Ashoka
Philippines 🇵🇭
I am Dr. David Lim, PhD Theology, an advocate for world peace through people empowerment through social entrepreneurship, particularly through cooperatives since 1992 (30 years ago). As the president and professor of a Christian graduate school that trains leaders for transformational development in Southeast Asia and beyond, I believe that in spite of the real threats of global warming and growing economic inequality, humanity is quite close to attaining world peace ecumenically through the common vision summed up in the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
I am almost 70 years old, yet still very healthy and young at heart. I thought that I can retire happily this year, but since 2015, I have been disturbed that our path to world peace has been hindered by the rise of authoritarian populism in many democracies. Populists have used social media to erode the love and trust of citizens towards each other and those in governance structures through disinformation by trolls mostly financed by ill-gotten wealth.
Thus, even if I’ve already done my part to achieve the SDGs since 1992, particularly to encourage the establishment of inter-faith social enterprises & cooperatives for & with the poor, I see that for the next 10 years I need to actively participate in mobilizing the human, financial & technological resources of our generation to stop the backsliding to authoritarianism and advance our cause for democratic & egalitarian societies.
Since 2002, I’ve co-led a faith-based multipurpose coop. It has done its part and grown to have its own e-commerce platform. But last year, a few of my colleagues decided to form another faith-based coop that can use a faster delivery system nationwide and expand to Asia and beyond. It’s called Bayanihan Livelihood & Entrepreneurship Consumers Cooperative (BLECC), of which I serve as the founding chairman of its Board of Directors.
Our strategic plan:
Vision: Every family in the country enjoying abundant life in inter-faith sustainable communities.
Mission: To build the capacity of every family to be blessed and become blessings to the needy, as they grow in loving God and loving one another through cooperativism in their neighborhoods and workplaces.
Goal: To eradicate poverty by urging every citizen to become a member of at least 1 mini-cooperative, which will also be a member of a federation of coops, following the zero-budget structure of Exodus 18:21, which is built on leaders of ten families.
Rationale: Small coops (15-30 members) are the best structure for people empowerment, since power & wealth (dividends & benefits) are shared to fewer members who share life intimately.
To help our savings groups and mini-coops grow faster, we are planning to offer them matching funds through “Impact Investment” packages (still under study).
Training: We will assign a field staff to facilitate the savings groups, coaching them through the process from inception to coop formation to the first share-out meeting in 18 months.
Motivation: The only way we will succeed through this is if the people have learned to love one another more. If that doesn’t happen, then even after we return to a “better normal,” we will have lost opportunities for transformation -- for God’s love to work in people’s lives. But with love, we can achieve “abundant life for all” in democratic ecosystems.
Let’s work together to advance world peace through social entrepreneurship by multiplying faith-based coops here and everywhere.