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My busy moderation day
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Not that moderation is something I'm known for!
This year is my year for moderation. I speak a great deal, and have come to appreciate the role of a capable moderator. Now it's my turn (am I a "gasp" senior stateman? statesperson?).
I moderated two panels at the Forum. The first was Fazel Abed of BRAC and Susan Collin Marks of Search for Common Ground. Our topic was growth: both of these organizations touch millions of people, but in very different ways. BRAC is Bangladesh's largest NGO (maybe the world's largest). They employ over 100,000 people. Abed's approach is to systematically take on the "universal problems of the poor:" health, education and economic opportunity. BRAC does an amazing number of things and seems to play a more important role in the lives of the poor than Bangladesh's government (but Abed would never say that).
Search for Common Ground delivers its messages in a variety of ways, but most typically media. They produce radio soap operas and TV shows designed to illustrate key social issues: ethnic co-existence, HIV/AIDS, and so on. The core mission is to reduce conflict in society.
Both groups have some common traits. Constant experimentation, measurement and improvement were clearly part of the plan. Training and knowledge improvement of staff.
It was easy to moderate two top social entrepreneurs who effectively played off each other while delivering their distinct messages. And, it helps to have great prep work done by Skoll staff (and Charlie Leadbeater).
I moderated two panels at the Forum. The first was Fazel Abed of BRAC and Susan Collin Marks of Search for Common Ground. Our topic was growth: both of these organizations touch millions of people, but in very different ways. BRAC is Bangladesh's largest NGO (maybe the world's largest). They employ over 100,000 people. Abed's approach is to systematically take on the "universal problems of the poor:" health, education and economic opportunity. BRAC does an amazing number of things and seems to play a more important role in the lives of the poor than Bangladesh's government (but Abed would never say that).
Search for Common Ground delivers its messages in a variety of ways, but most typically media. They produce radio soap operas and TV shows designed to illustrate key social issues: ethnic co-existence, HIV/AIDS, and so on. The core mission is to reduce conflict in society.
Both groups have some common traits. Constant experimentation, measurement and improvement were clearly part of the plan. Training and knowledge improvement of staff.
It was easy to moderate two top social entrepreneurs who effectively played off each other while delivering their distinct messages. And, it helps to have great prep work done by Skoll staff (and Charlie Leadbeater).
