JOHANNESBURG--One
of the most important impediments to progress
in the five priority areas for sustainable development
outlined by the UN Secretary General - water
and
sanitation, energy, agricultural productivity,
biodiversity and ecosystem management, and health
- has to do with the lack of democratization
of the knowledge and skills needed to contribute
to
these areas. There is little doubt that we need
the intellectual leadership of expert medical
and research scientists, engineers, meteorologists,
agronomists and the like. But it is no news that
he who has specialized knowledge (and usually,
it is a "he") can attain greater wealth,
respect and security than s/he who does not.
The commitment of social entrepreneurs to social
value generation colors the way they use their
expertise and talents. The vast majority of these
men and
women are highly educated professionals. They are medical doctors, engineers,
economists, educators, management specialists, lawyers and the like. Any one
of them could have chosen to pursue a stellar career in their respective specialized
areas. Indeed, many of them were exercising the professions for which they
had trained when their new "idea" took
possession of them. They gave up everything to
implement a different vision of what could be
possible. Social
entrepreneurs focus on democratizing knowledge and human capacity, the underpinnings
of sustainable development.
Richard Jefferson, for example, is a micro biologist
and arguably the most cited author in the history
of plant science. He advises UN specialized agencies,
including the FAO and the Convention on Biological
Diversity, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation
and the World Bank. But he is also a social entrepreneur
who is focused on nothing less than restructuring
the dominant problem-solving paradigm in biotechnology.
He maintains that while biotech holds real promise
for novel crop breeding to improve agricultural
systems in the service of humanity, it is unlikely
to substantially impact global food security,
environmental health or social equity until the
way innovation is undertaken becomes democratized,
decentralized and diversified - what he calls
a 3D Vision.
Food shortages, crop failures, population growth,
nutritional deficiencies, environmental degradation
and loss of bio-diversity are all perceived as
major issues facing us. However, Jefferson maintains
that these are only symptoms of the real problem,
which lies in the way humans interact with the
natural world. The field of modern agriculture,
for example, is increasingly divorced from the
environmental systems in which it operates. Short-sighted,
high-margin commercial interests, rather than
food security and fair play, have become paramount
in deciding where to focus modern, capital-intensive
research and, most importantly. who is empowered
to do such research. Thus, small and medium enterprises,
so crucial to innovation, transparency and public
acceptance, are excluded from the process. This
complex scenario keeps biotech research and its
potential out of the reach of millions who could
benefit from its application, and those who should
be innovators themselves.
To challenge the status quo in this field, Jefferson
created CAMBIA, based in Australia. For over
ten years, it has been able to attract global
intellectual leadership among those people and
institutions dissatisfied with mainstream research
practice. CAMBIA invests and provides enabling
molecular technologies and policy that allow
those involved in agriculture, particularly in
the developing world, access to the tools necessary
to craft their own solutions, benefiting from
the advances in biotech to address their own
needs. CAMBIA's renown scientists spend their
time advising, teaching and working in the agricultural
biotech communities of the developing world.
In its effort to democratize knowledge, CAMBIA
has developed a unique and growing database of
hundreds of thousands of biotechnology-related
patents. The database is an unequalled navigation
device that enables scientists and policy-makers
to maneuver their way through the minefield of
intellectual property constraints.
It is quite astounding for those of us living
in urban environments to grasp that almost half
the people on the planet make their living from
agriculture. The majority of them are farmers
in the developing world. Yet most do not own
or have secure rights to the land they till.
Because they have little stake in that land,
men, women and children in these families are
among the poorest people in the world. The problem
of rural landlessness lies at the root of poverty
and related problems, including hunger, ill-health,
infant mortality, political unrest and environmental
degradation. Everywhere land reforms have been
carried out, peasants in large numbers begin
to build houses, the rural market comes alive,
schools, sanitation, health clinics and other
improvements become possible. Birth rates, environmental
degradation and premature urbanization decline.
Roy Prosterman graduated magna
cum laude from Harvard Law School. He had a
rising career with
one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms
in New York City. Initially, he found the work "fascinating".
But he became increasingly disheartened by the
expenditure of vast sums of money by corporations
on legal fees to defend their interests against
consumers. He left the firm, and at the invitation
of the Dean of the Law School at the University
of Washington, started teaching there. Soon thereafter,
he came upon a law review article about land
reform in Latin America that changed his life
forever. Inspired by a new life mission, Prosterman
founded the Rural Development Institute (RDI)
on a shoestring. Its objective was to reform
the rural land policies of the world's poorest
countries so their farmers could gain land ownership.
Today, Prosterman, a true social entrepreneur,
is 65 years old. He has been working in land
reform for 35 years, focused on building legal
capacity in the 35 countries that have sought
his help. Because of RDI, 70 million farmers
have received land ownership to about 62 million
acres, close to 2% of the world's arable land.
RDI lawyers are young and committed men and women,
willing to work harder at a third of the going
salary for US-based lawyers. Prosterman and his
colleagues conduct intensive research in target
countries. They spend much time doing field work
to find out how farmers perceive their situation
and what they need. They also meet with key government
officials in Ministries of Agriculture and Finance.
RDI studies the current legislative structure
and incentives, and after a thorough process
of data collection involving multiple site visits,
it recommends a set of reforms to the country's
government.
A snapshot of Prosterman's work
in China over the last ten years to build capacity
and awareness
provides some perspective on the impact of this "lawyer
for the landless". China has to feed 1.2
billion people, 22% of the world's population,
on only 9% of the world's arable land. To meet
this challenge, it must increase crop yields,
slow the loss of agricultural land due to urban
expansion, and bring some currently uncultivated
or environmentally degraded land into sustainable
forms of agricultural production. RDI has worked
hand-in-hand with the China Institute for Reform
and Development to develop and promote the Land
Management Law. It is a landmark piece of Chinese
legislation that ensures that farmers have 30
year land-use rights, providing long-term and
secure private land rights for 900 million rural
citizens, 75% of the country's population. RDI
has set up regional legal aid centers to inform
farmers about their rights, help them in the
exercise thereof, advancing the rule of law in
the countryside.
Unfortunately, I have had space
for two examples only, and there are so many
more. Garth Japhet,
a South African physician who became increasingly
frustrated that his medical skills were doing
little to improve the health and quality of life
of his patients in poverty-stricken townships.
He went on to spearhead "Soul City",
one of South Africa's most popular prime time
programs that democratizes information on complex
development issues. Jose Antonio Abreu, a Venezuelan
economist, former cabinet minister and legislator
with a passion for music. Abreu created a "musical
miracle" for thousands of poor children,
opening up a whole new world to those children
for whom musical education opportunities have
been extremely limited.
The open sharing of knowledge in ways that empower
people is about more than just having access
to Internet. It's about personalized giving of
what one knows, in direct and respectful interface
with those who most can benefit from that knowledge.
Social entrepreneurs live that kind of interface
as the only effective path towards social transformation.
