Moving to Wokai's Main Blog Site

At the request of Casey, I am going to post directly to Wokai's blog site. However, I am leaning towards keeping a copy of my posts on this blog.

As of now, Wokai's blog entry doesn't carry a byline. I am not sure why. Not that I care for the credit as much as I want to have my own "brand": I am a volunteer of Wokai and I care about Microfinance in China. Yet I don't represent Wokai.

My attitude toward Wokai is complicated. Wokai is an ambitious grassroots organization started by two young social entrepreneurs (now mostly just Casey). It certainly identifies a niche--microfinance in China through foreign funding. The fact that it still exists today, given the limited resources it started with, is a strong testament of a need for such an organization.

However, Wokai, as MF in China in general, is struggling to have its voice heard, due largely to an economy that is used to state intervention--those who think China is the ultimate success story of unbridled entrepreneurship don't know China at all. Even worse, such an economy--however unbalanced or exhaustive--is still doing wonders. As a result, such a development model crowds out other alternatives, such as grassroots financial self-help. I wouldn't be surprised that having heard others' success stories, even the poorest farmers in the farthest corner still pin their hopes mostly on the government.

In this context, it is difficult for an organization like Wokai to gain traction, let along to expand. One critical issue is the lack of operational resource. We have a young founder who is working overtime, without pay, and has to rely on volunteers' good faith to get anything done.

But volunteers come and go. More than once, I have seen new volunteers joining Wokai with high hopes only to fade away months later. I myself am struggling to stay committed. But it is not because all the volunteers are hot-headed dreamers. Personally, I believe in microfinance, I believe that to many who want to "make it", to start is the hardest part. And credit is the biggest problem at that stage. Every bit of money helps. But compared to aid or subsidy, microfinance is about forging a social bond, is about the difference between a outsider and a participant.

In other words, I can see the logic, I can envision the end. But because of lack of operational fund, I do not see the results. Without results, there is a lack of sense of achievement. Without a sense of achievement, it is difficult to keep the troop marching, so to speak.

This is a long story to explain why I decided, despite the lack of time, to keep two sites for the same topic.