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Health & Fitness

Ernesto Sirolli: What I Learned After Calling Sirolli Institute

I was inspired by a Ted Talk by Ernesto Sirolli entitled Want to Help Someone? Shut Up and Listen!

The premise of the talk is if you want to assist a region in economic development, it is best not to step in with preconceived ideas as to what assistance is required. Rather one should listen to the needs, the passions, and values of the community and then facilitate what is desired by finding the local resources needed to create successful enterprises.

This whole idea came about from experiences Ernesto had between 1971 and 1977 when as a young Italian man in his twenties volunteered through an NGO to travel to various parts of Africa to offer international aid. As time went on he became distraught that with each well-meaning attempt to assist in making a better life for Africans, he ended up failing to help as well as destroying cultures and lives.

He tells one particular story in this video of the first project he undertook in 1971 to teach agriculture to a small rural village in Africa. At the age of twenty-one with 4 other young volunteers, he went to Zambia to take this project on. A contract was established with the Zambian government to pay the villagers, hunter/gatherers who had no concept of money, the equivalent of a dollar a day.

The plan was to have them work 5 days a week to learn agriculture and then within 5 years create an independent enterprise the villagers could run themselves. The problem was with a wage for a day one could buy 50 lbs of mili meal, a staple food of the village. Therefore, the villagers saw no reason to return to work after Monday.

There were no shops in the village, so to motivate the villagers to work, the young men set up a shop to trade work days for goods. They stocked watches, glasses, and transistor radios--things the villagers were attracted to. However, once the villagers bought all the goods they wanted, they once again did not return to work.

The young men then decided to introduce consumable goods to keep the villagers coming back to shop. So in 1973, the boys stocked the shop with beer and whiskey. Suddenly hooked on alcohol, the villagers came to work 5 days a week and, as a result, became disconnected from their community and their old way of life.

Today this beautiful little village has the highest level of HIV positive in Zambia. And not only was this village affected in this way but all the places Ernesto visited. He had not seen the consequences of his actions until it was too late. However, he saw he was not alone. He witnessed the same tragic effects of the work done by the English, the Americans, and the French set out to "help" undeveloped villages.

Out of these devastating experiences, Ernesto created Sirolli Institute, a nonprofit that assists community members to create livelihood out of their own passions. He never goes anywhere unless invited, a lesson hard-won.

I am inspired by the story of how Ernesto found the courage to live with these tragedies he innocently caused and then turn his pain into something good. He had lost confidence in himself, but came back to try again. After all those failures, today he has succeeded. 

It occurred to me that communities in Southern California could benefit from the services that Sirolli Institute offers. We are in dire need of local economic development. Many people are out of work and need another means to make a living when jobs are difficult to find. Perhaps some have dreams of starting a business, but don’t have the resources. Others have gone out of business and are discouraged. Perhaps they need to update their business skills to match the changing times or make connections both with potential clients and new personnel.

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More local enterprises means greater availability of jobs. Also the additional influx of local money would benefit our nonprofits that struggle to find funds to operate. With all this in mind I contacted the Sirolli Institute. 

I was pleased to talk to one of the Sirolli Institute's team personally. She was both engaging and generous with her time. She explained an organization such as the Chamber of Commerce or a government agency must invite Sirolli Institute to the community.  Sirolli Institute then sends an Enterprise Facilitator to come for 5 days. That entity hires a community member to be trained by the facilitator. In addition, members of the entity also receive training in economic development.

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It is a brilliant approach—much like seed planting. I also learned there are grants available that can cover the whole cost of the services and that Sirolli Institute would connect us with others who have successfully obtained the grants in order to help guide us through the process. 

It would be exciting if our community leaders would invite an enterprise facilitator here, a fresh new approach to economic development that would be stimulating for all. Wouldn't it be a blessing if those who have a passion to run a business had the opportunity to fulfill their vision, bringing greater economic well-being which would result in more donations to our nonprofits—who then could fulfill visions of their own? It’s a win/win all around.

I wish our communities would take the risk and invite Sirolli Institute here; but unfortunately, as Ernesto says, unless they are invited they will not come.

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