Room to Read

My first day at Wagner, and I don't have any classes. Instead I attend a talk given by John Wood, founder of Room to Read.

This guy is the latest hot thing in the non-profit world. Quit Microsoft to start room to read. There are things he said that really hit hard. "The poor are too poor to afford education, but until they have it they will always be poor".

Room to Read has grown super fast, faster than any NGO out there. Their catch line is 9 countries in 9 years. They started out building libraries, but now address a host of issues in education in the developing world.

Very slick presentation. And he knows how to use numbers and stats to his advantage. Compare the cost of a aircraft carrier to the number of years of education it could buy a girl child (a million). A crowd like ours ate that stuff up. Not to say that I am not impressed with what he has done. The focus he's brought on the issue alone is worth accolades. But I am very skeptical of the sustainability of this effort. They are building schools and partnering with the Nepal ministry of education who will provide teachers. Now if Nepal is anything like India (and I guess it's worse), finding teachers to work in rural villages will not be easy. And these guys have built 756 schools in 9 years. Yeah, sure it costs 30,000 USD to build a school, but is it effective? Why grow at break neck speed if the work you've done currently won't be sustainable?

Probably true that in education, results have to be measured over time, and they have commissioned a 5 year study (they are currently in year 2). So will wait for the results.

I did leave the room inspired. And I now appreciate more the ability to use numbers to your advantage, specially when you sprinkle individual anecdotal stories to clutch at the audiences heart strings.

There was one question from the audience, that I found very insightful. What were Room to Read's tipping points? 1) Fast magazine wrote an article on John, 2) His book came out and really put him on the bookshelves of the right power players, 3) Clinton Global Initiative brought him in as a speaker (3 times), and that just raised the stakes and finally 4) Oprah - she just made Room to Read go viral.