DailyPost 763
EDUCATION / KNOWLEDGE PHILANTHROPY
From a few hundred rupees by unknown individuals to 85% of the earnings of the world’s biggest investor’s worth of US $45 billion, philanthropy runs deep into the human DNA. Bill Gates getting in full time into the self funded social service work of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to thousands of crores committed by Azim Premji, money has been coming liberally for a cause. Might be this is a fast route to self-actualization, the highest placed human need in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Now CSR is adding compulsion to this exercise and road ahead for CSR certainly would not be as easy as it made out to be. Compulsion / social sector – govt. / NGO / CSR / philanthropy matrix still to deciphered.
While mostly unimpactful education is imparted out of philanthropy, there is an audacious thought; can there be an education philanthropy. Educational philanthropy is very different from any money based philanthropy. It would be that a knowledgeable / skilled / man of compentenices imparts his knowledge for free to the ones who require. The deliverable would be pre-decided, as would be be the time lines and the quality assurance. It would be the best rather than the lowest in the category as is the case with a host of philanthropy education products.
It’s not a favour that is being done; what is being met is a combination of one’s human calling and dire need of the society. It also heralds a paradigm shift in the philanthropy model from money being an issue, to skill based effort becoming the main currency, in one of the most popular sectors of philanthropy – education. The era of books / school bags / educational gadgets being handed over photographs should slowly make a quiet exit. The success stories of long, arduous effort of imparting knowledge with a visible impact should become the mainstay of the deprived component of the educational sector.
Philanthropy of effort / time / pain & involvement can do wonders. Without decrying the role of money, this is what the Knowledge Philanthropy is not all about. The more such resources pledge to this transformative exercise, the intensity / pace / permanence of change would be clearly visible at the base of the pyramid of the educational sector. Knowledge deprived at all levels can also gain.
EFFORTLESS PHILANTHROPY CANNOT DELIVER DESIRED RESULTS.
Sanjay Sahay