Corona Blog 25.12.2020

Stairways to change

2020 was special in many aspects. At the beginning of the COVID crisis, we were wondering what this year has in store for kanthari. Questions and concerns ran through our minds:
Do we have to close down?
How can we keep the team together?
How can we justify our existence without the usual course?

Three factors helped us to make this year a rather crucial one:

1. We understood that an intrinsic interest to make a difference is especially needed in times of crises. This gave us extra motivation to work even harder while other sectors were forced into an involuntary break
2. We were and are lucky to work with people who are flexible, creative, and who see opportunities in challenges.
3. We have selfless supporters who believe in the vision of kanthari. They contributed through trust and financial means to the emergency fund and towards keeping kanthari and its team alive.

Now, as we look back on the year, we can identify a number of projects that only came into existence because we had the lockdown and thus, the time that was needed to go forward with our ideas.

The first action we took was to gather information about the new living conditions of our alumni globally. Initially we were shocked how many people got stuck and faced existential needs.
We wanted to find out how all of them were affected by the pandemic. Initially we were shocked how many people got stuck and faced existential needs. However, we were amazed how many kantharis turned the crisis into a springboard for new action. We decided to feature their stories of survival in a blog. Initially daily and later we continued on a weekly base. You can find the posts on https://www.kanthari.org/coronablog/

These reports motivated many readers to contribute to an emergency fund with which we were able to support 8000+ people worldwide to get through some rough periods. To all who have supported, we herewith wish to express our sincere gratitude! THANK YOU very much!

On a daily base, with several of our colleagues, we spent many hours in the lake, freeing it from invasive plants. On the south side of Lake Vellayani, a local NGO engaged their residential community doing the same. Together we collected ideas of what we could do with the harvested water hyacinths. At kanthari we then started a little research and development program, developing a biodegradable diaper made of water hyacinths. Currently we are testing the prototypes.

And we started a long-planned project, an online toolbox for change makers, an encyclopedia for change, which contains all important tools and methods we developed through out these years.

The idea for this was suggested by Lawrence Afere (kanthari graduate of 2012) from Nigeria, who had his organization Springboard up and running after only four months. Lawrence often thought back on the kanthari training content and suggested adding it all to a manual for kantharis who need reminders on certain tools in one or another area of running an organization.

And now, after 9 months of hard work, we can present the kanthari spice box – encyclopedia for change, with 100 chapters, more than 1000 sub-chapters, over 700 topics, specially made drawings and photographs, downloadable templates and various sound files, as a Christmas gift for all those who are out there, struggling or succeeding, for those kantharis who have already started and have been running their project for years and for those who due to any reason have not begun their projects yet. It is meant as a treasure chest filled with tools and useful explanations for all aspects of running an organization and creating a long-lasting difference.

Cavin from Kenya, a 2018 kanthari wrote, “The drawings look great especially for the finance pitch. The guy looks serious and confused on the hot seat, maybe he is lost. This reminds me on the actual hot seats during but also after kanthari.”

Deginet from Ethiopia, (2010) says: “…I started somewhere and clicked one link after the other, and I couldn’t stop reading before finishing the section…”

Trevor from Zimbabwe (2018) commented, “…I found the conflict resolution part very helpful as this is essential whenever we do our camps with the LGBTIQ community. I am even considering intercultural dialogues in the beginning of our camps to promote better conflict resolution among participants and facilitators alike.”

Naresh from Telangana India (2017) posted in the kanthari WhatsApp group, “Done with registration! The best part of spice box is all about memories! Tons of them! Few audio tracks about telephonic pitching reminded me how funny, how scary, I pitched in one of the sessions. Hope you all have such funny memories though!”

Anja (2011), who had started an empowering training center for the blind in Brazil but had to close it due to external circumstances, said, “The content is great, it’s very valuable to refresh or deepen knowledge. Navigation and finding information is a bit tricky at the beginning.”

And Bash (2013) wrote, “The materials are so enriching. It’s more like the kanthari university online.”

We know that this is just the beginning. We will continue to further extend and improve the spice box with more ingredients, tools, examples and contributions of stories of success and failure!. We very much appreciate all the comments and especially further constructive feedback.

On behalf of all social changemakers who will make use of this encyclopedia, we want to especially thank the LB foundation, the Hamasil Stiftung and Friends of Braille Without Borders Foundation for making it possible to fill this ever-evolving spice box with ingredients needed to create long-lasting positive change!