Thanks Mel and Rabi...this is a great information for all who are formally setting up grassroots initiatives...we'll definitely include this in eKindling.org ....blogs and can we post this to OLPC wiki as grassroots information ?<br>
<br>Cheers,<br>~mafe<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 11:09 PM, Mel Chua <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mel@melchua.com">mel@melchua.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
We've discussed learning from other deployments and asking them about<br>
the models they've employed - so here are notes from a conversation with<br>
OLE Nepal's Rabi Karmacharya over falafel the other day. Rabi, hopefully<br>
I haven't mangled things too badly. ;) Comments and suggestions welcome.<br>
(Words in parentheses are mine.)<br>
<br>
I'd like to publish these in a better forum than the archives of a<br>
mailing list. Any suggestions? (Rabi, is any of this useful for the OLE<br>
Learning Guide?)<br>
<br>
--Mel<br>
<br>
----<br>
<br>
The most important thing is a good team. We have strong players here:<br>
people who have been in the classroom, people who understand how to<br>
build and run organizations, people with the ability to create and<br>
support technologies with open-source development processes, people who<br>
can quietly move around and keep us together as a community that listens<br>
and learns from each other. And all of us are dedicated towards<br>
improving education in the Philippines. So we already have the biggest<br>
thing settled.<br>
<br>
We do need to have a legal entity to give us existence in the eyes of<br>
the Filipino government, donors, and the like. (Having an organization<br>
should not be a way to exclude contributors or apportion power - it is<br>
so we have these structures to serve the the contributor community at<br>
the heart of what we do, the people on the ground who Get Things Done.<br>
And that community of volunteers needs to be as open and inclusive as<br>
possible.)<br>
<br>
As a legal entity, we are required to have a board of directors. Rabi<br>
suggested that we have a board of directors, a management team, and an<br>
advisory board.<br>
<br>
The board of directors is a legal requirement. These people are:<br>
<br>
* Givers of advice<br>
* Filipino<br>
* Legally liable for the organization<br>
* Do not draw salary<br>
* Not involved in day-to-day operations<br>
* Deliberately chosen to span a wide range of professions - law,<br>
banking, medicine, government, education, engineering, anything else we<br>
might imagine needing advice on.<br>
* Respected people who give the organization credibility and help<br>
promote the project, as they have access to people we will typically not<br>
have access to.<br>
<br>
The management team is the team involved in daily operations. These are<br>
professionals in their field working for the organization in their<br>
professional capacity. They are the core execution body and the ultimate<br>
decision-makers (when the community cannot reach consensus). The<br>
management team reports to the Board of Directors.<br>
<br>
The advisory board is similar to the Board of Directors, except:<br>
<br>
* They have no legal liability<br>
* They do not make decisions<br>
<br>
...and thus have less of a time commitment than members of the Board of<br>
Directors. A distribution across professions is less important; this<br>
board should have pepole who have been in the education field, former<br>
government officials, etc. They can also be international figures,<br>
unlike members of the Board of Directors who must be Filipino. Their<br>
role is to provide the management team with advice, so they are<br>
resources for the management team to draw upon but the management team<br>
does not report to them.<br>
<br>
There are several things we should be considering at this point (as we<br>
continue to move our projects forward):<br>
<br>
* (How do we decide upon - appoint, elect, or invite - the management<br>
team and the two boards?)<br>
* How do we keep a low-key PR presence to allow us to focus on our work,<br>
yet document well and publicly enough that the right people get credit<br>
for the right work, and what we do is visible to others who would like<br>
to learn to do the same?<br>
* What is our exit strategy - what goal(s) are we aiming to hit at what<br>
time(s)?<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>