perform qualitative research with target populations, and then the indicator information they collect is passed into this database. In its support role to other nonprofits, FFH would like to study CRECER's system and build on it to help other organizations track social performance. Tracking social performance indicators helps to demonstrate impact to funders and also helps the individual organization learn and adapt. I would map out the information flow through the system, make recommendations for improving information tools in the system, and possibly begin designing/adapting said tools.
What do I get out of it?
This project would give me a chance to stretch some 501 muscles in the context of a growing need for development and charitable work: measuring social performance. I would get to examine the information flow for these social performance indicators, and use that understanding to design a better system for tracking them. It's very possible that a website or CMS could be adapted to meet these needs, although local connectivity issues may hinder that. Sara noted that "it would be a good experience in trying to understand the details of how social performance moves from theory to practice in organizations. To determine the role of IT in assisting with that -- particularly in non-IT focused institutions."
Who will be my mentor?
Alum Sara Naab will be my mentor. She understands the SI/CIC skill set, but is in a position to help me use those skills in a new and relevant space. Freedom From Hunger's evaluation specialist would provide domain-specific knowledge about social performance indicators. In response to David's comment, I'm not sure about access to this specialist, but I know Sara was in touch with her, and able to get information back from her with a day or two.
Any concerns?
From the reports I've read on the FFH cms, it's unclear what information technology CRECER is actually implementing in their system. It may be that they simply aggregate information in an Excel spreadsheet. FFH has a certain middling level of technology -- they're at least implementing a Plone CMS on their website -- and they seem to be open to Sara's technology recommendations, so I don't think I'll find myself in a position where Sara's the only one listening to me. Particularly with so many in the philanthropy field discussing impact assessment.
