“Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.” This famous quote, usually attributed to Confucius, bears a very important lesson which also influences how SEED4COM helps communities. While part of SEED4COM’s goal is to assist last mile communities meet their needs directly or connect them with other NGOs who can meet their needs, it is also important for SEED4COM that these last mile communities develop whatever enterprise they may have which would give them not only the capacity to help themselves but uplift the community as a whole as well. Since part of the acronym of SEED4COM is Enterprise Development, we have continue to make this a reality in our advocacy.
So how would SEED4COM realize these goals in the communities it serves? Here are a few steps we take to realized this.
1. Because going into community to help them out long term requires a deeper understanding of the community itself, SEED4COM–composed of a group of researchers–would like to approach every project based on study and research. This would ensure that we approach every project for last mile communities with knowledge and understanding of their culture, problems, history and other components unique to them.
2. Enterprise development is a long term project and is very unique to each community therefore we aim to tap the necessary experts that could help each community make use of what is being develop in their area.
3. Train and develop skilled workers for the enterprise.
4. Develop potential entrepreneurs by giving them the opportunity to learn new and advance methods in handling business.
5. Build the necessary scaffolding for the community to grow until such time they are independent.
SEED4COM is not only about generating income for last mile communities but enabling them to sustain it and make it grow.