The CDI Team - DreamMakers in Action

CDI’s magnetic vision attracted a team of highly competent, committed people. They came to CDI in search of doing something meaningful in life. They came from different states in Brazil and different countries around the world. They traveled from Mexico, India, Uruguay and New York City. They all left successful careers and opportunities to make a lot of money. They chose to follow the dream of Transforming Lives Through Digital Inclusion.


I will introduce to Mauricio, Romi and Dhaval – wonderful people helping to create the CDI dream.



MAURICIO DAVILA:  Director of Institutional and International Development

                  “What is my purpose in life?” 
                   “What will make me happy?”

I had 10 years of a very successful career in the private sector, working for a Proctor & Gamble in Mexico, Latin America then in London. P&G is a global company based in the US and I had plenty of opportunity to grow with the company. But as I looked out into the future I saw myself advancing, but I did not see myself fulfilled. I started my personal inquiry; What is my purpose in life? What will make me happy?

I decided to leave the company and I started my own NGO. With the help of some friends, I developed an organization to promote an appreciation of the Latin America Culture in the United Kingdom. It was an amazing experience; we had great reception from people in the UK. People were very engaged and interested in our mission. They wanted to learn more about Latin American art, music and culture - It was a huge success.

Through that experience I started to pursue my passions in life; what I cared about most. I discovered that my passion was Latin America - my identity is Latin America. I am Mexican but my identity has evolved to Latin American first and Mexican second. Then realized I wanted to do something meaningful for Latin American. So I went back to school and got my masters in Latin American Development. Through these experiences I found my second passion - imagining a world without poverty.

I define poverty not only in economic terms, but also as the lack of opportunities. So many people in the world lack opportunities. We need to bring opportunities to people and let them choose their path. So when I finished my master’s degree I decided to move into the social sector. I wanted to become a social entrepreneur. Exactly at that point, I received an email that CDI was looking for someone to help them expand in Latin America. I remember sitting at my computer looking at a video on CDI’s website about their work in Latin America. I saw that the focus of their work was impacting poor and marginalized communities. I also saw Rodrigo’s passion.  I said to myself “this is it, this is me, I am the one”. I called Rodrigo and told him to stop looking for candidates for the position; “I’m the one you are looking for”. He asked “Who are you?” and I told him - I am the one to do this job. I went through the interview process and a few weeks later they offered me the position. I joined CDI three years ago and I love it; I love every single minute of it. I love my job, it is very aligned with my two passions: making a difference in Latin America and being able to bring opportunities to people living in poverty. After taking the job I learned that my job was not only expanding CDI in Latin American but around the world. I was ecstatic!

 CDI has profoundly affected my life. It has allowed me to do the work I love. I have an amazing job, working with extraordinary people, doing deeply fulfilling work. - and they pay me a salary. I get paid to do what I love. CDI has also taught me to be a leader, to be brave and to help raise the voice of other people. This experience has taught me to dream big and to make those dreams a reality. Now I have bigger and bigger dreams – and I will make those dreams come true. I have not even thought about my previous life - my life before CDI. For these two and a half years I have worked for CDI – I can’t wait to get out of bed everyday to do this work. It has been a privilege to be a part of an organization like this. I remember when Rodrigo said your job is to expand CDI around the world; I had so many questions, how do we do this? Today I see myself as a leader, a social entrepreneur helping to change the worldThe world is better because of CDI. People around the world are interconnected; they are learning from each other and they are making huge strides in their communities.

My Vision for CDI: CDI is in 4 regions: The Americas (North, Central and South America), Europe, Africa and the Middle East. CDI has at least in one CDI center in each major country in these regions. We are fully sustainable, and independent. Our growth and expansion is fueled many successful enterprises in the communities where we are housed. We have demonstrated that an organization created in the south can also make a contribution to developed economies in the west, like the UK. We have demonstrated that social development can go in the opposite direction; it can go the other way - not only north to south. CDI is like the internet, we move like a cloud.

Our methodology is flexible enough to adapt to the social realities and challenges of any economy.  An example of that today – we just opened our 5th CDI center in the UK. When we started CDI in the UK, many people said, “What can an organization from Latin America contribute to communities in the UK?”  After two years developing in the UK we have 5 CDI schools there.  We just started App’s for Good at our center in the Central Foundation Girls’ School in the UK.  In this program young people learn to create apps that change their world. It is focused around solving real life issues that matter to young people and the communities they live in. During the course, young people work together to find out what issues they want to tackle, and how best to solve them with mobile and web applications. Apps for Good encourages young people to use their creativity to develop the problem solving and design skills which are extremely valuable not only in the mobile app industry, but also in today’s complex information society. These young people come from low-income communities however they see themselves as privileged kids because they are getting an education and Apps for Good.

My Personal Vision: Over time, I see myself as a social leader making a difference for Latin America. I would like to see Latin American integrated from the bottom of the pyramid  - not driven from the top down - but from the bottom up. I would like to be very involved in that process. Unlike other regions of the word, Latin American countries have a lot in common. When I, as a Mexican, meet with a Peruvian or someone from Chile or Brazil, we have a huge connection. First, we don’t have a language barrier; even people who speak Portuguese can understand Spanish. We also have a similar history, culture and aspirations; there are so many things that connect us. However as a civil society we have not been active enough to shape our future. So what I want to see as a leader is a vision to mobilize civil society of Latin America to shape our future and to act as one region.

My Core Values:  Integrity matters to me most - Being true to myself and operating with a high level of consistency. Integrity is such an important value because that is a value I would like to see in Latin America. We have suffered from so much corruption and violence, so integrity is what I would like to build in Latin America. When we operate with integrity, we will be more respectful of all our people and wealth will be more equally distributed. Integrity has to be consistent on all levels. For example – being on time. That may seem like a small thing but it is basically an issue of integrity. Also if a person says they are going to do something, they do it, or explain why they can’t - we made an agreement. Integrity leads to credibility and truth. It is the bases of my relationship with other people.

Love is a core value. Love has been present in my family all my life. Creating and following love in life is very important. I love people and I love what I do. I would like everyone to live out of love. When people do what they love, it creates passion. I am fascinated about how to translate love into behaviors in an organization. I don’t have the answers yet, but as I was reflect on where I have seen love in an organization – you know it and feel it when it is there. Love was very present when I visited Wanderson Da Silva Skrock’s juvenile halfway house. Wanderson had been an inmate in the halfway house and today is a coordinator at CDI. It was a terrible place located in a very poor community. There were two rooms where they slept; they had a library with 10 books and a soccer field with no equipment. Then I went into the IT room, it was alive, it was an incredible space. There were young people creating music, on the internet, surfing the web, studying – the room was full of energy. It was incredible how these young people related to Wanderson. They saw him as their hero. Wanderson discovered that one of the kids had a talent for music so he taught him how to use technology to compose music. A few months later we the annual meeting of CDI and Wanderson invited this kid (who had been released from the halfway house) to come play his music and sing for the organization. I remember this kid singing about freedom and Wanderson sitting in the front row, full of pride crying out of joy. That is the presence of love in an organization. (Wanderson’s story is in my May 15 post).

Leadership is so very important. I like to see people taking the lead in their families and their communities. We need to create a vision for ourselves and for others. I believe that leadership can be developed. Once people can see they have the capacity to lead, they take ownership. I also believe in shared leadership. I

Obstacles: I like to think about obstacles in front of me; I have already conquered the ones behind me. One major obstacle that could slow CDI’s expansion is the way that social organizations and NGO’s are funded today. But we have turned that obstacle into an opportunity. We are committed to the centers and schools being independent, self-sustainable and self-managed. They are being funded by the microenterprises – the services they offer to their community.

How we scale our growth and maintain quality while we expand is a challenge. I am very proud that we have expanded into 13 countries however we need to better understand how we go through the process of scale and growth while maintaining quality. I consider this a challenge, not an obstacle.

My Message: 
To the Cynics and The Hopeless?
Anything is possible. There is a huge opportunity in the world today, 79% of the people in the world today are digitally excluded. They do not have the skills, the devices or the confidence to use technology and that is the direction the world is moving - we need to take them with us.

To Young People:
I have tremendous respect and admiration for young people; the way they learn and the way they interact with technology. I invite them to participate, to learn new things and to share what they are learning not only with other young people but also with their parents and their communities. I invite them to help their communities to learn how they can use technology like Facebook and Twitter to help mobilize and transform their communities. I know they can make a difference, especially in the low-income communities. I believe the young people are our hope for a better world.

Imagine love in your organization - the creativity, productivity and the results would be phenomenal!


May all your beautiful hopes and dreams come true!


Michele
Transformation Catalyst
www.dreammakers.org