Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

You HAVE to see this TED Talk by Ernesto Sirolli. It is so freaking amazing, he approaches it with so much humor and humility that it really brings the whole… we are here to help you… into a completely different perspective 🙂 even though the whole approach to aid has changed into encouraging trade for us (at least those who work for the Dutch government), this is still a good talk to start off the whole discussion.

And this is from the website itself:

Ernesto Sirolli got his start doing aid work in Africa in the 70’s — and quickly realised how ineffective it was.

Why you should listen to him:

Ernesto Sirolli is a noted authority in the field of sustainable economic development and is the Founder of the Sirolli Institute, an international non-profit organization that teaches community leaders how to establish and maintain Enterprise Facilitation projects in their community. The Institute is now training communities in the USA, Canada, Australia, England and Scotland.

In 1985, he pioneered in Esperance, a small rural community in Western Australia, a unique economic development approach based on harnessing the passion, determination, intelligence, and resourcefulness of the local people. The striking results of “The Esperance Experience” have prompted more than 250 communities around the world to adopt responsive, person-centered approaches to local economic development similar to the Enterprise Facilitation® model pioneered in Esperance.