Students Put Theory into Practice in Global Social Entrepreneurship Program

Two teams partner with non-profits in India during seven-week field experience

WOOSTER, Ohio, Aug. 16, 2011 - “So much of academics is talking, but sometimes you just can’t understand the full scope of a situation unless you’ve experienced it yourself.”

Erika Takeo wrote those words in a blog post from India this summer, where she and three other Wooster students were immersed in a seven-week field experience with the college’s Global Social Entrepreneurship program. 

Takeo, who has designed her own major in global sustainability, and Sam Susanin, a business economics major, worked with EnAble India, a non-governmental organization in Bangalore that trains and counsels persons with disabilities to help them find jobs. Their task: to research and develop a detailed proposal for how EnAble India and other NGOs with a similar focus could work together more effectively to increase the number of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.  

“I am often asked, ‘What do you do in India?’” said Amyaz Moledina, associate professor of economics and director of social entrepreneurship at the college, who accompanied the students to Bangalore. “Well, our first goal is to learn, or ‘co-learn’ as I like to put it….These projects are not about us ‘offering a solution,’ they are about co-learning with our organization for change within our organization.”  

Takeo and Susanin interviewed NGO leaders in several cities across India, asking about their needs, the challenges they face, and where they saw opportunities to collaborate with like-minded organizations. They researched the logistical and legal aspects of forming a network of groups, looking at existing models in other countries. 

Based on their fact-finding, Susanin and Takeo developed a proposal for a network to share knowledge and best practices among ten NGOs in Bangalore, Delhi, and Chennai. Their report recommends that leaders of the groups meet twice a year to establish personal relationships, and that they share ideas throughout the rest of the year using a listserv, website, and newsletter. The proposal included a budget for the first year and a detailed outline of action steps that EnAble India can use as the basis for developing a business plan for the network. 

“It was really inspiring to see the variety and the passion of the NGO sector, especially a lot of women doing amazing things,” Takeo said. “They were all very optimistic.” 

The second Wooster team partnered with Dream A Dream, an organization focused on empowering children from impoverished areas with life skills through sports, creative arts, computer literacy programs, and mentoring. Sarah Abboud, a communications major, and Kipaya Kapiga, an international relations and French double major, developed two survey instruments to enable the group to more effectively monitor, evaluate — and demonstrate to donors — the effectiveness of their programs.

“I came back a lot more patient and more understanding of different communication styles,” Abboud said, “and with a deep appreciation for what nonprofits do and how hard they work.” 

Susanin, who will be studying in Santiago, Chile, this fall agreed. “When I first got there, I thought of the for-profit and non-profit sectors as two separate entities, but there are so many practices that the non-profit sector has adopted from for-profits. I left with a more open mind about the possibility of working in the non-profit sector.”