All of this fits well into ONEforONE’s two main goals, namely to fight poverty and stimulate social entrepreneurship. From the very start, Durville was concerned that his aid would not disrupt local markets. As everyone who read Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty or any other book on development aid already knows, giving out products for free is often detrimental to the local economy of developing countries. But in ONEforONE’s energy and water projects, local entrepreneurship and independence is fostered instead. The money raised with Greenchoice is particularly directed towards Tough Stuff’s Solar Village Entrepreneur (SVE) programme which provides micro loans and training to people who want to establish small, profitable solar businesses in Africa. It seems ONEforONE is faring well. Although the Dutch government wants to cut down on development aid by 900 million euro’s, the interest of the Dutch population in helping other people nonetheless continues to be there. With already more than 4,000 Facebook fans (www.facebook.com/ oneforonenl) and hundreds of followers on Twitter, ONEforONE’s popularity is growing strong.
Naomi Becht (’10) is now studying Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
22
Post '11 | UCAA
So what’s next? “We are currently working on ONEforONE Insurances. Like energy, insurances are ongoing and can create a steady stream of funding for our development projects,” Durville notes, “but for now, it would be really great if our UCU alumni also switch to ONEforONE Energy, drink tap water from our bottles and help to spread the word.”