Jim Kunstler said at a Ted presentation on the end of suburbia that we needed to make a change, a change from consumers to citizens. that rather than consume, we needed to give back to our communities by getting involved in the communities. Keeping blinders on was not an option, and while he was speaking to a US crowd about US citizens, it is something that has resonated with me through my work with Hands On.

Hands On activates people in a way that traditional philanthropy and aid doesn’t by creating a way for citizens to become involved in their communities by developing community programs, providing volunteers with training and management, and ensuring that when a volunteer goes out to a participate in a program that they are a part of a process that leaves them with a tangible impression that while there are problems, they can be part of the solution.

Recently I wrote as much in an email to a close friend about my views on China’s civil society and what role Hands On place was in that context:

The more I spend time working through Hands On, Crossroads, AMCHAM, and my other socially focused ventures, the more I am convinced that we are in a unique position to change the world here. That every time we host a new orientation session, we take our volunteers to a site, or we work with out partners to understand the value of volunteers…. we are building some of the core networks that create “civil society”

ADB recently released their report From the Ground Up: Case Studies in Community Empowerment (PDF download here) is very interesting as they have researched programs from around the world that have worked and shown that the community focused / grassroots efforts is a model that works.

While typically programs that have the hardest time scaling, what I see consistently through these programs is that the people who undertake the effort to set them up are the best suited from the community side.  They have a sense of community, see a problem within their own community, and develop an organization around that.  Sometimes just a few people in size, the real trick now is going to be to harness the passion and knowledge of these groups in a way where they can be scaled out in a way that not just provides benefit - but stays true to the their goals.

If you know of strong local organizations, please let us know.  the ADB has identified their case study, but there are a lot of small NGOs in China who have sprouted up that are outside of the usual groups.  The more niche, the better.