I was recently privileged to participate in a workshop in Windhoek, Namibia that concerned itself with reviewing the strategy and direction of one of the countries largest non-governmental organizations. This opportunity came just after I presented at a youth development conference at Ohio University in February 2006. In both instances, an exciting outcome of our discussions was an obvious willingness to develop strategic alliances among those of us working to bring positive change to the impoverished. This is a significant change from the days when organizations fought for limited funding and isolated themselves from each other. We are seeing an increased focus on efficiency, effectiveness, and organizations that are developing agendas based on a results-driven mentality instead of recreating vague processes developed in a vacuum by very large UN and governmental agencies. There seems to be a common desire to work together and we can now envision a scenario where large and small organizations are collaborating to eliminate poverty through the implementation of focused, efficient, responsibly managed, education-based, youth development programs. There is a new paradigm arising which is based on smaller, community-based programs with a bias for action—characteristics not traditionally associated with development organizations.

MYO is well positioned to take our place among this prestigious alliance in Southern Africa. We are gaining a reputation as an organization that delivers high-quality, relevant programs at an exceptional value. Our experience and commitment puts us in a position to provide thought leadership in creating a platform for a sharing of resources, the elimination of redundancies, consistency and quality assurance in delivery of services, and collaboration in soliciting greater shares of funding from the UN and large governmental agencies.

For MYO, the next 24 months will bring our greatest challenge to the forefront. It is critical that we maintain our focus and continue to deliver excellent value, even while scaling our programs and building our own facility. In this issue we officially launch our campaign to raise funds to build our new facility, which I believe is the most significant hurdle we must cross to solidify our organization and lay the foundation for the next 25 years of operation. It is a massive challenge, and one that will require significant sacrifice on the part of all supporters who believe in our vision. But it is a challenge that I promise you is achievable.

It is within our reach to play a significant role in the elimination of poverty in our lifetime. While this goal will require more than token gestures on our part, it is a worthy goal that for the first time seems achievable, and from my perspective, a goal worthy of our most enthusiastic support.

The single most important element in our current phase of development is to obtain our own facility. While there remains a slim chance of MYO getting an existing structure donated, or purchased at a reasonable cost, it seems more likely that we will have to build. There are various considerations in this argument, but ultimately that appears to be the direction we are headed. In any case, without a dedicated facility our growth will be severely curtailed and our ability to deliver broad-based solutions will be marginalized.

We will outgrow our current facility by the end of 2007 and so we must have an alternative solution by January of 2008. Our scaling plan calls for us to increase the number of youth in our program from the current level of 73 children, to 250 by the year 2012. 250 is our stated capacity—we have no current plans to expand beyond this number.

There are multiple incentives for moving from our current leased environment to building our own facility, but the primary considerations are:

• Our current facility is too small. While we are exploring the possibility of taking over more space and possibly purchasing this facility, preliminary analysis does not seem to favor this approach for a variety of reasons.

• There simply are no existing structures in the Mondesa area that are appropriate for the services we provide.

• Being centrally located will bring our transport costs down dramatically since most of our children will walk to our facility.

• Having our sport venue adjacent to our classrooms and support facilities allows us to get more efficiency from existing staff, or conversely, spreading staff across multiple locations requires additional staff and subsequent costs.

• We will have a dedicated library/media center, our own kitchen, showers, and computer room in addition to our classrooms and sport venue—this arrangement will allow us to finally offer our full suite of services with considerable efficiency over our current structure.

• Being centrally located allows parents and community citizens to attend meetings, sporting events and even provides a platform for implementing other community-based programs, all of which are not possible today due to our location.

• Having a functional youth center gives us a platform from which to raise funds via the considerable and growing tourism industry.

We have applied for a 10,000m2 grant of land from the municipality of Mondesa. The management council has ruled favorably on our request and our application has been passed to the full council for consideration. Current design plans call for 6 classrooms, library/media room, computer room, kitchen, offices, and showers/toilets. We also plan to build 6 regulation tennis courts—four of the courts will also have basketball, netball and volleyball options. We have engaged the services of a very well-respected architect/designer who is aware of our financial constraints—her designs are functional, attractive and cost-effective.

Early cost estimates are between $250,000 to $300,000 USD. This is before we negotiate and solicit in-kind donations for materials, furniture and fixtures.

While this is a massive figure for a small organization like ours, it makes sense in context of what we are trying to achieve. For a presumed life of 25 years (using the $300,000 figure) this amounts to around $12,000 per year or an additional $48 per child per year. With upgrading and maintenance, there is no reason why the facility could not be utilized longer. This year we will spend around $750 per child for our 73 children who will each receive 400 hours of professional education in a structured environment. With our own facility, due to efficiencies and economies of scale, I believe this number will decrease to approximately $350 - $400 per child per year. This cost savings will pay for the facility when measured against the rising cost of leasing, and the inherent inefficiencies of increased transportation and staff requirements for managing multiple locations.

With the kick-off of our construction fund this month, I would ask that you please consider making a donation to help meet our fund goals. For the next 24 months, we will include specific updates and references to our construction planning and fundraising—again, we ask that you please consider assisting in this effort and also share our ambitions and contact information with anyone willing to help.

There is for obvious reasons a tremendous amount of money and focus on HIV and AIDS awareness. The statistics for infection rates are staggering, and the disease threatens to evaporate gains made by many developing countries in education and economic development. Infection rate in Namibia remains around 25%.

I wanted to take a moment to underscore some key points about how MYO and programs of a similar make-up fit into the solution of the AIDS pandemic. The larger governmental organizations and multiple private organizations have re-directed a large percentage of funding to aids programs in the past few years. There are really three main focuses on dealing with this problem:

• Awareness programs to prevent new infections

• Treatment for those already HIV+

• Finding acceptable living solutions for orphans created by the increased death rate.

There are other social problems arising or exaggerated by the disease (increased rape of young girls due to myths perpetuated by tribal medicine men, higher instances of prostitution as young girls try to provide for family members when their parents become sick and can no longer work), but these are the primary areas of focus. MYO programs are relevant in the prevention of new infections especially in young adults.

In my experience, the awareness campaigns have been effective in the sense that the country is largely aware of what causes HIV transmission and AIDS. However, the real goal is behavior change, and also in my estimation, most programs have fallen short in this regard. Understanding the need for a condom does not necessarily translate to using a condom—but having the confidence to make a partner wear a condom, or the courage to abstain in at risk environments, that comes not from awareness but from a strong conviction to make positive choices vs. submitting to negative options. This is an area where MYO and intensive youth education programs can play a significant role.

Behavior change comes from sustained reinforcement of positive messages that underscore healthy lifestyle choices and by youth developing the character and confidence to make positive choices. We strongly believe that our multi-faceted approach which combines training, mentoring, life-skills reinforcement and experiences will result in youth having the courage and resources to make better lifestyle choices. Students in our program receive hundreds of hours of additional life-skills training and mentoring every year –augmenting their primary and secondary schooling.

This topic is of increased importance to MYO because we feel we have a real part to play in the prevention of new HIV infections, yet we have not effectively articulated this as part of our core objectives. Later this year, we are assembling a small team of professionals to re-write our program objectives, strategy, and tactical execution plans. We have specifically identified professionals with public health backgrounds and practitioners who work in this area to assist in this effort. Although I feel very strongly that we are a significant factor in facilitating healthy life-style choices, we find that we are often overlooked by funding organizations because we have not specifically identified AIDS treatment or prevention as one of our strategic objectives--will correct this in the near future.

There are two primary areas where we need increased support in order to be successful: fundraising and professional support.

Fundraising

• Youth Sponsorship Program. We currently have 50 children sponsored in this program against a goal of 300 sponsors. At $15/month, we have the lowest cost of entry among programs of this nature. It is critical that we find a way to reach a larger audience and that our passive supporters actively try to engage others to sponsor a child or otherwise make a donation.

• Construction fund. In order to raise the significant funds we need to build our facility, we need to identify those donors who are able to make sizable contributions to our effort. I have an outstanding commitment to travel anywhere in the country to meet with any individual, private trust or corporation who is willing to consider a donation of $5000 or more to our construction fund.

• Grants. We need to identify and apply for additional grants from private trusts, government institutions, and corporate foundations. We have a very compelling story and an excellent reputation so I believe we are good candidates for support if we can increase our application requests. We specifically need someone to manage this process, but anyone who knows of a funding organization that is focused on education-development or healthy lifestyle programs in developing countries, please get the information to me and we will follow-up.

Professional Support

We currently have needs for professionals to donate their time in the following areas. Each of these tasks is not expected to require more than 6-10 hours a month with the exception of the teaching position.

• Youth Sponsorship Program Manager/Marketing Manager. We recently added Carla Green as YSP administrator. Our need now is to find someone to drive a campaign to enlist new sponsors. Again, we have a low cost of entry and a very respectable program. I know of no other organizations who donate 100% of funds to services affecting children directly—we provide a remarkable value in this area.

• Web Developer. Frank does an excellent job with our website, but as we grow, we now have a need for an additional web support person to assist Frank. We are committed to keeping a fresh and original website which requires increased support in this area.

• Database Administrator We are managing our administrative functions with multiple spreadsheets, but we are past the time that we now need to have a professional database administrator involved. We are still a small organization with simple needs, but we need to take this step now while our data is still manageable and easy to make the switch to a database. Access is our preferred application, but we are open to alternatives.

• Grant Writer/Applications Manager As we identify programs for which we will qualify for funding, we need increasing support for someone to assist in the application process. This person would work closely with me to create and submit the best possible proposal and application.

• US Coordinator. In Australia, Lisa Chee has done a remarkable job assembling a team of volunteers who are now getting traction and showing results for their efforts. They are signing up YSP sponsors, holding creative fundraisers and preparing a calendar for release later this year to raise funds for MYO. We need someone in the US with a similar passion and commitment.

• Teacher. Shannon will finish her obligation at the end of this school year. Our preference is to find a motivated individual who is interested in spending a year in Namibia as our teacher. If you know of anyone who has any interest in this position, please contact me and I will follow-up with them.

MYO was founded on the idea that it is possible for a group of individuals who are committed and focused to bring meaningful change to a community, to, over time, turn the tide against poverty. While the very large UN and governmental agencies have developed a reputation for mediocrity and ineffectiveness, making it easy to feel completely disempowered as we stand by and watch 30,000 children die daily from hunger or easily preventable disease, we at MYO have instead decided to remain optimistic. We know we are making a difference in the lives of our children and we remain confident that we can continue our growth trajectory and excellent execution, and perhaps participate to some degree in replicating our programs around Southern Africa.

MYO is truly on the verge of doing something great. We will continue to pursue all available avenues of funding, but for us to be successful, we must all step up and do our part. We cannot rely on the Oprah’s or the Bill Gates's of the world to save the world—it is up to all of us!

I would ask that you please consider joining us in our efforts. If you already sponsor a child, consider sponsoring another. Or consider a donation to our construction fund. Pass this newsletter along to others and spread the word of what we are doing.

As always, you have our commitment that we will continue to spend your donated dollars with extreme discretion and only on those services or products that are directly related to servicing our children.

PEACE - Rob