What’s in it for me?

When I was growing up, I saw a little saying on a tile in a bookstore. It read something like “it is incredible what one could achieve if one doesn’t care who gets the credit.”

I don’t remember who said that or even if it mentioned that on the tile. But this quote stuck to my mind for a long time; so long, in fact, I kept it on my desk displayed in front of me every day when I started working in public health (after my training in medicine and healthcare). I didn’t know exactly at that time what the saying meant, yet it sounded good to me.

But over the years I learnt the true meaning of that verbatim.

It is indeed incredible that what can be achieved if we are not tied to be recognized or limited by copyrights or restricted to the interests.

My last 15 years of development work in several countries in Asia with Johns Hopkins University has reconfirmed just this to me every single day – by both achieving a lot more with creative partnerships and collaboration, and also not achieving as much by restricted to the interests of the organizations, donors, governments and private entities.

It is remarkably interesting and limiting in many ways, at the same time.

I am not at all suggesting that rules and regulations and competition are not important; it’s just that many such tight situations can get in the way of development and pull people back from achieving even much more than their actual potential in the absence of it, or to say more fairly, if such restrictions are minimized to the extent possible.

If brought together to collaborate with minimum vested interests and with a drive towards a common goal, the results can be enormous. That power of togetherness is hugely impactful.

Global health has made some incredible leaps in the last couple of decades since I have been witness of it directly.

It is just amazing how governments and foundations invested in public health and combated HIV, malaria and brought together people to invest in reproductive health and having frontline workers saving millions of lives of women during pregnancy and after childbirth.

Billions of dollars per year have been invested in the last 20 years by the governments and there have been global, concerted efforts with US taking a leadership role in health investments overall and many other governments joining the bandwagon.

There are a number of countries which did a wonderful job in taking the right steps at the right times to take significant portion of their population out of poverty line. They were able to save the lives of mothers and children by offering better health services, as their economy was also growing in these two decades.

However, the development needs are becoming more daunting and it is harder and harder for governments to keep up with their investments for development needs.

The development assistance for health or DAH as compared to the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) is far less in many countries. The governments do not have enough to invest in health and development as compared to the needs today. Even though foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and private philanthropies have stepped up to fill the gaps, the overall needs are staggering.

What I also witnessed in these 20 years is the ridiculously rapid growth of technology that mankind has never seen before. I remember, when I was in middle school in Pakistan (and that’s not the Stone Age I am talking about, I assure you), a friend of mine told me excitedly that he overheard a conversation between his dad and his friends wishing a time soon when we could see the picture of the person calling on our phone. We all laughed so hard including the friend who passed on this insane piece of chat to us.

Today I wonder if I could get hold of my friend’s dad and tell him how visionary that piece of gossip was! Today AI, IoT, block chains, big data and privacy issues are making technology headlines and 5G is the next race among nations.

The new norms are creeping in our lives in a subtle but silent way on a daily basis.

I also understood in all these years how to respect the potential of the human capital we work with every day. I recognized the value of listening and that of having faith in every team member. The significance of having that unconditional trust unless you are proved otherwise.

It hardly occurred in my experience that anyone proved my trust wrong. Instead, I saw people perform their best when trusted; when given the opportunity to work without putting them in strait jackets but instead just making sure that I was there for them to only guide and support and be there for them when they needed me, to help with their self-doubt and not thinking or imposing all the time that I know more than they do.

It has been simply amazing and fun to discover in the process that how much they know and how much they could actually achieve, with their potential unleashed this way.

And ah, these millennials!

Our children are growing up in a fast paced, technology driven, social media infested environment. It is challenging for the children, but I reckon it is equally confusing for parenting in this era since there are hardly any precedents how to deal with such rapid change.

Where do we draw the lines for children and technology interaction?

There is no one to guide, no thumb rule – neither for children nor for parents. There are hardly any best practices, or any comprehensive evidence. There are opinions, may be suggestions, but it’s mostly hit and trial!

There are countries and societies which grew with the growth of technology and there are others which leapfrogged. They jumped over many steps of technology and societal growth and it created new mutations of social norms.

There are many unknowns when it comes to millennials around the globe but there are many knowns as well.

There is no doubt in how creative, vibrant and full of energy is the new generation. They have ideas and are disruptive and they want to challenge the status quo. They question the norm. Aren’t these the characteristics of innovations too?

Their potential is exciting and full of hope. But where there is hope among youth, there is also anxiety and challenges in finding their own path and barriers to getting unleashed. There is a tug of war between the old school and the new.

From teenage pregnancies to anxiety and depression among the young, from lack of job opportunities to social awkwardness, the millennials are also faced with unprecedented challenges. But nevertheless, they are a force to be reckoned with. They have a spark to lookout for. I also have the privilege of working with many millennials around several countries and what an incredible experience that has been for me!

Under such circumstances is where the Synergies & Impact Squared is born.

How can we form collaborations to facilitate the change in the lives of the young? As the resources for development are never enough, what market solutions can we create to unleash the potential of adolescents and youth?

What is the role of impact investing in the times of constrained development funds?

In the era of tech boom, what can we do to make technology an integral part of the solutions and opportunities?

How can we come together to create partnerships and synergies that will have a multiplier effect on the impact in the lives of the young?

And how can we smartly and fully address the question in everyone’s mind that what’s in it for me? It is important to respect this question for the synergies we want to create.

Synergies & Impact Squared is about addressing these questions for a demographic of 10-24-year-old, our most valuable asset in the times to come, by bringing together partnerships and use of technology and data to drive the market solutions.

It is about unleashing the potential of the young for the future of all of us, our climate, our planet. It is about bringing together everyone to create a growth mindset.

So here I invite you to come, let’s grow together and make impact, manifold!