 Buenos dias! Bonjour and hello! Welcome to the Y-Line Network Facebook Live web chat. My name is Melissa Dilber and I work at the U.S. Department of State on the Y-Line Network team. The Y-Line Network is a community of young entrepreneurs and change makers from Latin America and the Caribbean. Y-Line Network members have access to digital resources, training network trainings, networking opportunities and the chance to connect with senior leaders in business and government. If you're not already part of the Y-Line Network, you can sign up at www.yli.state.gov. That's www.ylai.state.gov. But let's get to what we're here to talk about, community action. This web chat called Build Your Enterprise Through Community Action is part of the Y-Line Powers Communities Initiative where we look at ways that you can reach out to the community beyond your immediate surroundings to help address needs in your business or in your community itself. We have an expert on social responsibility and community action with us today. Hilary Binder Aviles, a leading development expert, is here to chat with us and answer your questions about engaging with your communities, the benefits, the hardships and to talk about the free online course called Organizing for Community Action that is available on our website www.yli.state.gov right now. Hilary has 25 years of experience working with non-governmental organizations, NGOs, to strengthen their capacity to build stronger, more inclusive and equitable communities. Currently working as an independent consultant, she worked for many years at Mosaic, the Center for NGO Development and Plural Realism. Hilary was also a co-founder and volunteer executive director of Solisol, a grassroots NGO and is the lead author of the NGO Handbook. So first we'll have Hilary to talk about her background to work and then we'll turn to our online audience for their questions as well as Y-Line network friends who are watching on Facebook. Hello Facebook friends! Feel free to post your comments and questions in the comments section of this live stream or by using hashtag Y-Line Empowers on Twitter and we'll make sure they get asked. Are you ready? Okay let's go. Hilary, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for having me. We would love to learn a little bit more about yourself and like a little bit about your work and if you have in particular a connection to Latin America and the Caribbean. Yes, I'm glad you asked. And Buenos dias to everyone in our audience. I'm so happy to be here and to share with you about some of my experience in taking action to make your community a better place and I have been working for many many years with NGOs, non-governmental organizations to help them achieve their mission, their dream for how they want their community to be better and to make people's lives better whether that's youth or children or women or people with disabilities. And it is so important for NGOs to have partners and so a good part of my work is also to help NGOs develop relationships and alliances with people like you with entrepreneurs, with companies, with professionals who can bring their experiences and technical experiences to the NGOs. That is my passion. I like the people who can improve things for others and it can also make your own passion generate with the resources you have, the knowledge you have, a better world. My connection with Latin America is that when I came here to Washington for the first time many many years ago when I moved here, I wanted to improve things, I wanted to do something and I didn't know exactly what. I knew I wanted to improve people's lives and a colleague told me, well, there is an excellent organization here in our neighborhood called the Center for Latin American Youth that attends to Latin American youth that came from immigrant families from Latin America. Many of them came at that time from Honduras, from Guatemala, from El Salvador and also from countries from the Caribbean and they made their home from Washington and it was necessary to give them a lot of support with the language so that they knew how to handle themselves in the city. The young people had to know, for example, how to go for visits, guides and this has been my situation during my life. I have been an activist, I have been a community organizer and I have worked mainly in the community in Central America, here in Washington. Thank you very much for telling us how you found this passion, a passion that comes from your interior and that can be transmitted to others. It is a pleasure to have you here. Let's now go to the topic of this conversation that has to do with social responsibility. What is social responsibility and why does social responsibility matter? Well, there are many definitions of social responsibility and in my case, I think that in the last instance it has to do with the fact that one doesn't matter the world that surrounds it, the people that surround it and one says, if this matters to me, well, I have to do something and I have to work in the post of the well-being of my community when we start taking the first steps and when one wants to get involved and be socially responsible as a person, as a company, as a professional, as an entrepreneur. The good thing about these cases and the first thing I think we have to do is to have a partner, a group, a team with which one can work because sometimes if one is alone this intimidates one in some way it is a bit like in a situation of over-execution and then it is easier to have a team it is more fun to work with a team the first thing we can do is that the team of one asks what does social responsibility mean to us? What definition do we give? Does it have to do with improving things? Does it have to do with other things? Some enter into the subject of social responsibility for other reasons which are reasons that are perhaps not so positive for example because they want to improve their reputation etc. But it is important that one asks as a team what is social responsibility for me? Not only for one and his family but for one as a group and once you have that definition you have to think about what difference does it make? For example I want to work with children with children who come from certain environments where they do not have access to the resources that I have had or if not in the subject of the environment or in the environment in front of the community the clean air green spaces or health issues access to health access to housing or environmental issues there are many issues in which we can work which can be the issues that we care about the next step is to say what is what we do not know about what the community needs what do we have to learn perhaps we are interested in the subject of youth but we have to listen to the youth and ask ourselves what can we do to improve the life of this youth what materials do we need what resources do we need and we also have to ask what do we have to give what do we have to give our passion our attitude our knowledge our resources and we ask ourselves how the community will benefit for example we can have a team work with a center as volunteers and of course we are going to learn a lot we are going to feel very good we ourselves but what do these young people receive what is the benefit that they have and we have to make sure to be sure to understand how the community will benefit what we can give we have to ask ourselves this before talking about these topics we have to reflect on these questions about what we want to do and why we want to do it very well we have to think about this we have to see a little about the future I liked that you said what will benefit what will benefit the community with our participation perhaps we can think about the success that our individual actions can have to see what is the goal that one is going to achieve well now we know a little more about what is the social responsibility and why it matters and also what are the questions that we have to formulate ourselves and what is the next step those who are there looking at this chat on the internet well not very well let's say that you and your team have met with a coffee and talked about the topics that are part of your dreams and how they want to make a difference and you said well we want to help the young people for example the young people who have come for example from poverty or who have not had so much access to opportunities like I have had them can we say then how can we make sure that they can flourish how can they be their own leaders how can they go well at school or in higher education and how can they live good lives the next step then is to do the task we have to do the task and what do I mean with this of doing the duties or the task well we have to ask ourselves then what other groups are already working in the community there are many groups that already exist be it for example like formal or informal NGOs like residents groups that gather to address topics that are important in the community therefore it is important to know who else is working on these topics that we care about and we have to meet with them listen to them listen to them listen to them what are the needs that they have and also know what they need what are their dreams what are their desires what are their strengths and what are their gifts when I for example worked in Mosaica this ONG which was a support center many times people came and asked to meet with me maybe they were professionals or they had a company and they told me well I want to help I want to do something and my colleagues and for example the former students of the university want to do mentoring of young people that's what they told me and well and I said well there are other ONGs that have mentoring programs why don't they go and instead of creating something new why don't they see what already exists for example I know some programs that need volunteers to do mentors or also to know how to write a subsidy proposal or to work with the technology or to have experience in social networks because one sometimes wants to help and that's excellent but also you have to know that there are many groups that are already doing things and that they can even do more with the support that one will give them and also once you find that group with which one can be allied and one can interact with that group it's important then to make a commitment and keep going with that commitment it's worth telling me that many times I work with community groups with community groups that have people who come once and I want to help come once and then never again or comes twice and then never again then these issues can sometimes hurt more than what they help if one does not keep that commitment then one as a socially responsible person must be committed and must take that commitment seriously and establish a long-term relationship another example of another young organization with which I work here in Washington that established a relationship with a university this started with an invitation from university students to come to paint a room the students came again to help the children with the reading and return to university students once and again eight years ago that university students come and help in this young organization it is a community center for young people and they know this center knows that it can now depend on the university because they have established a long-term relationship all the semesters will have students committed that will come to help the center and this is something that is not only positive for the group with which one works but also this is something that brings us pride to us as volunteers because one establishes a relationship and this work has to do with these human relationships that we develop the one with the others perhaps this is something that can seem to us to be a receiver well, eight years I have to agree with this what is going to happen with my life but actually this is a situation where one has to step by step one opportunity at a time these steps can generate something much bigger but it is something that we can all together approach of course it has to be realistic and one has to ask what commitment I am establishing of a year for example eight years in a long time but we can say well I can commit for example for six months or a year it is important to define those steps one by one and it is important of course to fulfill the commitment one by one I know that many of the members of our network online are listening and they are businessmen and they have their own companies they are entrepreneurs they have their own small companies how can they incorporate the social responsibility in the work that they are doing in their companies today this is really wonderful and I always like to listen to those people who are entrepreneurs and work and also think in the social responsibility and how to improve things in the community at the same time of course they have to win their lives not everything can work not everyone can work in an ONG there are other ways in which one can mark a difference one can ally with entrepreneurs with the business community with the private sector those alliances are very very important it is a collaborative work in the community in that way and all the members of the community have access to these issues they can educate also one has a role as an entrepreneur and can also help in two ways first think in what one does as an entrepreneur and how he treats the people who work with one of course it is very important for example to make sure in the human resources that to the own entrepreneurs one treats them well for example that they have adequate benefits that have adequate salaries that one is not damaging the environment and that one has practices where the company of one has social responsibility we also have to think how to give things to the community with community groups to be able to say how we can give something back to the community how we can return things to the community as a company and as entrepreneurs we have time we have treasures and we have talent let's talk about time first time is precisely the time that one can dedicate to for example a person the time that one can dedicate to help a person who breaks all the time or establish a marketing program or the time that one can then as a volunteer that is very special also one has a treasure essentially what does it mean with treasure well financial resources that I mean with treasure and also one can give a support especially to the organization with which they work for example they work with graphic design or impressions and they can donate instead of money that is exactly they are going to say well we are going to print you in the ONG the annual report or for example they have a meeting room this this company and the ONG often look for places to meet for example a group of young mothers to finish a class of alphabetization they can go to the meeting room of this company and use it those effects and also the talent what do you know maybe one is an engineer maybe graphic design communicator those who work in the ONG and those who work in the community need those attitudes then if one can offer that talent a great gift a great donation that can give and this marks the difference then we have talent we have time and we have the treasure those are the three and us as entrepreneurs we can give these things maybe some have a lot of time and little treasure or a lot of talent a lot of talent but not a lot of time so we can also think on how to try to expand these questions the last if I didn't I would be missing I want to talk about the course online which is the community organization and this is a online course a community organization course and surely I would like you to talk about this this course and some ideas about it yes very well that course is a course that has to do with how to involve the community how to participate whether as a social entrepreneur or as an ONG that is how to address the community issues working together with those people who suffer the impact of the situation we can say for example how to work with them instead of working for them only establish relationships alliances with those people because of course working with those who want to help improve their lives let's think of another example I'm going to give it to you for example there is an organization here in Washington that has worked as a health clinic where it provides health services for those people who do not have access to the health plans paid and who are also working for example with the community also work with the community there are many cultural competition also here and we have to think then in working with the community to participate in the community one can say well of course you have to do this and the rest of it I know what you need I'm going to establish this clinic and I'm going to give you what you need one can adopt that attitude or you can say no you know your needs help us develop this project with neonates that they have to receive health services frequent how can we approach them how can we reach them if one is a mother who is an immigrant of this institution you are going to know exactly what you need this organization in Washington created an accessory commission where this accessory commission access the ONG to work with the community and this course then has to do with how to approach our work as volunteers to generate a social change that is positive in the communities and also improve the life of those people in the community whether young mothers, young disabled young children we have to work one with the other and we have to also listen to each other an important element also is that when we think in this work we have to think in a work that has to do with the development of leaders I give you an example in the subject of youth when I worked as a volunteer many of our work had to do mentoring and also do tutoring so that children could finish school and also go to university and at the same time they could be mentors of others it has to do with the development of capacities so that the communities can take care of their own future and find their own solutions The course of the community organization of that is how we are social entrepreneurs socially responsible but in a way that really builds these leaders capacities long-term and self-determination for the communities it's wonderful to hear that thank you very much and this comes directly to my next question I want I hope that all of you who are watching us today take this course of the community organization for action it is on the website in this moment and if you want to take a step further I invite you to take into account what Hillary just said seeds for the long-term success I invite you to also think about the possibility of dictating the course in line after having completed that you compare it with the others to learn more about how to dictate a course in line they will receive a kit with instructions step by step about how to organize the course find the participants and dictate the course you can communicate with me in the direction there at robastate.gov J L A I roba S T A T E G O V Well, Hillary again thank you very much now we give you the word our friends on Facebook to receive some questions the first question is what are your ideas community activities that organize yes very good question a couple of things first of all I think in our obviously today social networks are extremely important and we have to remember that not all participate in social networks maybe you do not want to reach some members of the community that are not part of the networks I think we have to use other strategies in those cases and in fact I think it is important to speak with people depending on the activities that are carried out if it is some activity in a geographical community in which you can walk the place and talk to people I think talking to people is one of the best ways to publish these activities in a neighborhood in particular for example when we celebrate events we publish printed flyers posters and there is nothing that is more attractive than a beautiful photograph a graphic we go through the neighborhood we go to the restaurants we are social entrepreneurs and we say we can put these flyers or these files in your window where you can see is a wonder that you can bring in the case of some events we celebrate an event before and what I mean with this is that sometimes when a musician comes or sometimes even we bring tits or something that is attractive and we go through the neighborhood making literally we do to bring people but today the three we are going to celebrate a community event a community celebration I would say that they do not depend too much they do not depend so much on social networks it is something wonderful but there is nothing that can be nothing replaces what is a good human contact and I think it is a more active way to achieve the participation of people are some creative things volunteers thinking about an event for the future for example once you have the volunteers and when they have participated how do these volunteers keep committed to the cause if this is a extremely important now I am going to talk from the perspective of a person who works in an NGO and many of you have said they want to get involved they want to dedicate this work it is very important to the NGO about this retention and recruitment of volunteers and it seems that as I say to all of you I am telling you that you have to think what they want to learn what they want to be involved to participate I say to the NGO you have to ask the volunteers what they want to get what they want to learn from this experience because people when they are volunteers take me some experience you want to create networks social activities it seems that it is wonderful so to the NGO I tell you they have to make sure that they constantly ask these volunteers what they want to learn what things you are interested we want this is an experience that should benefit us mutually volunteers also have to and it is important that the NGO recognize them and that they celebrate an event of recognition for volunteers something fun a dinner a lunch something else but to recognize the volunteers it seems to me that this helps strengthen this long-term relationship we have talked a lot about what the communities need about the work we do that give their work to the volunteers it is easy to stop doing that it seems to me thanks for your attention to the question we have another question from David in Guatemala who asks many of those who are watching the chat are business owners if we are interested in companies what advantages are for companies when they work and I repeat that there are advantages social responsibility gives benefits not only for the community but also for your company what are these benefits a benefit is the perception of the community and the reputation of your company if the company recognizes if it looks like if in the community they know them as a wonderful company that always supports us that has given us a space they bought publicity of our annual report we can accommodate this company when we need something that generates a positive reputation for the company and this means that people will want to be their clients like me as a consumer when I look at our local businesses it is much more likely that I help a local business a cafe a restaurant a store that sells articles for the home or clothes if I know that the company supports the local businesses I go to that store to that place and I don't go to other companies and I am not the only one who does it in this way it is also important for professional I know many companies here that encourage their employees that these are committed to a local business community to develop their own capacities and leadership it is a professional development for free and I repeat that it is something very positive for the reputation of the company and it can be a wonderful tool they feel satisfaction to strengthen their own capacities and create their networks if it is important of course the reputation of the business if there are two stores a person will choose one or the other and I had not thought about the professional development it was excellent that I said I take notes I don't know if you ask us what are some tools that can be used to achieve the participation of parents when one works with children very good question and at this moment I am working with many groups that are trying to find the answer to that question and well when answering so many questions I always leave to participate they I would say that in the case of parents if they are starting to solve these issues as an organization bring a few parents to create a group in which you can ask questions for example how would you participate what are their fears what their hope in terms of their children what things are important for you as parents what do you want our program to offer your children how would you participate maybe they will want to be volunteers come once twice a week to do something maybe the problematic or maybe the work is easy or small and don't get discouraged if at first they only participate one or two family parents don't get discouraged that with that can start and then there will be more it's important to start like this and listen determine what will work for your organization maybe this group in itself and the initial group is an opportunity to show if in the team there is more of a person some members of the team could take care of the children while they take the parents to another place to ask them the questions because as family I always ask I would love to do such thing but I can't leave the children at home then you have to think in situations in an emotional personal experience in that area if another very good question is difficult because in the ONG if we specifically talk about the personal of the ONG there are few resources for the ONG in many cases they can't provide the level of other ways to recognize the person to feel that they appreciate and it's also a matter of professional development I think sometimes we could pay a little more attention to how we remunerate the opportunities that we provide to the person and to the volunteers to improve their performance in this moment when I think in the alliances with the companies some ONG what they have done here recognizing that they can't pay much to the person but what they do to motivate them is that they have asked and this is based on alliances with the companies to be able to do it but they can do these things or they can provide the opportunity to take a course learn something new and you have to take some time so that the team work together to do other activities together to improve their capacity as a team to work and that they don't even have time to get to know their colleagues and feel that they are part of the same family it seems that it is important to take that time to strengthen that team and to get to be a support network for the members of the team yes the team is the family I like to see how the different groups can provide services to the communities it has ideas for companies that want to get involved that want to help organizations and the community in those situations yes they are very perfect questions and it can be very difficult depending on which is the environment and of course you are coming to the team everyone can sit together talk and say well what could we do and what limits us about what we would like to do depending on the environment maybe we don't want to be very visible in this moment before I mentioned that many of the companies that get involved and that they are going to say well we want to do we want to do this because it is correct but we don't want to be very visible we don't want to pay much attention to the work of the groups we support because maybe they are they are performing in spheres or in issues that are polemical related to the rights of the human rights is a right but sometimes we just want to do the right thing and we can do it in that way do the right thing but in an intelligent way we have a question from Oscar Sanz in the Costarica International Center that asks us what are the key strategies to encourage the private sector that invest in the company if I really put a lot to education we have to educate first we have to do the task maybe a good step would be to identify some companies with which they want to establish a relationship to make a appointment with them to educate them about what are the needs of the community and how this company can benefit their business I think when we can come in and present this argument this is a situation in which we all win their company can bring something a difference in the community is socially responsible and they can benefit in various ways and they can explain it in a very specific way I think it is based on education and also that there is a little competition if you other partners other companies entrepreneurs in the community who are socially responsible can tell them hey maybe the competition is also not could be a competition a little friendly I worked with companies in the community in Washington DC trying to achieve that big corporations will bring funds United Way which is a community organization that receives funds and return them to the local community and my boss at that moment told me the funding is based on education and when you sit with someone and help them understand what are the needs of the community and how with few funds really they can take advantage to bring funds and I would say that in 99% of the cases it was true it is really about education and strengthen relationships maybe you can combine education with this competitive part talking to companies who are socially responsible explain to them how it can affect their benefits and use it as an example it works and the competition is already doing it an additional comment because I have worked in a couple of countries most of my work is based here but I have also worked in other countries where there is no culture of social corporate responsibility I have been growing here but it has been a long process if you can work also together between the different sounds to say what can we do together to change culture maybe a campaign of public awareness to work all together to reach the entire business sector it is a work that must be done in a long time it does not mean that they are not going to make the attempt but it means that it is important to get culture so that within 10 or 15 years it is a common practice that all companies of the community are socially responsible as corporations and yes it is a long-term commitment to change the system but it would be very nice to know that one was the person who started it and that marked a long-term change this is going to be the last question of the public Catherine Martínez of Honduras and the question of Hillary can you give us an advice to contact us with NGOs on the outside to ask for support and work in joint projects I work in an NGO in Honduras that are focused on families that are in extreme poverty yes thank you for your question there is so much that can be difficult to know where to start to follow and give them some web pages it is again to do the task to determine which areas which areas exist what NGOs are doing this work can be difficult to open the door and when one is the community organization smaller that wants to establish a relationship with a bigger international group can be very difficult to know where to start but if there are many groups are doing this question but there are groups that are international that are big that say we want to get along with community organizations that have this relationship with the community that we don't have so how to find each other I think we have to do the task ask appointments we have to start with the dialogue and with the strengthening of the relationships and one has to be very clear what one can offer to an international NGO that can contribute one to that relationship that doesn't have that NGO I think that those relationships are created to take advantage of the strong points that each NGO has and that should be very clear you can make that argument where we need very much and we can benefit all of us if we work together I think that would be the strategy and I think that really it's about not discouraging the first time they tell you not always you have to insist on this work you have to continue even when they tell you because sometimes when they tell you it doesn't mean at this moment you have to return if a company tells you not to try again or an international NGO that doesn't want to be associated with your organization try again it's a very hard work but your questions really tell me that everyone already has a lot of experience a lot of wisdom that they are doing a very good job and continue if this last point that you have mentioned is to talk with international organizations remember what you said before with people and not with people not only asking for resources but taking advantage of the opportunity to show what you can contribute and what really is something mutual and that you can work together thank you very much we have to conclude but thank you Hillary for taking time to accompany us there thank you for participating in our chat thank you to all who tune in to be with us and to ask your questions thank you very much to the groups that have come together to see today we have groups in the Vinational Center in San Jose Costa Rica in the Cultural Center San Pedro in San Pedro Sula Honduras the Vinational Center in Rosario, Argentina Hello to all those who are there and finally but not for them the less important the embassy is in Quito, Ecuador to conclude I would like to remind you that if you want to take the course online about the community organization for the action go to the website ilayarobastate.gov we would love to know from a wonderful work that they do in their communities and share that work with the whole network ilay please share your stories and your pictures hashtag ilayempowers hashtag ilayempowers muchísimas gracias por acompañarnos y nos vemos en niña la próxima vez Thank you