Category Archives: International Aid/Development

In 2001, CC’s founder, Michael Kaiser, started what was expected to be a two-year sabbatical for The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Kaiser had planned to use the time to complete a doctorate he had begun at Harvard University almost a decade earlier, but instead spent the next nine years working almost exclusively for The CDC to put science behind his innovative, Grass-roots Approach.  Kaiser’s case studies in Haiti, Ukraine and The Philippines were enormously successful, despite being completely contrary to traditional foreign aid interventions, earning him the nickname Godfather of Grass-roots.  His colleagues at CDC later teased him for being the Grandfather of Grass-roots because of the enormous amount of time it took to prove his theory!

The Grass-roots Approach differs from traditional, top-down or outside-in interventions in that it enlists support from local residents and local companies rather than relying on large international aid organizations or foreign consultants to solve local problems.  In a Grass-roots Campaign, no money is provided.  The campaign is seen as a process rather than a program, with only technical assistance provided to affected communities.  Any fund-raising must be done locally by campaign organizers who act as coaches operating on the sidelines rather than being more active players on the field.  This ultimately requires local residents to take on the responsibility of local problem solving themselves, but they also get full credit for any solutions they might find rather than seeing that credit go to international aid organizations.  The ultimate outcome is self-determination for local residents, which strengthens local communities.

Rather than developing country plans, the grass-roots approach develops local plans, working one city, even one village at a time,  creating local models that can be replicated in other cities and villages.  This local success eventually percolates up to relieve pressures on the national government, both financially and politically, regardless of whether it is a democracy or dictatorship.

Encouraging local residents to solve their own problems rather than relying on international aid organizations, consultants or the national government to solve their problems for them, not only is more effective, but also more cost-efficient and far more sustainable than relying on traditional, top-down, outside-in interventions.  Kaiser’s theory is, the more problematic the country, the greater the chance for success using a grass-roots approach, which he has proven to be the case in every country where it has been tested thus far, including three countries that the U.S. State Department has considered to be among the most difficult in the world for delivering foreign aid.

Capital Consultants paired The Coca Cola Company with client, Sister Cities International, in 1996 for the Olympic Torch Relay just prior to the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.   Sister Cities became a nationwide, civic partner for Coke’s Torch Relay as volunteers turned out in cities all across the country, building crowds and showing their support as the torch passed through their cities in route to Atlanta for the Summer Olympic Games.

A Better Way to Deliver Foreign Aid – CC’s Grass-roots Approach

 The Philippines and Ukraine

CC began consulting for Emory University’s PAMM Program in 1994 to find a better way to deliver foreign aid in especially problematic countries where “nothing seemed to work.”  As a community organizer for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Alabama State Department of Education in the late 1970s, CC’s founder, Michael Kaiser, had developed the grass-roots approach to address civil rights and education inequities throughout the State of Alabama and later used the same approach to build self-determination among Native Americans living on reservations in northeastern Minnesota.  The approach was developed specifically for local problem-solving, but Kaiser argued it could be used to solve virtually any problem in virtually any country, “simply by addressing the problem “bottom-up rather than top-down.”

In 1998, Emory and USAID selected Ukraine and The Philippines as pilot countries to test Kaiser’s theory.  The two countries were considered to be the most difficult in the world for delivering foreign aid at the time – Ukraine, due to the fact it had just become an independent state and was still plagued by top-down, Soviet-style bureaucracy, and, The Philippines, due to its own political instability and thousands of remote islands where government policies seldom reached.

CC’s grass-roots approach was considered quite radical at the time – even inconceivable for many USAID staffers – but the results spoke for themselves.  In Ukraine, CC partnered volunteers from Cincinnati, Ohio with their counterparts in Kharkiv to dramatically reduce Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) in that city.  The grass-roots campaign eventually involved hundreds of volunteers, small businesses, NGOs, multinational food companies, as well as numerous international aid organizations and civic groups, including Sister Cities International, Rotary International, Kiwanis, etc., all working together on a comprehensive campaign to eliminate micronutrient malnutrition – “One City at a Time.”  Kaiser’s grass-roots campaign managed to accomplish in less than one year what UNICEF, USAID and other international aid organizations had been unable to accomplish in five.  Given the large population in Kharkiv and four additional pilot cities later added to the campaign, IDD coverage rose in Ukraine from less than 3% to more than 33%.  More importantly, the grass-roots approach managed to achieve this level of success at a fraction of the cost of traditional, top-down foreign interventions, and what funds the U.S. Government did contribute to the campaign were leverage more than 10-1.   UNICEF and USAID both attempted to use this same approach to launch their own community-based campaigns in Ukraine not long thereafter, but they were unsuccessful because the organizations still attempted to control and manage the campaigns top-down and outside-in.

In the Philippines, Kaiser partnered volunteers from Tacoma, Washington with volunteers from Davao City in the southern-most part of Mindanao to eliminate iodine deficiency in that city.  The grass-roots campaign in Davao helped to increase the percentage of iodized salt coverage in that city from less than 5% to more than 75%; again, accomplishing in less than one year what international aid organizations had been unable to accomplish in five, and again, at a fraction of the cost.  The campaign also helped to persuade a local flour mill, cooking-oil company and peanut butter producer to fortify their  products with vitamin A, folic acid and iron, and this grass-roots campaign in Davao continues to this day (NOTE: Davao became the first city in Asia to voluntarily fortify its city’s rice supply).

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has called Davao the model for all of Southeast Asia and both ADB and UNICEF have referred to the “Davao Experience” as one of the most successful and innovative approaches to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition worldwide because it continues more than a decade after the campaign was first launched at no cost to the international aid community.

 

 

The University of Miami’s Project Medishare and The CDC

In 2007, Kaiser launched one of his Grass-roots Campaigns in Haiti for The University of Miami’s Project Medishare and The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   The campaign was designed to produce an indigenous food in Haiti called Akamil (pronounced Ah-kah-mil).

The CDC had originally considered several, more traditional interventions for Haiti (e.g., USI, FFI, Sprinkles, DEC Salt, etc.), but local partners inside the country were determined to produce an indigenous food rather than adopt the same old, international aid interventions that had already been tried and failed in Haiti.

Akamil is a mixture of corn and beans, rice and beans and/or wheat and beans that resembles instant oatmeal.  Haitians like to mix Akamil with fruit and sugar for a sweet meal and/or mix it with vegetables and salt (and meat when available) for a more savory, substantial meal.  Akamil has typically been served as a ready-to-eat meal on market days or at other large outdoor events, such as concerts and soccer matches.

Akamil has always been a popular, nutritious food for Haitians, but for most it was much too expensive to make at home due to the high cost of charcoal needed to cook the food a full 30-40 minutes to break down the enzymes in the beans.   Instant Akamil, however, could be cooked in just 3 minutes rather than 30, requiring much less charcoal and helping the environment in the process.

CC’s grass-roots campaign to produce Akamil in Haiti involves local farmers in growing the necessary crops, local businesses in building the food processing plant, numerous donors contributing generators, plant equipment, medical instruments, a vitamin/mineral premix, even computer hardware and software allowing local health workers to undertake nutrition surveys to measure the impact this healthy food will have on the local community.  All of this has been done locally with the help of Project Medishare and CC’s own coaching, which encourages self-determination and creates the all-important sustainability most international aid organizations only dream of.

More than $2,000,000 has been donated for this grass-roots campaign to date and none of that money has come from the international aid community or foreign governments.  All the donations have been raised locally through personal appeals and through corporate gifts and donations from foundations, civic organizations and individuals who support this unique grass-roots approach to foreign aid and achieving self-sufficiency.  It is hoped this local, market-driven approach to Food Security can become a model for other communities in Haiti so more Akamil plants can be built as not-for-profit Franchises that also can be managed For Haitians, By Haitians. 

 

Capital Consultants paired Levi Strauss with non-profit client, Sister Cities International, to conduct a six-city marketing campaign entitled, “Pair of Friends, Pair of Cities, Pair of Jeans.”  The campaign promoted Levi’s Personal Pair line of jeans and consisted of customers participating in a 60 second, in-store video competition where they were given a chance to win a free trip to one of six Sister Cities, including Seattle with Kobe, Japan; San Diego with Edinburgh, Scotland; Washington, DC with Dakar, Senegal; Boston with Strasbourg, France; Dallas with Riga, Latvia; and Chicago with Casablanca, Morocco.

Immediately after The Wall came down in the early 1990’s, CC’s founder, Michael Kaiser, was in Russia organizing the first joint degree program for the prestigious Moscow State University (MGU).  Several American partner universities were considered, including one of Kaiser’s own alma maters, but it was The American University in Washington, DC, under the leadership of then President, Dr. Joseph Duffey, who enthusiastically embraced Kaiser’s vision for a joint-degree program to bridge the gap between the former Soviet Block countries and the West.  At the time, Soviet universities wanted to establish business schools and departments of political science and public affairs, and President Duffey was keen on bringing his AU faculty together with MGU faculty to create the first joint degree program of its kind.  Shortly thereafter, Dr. Duffey left The American University to become Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) when Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States.

Arranging a Presidential Visit

 

Serving as a Registered Foreign Agent for Moscow State University in Washington, DC, Kaiser helped to arrange the first Presidential Visit to MGU’s campus when President Clinton made his second official State visit to Russia…

“When President Clinton accepted the invitation and agreed to come to campus, everyone started scrambling.  MGU’s Rector asked what he should say to the President… “What questions do we ask him…?  Who should be in the room…?  Where should we receive him…?”  Since none of the faculty ever believed President Clinton would even consider MGU’s invitation, his acceptance created quite a stir on campus.   I recommended the President speak to the entire campus rather than just a select few faculty and students as the faculty had suggested.  I also recommended we open the speech up to foreign media to get greater exposure for MGU, worldwide.  However, the idea of inviting outside media onto campus and having an open mic was still quite foreign in the USSR, especially for MGU faculty who were required to be members of the Communist Party.  Nevertheless, the Rector agreed and the White House advance team saw this openness or “Glasnost” on campus as the perfect opportunity and the perfect venue for President Clinton to give his nationwide address to the former Soviet Union.  His speech was an enormous success and is still talked about to this day…”

…Excerpts from Michael Kaiser’s interview at MGU 

 

Capital Consultants began working as a management consultant to Sister Cities International (SCI) in 1995.  SCI is a membership association that includes more than 1,000 American cities partnered with over 2,000 foreign cities in 120 countries.  SCI was founded in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a non-profit citizen diplomacy network to create and strengthen partnerships between U.S. cities and foreign countries in an effort to increase global understanding and cooperation at the municipal level.  The President of the United States serves as Sister Cities’ Honorary Chairman.

One of the largest volunteer organizations in the world, SCI’s unique network matches citizens and key officials to promote cultural education and awareness and economic development in cities.  Capital Consultants has assisted Sister Cities’ national office on a variety of issues, including management consulting, strategic planning, public relations, fundraising, and other special projects, include, partnerships with Coca Cola on the “Olympic Torch Relay;” a six-city marketing campaign for Levi Strauss & Company entitled, “Pair of Friends, Pair of Cities, Pair of Jeans;” SCI’s Corporate Affiliates Program (i.e., a corporate membership program engaging the private sector in the non-profit membership association); CC also persuaded the SCI Board of Directors to adopt “The Sister Cities International Hidden Hunger Initiative” as the first organization-wide development program for public health and nutrition in cooperation with USAID and Emory University (i.e., similar to what Kiwanis International is doing with iodine deficiency and what Lion’s Clubs are doing for vitamin A deficiency worldwide).

Title:               FOOD SECURITY USING GLOBAL GUIDELINES:                                   The Experience with Akamil in Haiti

 

Author:           KAISER, MICHAEL DAVID

AKAMIL PROJECT COORDINATOR

PROJECT MEDISHARE (UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI), CDC

THOMONDE, HAITI

 

Summary:        AkamilPlus is a not-for-profit business producing a nutritious, indigenous food in Haiti.  It is the result of a Grass-roots Campaign organized by Michael Kaiser for Project Medishare and The CDC to improve public health nutrition and at the same time create jobs in Haiti.

Akamil is a hot cereal that resembles instant oatmeal.  It is made from locally grown grains and beans.  Haitian’s like to mix Akamil with fruit and sugar for a sweet meal and/or mix it with vegetables and salt (and meat when available) for a more savory meal.   Although healthy in its own right, thanks to WHO’s Global Guidelines, AkamilPlus can now be fortified with 10 essential vitamins and minerals, making it even more nutritious.  By using an extrusion process to pre-cook the cereal, less cooking time is also required, and that means fewer trees are cut down in Haiti for fuel.  The campaign also includes nutritional surveys, locally, so Haitians can – for or the first time – have a way of collecting their own public health data rather than relying on the international aid community to collect their data for them.  And because the Akamil plant follows a business plan, Franchises are expected, which means even more data collection in more places for Haiti’s Ministry of Health.    

In addition to providing healthy, affordable food, the Akamil intervention also creates jobs for farmers, jobs for plant workers, and jobs for women in the sales and distribution of the product (i.e., direct marketing/micro-lending).  This grass-roots, bottoms-up campaign in Haiti is more cost-effective, more sustainable and it creates self-determination in ways most international aid organizations only dream of.   Indeed, the Akamil plant is built For Haitians, By Haitians; with just a little bit of coaching from Capital Consultants, The University of Miami and The CDC to ensure food safety, food composition, food quality, and food packaging are also addressed in Haiti.  It is not only a better way to address Food Security in Haiti, but a much better way of delivering foreign aid worldwide.  

WHO Topics (3):         – Public Health Nutrition

– Evaluation of the nutritional status of community

– Composition, quality and food safety (Food Security)

En colaboración con la Iniciativa de Micronutrimentos 

 

Simposio: Directrices globales de la OMS para intervenciones de nutrición. Nuevas recomendaciones y herramientas para su implementación en América Latina

                                                                                

Lugar: Congreso Latinoamericano de Nutrición  SLAN 2012

La Habana, Cuba 

Lunes 12 de Noviembre 13:30 – 15:30

Sala 3

 

Moderadores: Dr. Mariano Bonet Gobea y Dra. Chessa Lutter

 

Resumen

La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ha establecido un procedimiento sistemático para la elaboración de directrices globales informadas por las pruebas científicas que puedan ayudar a los Estados Miembros y sus asociados en la toma de decisiones sobre alternativas de intervenciones nutricionales seguras y efectivas para la ampliación de los programas de salud pública en situaciones estables o de emergencia.

La OMS elabora ​​esas recomendaciones basadas en pruebas científicas utilizando los procedimientos que  incluyen: la identificación de preguntas y resultados prioritarios; la recopilación, evaluación y síntesis de la evidencia;  la formulación de recomendaciones, incluyendo las prioridades de investigación, y la planificación de la difusión, implementación, monitorización y  evaluación de impacto. Se utiliza la metodología GRADE para la evaluación de las pruebas científicas y la fortaleza de las recomendaciones.  Un grupo multidisciplinario de asesores internacionales participa en reuniones consultivas técnicas para examinar y discutir las pruebas científicas y el proyecto de recomendaciones globales, y consideran los efectos deseables y adversos de las intervenciones; la calidad de las pruebas científicas disponibles;  los valores y las preferencias relacionadas con la intervención en diversos contextos, y el costo de las opciones a las que tienen acceso los trabajadores sanitarios en diversos contextos. En todo el proceso participan también expertos externos y partes interesadas. Para aumentar las posibilidades de que las recomendaciones sean exitosamente implementadas en los países, la OMS propone procesos nacionales de contextualización, que permitan a los elaboradores de políticas y/o tomadores de decisión adaptar las recomendaciones globales a las condiciones específicas de los países y los recursos disponibles.

Este simposio tiene como objetivo fortalecer el diálogo dentro de la comunidad científica relacionado con la utilización de los resultados de la investigación para informar el desarrollo de programas en salud pública que incorporan intervenciones nutricionales. Se darán a conocer las nuevas recomendaciones de la OMS usando esta metodología y ejemplos de cómo algunos países de América Latina han participado en el proceso.

Objetivos

1. Presentar los procedimientos  que sigue la Organización Mundial de la Salud para el desarrollo de directrices globales en nutrición informadas por pruebas científicas actuales.

2. Presentar las más recientes recomendaciones de la OMS para intervenciones de nutrición efectivas en el contexto de salud materno-infantil.

3. Discutir mecanismos y herramientas disponibles para uso de los Estados Miembros y sus aliados en la adaptación y adopción de directrices en políticas nacionales de salud pública tomando en cuenta las pruebas científicas y su contexto.

4. Presentar experiencias de países de América Latina en el desarrollo de políticas y programas de nutrición usando directrices globales de la OMS.

Programa Tentativo

HORA	TITULO DE LA PRESENTACION	PONENTE
13:30 – 13:50	Uso de pruebas científicas para informar las directrices globales en nutrición de la OMS y su utilidad en América Latina.	Dra. Chessa Lutter
13:50 – 14:20	Herramientas para la adaptación y contextualización de las directrices en políticas nacionales: experiencia EVIPNet.	Dra. Evelina Chapman
14:20 – 14:40	El papel de las ONG en el dialogo para la adaptación de las guías a nivel de país.	Dra. Lynnette Neufeld
14:40 – 15:00	Suplementación intermitente con hierro en niños y mujeres: la experiencia de Panamá.	Lic. Odalis Sinisterra
15:00 – 15:20	Fortificación de un producto local usando recomendaciones informadas por pruebas científicas de la OMS: la experiencia de Akamil  en Haití.	Sr. Michael Kaiser
15:20 – 15:30	Discusión acerca de las experiencias de países de América Latina en el desarrollo de políticas y programas de nutrición usando directrices globales de la OMS.	Dr. Mariano Bonet Gobea

 

Ponentes

 

Dr. Mariano Bonet Gobea

Director

Instituto Nacional de Higiene y Epidemiología y Microbiología

Infanta No. 1158 entre Llinás y Clavel. El Cerro.

La Habana, Cuba

 

Dra. Chessa Lutter

Asesora Regional

Unidad de Salud del Niño y del Adolescente

Organización Panamericana de la Salud

525 23rd Street, NW, Washington DC 20037

Estados Unidos de Norteamérica

 

Sr. Michael Kaiser

Consultor en Salud Pública

1606 Beekman Place NW,

Washington, DC  20009

Estados Unidos de Norteamérica

 

Dra. Evelina Chapman

Consultora del proyecto de políticas públicas e investigación para la salud

Coordinadora de la red de políticas informadas por evidencias (EVIPNet) para las Américas.

Área de Sistemas de Salud basados en la APS (HSS)

Organización Panamericana de la Salud

525 23rd.St.,NW, Washington DC 20037-2895

Estados Unidos de Norteamérica

 

Dra. Lynnette Neufeld

Asesor técnico Jefe, Iniciativa de Micronutrimentos

180 Elgin St. Suite 1000, Ottawa ON K2P 2K3, Canadá

 

Lic. Odalis T. Sinisterra R

Nutricionista, Departamento de Salud Nutricional

Ministerio de Salud de Panamá

In addition to providing numerous briefings on the issue of military base closure for the U.S. State Department and the United Nations for their international visitors from countries such as Poland, China, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, Panama, Japan, to mention only a few, Capital Consultants has also been a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for its annual declaration of October 17th as “The Day for the Eradication of Poverty.”  Because of Mr. Kaiser’s understanding of cities and his close personal relationships with grass-roots organizations and international membership associations throughout the world, Capital Consultants has assisted UNDP with obtaining hundreds of proclamations from mayors throughout the country and around the world for Poverty Day.