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26Q&A SessionTHE ASIA THINK TANK DIALOGUE REPORTRebuilding Confidence, Restoring Livelihoodsbecome smaller for two reasons – one, the lack ofsecurity and the increased violence in rural areas,not just by terrorism alone but also civil wars betweentribes; and two, the depletion of natural resourcesand climate change. For example, he said, from astudy done in Bangladesh, it was found that in thenext 30 years it would be difficult to access cleanwater and the nation was unprepared for it. Heargued for planning to prepare for the depletionof resources and population increases in times ofclimate change.Citing the example of Nepal, he said the countrycould produce about 50 thousand megawatts ofelectricity by using water resources, but the problemremained rooted to the lack of political will, ratherthan the lack of monetary resources. Therefore, hesaid, nations had to come together to address notonly poverty, but also those other issues which if notresolved, would impact further on poverty. The ruralarea cried for investments, but these should come withthe right kind of political will and some understandingof the real causes of poverty.the rural poor and how investments should beploughed into the rural areas to address theexploitation of natural resources. Again, the viewwas forwarded that investments ought not to benefitonly a select few. An equitable model was neededand a desire to go beyond tested practices.Harnessing understanding was also important asmisunderstanding and misinformation were seen tobe firewalls in the effort to bring about change.Alluding to Dr. Manivasakan’s presentation, hedeplored the high rise of farmer suicides in Indiabecause of certain agriculture policies where theywere not protected. Farmers borrowed heavily andwhen unable to pay off their debts, there were leftwith no options. He argued that governments hadresponsibility at two levels – formulating policiesand then implementing them. Good governanceremained important, as perfect policies poorlyimplemented would result in institutional failures.Mr. Partha RudraProgrammes Director, National Foundation for India,IndiaReferring to the presentation by Dr. Durga, Mr.Rudra noted the need to rethink policies for
THE ASIA THINK TANK DIALOGUE REPORTRebuilding Confidence, Restoring Livelihoods Session Three 27What Next? – Programmes for ActionPoverty eradication called for concerted efforts by Governments, Civil Society, Think Tanks and Business towork together in a collective strategic partnership. Rural empowerment and SME involvement could facilitatepoverty eradication and improve the incomes of rural households. This session built on the two previous sessionsto generate ideas and free-flowing solutions towards the improvement of rural livelihoods and to identifyspecific programmes and projects that could be implemented. Some questions were raised: How to improverural incomes and the wealth of the rural population? How to improve rural healthcare, education, waterand utilities? What programmes and projects could be launched and funded? What could individuals do bythemselves and collectively to improve the livelihood of rural communities?Mr. Benjamin Quinones, JrChairman, CSRME Asia / Institute of Small ScaleIndustries, University of the Philippines, Manila.Commenting on the case for a new worldorder, Mr. Quinones said this called fora system of coordination and workingtogether, with continuing dialogue amongcountries, each taking responsibility to strengthentheir commitments, and the need to look at mentalmodels. He highlighted the prime importance of theold economy, which was to make profit. The idea ofthe market adjusting automatically was based on theidea of the free market but he now proposed a newparadigm which would enable the participation of allstakeholders, each of whom would have a say in themodel going forward. This line of thinking, he said, hadled to the evolution of social entrepreneurship or socialenterprise, which is a natural organisation where goodsare produced and traded for social and environmentalpurposes and not for profit alone. This Non-Profit modelfor doing business remained in the social responsibilitysphere, but in exchange, trading and banking, itwas not yet recognized as a sector, despite its activeparticipation in the economy. NPOs provided a thirdleg of the economy, he said, and complemented thegovernment and the traditional profit sectors.For instance, he said, Fair Trade enabled marginalisedand small producers to become big players, encouragedfair participation of children, promoted gender equality,provided a safe and healthy environment for workers,and produced fair profit. He noted that the NPO modelwas not against profit but required that profits made hadto be equitable, without jeopardising the environmentand other factors. Mr. Quinones concluded by makinga number of important points:• There was a need for better coordination anddialogue whereby stakeholders would go deep intotheir mental models, readjust their understanding ofthings, especially in agriculture, and agree what itmeans to the domestic economy as a whole.• There was a need for greater socialentrepreneurship.• Value-chain development was greatly required forsocial enterprise as one had to think not only aboutenterprise development but also to take stock ofthe whole value chain.• The poor were valuable partners in building sociallysoundenterprises• Social enterprise was the best model for missionorientedinstitutions.
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