the new idealist issue one

7/28/2019 The New Idealist Issue One

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Current affairs

Science

Psychology

Ethical technology

Global perspectives

THE STUDENT ROOM/ Will students ever trust the Lib Dems again?

INTERNATIONAL DIARIES/Lie in New Orleans & The Microloan Foundation in Malawi.

HAVE YOU HEARD OF?/Interview with David Johnston, Chie Exec o the Social Mobility Foundation.

Issue One May-Jul 13 FREE

Willthenextgenerationfndit

hardertoreachthenextlevel?

DOWNWARDLYMOBILE?

EXEC

WORKER

idealistthenew


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The New Idealist WelcomeThe New Idealist Contents

Welcome to the launch edition o The NewIdealist, a brand new magazine established todeliver a new style o current aairs, debateand entertainment or those involved in thenot-or-prot, university and political elds,

as well as those who like an intelligent read.

This issue ocuses on a theme which is

oten unmentioned in our everyday lie, yetimpacts all o us in dierent ways. There are

several ways to look at social mobility; youcan consider the widening gap between the

rich and the poor (an area which is extremelywell researched with mind-bending statisticsin the book The Spirit Level by Kate Pickettand Richard Wilkinson), or the ability or your

generation to achieve a greater standard oliving than that o your parents. All points oview are covered in two magnicent articlesby our contributors in The BIG Debate section.

In The Student Room we canvass the viewso university students on their opinion o the

Lib Dems ollowing the tuition ees U-t urnand hear rom a student reporting on the riseo university ghost towns as more studentslook to save money by living at home to

complete their degrees.

As a magazine with an international ocus,

we look at how technology has helped torevolutionise the ortunes o the poor invillages throughout Malaysia and have someinteresting diaries rom our contacts in New

Orleans and Malawi.

On an individual level, or those o us struggling

with lie and career choices, the Six Steps toPersonal Fullment guide is a useul workshop

to help separate the wood rom the trees.In our travel section we look at how to makethe most o a visit to London on a budgetand conclude with some nal thoughts rom

the Chie Executive o the Social MobilityFoundation.

We welcome your thoughts and eedbackon anything to do with the magazine [email protected]

Lydia Andal

Managing Editor

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WRITE FOR US?

We would like to extend a large thank you to all o our

contributors or this issue: Gareth Davies, Steven McCabe,Stephen Tall, Christie Fraser, Cliton Harris, Jack Kazembe,Mary Lucas and Proessor Mike Hardy OBE.

We are always interested in topical contributions in theareas o current aairs, science, psychology, ethicaltechnology and history rom university academics,

not-or-prot organisations and political commentators.I you have a relevant topic you think might be o interestor a uture issue please email across a brie synopsisand a short bio to [email protected]

(we will respond to all enquiries).

READER CONTACTS:

Print & Digital Subscriptions are available online

@ www.thenewidealist.com

We distribute this magazine internationally via digital

download rom our website. For Overseas PrintSubscriptions or any other subscription enquiriesplease email: [email protected]: [email protected] mail: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AXTelephone: 0161 4088409

Managing EditorLydia Andal

Student EditorMariana Cerqueira

DesignerJulie Thomas

Editorial Team

ABOUT THE NEW IDEALIST MAGAZINE

I you are wondering how we have packed such a lot into a

magazine with such a small page count, its because we dontcarry any adverts. We publish the magazine or ree both in printand digitally so that cost is no barrier or anyone who wants toread the magazine. We are ad-ree because we want to establish

the magazine and publish a wide range o topics ree oadvertiser infuence.

I you have enjoyed reading the magazine and would like to supportus, please download the next issue rom www.thenewidealist.com

The New Idealist Magazine is published by New Idealist Limited. All rights reserved.Please dont reproduce this magazine in whole or p art without prior written permission.

VACANCY:MANCHESTER OR LONDONBASED FREELANCE DESIGNER WANTED

We are looking or an additional graphicdesigner to help put the magazine togetherevery quarter. Pay: Peanuts, Print Deadline:Always tight. Design Credit: Huge.

Must have print magazine/newsletter designexperience and live in or near London orManchester. I this dazzling oer is ointerest please email in a CV, PDF portolio

or a link to your online portolio (no largeattachments via email though thank you) [email protected] we will bein touch.

Welcome

Six Steps to Personal Fullment

We start step one o our six step journeyhere with Mary Lucas providing useultips on how to identiy any obstacles

which may be blocking your path.

Something nice or the weekend

Visit London on a budget

Keen to do something dierent next time

you visit? Check out our London weekendguide here.

Have you heard oThe Social

Mobility Foundation?

We talk to David Johnston about howthe Foundation helps the less privilegedestablish themselves in the career sectorswhere who you know typically matters

more than what you know.

Something to think about: Technology

How did a UK-based tech company improvethe lives o school children in remoteareas o Malaysia? Via digital classrooms,

read how they did it here.

The BIG Debate

Our antastic cover illustration articulatesthe ever-widening gap between the rich

and the poor. We ask two experts to debatewhat the government is doing about it.

The Student Room

Will students ever trust the Lib Demsagain ater the tuition ees u-turn?Find out what they have to say here.

International Diaries

From New Orleans to Malawi, ourcontributors tell us about their lives acrossthe globe.

Contents

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The New Idealist The Big Debate

MOVING UP: Improving social mobility in Malaysia

through digital classrooms

When the Malaysian government decided to take actionto improve the social mobility and lie opportunities o itsyoung people it decided upon a historic and innovativeeducational initiative.

Its solution was to provide a virtual learning environment

and 4G internet access or use at every one o its 10,000state schools, bridging the gap between the dierent areasand ethnically diverse populations which make up itsmodern day society. While about 90 per cent o Malaysianchildren attend school, which is mandatory or all 6-15

year olds, there are huge disparities between urban andrural regions o the country. UNICEF estimates that morethan 72,000 Malaysian children under 15 live in dicultconditions, with children in rural areas hardest hit and less

likely to attend school.

In an eort to level out this educational playing eld, the

Malaysian government launched the 1BestariNet project todeliver countrywide installation o high speed 4G broadbandinternet. With this in place it then brought us in to provideour tablet-based learning platorm to every one o its 10,000

state schools. This connected 10 million users to our VirtualLearning Environment (VLE) an internet operating systemthat gives students and teachers virtual access to educationresources such as lesson plans, tests and worksheets.

In this way we are giving every child equal access to thesame technology, high quality resources and content,

regardless o their abilities and any geographical or socio-

economic barriers. A child in a poor remote area has thesame access as a child rom a wealthy city. The skillslearnt through technology do not even necessarily have to

be academic. The technology also oers the opportunity todevelop vocational skills, or example instructional videos onconstruction or agriculture. Everyone is able to benet, nomatter what their ambitions or uture career paths may be.

The system has the additional benet o raising teachingstandards by supporting collaboration between high and

low perorming schools, sharing best teaching methods andresources. The Malaysian government is condent that itsinitiative will have a signicant impact on social mobility ora whole generation o children as their improved education

leads them to better jobs, health and overall improvedquality o lie.

As Nelson Mandela once said; Education is the most

powerul weapon which we can use to change the world.

Following successul installation o our new learningplatorms, we are now working to make adoption o thetechnology as simple and non-threatening as possible.FrogAsia trains and mentors sta rom 351 selected

Champion Schools on the implementation o Frog, undera 40-week Transormation Programme.

The emerging markets are a key area o expansion or usand we plan to develop this work in Asia still urther. While inWestern countries it is not easy or governments to purchasecountrywide products in this way resulting in a rather

piecemeal approach where countries are starting romscratch and are able to purchase a system in the way thatMalaysia has done, we oer a relatively inexpensive way omaking a vast dierence to the uture o the country.

Improving social mobility in this way means that a childs liechances are not dictated by the circumstances o their birth.

In the not too distant uture, it will be possible or anyone,anywhere on the planet to have a really great education.

Gareth Davies is Managing Director o Frog which he

co-ounded in 1999. www.rogtrade.com

Have you noticed an increasing gap between the rich

and the poor? Is society moving backwards instead o

orwards? What is the government doing about it?

Were not sure so we asked two people with in-depth

knowledge o the subject to shed some more light on

the issue or us.

The problem o encouraging social mobility or those rom

low-income backgrounds is the by what means question?

Education is the way to liberate both minds and people.

So, thereore, all that is required is to invest in educationand everything will be ne. Sadly, as has been ound bysuccessive governments, it is not that simple.

Education has been a contentious topic or decades and,o course, still is.

There used to be selective education which, as criticspointed out was elitist though advocates point to itspower in enabling bright children rom poor

backgrounds to progress into very senior proessionalpositions in organisations.

I strongly suspect that the current Secretary o State orEducation, Michael Gove, would be a big supporter oselection.

Gove is a poster boy o social mobility and was broughtup by adoptive Labour-supporting parents, and won ascholarship to an independent school which enabled him

to go to Oxord and become president.

He believes his reorm o education will provide childrenwith the same opportunities as he had though changehas been achieved without consultation and will result inteaching by rote and the memorisation o acts.

The speed at which academy schools opened under Govemay be seen as undamental to his belie that bypassingunionised teachers resistant to change is the only way to

assist disadvantaged children.

Context is important and it should be remembered thatthe period between the end o the second-world-war andthe 1970s in Britain was characterised by economicgrowth and a belie that the uture was bright.

Those deemed not capable o entering selective grammar

schools could look orward to jobs in technical andcommercial occupations and support rom employers toattend local colleges to attain City and Guild qualications.

But recessions o recent decades have established a gulbetween the haves and have nots.

For the have nots poverty has created hopelessness andwhat is commonly reerred to as poverty o aspiration;

something New Labour identied as an urgent priorityresulting in vast amounts being spent on both acilitiesand teachers.

The coalition government inherited an economy which,

they argue, needed urgent cuts.Besides, they argue, the previous governments underBlair and Brown were ar too profigate with public moneyand the results inconclusive.

It is a act that current economic circumstances havesignicantly reduced opportunity and jobs that oncewould have gone to school leavers aged 16 with minimal

qualication are now likely to be taken by graduates.

A degree is no longer seen as a guarantee to success so it

is hardly a surprise that those who have least the poor are even less motivated to strive to amass debt throughgoing to university.

Each issue we will bring you a eature on a new

development or refection in the areas o science,

technology, history and philosophy. This issue to tie in

with our Social Mobility theme, we look at how technology

helps improve the lives o school children in Malaysia.

Something to thinkaboutTechnology BIG

The

debate

the aim is clear:to reduce the

attainment gap andenable everyone to

get on in life

StephenMcCabe

The New Idealist Something to think about...

IS THE COALITION GOVERNMENT

DOING ENOUGH TO ENCOURAGE

SOCIAL MOBILITY?

Malaysian classroom

Work anywhere


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We are into a vortex o decline and what is especiallyworrying is that the gul between those who believe ineducation and those who are, at best, indierent, is widening

under the coalition.

As a consequence social mobility is being undermined by

the belie that education is pointless because advancementis limited.

Recent research by Mark Taylor and Tina Rampino who arebased in the Institute or Social and Economic Research atthe University o Essex shows that young people who developa sense o hopelessness pass this belie onto their children.

As a consequence the problem o social mobility becomesendemic.

This research is resonant with the annual report producedby The Resolution Foundation Essential Guide to Squeezed

Britain which demonstrates that the number o amilieson low to middle income is increasing and that this groupstruggle to cope nancially which causes them to have lessoptimism than ever.

Any eort by the coalition government to increase socialmobility is hardly helped by the widely held perception

that the cabinet is made up o privileged millionaires whoattended the best schools.

So advice to parents experiencing social deprivation toencourage their children to work hard at school and go touniversity, in the process racking up debt with no guaranteeo a job wont be well received.

For such people getting through rom week-to-week istough enough already. Recent announcements o cuts to

benets will only make poverty o aspiration even worse.Knowing this and recognising the long-term consequenceso reduced social mobility the current government shouldcommit itsel to substantial investment.

It should reread the white paper published in January

2009 by ormer Labour Minister Alan Milburn who chaireda commission on how to assist the disadvantaged.

Some in government might argue we cannot aord

Milburns recommendations. But can we aord the humanconsequences o the cuts caused by austerity? The currentgovernment clearly believes in encouraging social mobilitybut it needs to do more to positively encourage those who

are most aected by increasing poverty.

I they dont well simply become even more unequal.

Dr. Steven McCabe is an Economist, Business Lecturer

and Director o Research Degrees at Birmingham City

Business School.

Social mobility: its a phrase much-beloved by politicians

rom all three parties. Who, ater all, can possibly disagreewith the ne sentiments o Nick Clegg in his social mobility

strategy paper (1)

Let me ask you another question, though: when did you lasthear anyone unconnected with the Westminster Village

an ordinary voter talk about social mobility? It doesnteven rate a mention in Ipsos MORIs polls (2) tracking theissues o concern: unsurprisingly, the economy comes top.

This chasm between how the Government talks about theprincipal goal o its social policy and the concerns o thepublic is in itsel a problem. But perhaps more telling is

the way all parties are happy to engage with social mobilityas a smokescreen or the debate that still matters more:how is inequality best tackled?

Beore we address that question, though, lets be clearabout our denitions. The extent to which youre able to dobetter than your parents were whats termed absolute

social mobility may simply be a unction o economicgrowth or technological change. How likely it is youll beable to move up (or down) the social or income laddercompared to others is whats known as relative social

mobility. The political ocus is on the latter measure, asNick Cleggs white paper makes clear.

In other words, the Coalitions priority is delivering equalityo opportunity. The drive has been, thereore, to improvethe education o the poorest in society. The reason why isnot surprising. A ve year-old child living in poverty today is

already the equivalent o eight months behind their better-o peers in terms o cognitive development. And this gapbetween children rom rich and poor backgrounds increasesthroughout their time at school.

One o the Lib Dems top priorities at the 2010 general electionwas the introduction o whats known as the pupil premium,

signicant new unding targeted at low-income pupils.

Implemented by the Coalition, it will be worth up to 1,300or each eligible child by 2015. The aim is clear: to reducethe attainment gap and enable everyone to get on in lie.

But equality o opportunity cannot stop at 18. The Coalitionshigher education reorms in England, though undoubtedly

controversial and politically costly to the Lib Dems, meanthe poorest 30% o university graduates will pay back lessoverall than under Labours ees system while the richestwill pay more. Potential students seem to have noticed:

application rates rom disadvantaged areas hit their highestlevel ever in 2013 (3)

Vince Cable has also emphasised the critical importanceo adult education citing his own amily experiences (4).And beyond ormal education, apprenticeships have been

expanded, with almost hal-a-million created in 2010-11,two-thirds more than in Labours last year in oce.

In its own terms, then delivering equality o opportunity the Coalition is doing a lot. The big question is whetherimprovements to the education system will be enough to

advance relative social mobility, the Coalitions stated aim.

The evidence suggests not. As Oxord proessor John

Goldthorpe has highlighted relative social mobility remainedbroadly static or most o the twentieth-century despite allthe changes thrown at the education system. And in hisneutrally scholarly way he had laid down a serious gauntlet

to politicians o all stripes (5). This, at last, gets to the hearto the issue: inequality.

There has long been a tension between the liberal goal oequalising opportunities and the social democratic goal oequalising outcomes. The Coalition has explicitly prioritisedthe ormer, both through its education and training

measures and by preerring to incentivise work throughcutting taxes or the low-paid rather than increasingbenets or low-income groups.

These policies may well deliver on promoting absolutesocial mobility, stimulating economic growth and ensuringthe next generation can live a better lie than their parents.

By themselves, however, they are unlikely to deliverthe relative social mobility Nick Clegg promises: your

background will still continue to exert an unair infuenceon what youre able to do in lie. To paraphrase the deputyprime minister: Patterns o inequality will continue to beimprinted rom one generation to the next.

The Coalition Governments ocus on education inparticular the education o the poorest is to its credit.

But i it wants to encourage relative social mobility it is goingto have to tackle an issue it preers to skirt around: deliveringa more equal society. There really is no alternative.

Stephen Tall is Co-Editor o LibDemVoice.org, a Research

Associate at the liberal think-tank CentreForum, and

also writes at his own site, stephentall.org.uk

He is on Twitter

@stephentall.

HAVE YOUR SAY:WE WANT TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS

ON THIS TOPIC!

Do you think the government are doing

enough to close the gap between therich and the poor? Vote

YES, NO or MAYBEin our online poll at

www.thenewidealist.com

recessions ofrecent decades have

established a gulfbetween the haves

and have nots.

StephenTall


IS THE COALITION GOVERNMENT

DOING ENOUGH TO ENCOURAGE

SOCIAL MOBILITY?

(1) April 2011 Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers(Dpm.cabinetoce.gov.uk)

(2) March 2013 Issues Index (Ipsos-mori.com)(3) Ucas.ac.uk(4) Cass Business School Speech (Cass.city.ac.uk)(5) The Goldthorpe Social Mobility Paper (Spi.ox.ac.uk)

VERDICT: NO

VERDICT: MAYBE


5/11

8 9

The New Idealist The Student Room

STUDENT EDITOR COLUMN cant see mysel not coming to university. It was an

essential time or me to grow, learn and gure out things.Unortunately, the best time o your lie comes at a veryhigh price nowadays, as one year o university can nowcost up to 9,000.

Students do not seem to be orgiving, as youll see inour A pound or your thoughts section six out o ten

claim they will not trust the Lib Dems again, three saymaybe and only one says yes. The tuition ees U-turn

scarred them or lie ater all, the Lib Dems endangereda lie-plan that everyone thought sacred, but their

reputation seems to have gone down with it.

The eects o the raise are visible on campus, as Christie

tells us in our eature. Less students and less lie in aplace where everything is supposed to scream we areyoung. Numbers conrm what Christie sees in h ercampus and its not just that students are now ewer,

they are also choosing to live at home i they havethe chance, according to Luke at the University oManchester Students Union. This raise appears tohave more consequences than everyone originally

thought and it seems to be all on the Lib Dems.As Viola puts it: I voted Lib Dem and all I got was9K tuition ees.

Mariana Cerqueira

Student Editor

Mariana is a nal year undergraduateat The University o Manchester

We asked 10 students rom the University o Manchesteror their thoughts on the ollowing and gave each one othem a pound in return. The results are as ollows...

Q. Will students ever trust theLib Dems again ater the tuitioneed u-turn?

The Student Room

STUDENTS STAYING IN:The Rise o the University Ghost Town

When my mates and I got back to Manchester Uni this

year, we couldnt wait to see how the newest studentswere celebrating their rst Freshers Week. Like manystudents, we treasured the curious mix o ond butembarrassing memories that had been orged two years

earlier during our own rst weeks away rom home.Heading down to Manchesters amous student city,Falloweld, we expected to walk into a seven day longnon-stop un marathon. What we ound looked more

like the opening scenes o 28 Days Later.

Instead o pounding music, laughter and the squeal o

brakes as buses brought yet more loads o revellers,discarded leafets promising great nights out rustled inthe wind. Instead o being j ostled in big queues we shiveredalone in the cold. Instead o huge crowds o young people

meeting new riends, swapping stories and attemptingseduction, a ew stragglers shambled aimlessly aroundus. What had happened to the rst years? Our rst guess,naturally, was a particularly virulent strain o reshers fu.

But urther investigation revealed that the post-apocalypticatmosphere was actually a result o government action;specically the student ee rises.

While the eect o raising ees on admissions andgraduates has been debated to death, theres been lessdiscussion over the impact on t he actual experience o

university. Manchester, at least, has changed dramatically.When I rst applied two-and-a-hal years ago, theFalloweld campus was renowned as a party environmentwhere it was almost impossible to study seriously.

Thereore it was the most popular choice or studentslooking or accommodation and quickly lled up.This year, a huge all in demand has let three o itsresidential blocks deserted.


Manchester Uni has seen roughly400 ewer students this year, withthe 9k ees weve seen more students liveat home rather than go into halls this year.Whilst the student union would rather 9kees werent charged, were working withthe University to ensure that there are awide range o bursaries available tostudents that need it so that theyre not

put o applying to University.

Luke Newton, Education Ocer at Universityo Manchester Student Union (UMSU)

A.Theyre a coalitionso I understand they

have to compromise.

A.'Ifafewmenarentpartofthe partyanymore, maybe Ill votefor them.

A.'Its the first time they have powerand they wastE their opportunity.

A.'Why should youtrust someone iftheyve already lied.

A.'I voted Lib Demand all I got was 9K

tuition fees.

A.'Once a politician goesagainst their word, you lose

faith in their policies. They

would have to do a lot of

work to regain this trust.

A.'Brokenpromise

BethLacy-Frenc

handRussian

Nazmul Ali- Maths

Hugo Barthorp - Religion and Theology

Josh Grime - Economics

Kyri Levendi - Language, Literacy and Communication

Natalia Ghorcy-Mehasi - Politics and International Relations

A.'Tobe controversial:)

A.'Maybewhenrolesinpeoplesliveschangebutnotasastudent.

A Penny Pound foryour thoughts

OVERALLVERDICT:NO!

Olivia Connelly - Economics

SamJones -PhDin AncientHistory

Viola Hazlerigg - Criminology

AbubakarMohamed- Maths

A.'Theres no point inmaking promises if theyre

not going to stick by them.


6/11

10


International diariesNEW ORLEANS JOURNAL BY CLIFTON HARRIS

CliftonHarris isa lifelong resident ofNew Orleans and currentlyresides in NewOrleans East withhis family.

Cliffisan Information Systems Coordinator that assists case managers and nonprot organizations with providing

services to thehomeless in the city. Cliff writes his blog: cliffscrib.blogspot.co.uk where he focuses most ofhis writing

towards social and communityissues. Visit www.thenewidealist.comto seephotos ofCliftons hometown

The most likely reason or the drop is greater numberso students choosing to live at home and commute touniversity rather than spend even more on living in halls.A survey by the insurance company LV= (Student exodus

could leave university cities ghost towns by 2020) givessome dramatic statistics. In March 2011, just beore theee rises came in, only about 21% o ull-time studentsn the UK lived at home. By 2020, they estimate it will

have skyrocketed to 52% o younger students and 47% othe overall student population. The survey reads in partslike an end-o-times prediction. It oresees a dramatic

student exodus which leaves ormerly lively universitycities reduced to ghost towns (Newcastle is set to lose52% o its students in ten years). As entire areas arevacated, crime and criminal damage will increase andmany properties will become vacant and even derelict.

The change rom a busy urban environment to a landscapethat resembles your avourite dystopian horror lm willcertainly aect the way that students experience university.The other massive dierence brought on by 9,000 ees is

a change in attitude.

The new students dont want cheap alcohol and lie-ins;

they want brains. Another survey by the UNITE group(Higher Fees See Rise in Savvy Students), showed thatpeople starting university in 2012 were overwhelminglylooking to spend their tuit ion wisely. To quote: 86% viewed

hard work as more crucial to their experience thanhard partying, while 83% said that they would opt oran academically-demanding rather than laid backatmosphere. The majority o these young people will be

graduating with tens o thousands o pounds worth o debt,and their priority is nding a job that is worth the nancialsetback caused by not going into ull-time work straightaway. A ocus on the academic side o university, along with

living with parents, seems like a sensible option.

Some might even see this experience o university as

an improvement; its no secret that many communitieshave gotten ed up with drunken students who take ulladvantage o being away rom their parents gaze. But t hatparental gaze can also prevent young people rom ever

becoming ully independent. That LV= survey noted that48% o students who did live at home agreed that theyelt less involved in university lie. For a shy person likeme, university orced me to speak to new people rom all

dierent backgrounds.

Condence and an appreciation or the views o others arejust as important in a job as an excellent academic record,i not more so. Theres also nothing quite li ke the eelingo successully cooking your own spaghetti bolognese;

more than worth the scraping out the charred remains othe rst three attempts. As Martin Lewis has said (StudentLoans Mythbusting), winning at higher education is aboutar more than just how much you earn aterwards. The

traditional experience, where a young person goes awayto uni and ocusses as much on socialising as studying,is by no means the best or everyone. But it would be a

shame i that option were to become obsolete.Christie Fraser is a third year history

student at the University of Manchester.

You can follow her on twitter

@ChristieFraser2

86%viewed"hardwork"asmore

crucial totheir

experience than

"hardpartying,"

while

83%saidthattheywouldoptforan"academically-demanding"ratherthan"laidback"atmosphere.

The New Idealist International Diaries

11

Since this is my rst post for this publication I want

to introduce myself to the readers and give you all

some insight on my perspective. My name is Clifton

Joseph Harris III. I was born and raised in New

Orleans, Louisiana. I live in the most beautiful and

unique city in the world, which can also be the most

frustrating and challenging city. There is no place

I would rather be and I will defend this city and itspeople against anything. At the same time, I also lost

my grandmother, family homes, and my neighborhood

to Hurricane Katrina. Rebuilding and recovery has

been a tough road at times so every now and then

the city deserves my anger. Its a relationship thats

always changing.

Im a parent in the New Orleans Public School system,

which is more like three different systems operating

independently since the state took over after the

storm. In a few weeks my 9 year old daughter will be

taking her high stakes exam to determine if she can

move on to the fth grade. No matter how well your

kids appear to be doing in school, you cant relax

until testing is over. One bad day can destroy years

of condence building. Ill have a lot to say about the

educational system in the coming months.

For the past eight years, I have written a blog called

Cliffs Crib. Its my personal therapy tool and the way

I express myself. With the rate which blogs come and

go, eight years is ancient in blog years. I dont know

how Ive kept it going so long with my short attention

span. Some nice people even thought I deserved an

award a few years ago. Writing is my hobby and a

passion for me. I hope you enjoy what I have to say.

If you get a laugh every now and then as well as a

better understanding of what its like in our post

Katrina world then my work here is done.

Currently, I am the systems administrator of the

homeless client database for the New Orleans area.

New Orleans is second in the United States in the rate

of homeless people based on statistics from 2009-

2011 (Report Places New Orleans Homeless Rate at

Second in the Nation: Times Picayune). While second

in the nation isnt good, weve made a lot of progress

in bringing the number of homeless down over the lasttwo years. We are in the process of doing our annual

homeless count for 2013 and I really hope the numbers

from this year and last take us out of the top three.

I love what I do and I work with

dedicated and wonderful people who

sacrifice a lot for their clients

but if we didnt have any homeless anymore I would

be happy to nd another job.

Right now New Orleans is relaxing after hosting two

major events over a three week span. We had the rst

week of Mardi Gras which is the calmer week of the

season because its usually more of a family event

than the second week, when the bigger parades hit the

streets. The Super Bowl week was in the middle of the

usual madness and we handled that with no problems.

We did have that issue with the lights going out during

the game. The media was tripping but I didnt see the big

deal. When my lights go out they stay out for hours. The

Super Bowl lights were back on in thirty four minutes.

After the Super Bowl was over it was time for the last

week of Carnival and Mardi Gras day. It was special

for me since my parents were in town from their post

Katrina home of Memphis Tennessee. If Mardi Gras

season was year round I think my mom would have

already moved back to the city.


7/11


Lastly, I randomly select women to collect information

for the Progress Out of Poverty Index: this is a form

of Social Performance Management, and allows us

to collect information to ensure we are achieving

our social mission of improving womens poverty

status. By the end of t he day I have managed to visit

two more groups. Back in the branch ofce I hold

a meeting with staff to feedback my ndings andtogether draw up an action plan for improvement

and follow up.

We are incredibly proud to be

working with over 25,000 women

in Malawi. I see first-hand

the huge impact the support

has on the lives of the women

and their families.

I have seen households that could hardly afford three

meals in a day, turning things around. I have seen

women who have never had savings at all, saving as

much as 150 of their own. I have seen women who

lacked condence in talking about their problems at

home, standing up in a group to talk about them and

assist or counsel others in a similar predicament. I

have seen female-headed families building up enough

income to pay school fees and medical expenses for

their children. I have seen women buying pieces of

land to build houses. I have seen women graduating

from MicroLoan Foundation to stand on their own as

their business has grown so much they no longer need

our support. This is our aim; to see women

build sustainable routes out of poverty.

Jack Kazembe is a Regional Manager for

the MicroLoan Foundation in Malawi.

www.microloanfoundation.org.uk

International diariesJACK KAZEMBE IN MALAWI

My name is Jack Kazembe. I work for MicroLoan

Foundation in Malawi. MicroLoan is a micronance

charity with a social mission to signicantly reduce

poverty. We currently operate in Malawi and Zambia.

We give small loans and business training to poor

women in rural areas enabling them to work their

way out of poverty.

Malawi is divided into 3 regions; north, centre and

south, which are further sub-divided into 26 districts.

We have branches in 19 districts, spread across the

country, which are managed by a Regional Ofce in

each of the 3 regions. I live in Mzuzu in northern

Malawi, where I work as the Regional Manager for

the North and supervise 6 branches. Each branch

has a Branch Manager, and several Loan Ofcers

that deliver the loans and training to approximately

300 women each.

MicroLoan Foundation gives business

loans to groups of 12 to 18 women

who support each other in their

business endeavours.

Loans start as little as 8, but average 50, allowing

women to set up and maintain small businesses such

as market stalls or tea shops. We deliver on-going

training and mentoring to the women we work with,

in how to market their business, managing prots and

savings, how to increase sales, and much more. Once

loans are repaid, they are recycled and made into

more loans.

Currently, Malawis economy is struggling, with

ination at about 30%, meaning that cost of living is

increasing a lot, so we are working in difcult times.

Many of the women we work with

nd it increasingly difcult to

afford food, and their households

are experiencing hunger.

The increased prots from their businesses as a result

of the loans and training, enable them to increase

spending on food, and other vital things like their

childrens education.

Today is a Monday and I am at a branch in Karonga

district, 240km from my ofce in Mzuzu City. I am

here to check how the branch is doing. First, I check

a sample of Loan Ofcers les in which group loan

documentation is kept (we have 22 Loan Ofcers in

the northern region) including loan approvals and

recording of repayments.

Together with the Branch Manager I then proceed

to visit a sample of groups. There is usually singing

upon arrival at a group to show that we are welcome.

Each group gives themselves a name; this is Hope

Credit group. I then begin checking their books,

interviewing some of them to check if a Loan Ofcer

visits them regularly and if the Branch Manager has

ever visited them; I also check on recent training they

have received. I also observe the relationship between

the group and the Loan Ofcer. Then the time comes

for feedback from the group, where they will suggest

improvements or changes they want to see made to

training or loans offered. This helps us improve the

services we provide to the women we work with, as

we understand that they know best what they need.


A Success Story: Ileen, the enterprising

journey from hut to home

Ileen was the rst recipient of a loan in her district.

She was just 21 years old. That was ten years ago.

She lived in a small mud hut and kept a few chickens.

Her loan started her off as a serious

businesswoman. She bought more chicks from a

supplier in the town, fattened them up and sold

them in the market after six weeks, for 1,000

Kwacha each to the stallholders, or for 1,300

Kwacha direct to customers.

These days she rears 70 at a time and plans to

increase that to 100 when the new building has

nished. She is now on her twentieth loan cycle.That helps her to nance the new larger room for

the chickens as well as a storage container for the

chicken food.

Then with her savings she is building a new

bathroom and kitchen for herself and, importantly,

an electricity supply for her home. Next year it will

be a concrete oor too, she hopes.

That, however, is only the start of it for this

enterprising young woman. She goes regularly

to Zambia to get a supply of pots, water bins, food

warmers and cotton wraps which she then sells to

locals in her village or in the market. Then there

are the pigs, which she rears together with

a neighbour.

Looking to the future, her next plan is to build

another house on her land and then rent it

out. From a few chicks to burgeoning property

developer in ten years is quite a journey anywhere,but especially in the middle of Malawi.

13

If you live outside of the UK and would like to contribute your own international diary please

get in touch with a link to your blog: [email protected]

Ileenoldhut

Ileennewhouse

AllphotosElizabethHandy

Ileen


8/11

14 15

Coaching workshop

SIX STEPS TOPERSONALFULFILLMENTWelcome to part one o our brand new CoachingWorkshop series, designed to help you nd simpleways to improve your lie and eel more ullled. We

start with Integral Development Coach Mary Lucaswho will help you identiy what obstacles may bepreventing you rom experiencing the lie you aspire to.

Part One - Current Situation

What is the main obstacle or challenge

you are currently acing?

One o the main considerations in the decision to takeon a programme o collaborative sel-development isdetermining the crux o the issue or issues we want towork with.

Some o us have no problem in dening the yawninggaps in our competence to live lie that require urgent

attention but most o us have just a vague idea.Commonly we nd ourselves in one o three states.

Which state do you identiy with most?

I know Im headed in the direction I want but I keep

running into obstacles on the way.

I know where I want to go but I cant see how to get there.

I have no idea where I want to go but sense its time to

do something dierently because what Im doing sureas hell isnt working!

The exercises that ollow are designed help you explorethe opening or creating the lie you choose.

A good way to participate in this workshop is to recordyour refections in a journal each day and give yoursela week to refect and record the observations you make.

As always when we are stepping into the unknown thebest dictum is to start where we are. This means right

here, right now! It means calming our mind so that wecan connect with the wisest part o ourselves which liesbeyond the ceaseless chatter and admonitions o ourrestless minds.

STEP 1: FINDING STILLNESS

When we breathe consciously we calm our nervous

system. Our body can relinquish tension and we quietour mind. In this process draw your attention to yourbreath and body. Relax any tension in your muscles andtry to bring yourselves into awareness o your experience

o the present moment.

Sit up straight in your chair and close your eyes.

Take three deep, slow breaths Feel your feet at on the oor, your body on the chair Notice your breathing for a minute or two

Slowly open your eyes

Throughout your exploration you can use this exerciseto return to your breath and body when you need to clear

your mind to nd the answer within yoursel.

STEP 2: FINDING THE OPENING FOR

LIVING THE LIFE YOU CHOOSE

Making Decisions

Finding out how we are orientated to making choices

and the eect o this can show us how we create certainpatterns o experience and behaviour in lie.

Think over the last ew hours. During this period o time:

How did you decide what to do?

What connections can you see between the basis of

your actions and the consequence o your actions?

How Happy Are You?

Being curious about our relationship to happiness can bevery revealing. We discover just how happy we are or notand how dependent we are on random occurrences and

on things outside ourselves or our eeling o happiness.

Consider the ollowing:

What do expect will make you happy today? What beauty do you see in your world today? What is your world founded upon today?

In what new ways can you express yourself today?

What did you feel gratitude for today?

Creating Your Lie

The choice is ours; lie can either be what happens to us whilewere making other plans or we can create the lie we want.The rst step is to start where we are and take a look at howcreative, and proactive, we are being with our lie right now.

What new ideas do you have this week? Around what are you directing your life this week? How do you see your future?

What are the events, circumstances, and people that

you made the most dierence with this week?

Comort with Emotions

Discovering our emotional range and those that we nddiculty with can tell us a lot about potential areas ordevelopment.

What emotions did you feel most strongly today?

How could you tell?

What emotion did you feel most comfortable with today?

What emotion did you move away from?

What effect does your comfort with different emotions

have on your lie?

What specic possibilities in your life in your work

and relationships would open up i you had morecapacity to eel and express a wider range o emotions?

Investing Your Lie

To create the lie we want we rst need to make aninventory o the lie weve got and the ways we arecurrently investing our time energy and eeling.

Gradually we begin to become aware o our patternso habitual engagement.

What event, person, or activity did you invest

most in today? How did your decision about how you invested

your lie come about?

What emotions contributed to your decision?

What eelings did you ignore in making your decision?

Now consider the patterns o your engagement:

What patterns do you notice in your life this week? What people, activities, events are lling up your life

this week? Are you consciously choosing this or just

alling into it? What people, activities and events did you neglect

this week? Are you consciously choosing this oragain just alling into it?

What actions will you take rom what you learned inthis exercise?

Moving Forward in Lie

To move orward in creating the lie we want we have tobecome more aware o how our actions are contributingto the creation o t he lie we are experiencing.

What actions did you take today to move forward

in how you want your lie to be?

What outcome or outcomes did you produce

by your actions? What actions did you avoid taking?

What were the immediate and long term

consequences o your avoidance?

Finally, what things are you eeling more condent

and certain about since doing th ese exercises?

What actions will you take tomorrow to have your

lie be what you want it to be?

Mary Lucas is an Integral Development Coach,

Creative Mentor and Creativity workshop facilitator.

You can email her at [email protected]

Tune in next issue or step two o our Six Steps toPersonal Fulllment where we look at what mightbe missing rom your proessional lie and how tomanage your career-related hopes and ears.

Make sure you dont miss out: Subscribe to the digitalissue or ree at www.thenewidealist.com

THE SIX STEPS TO

PERSONAL FULFILLMENT

Part One Current Situation:

What is the main obstacle or challengeyou are currently acing?

Part Two Proessional Lie:

How to manage your career-related hopes and ears.

Part Three Family & Friendships:

How to make the most o your social lie.

Part Four Making a dierence:Are you using your skillset eectively?

Part Five Personal Goals:

Do you know what you want rom your lie?

Part Six Action Planning:

How to make change happen.

The New Idealist Coaching WorkshopThe New Idealist Coaching Workshop


9/11

16 17

The New Idealist Something or the WeekendThe New Idealist Something or the Weekend

Something or the weekend

British Film InstituteMediathequeFor those who love TV and Film the BritishFilm Institute Mediatheque is the place to

spend a relaxing Sunday aternoon. Visitorscan simply log on at a viewing station andenjoy highlights rom the BFI NationalArchive, the worlds greatest and most diverse

collection o lm and television. From home

movies to eature lms, documentaries tokids TV, a quick glance at the lms availableincludes classics such as 1984 and The

39 Steps as well as a vintage 1 minuteshort rom 1899 (yes it is over 100 years old)entitled Upside Down or The Human Flies.Whether you have 20 minutes or 2 hours you

will be guaranteed to nd the old, the new,the amiliar and the unusual here.

Price: FREE

Web: www.b.org.uk

London is a contrarian city which means dierent things to dierent people. For those wholive in London this is a place which invokes erce loyalty, a place o hustle and bustle, lieand love. For those who want to nd out what London means to them without breaking thebank, here are some top picks to start your London adventure.

VisitLondononaBudg

et

London by NumbersPopulation Size: Around 8 million

Number o Hotels: Around 1,000

Number o Pubs: Around 7,000

Number o Mainline Stations: 17

Number o Underground Stations: 270

Bring the countryto the city atOsterley Weekend

13th & 14th July 2013Heralded as a 21st century village ete in thecity, the annual Osterley Weekend brings lieto the grounds o the one o the last surviving

country estates in London. Osterley House isa Tudor estate with a spectacular mansionsurrounded by gardens, park and armland.With a range o activities including a un air,

mini arm, archery, dance and musicworkshops and a range o ood and drinkstalls there is something on oer or everyone.

Price: FREE

(charge applies to visit the main house)

Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park

The ScienceMuseumThe science museum housesexhibitions o present and uturescience and technology and isThe UKs most popular destination

dedicated to science, technology,engineering, medicine, design andenterprise. Welcoming over2.9 million visitors every year the

museum has plenty o interactiveexhibitions to dazzle those whowander the halls. Located rightnext to the National History

Museum, it is possible to exploreboth in one day making this is akey destination or those lookingto discover London.

Price: FREE - donations welcomed

Web: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

An easy nightat the easyHotelLocated within 15 minutes walk o The Science Museum andNatural History Museum and only ve t ube stops away romPiccadilly Circus, the easyHotel South Kensington is perect

or travellers on a tight budget. I you are looking or a no-rills,low cost hotel room in a central location and you dont mind theluminous orange walls which mark the easy brand then this

is an excellent option or those priced out o the main Londonhotel market.

Price: From 45 per

night or two people

sharing a double

room with shower.

Reasonably priced

extra acilities are

available including

TV remote rental

(5 per 24hrs)

and Wi- (5 per

24hrs).

Credit:BFIMediathequeBritishFilmInstitute

Credit:TheScienceMuseum

Making the Modern World Gallery

Osterley Park Weekend

BFI Mediatheque

Viewing Booth


10/11

18 19

The New Idealist Subscribe

> Read an extra insight on our BIG debate

eature rom Proessor Mike Hardy OBE

> Extra photos rom our New Orleans

Journal through Clitons lens

>SUBSCRIBE

to the digital edition now orFREE or sign up to the print edition or

12 per year (P&P charge or our quarterly

issues the magazine is ree).

OnlineNow

Next issueWhats more important IQ or EQ? With computers and mobilesable to process and remember most things with ease, does raw intelligence still

matter in the digital age, or is emotional intelligence the key to success?

We ask the experts to decide Next issue out in August.

International

diaries

BIGThe

debate

www.thenewidealist.com

Every issue we will bring to your attention an

nteresting charity that you may not otherwise have

heard o. This issue Lydia Andal, Managing Editor

met with David Johnston, Chie Executive o the

Social Mobility Foundation.

When and why was the Social Mobility Foundation

established?

The social mobility oundation was established in 2006

because the proessions it targets are places where abilityalone doesnt get you in or they are proessions in which toooten who you know is more important that what you know.

How did you get involved with the Foundation?

went to school in East London with a 20% GCSE pass rateand that was beore they included English and maths. Mymum had let school at 16, my dad at 14, I was helped byan organisation to be the rst person in my amily to go

to university. I then volunteered or that organisation orthree years as an undergraduate and then ran it or threeyears when I nished, and I have stayed in that sort oworld ever since.

Can you give us some examples o the kind o rms

you are working with?

JP Morgan, RBS, Ernst and young, and these are rmsthat are hot graduate destinations. They are places that

undergraduates are very keen to join and that are hugelyoversubscribed.

Whats interesting is that people who are more senior,20 years at their rm in their proession, say that the

rms they work in were a lot more diverse at that time.You could get into the rm i you didnt have a degree,

you could get into the rm i you didnt go to a particularuniversity or come rom a particular school and nowtheres a eeling that theyre recruiting robots or lemmingsor people who, apart rom very minor dierences in hair

colour are identical to the people theyre taking every year.

And o course they thought thats a real business problem,

because you want to be able to be competitive, you neednew ideas, you need to refect your client base and simplytaking people rom a very narrow section o society, whichall the research indicates (that) people in the proessions

that theyre joining are coming rom a higher and higherhousehold income, so were going in the wrong direction.

Can you give us an example o someone that your

organisation has helped?

I think Id start with a young lady called Georgina whowas in our 2006 cohort. She grew up on and still lives inan Council Estate in Peckham with her mum, her daddied when she was very young, 13. She did very well in

her GCSEs but she said rom my background you canget onto (a law rm on) the high street, you cant get intothe city without connections. So we placed her with an

international city law rm when she was 17 in the middleo her A levels. The rm then sponsored her throughuniversity and she is now a Trainee Solicitor at that rm.When she qualies in t wo years her salary will be 60k+.

(In December 2012 David was appointed to the Social

Mobility and Child Poverty Parliamentary Commission).

What do you think the Coalition government has got

right about social mobility?

Its the rst government to make social mobility a central

priority, to have a core strategy o social mobility.

To have a very high prole member o the government

(the Deputy Prime Minister), push t hat orward.

To establish this Commission which was recommended

by the last government.

What are the key areas you think the Coalition should

be looking at to enhance social mobility?

I think the Coalition has picked important areas to ocus

on and I agree with a number o things that its doing,but I think sometimes the emphasis could be better.

Schools have been given a statutory duty to provide careersadvice which o course is vital, but theyre not doing it.The Pupil Premium (which provides schools with moneyto improve the outcomes or children rom low income

backgrounds), its a great idea, its a great principle, butschools arent using it in the way they ought to be.

They devolved the responsibility or outreach to universities,but the problem is universities are ocusing their eorts onbursaries and nancial support where actually the biggestbarriers are eeling its not or people like you.

I think theyve denitely chosen the right areas to look at,but sometimes the translation o the policy doesnt go as

we might hope it did.

I you would like to nd out more or support the

Foundation visit www.socialmobility.org.uk

Have you heard o...... the Social Mobility Foundation

The New Idealist Have you heard o...

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