Banning Excuses & Eradicating Malaria

I came across two instances of Creative Governance practices that I would like to share with you on this blog. One involves a young Russian mayor who banned excuses from his staff and the other comes from a profitable social enterprise that helped to eradicate malaria in Kenya.

These two Creative Governance practices serve to highlight that bureaucracy and health issues can be solved with some creative thinking and commitment.

HealthStore’s Malaria Eradication in Kenya

Malaria will affect 300 million people worldwide this year and contribute to one in five childhood deaths in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Malaria is not the only enemy; a handful of infectious diseases – all treatable with inexpensive generic drugs – accounts for 70 percent to 90 percent of childhood illness and death in the developing world.

HealthStore Foundation founder Scott Hillstrom combines microfinance with established franchising practices to address the simple problem of “getting the drugs to sick people when and where they are needed.

The foundation gives healthcare workers microloans (first created by Prof.Yunus from Bangladesh who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize) to open their own for-profit Child and Family Wellness (CFW)Shops which distribute medical products and services to remote communities in Kenya. Applying the basic principles of successful franchising, the foundation then trains the franchisees in uniform procedures, carefully selects locations, and conducts regular inspections to ensure quality and consistency. By 2005 the number of CFW shops had increased to 435,527.

Source: Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2007

This is an incredibly creative and socially responsive way to solve what seems like an intractable problem. It cleverly combines the characteristics of micro-financing and franchising to come out with this brilliant idea of HealthStore franchising. I believe that in the end it is business that will provide sustainable philanthropy. HealthStore proves that a profitable and socially responsible business is a great way to contribute human values and doing good to society.

Russian Mayor Bans Excuses

The mayor of Megion city in Russia has issued a list of excuses that he will not tolerate from civil servants. The phrases include: What can we do?" "It's not my job," "It's impossible," "I'm having lunch," and "There is no money." Alexander Kuzmin, the 33-year-old mayor of Megion, has banned these and 25 other phrases as a way to make his administration more efficient.

He said he was taking action as he was tired of civil servants telling him that problems were impossible to solve, rather than offering practical solutions.

"Town authorities are there to make town residents' life comfortable and prosperous," Kuzmin, a trained oil engineer who studied business administration in Canada, said in a statement posted on the town Web site. "Town officials must work out mechanisms to solve and remove problems, not to avoid them."

Officials who disobey the ban while in the mayor's office "will near the moment of their departure," the statement said.

Providing the mayor with wrong or incomplete information, or being late in reporting important information will be considered an attempt to undermine his work, it said.

Source : AP, 4 Sept. 2007

This is an excellent example of Creative Governance to eradicate irresponsible bureaucracy in the public service. Hope this provides food for thought for other ideas to improve the public service.

Talk on Creative Governance

The above are just two of the many stories on Creative Governance that I have collated.

Please email Dr.YKK at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite him to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.

I would appreciate if you could share Creative Governance stories with me so that they could be featured here. Please forward your response and contributions to DrYKK@mindbloom.net