The sudden, mass destruction of life and property caused by the recent South Asian tsunami has given us all a chance to reflect on the many ways in which we are connected to people in every corner of the globe, and it has provided an opportunity to reassess and renew our commitments to improving the lives of people no matter where they may live. The outpouring of assistance from across the world has been a powerful and hopeful testimony to the ability of people everywhere to look beyond borders and ethnic and religious boundaries and provide help to those far away from and far different from themselves. It is this capacity and desire for collective engagement that is one of the central engines for social enterprise.

At the Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI), this terrible tragedy has also given us a sad but powerful chance to combine our three main mission elements: (1) learning about more effective ways to make the world a better place, (2) sharing what we have learned with people and organizations, and (3) being involved in direct action that improves social outcomes. SEI has long run a research and teaching program for international NGOs involved in humanitarian relief and development, and when the tsunami struck, many of these organizations immediately mobilized to provide assistance across the affected region. The story of Dan Curran, director of HBS's Humanitarian Leadership Program, is a powerful example of this work in action.

Our teaching about what we have learned through both direct engagement and the observation of others has begun as well, and will continue to gather momentum as we are better able to process the experiences from this devastating event.

Dutch Leonard and Kash Rangan
Faculty Co-Chairs, HBS Social Enterprise Initiative

Hope Amidst the Devastation: Aiding Tsunami Relief Efforts in Indonesia

Daniel F. Curran (MBA '00), director of the Humanitarian Leadership Program (HLP) at Harvard Business School, traveled to the Banda Aceh province in Sumatra, Indonesia, on January 10 on behalf of HBS and as a program director for Mercy Corps International. He returned to HBS in early March. In his own words, he describes what he encountered.

I went to Aceh because it had been several years since I was engaged in field management, and I wanted to determine if HBS's ideas on networked organization and strategic coordination were actually making a difference on the ground. When I first arrived, I was overwhelmed by the sheer level of destruction. As the closest inhabited land to the epicenter, Aceh was pounded by the tsunami waves: lifting and toppling large, well-built, steel-supported houses; carrying complete walls and marble stairways sometimes a mile away. Cars were thrown about like bottle caps, tumbled and bashed against buildings and trees. They looked like crumpled pieces of paper tossed across the land. Radio towers were twisted and mangled like a child's Erector set, and much of the land was left under water. Here and there, the remains of houses stood.

I went to Aceh ... because I wanted to determine if HBS's ideas on networked organization and strategic coordination were actually making a difference on the ground.

-Dan Curran (MBA '00)

To properly consider the scale of the urban disaster, imagine that the entire East Side of Manhattan, from Harlem to Wall Street and three miles inland, had been flattened. Then, to understand the rural damage, add a churning flood of water surging several miles inland over 200 miles north and south along the Jersey coast. As I stood looking at the piles of jumbled cement, steel girders, boats, trees, and belongings, I could easily see the human toll in the once vibrant city. An unbearable stench hung in the air. Soldiers were still recovering 3,000 bodies a day several weeks later. The death toll now stands around 220,000.

As program director for Mercy Corps, I was responsible for devising strategies for the relief and recovery of over 20 villages in three subdistricts and around Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, a city on the western coast of the province. In addition, I represented the NGO community on the Inter-Agency Steering Committee of the United Nations. Each morning, we met at 7:30 with the appropriate UN agencies-High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, World Health Organization, World Food Programme, and Office of Humanitarian Coordination-to review situation reports and plan daily logistics for food delivery, health services, and water and sanitation.

In those early days, realities and needs changed so quickly that time seemed compressed-leaving the perception that many days passed in only a few hours. We slept very little. I didn't even have time to remove the security straps that sealed my luggage for about a week. International relief was pouring in. Over 20, then 50, then 300 agencies, big and small, arrived in the first three weeks. Nine separate militaries sent helicopters, ships, and troops. The airport illustrated the madness. It was nothing more than a sleepy little airstrip with a small tower and a few outbuildings prior to the disaster, usually hosting three flights a day, limited to daylight hours. Only 20 of its 60 qualified staff survived the disaster. As the relief efforts began to mount, over 200 flights a day began to land around the clock.

But the emergency phase lasted only a few weeks. Most of those affected were within a few miles of food, water, and the shelter of friends and family in inland villages. There, they found refuge and began to come to terms with the trauma of shattered lives and the reality of an altered future. The international community worked well to effectively meet acute needs-disease, starvation, injuries, or shelter. But it became apparent that we needed to quickly provide longer-term assistance that would restore households, communities, and livelihoods. The province remained prosperous and the economy functioning; we just needed to lend a hand to the victims to reengage with the economy and society.

The people themselves were the best sources of strength in this phase, and we sought to align our programs with their energies. We devised cash-for-work projects that paid over 11,000 villagers to clear their villages, restore their boats, and drain their fields. With astonishing rapidity, they hurled themselves into the tasks. Their ownership, dedication, and motivation were clear. We soon moved forward to provide cash and material grants to villages to direct their own recovery. I had never seen such motivation following a disaster. They always seemed several steps ahead of us.

As a model of active learning, embedding myself in an organization was invaluable to test what we do here at the Social Enterprise Initiative. I could not possibly have understood the difficulties or gained the insights from being there as a consultant or researcher. When I drove away from my last meeting, I could not go to a coffee shop and think about what I heard, trying to understand it. I had to get back to work and submit a proposal and meet with the local colonel who was trying to make us pay for a military "protection team." Also, I forgot how much time and effort it took to hire a staff and set up a warehouse procurement system. Although it was difficult to balance between reflection and action, it has helped us to improve our research and teaching.

Nayana Mawilmada: Tragedy AT Home

On the morning of December 26, 2004, Nayana Mawilmada (HBS '05) was awakened by his wife, Sunitha, who told him the news: A devastating tsunami had struck their native Sri Lanka. The Mawilmadas and their two-year-old son spent the rest of the day in their Cambridge apartment feeling numb as they watched CNN and attempted to reach their families.

Eventually they got through to their parents and learned that they were lucky-no one in their immediate families had been harmed. However, the wife of a close cousin had lost her entire family. By the time Mawilmada reached his cousin in Sri Lanka, the cousin had spent a horrific day going through dead bodies searching for relatives. "That's when it really got to me," recalls Mawilmada, who earned a graduate degree in urban planning and worked for the Asian Development Bank before entering the MBA Program. "I knew I had to help."

Mawilmada decided to use his network of friends and former coworkers to launch a fund-raising effort to help the tsunami victims. After some initial research, he felt the American Red Cross was an organization that could handle the scope of the problem immediately. On December 27, he sent an e-mail to everyone he knew, including all of his HBS classmates. "I need your help to save some lives," he began and then described the devastation that had taken place. "The millions of men, women, and children weeping hopelessly desperately need your support. Please do not look away. It will only take two minutes of your time. Every dollar counts."

Aware that people needed guidance on how to assist the relief effort, Mawilmada set up a direct link from his e-mail to a tax-deductible Harvard account at the Red Cross. Within a week, his e-mail had generated $40,000 in donations. Contributions increased when Harvard President Lawrence Summers announced that the University would match employee and student donations up to $100. Ultimately, Mawilmada estimates that over $150,000 was given to the Red Cross through this channel.

While he is proud of this accomplishment, Mawilmada is now focused on what he—and others—can do in the longer term. Having inspired a fund-raising party at HBS and addressed mourners at a candlelight vigil in Boston, Mawilmada is now working with the Social Enterprise Initiative to set up summer internships in the affected areas. "The buzz around the relief effort is fizzling out, but there are many of us who are determined to continue to help," he says. "Reviving affected communities is much harder than just getting emergency relief through. It is a complicated long-term process, which is just starting to get off the ground. There is a lot that needs to be done."

The tsunami has inspired Mawilmada to clarify his priorities. Having worked in international development prior to HBS, he was considering changing careers after earning his MBA. "Now I know I need to be involved with the reconstruction," he says earnestly. "I want to help people who don't have the things that I take for granted." Upon graduation this June, Mawilmada plans to return to Sri Lanka and do just that.