why and what...The IICP

Three months in Kolkata; Calcutta for those of you that haven't worked it out (or at least Googled it to confirm where I am), doing volunteer work (Leahy- doing good works???? hmmm is this the same Chris Leahy we know???) on sabbatical from P&G....why the heck am I doing this?..... That is the first question. ( Yup terrible grammar but this is a blog so excuse my French) .
I'm a middle aged ( yuck..but I guess the truth hurts sometimes) male in the middle of a great career with everything going for me. Why on earth do I want to leave the comfort and security of all that and go and pay (Yup...I paid for the privilege or opportunity if you prefer) to go and volunteer in a developing country, at the expense of three months salary at a time when the rest of the world seems to be imploding?
I must confess, as I got through the second G&T on the flight over here I was wondering this myself...It was “apprehensive bloke” getting on the plane even though I've been through airports to strange places hundreds of times. However, 18 years of work, and 8 years of Hair color (two acquisitions and a little project called Madonna – known to the world as Perfect 10 from Nice'n'Easy- included) had led me to the point where having a break seemed like a good idea. Now Rita, sensible well balanced woman that she is- took her sabbatical three years ago, spent a wonderful summer playing golf and came back to work a happier, more relaxed person. Dr. Leahy however, decides he wants to “do something” and unlike his mate Eric, who travelled the world and went to Antarctica, I end up (via the Internet and a BA flight magazine on mid career breaks which had an interview with a guy from P&G- who was blissfully unaware that he was being quoted)- talking to a number of organisations who specialise in placing volunteers.
I wanted to avoid “teaching English, and helping orphans” , worthy though they are, I wanted to try and utilise whatever skill base I might have from R&D project management. I targeted a few likely looking groups... got rejected by VSO after filling out 4 forms (useless bureaucracy if you ask me)... and chucked my CV out there. I got offers of micro finance and teaching secondary school chemistry to classes of 90 in Tanzania.... (I might have a PhD in chemistry, but you really don't want to test me on it after 18 years), and working with the National Association of Beekeepers in The Gambia....(go on, put your hand on your heart and tell me you really know which bit of Africa that is.....). I hung on hoping for an offer of coordinating volunteers in Belize...such a cool country and the rough guide is a nice pocket size, rather than the brick Ive lugged over to India with me. I was also asked to consider developing ethical personal care products in Sri Lanka... a bit too close to what I do today- and bearing in mind what the government and Tamils are up to these days, a bit to politically warm for comfort.
Mondo Challenge (also known as Gap Guru) http://www.mondochallenge.org/ were very helpful and really tried to understand what I wanted to do...some vague waffle about good at “developing organisations and managing people.” They excited me with an organisation called Dream a Dream in Bangalore- where it sounded like Id spend my time organising football tournaments for slum kids...now that could have been fun!
I ended up with a placement in Kolkata with the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP). Those of you who know me will realise just how far from “normal” this little adventure is for me. I would usually run a mile from the following – fundraising, children, handicapped people, developing countries (unless its for a few days on business when I stay in a western hotel), foreign languages (and trust me- Indian English is giving me as many headaches as Japlish...Im struggling to make my questions simple enough to understand, and understand the answers). I guess I can see this as a challenge, and react accordingly ( I'm supposed to like a challenge), but time will tell if I actually get any more comfortable in the next few weeks.
You want the official history, go to the website...http://www.iicpindia.com This is Leahy's perception after one week. I apologise for all inaccuracies, and whilst I don't intend to infuriate, offend or be wrong about anything or anyone, Im sure ill get it wrong somewhere.
This is a seriously impressive organisation....born out of necessity in 1974 and started with 2 children, both with cerebral palsy, one mentally, the other severely physically handicapped ( so they started with the full range of challenge), they have grown into a significant charity which now directly reaches at least 1000 people; kids and adults in Kolkata. They also act as a centre for training which helps many other “affiliates” learn to set up and support people with cerebral palsy and their carers across India, with ties to similar organisations around the world. They were awarded the best NGO in India in 2004.
The IICP run a school (144 kids), an adult day care centre (60 adults who have grown beyond school age), run outpatient and family services ( reaching almost 1000) from their centre at Taratala in the South of Kolkata, plus a parent involved programme (a couple of trained staff showing parents how to care for and teach their children) satellites elsewhere in town. They run training courses open to anyone working in the field – including a one year B.Ed in special needs education and research programmes in collaboration with other organisations worldwide.
In a week I've met some of the key directors, ladies who have learned their way as the IICP has grown- becoming qualified experts in special education and relevant areas. Picking up Masters and doctorates along the way, they have become professionals in their field and in my opinion, run a bloody good NGO. (thats non government organisation if you hadn't worked it out).
The IICP has a mission statement to “bring about positive changes in the lives of all people with cerebral palsy.....and exercise their constitutional rights and fully participate and contribute to the community.” (whilst not an expert- this seems to be in line with the work and ethos of SCOPE- the UK cerebral palsy charity). In other words- they do direct care...they do training to develop capability in other areas....and they raise awareness so that handicapped people can be included in education and society.
As I get to see more- and I have a month long orientation where I spend time in every department to experience what they do- Ill probably comment more about the above, but right now Im sucking information from a fire hose and have a headache each night. I have volunteered to help out with hydrotherapy – stand in a hot bath to help make sure the children dont drown ( or maybe drown one or two if they have given me hassle). This made me very popular with Tessa Hamblin- Director and chief physiotherapist as they dont have enough volunteers. I suspect I may have been rather naive to say yes to this one quite so quickly. However, if the IICP has decent showers, this may be a bloody good reason to do it- considering the state of the shower at home.
So what exactly do they want me to do- in addition to the hot bath twice a week? That is the second question... (look up a long way- there was a first question somewhere...). The project brief calls me a consultant...( I've arrived at last- if only I could get consultancy rates...), and states..”design a fund mobilisation programme for IICP using a two pronged approach
targeting fund mobilisation from individual and corporate donors internationally
targeting domestic mobilisation through sale of goods produced in house.”
so- here is what I THINK this means.......
Traditionally, the IICP has had access to government grants (at one time 90% of what they needed), and have used personal contacts (especially through the tea industry and via the arts) to get donations. However, as they have grown and become “established”, the government has reduced the grants (down to 20%) and over time, donors have retired and maintaining or building new connections is proving to be difficult- especially at the moment when the bankers have been found out as the conmen we all knew them to be and the world is in recession.... (hey its a blog....i can say what I like!!!).
They want me..... the “Godfather of Madonna”....to work out how to tap up some new donors so they don't have a shortfall each year (and have to access their corpus fund to keep operating). Little do they know that I, Chris Leahy BSc. (Hons), PhD, GRCS, onetime CChem, MRSC ( I didnt keep paying the subscription so officially cannot use that any more), Associate Director Hair Color R&D for P&G, have no clue about how to do this, and Rita's copy of Building Brand Frameworks plus my extensive experience in creating powerpoint charts are the only secret weapons in my arsenal … Oh – and you lot..... Yep...I am gonna try an experiment in open source volunteering, using you lot as assistant guinea pig volunteers to help solve this conundrum. I aint gonna ask you for money- although all donations will be gratefully accepted should you feel the urge to dig deep into your pockets and sponsor children, buy wheelchairs, or finance a Learjet for the IICP's newest consultant. See the website for how you can donate. Instead, I am going to ask you for advice, for experience, for ideas and contacts (you know any rich people? Please send me their names, addresses and anything I can use to bend them to my will). Tell me to bog off if im being a pest- but this is a new field for me and the only thing I can bring to the party is a different network who can help me achieve something here.
Yes, I'll continue to ramble on about what I'm up to- and post pictures to keep you all entertained. Me and the guy at the internet cafe are already on first name terms- he's met most of my family via skype already as I use a webcam there every day, and im enjoying working out exactly how the internet has become so user friendly. (in 2000, my letters from japan predated the term blog, and uploading to leahyvienhues.com via FTP transfer was a pain in the ass. Now I have a camera, a computer that the memory stick fits into and a single button transfer to the web.....simple hey? (actually it took about 6 hours of messing about to make it all work, but that is a different story).