This is the last of the four-part series on the status of the African social impact projects. In Parts One and Two, I laid out the status of two primary projects, Theodora and Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking Economic Development Initiative (Gad that's a mouthful. I wish I could find a shorter way other than an acronym to get it across). In Part Three, I set out the specific goals I have for the coming year. In Part Four, I am going to let myself stretch a bit from what is clearly doable, to what I am hoping to pull off.
As I sit here, 78 years old, I see one project (Theodora) that is getting really close to true sustainability. I see the other project (EDI) getting close to proof of concept. If we hit the short-term goals, Theodora has a real opportunity to survive and continue even if I am gone. EDI has a bit further to go. If even Theodora alone becomes self-sustaining, that would be quite the win.
However, I think there is a possibility I can take what has been accomplished so far and use it to build something that has longer-term potential even without me. That is what's critically important. It has to work without me.
It's too early to go into specifics, but I find I am in the hub of a number of situations that would be much more powerful working as one than working independently. The critical two are led by people who have similar personal situations as me. They don't have forever to take what they're doing and turn it into something sustainable.I need to slowly and patiently start building bridges between the entities and individuals so that the case for joining forces becomes more obvious.
So my long-term goal is to see if I can pull off this merging of resources and create a social impact entity, based on the principles I've developed at Theodora and EDI, which has sufficient size and funding to become an on-going entity, an entity that will be able to afford professional leadership.
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