Even before the Internet wired the world, one social entrepreneur in Argentina had created a network that today connects Barcelona with Mozambique via Boston or Tokyo. The technology he used was the "plain old" telephone, connecting those who need help of any kind with those who are willing to provide it.

Juan Carr's vision of how to radically improve community life through a culture of solidarity led him to found Red Solidaria (Solidarity Network) in 1995. The network's volunteers respond to pleas for assistance for problems ranging from domestic violence and cancer treatment to flood damage, putting callers in touch with the appropriate agency, organization or individual that can help. In cases of emergency, campaigns are launched through the media.

The unique thing about the network is that it doesn't exist in the physical sense. It operates "virtually" without any physical headquarters or salaried staff. Instead, an army of volunteers operates phone lines in shifts from their homes. Changemakers featured Setu in its October 2001 issue about disasters. We are republishing it below with the following update:

While the network doesn't belong to any single person, it belongs to everyone. Carr's most recent initiative, the Global Community Services Network (GCSN, Red Solidaria Global), is an international community that aims to spread this culture of solidarity and human commitment around the world. A veterinarian by profession, Carr was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 1997.

The Human Chain

"We are still searching for the mechanism that might make it easier to reach those in need," Carr says. "We are still seeking for the global commitment that can make the difference."

Carr may be still searching, but his time has by no means been ill spent. Over the past decade, since its inception, the Solidarity Network has reached out to 1,500 HIV-AIDS patients; provided 17,000 cancer patients with medicines and treatment; organized transplants for 160 individuals; obtained 370 wheelchairs; and collected resources amounting to US$600,000. It has arranged support for 210 food centers; 70 foster children and single mothers; and participated in searches for 1,511 missing children of whom a total of 1,375 were found. Red Solidaria is currently seeking 190 trafficked girls, a growing trend in Argentina.

While the network doesn't belong to any single person, it belongs to everyone. Carr's most recent initiative, the Global Community Services Network (GCSN, Red Solidaria Global), is an international community that aims to spread this culture of solidarity and human commitment around the world.

Today, more than 2,000 volunteers work for about 23 Solidarity centers in Argentina, with additional volunteers in Madrid, Paris, New York, and Sao Paulo. "In the beginning 90 percent of the calls we got were help requests and just 10 percent offered help," Carr said. "Now we get more calls from people willing to help than those asking for it."

Most callers who offer help are middle-class people who want to give something back to society. People calling for help are referred to the 350 community organizations affiliated with the network. Callers are told to call back if, for any reason, their needs are not met.

Cross-Sector Alliances

Carr notes that the network's "mission 'to improve life conditions for needy individuals' could only be achieved if the Argentine society underwent a cultural transformation, setting solidarity as a core shared value," writes Harvard Business School professor James E. Austin, co-author of Social Partnering in Latin America: Lessons Drawn from Collaborations of Businesses and Civil Society Organizations. "Its association with the prestigious newspaper La Nación served as a valuable tool in attaining such an objective; it was a utilitarian means used to attain an altruistic goal."

Carr sees great value in using the media to push his efforts, and his sustained use of the media has certainly reaped rich dividends. Beginning in 1997 and 1998, the largest national newspapers ran "solidarity ads" that advertised particular needs and services offered, and weekly "solidarity supplements."

This led to a national TV program that included a 10-minute slot on social entrepreneurs, with campaigns to mobilize participation. For example, a media campaign raised U$350,000 (the motto was "we need 350,000 Argentines to help out with one dollar") to finance the treatment of a brain tumour for a boy. During a 25-day Solidarity Recycling campaign, the network collected medicine for more than 1,000 cancer patients from families who had medicine leftover from already deceased relatives.

"Alliances and networks are made every day and all involve the media, because it is our way to reach the community," Carr said. "The government has the capacity to respond much faster and is better prepared, but we basically stick to raising awareness. Sometimes, the government does not act until the community does it first."

Carr provides more examples to illustrate his point: "We are now involved in trying to reach Castelli, a city in Chaco Province which is facing a disaster situation. It has run out of water and in 40 days, 25,000 people might be forced to migrate. Our interventions have always been in the form of raising awareness, by trying to build a chain of commitment, and by asking the community as a whole to collaborate in whatever ways it can."

Wired Round the Globe

Carr notes it is difficult to get people to relate to distant disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami or Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes the network fails in its mission to help the needy.

For example, in Sri Lanka the network wanted to provide fishing nets to fishermen who were affected by the tsunami but failed to do so. The way out of such a predicament? For Carr, it means getting in touch with different organizations that are reaching out and constantly monitoring the situation in terms of what is needed. There are at least 15 different organizations outside Latin America who are now connected through www.redsolidariaglobal.org.ar and help the network monitor different situations.

For example, a media campaign raised U$350,000 (the motto was "we need 350,000 Argentines to help out with one dollar") to finance the treatment of a brain tumour for a boy. During a 25-day Solidarity Recycling campaign, the network collected medicine for more than 1,000 cancer patients from families who had medicine leftover from already deceased relatives.

The network also relies on autonomous network chapters in places as diverse as Barcelona, Mozambique, Boston and Tokyo. Other key strategies include the Reality Transformation Department that identifies and provides precise and updated information on "hunger-combating sites" (schools, parishes, community centers) and promotes a responsible, diverse, and informed involvement of business communities, schools and university students, citizen groups, and society at large in improving the lives of marginalized fellow citizens. There is a Web site (www.rutassolidarias.org.ar) that provides access to a thorough database covering 257 Reality Transformation Centers and representing some 50,000 people.

Other new initiatives include the Por los Chicos (www.porloschicos.com), a Web site for contributing food donations managed by young Citibank executives. Nutrir is a health program that monitors nutrition support.

The Post-Graduate Solidarity Capacity-Building Program is a training space that allows citizens and social entrepreneurs to share experiences. The Community Orientation Program allows community groups (corporations, students, etc.) to learn about the network's operational experience and provides a key resource for starting a solidarity-oriented project. So far more than 350 professionals have graduated from this program.

Looking to the future, Carr is focusing on building communities after a disaster occurs. "Our idea is that apart from rescue and relief work, which is very important, organizations should also look at long-term rehabilitation, especially of communities that are constantly struck by disaster," Carr said. "For example, the floods in Bangladesh that recur year after year without fail." Carr believes some organizations must focus on longer-term reconstruction of a society after a disaster while others focus on short-term relief.

Any long-term rehabilitation is usually fragmented into areas of concern such as housing or education, Carr said. There is no integrated response to a particular village, town or city, focusing on all its aspects. It is hard to achieve a consensus of all the participating organizations.

Usually, a community has little say in the decision-making process and input from survivors who are receiving help is disregarded, Carr said. "The role of the person receiving help is only a passive one. And when a disaster hits a city or town over and over again, the notion of disaster disappears. Raising awareness of the tragedy becomes harder. Still, we learn something new every day and I hope we will be better prepared for the next disaster."




Contributed by Pritha Sen, a Delhi-based development consultant and freelance journalist. Reprinted with permission from Changemakers.

To read another Global Envision article about successful entrepreneurship, see An Entrepreneur Tackles the Logistics of Disaster.



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