Lift Kids

Idea’s name (50 characters)
Sustainable Village Franchising

One sentence to best describe the idea (150 characters)
Connecting human and financial capital to replicate a model of sustainable village development fostering cultural awareness and equity for children.

Describe your idea in more depth (300 words)
Our idea is to build financially sustainable, safe and environmentally friendly villages that support long-term needs of children and communities. To achieve that, we use a flexible, but standardized model. This model includes five main components for villages: small businesses run by the local population, sustainable practices of living, such as rain harvesting, education, health, and hospitality.
How do we achieve that?  Our main asset is people.  Our model relies on partnerships between U.S. immigrant communities, grass-root partners in their respective home countries and volunteers.
After identifying partners for a particular village we begin working on business plans for the village. The business plan is then taken to the village by the partner and immigrant liaison. Villagers are taught how to start their own businesses. 
Volunteers teach people in the village sustainable living practices.  The first requirement is to ensure a village has clean water. We teach people in the village how to use rainwater harvesting, filtration techniques and solar powered pumps. Villagers are also empowered to use solar, wind and bio energy.
Often our plans include construction of schools, dormitories, libraries and food production facilities. Many villages already have established schoolhouses and curricula. We supplement these with new information on the use of technology and other practical skills.
Health education assists villagers in becoming resident medical generalists. Our replicable healthcare unit includes educating villagers about sanitation, hygiene and other health issues.

Problem or issue your idea addresses (150 words)
According to the World Bank, by the end of 2008, the number of malnourished people around the world is set to increase to almost one billion. Partly due to the combined impact of the food and fuel crises, the situation will only worsen making it more difficult for developing countries to protect their most vulnerable.
Developed countries are cutting their foreign aid budgets. For example, Reuters reports that the financial crisis could imperil United States aid available to Africa after 2010 and deter private investment.
When governments cut funding, citizens need to step in to help those in need. Our approach to this problem is not to provide food to those in need, but to teach them how they can provide sustenance for themselves. We help villagers open businesses, build infrastructure, educate, and meet simple healthcare needs. This is done with respect for local cultures as overseen by our immigrant project leaders.  

If you were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how (150 words)
Children benefit most, with longer, more dignified, and more sustainable lives, resulting in greater growth of human and financial capital.
Volunteers and donors gain a greater understanding of global issues and human relationships.

What are the initial steps required to get the idea off the ground? (150 words)
The idea requires immigrant leadership, volunteers, grass-root partner organizations and financial support. The following steps will get this idea off the ground.

1. Identify and support volunteers, immigrant leaders and grass-root partners to develop professional, sustainable business plans for villages. Immigrant partners are the lead in identifying villages that need help in their home countries. Grass-root partners are the people from the village who are prepared to work with us. Volunteers are the people who want to share their knowledge and skills for the benefit of others.
2. Match funders to village plans and volunteers.
3. Start community-owned businesses to ensure financial sustainability of villages.
4. Teach local populations sustainable living practices, work with schools to develop modern and practical curricula, and ensure the availability of basic healthcare information.
5. Organize trips for eco-volunteers to visit village guesthouses to ensure on-going accountability and knowledge transfer.

Describe the optimal outcome should the idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it? (150 words).

Through replication over a five-year period, we estimate 10,000 sustainable villages can be built to benefit 1 million children. 
Performance metric of “Sustainable Value Added per Child” breaks down as follows:
$100,000 per village
10,000 children per village (1,000 “sustainably-living” children per village over 10 years).
10 to 1 ratio of dollars per child sustained ($100,000 / 10,000)

URL for you tube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSgq_Ig1Q-s

Recommend a specific organization to help execute the plan (50 words)
Lift Kids has the vision and plan to carry out this idea. With volunteers and funding, Lift Kids will replicate this idea anywhere in the world.