One of the primary reasons why I like to put energy into projects such as this one is that I know the people who are making it happen. And with that comes a significant degree of accountability. Early on in our $62,000 Orphanage Extension Project in the D.R. Congo, a couple of bags of cement went missing. (To be clear, in such a desperately poor place, this is understandable and almost unavoidable. But, of course, we can't really ask people to donate if a notable chunk will jut disappear). However, the force of nature that is Madlen noticed, called in all the workers, and made it clear what could not happen again. A couple of years later, she brought in a $62,000 building project within a couple thousand dollars of budget. (To put this in context, a more modest initiative at the orphanage funded by a large NGO cost twice as much and took five years to complete.)
I got a detailed email from Educacion y Futuro's Vincente Danhier today, in which he both sent the estimated budget for a newly requested security wall, and laid out the mechanisms he employs to ensure a high level of accountability. Excerpts (and semi-botched translations) follow:
Aquí
en Tarija estamos avanzando bien con el proyecto. Ya hemos arreglado
una buena parte del techo. Eso significó primeramente una limpieza
completa de las tejas y los canales que estaban llenos de hojas y musgo,
y luego la reparación o el cambio de las tejas rotas y clisadas.
Ahora
estamos trabajando en el patio. Empezamos limpiándolo (sacando la
vegetación), luego retiramos una capa de 5 pulgadas de tierra (con palas
y carretillas), a continuación reparamos el sistema de drenaje del agua
hacia el exterior (hicimos una nueva cámara de drenaje con tapa de
cemento), luego compramos una camionada de piedra de construcción y
ahora estamos empedrando todo este patio para poder vaciarlo con
cemento. Finalmente terminaremos con el ocre que es una pintura especial
y resistente para los suelos de cemento.
(In short, the project is moving along well. Much of the roofing work is done and they are working on the patio.)
Paralelamente hemos empezando también el retiro de los baños viejos.
Este
inicio de proyecto fue un poco más lento de lo que esperaba, porque mis
albañiles de confianza estaban ocupados. Pero ahora se están liberando,
están terminando sus otros trabajos, y a partir de este lunes 27 de
septiembre tendremos 3 obreros trabajando a tiempo completo.
(The project has been slightly delayed because his usual construction folk have been occupied. But they will be able to send over a couple more workers on Monday and the progress will pick up substantially.)
La
contabilidad del proyecto esta a cargo de Tania Cuevas quien es la
administradora general de EDYFU. La conocerás en unos días más cuando
llegues a Tarija (el 5 de octubre). Todos los gastos del proyecto son
realizados con cheques, todos estos gastos dan lugar a un recibo o una
factura oficial y pagamos todos los impuestos de Ley.
(EDYFU has an administrator general who monitors all costs and provides receipts. All payment is done with checks and they pay all relevant taxes. [In other words, we don't have to just take his work for it; there is a paper trail every step of the way.])
And in closing, he sent the following proposed budget for an enhanced security wall. As he mentioned earlier, they've been having some recent problems with outsiders breaking in to where the girls are staying. At this point, it's only been the inconvenience of clothing and other possessions disappearing, but given the population at the shelter, he's very much afraid of older men sneaking over the small fence that they have and exploiting the girls. In order to supply the level of security needed, the proposed wall is more expensive than he had thought. But it seems pretty necessary, given the risk level that these girls come from and the type of adults that many have been involved with in the past. Here is the budget:
So, yeah...the $11,000 that we thought would cover the renovation (providing sixteen new beds for homeless girls) has now grown to $14,000, so that we can provide them with the needed security.
Still, your dollars go a long way here. $7 will buy a bag of cement and $70 will buy ten of them. Always wanted to buy the proverbial "shitload of bricks"? Well, the wall needs 3,000 of them and for $50, you can cover ten percent of the needed total. And so on...
I hope to have a funding update in the next few days. At last notice, we had just crossed $9,000, which is about two-thirds of the way to the new target of $14,000.
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