The Ideas Man

A good friend of mine calls me an "ideas man."

It's a fair description.

The BECA team would probably say the same thing.

I can just hear them say now "Uh oh, here comes Walter with another of his crazy ideas." (Of course they are WAY too polite to actually come out and say it.) 
 
Anyway, the point is that I come up with lots of ideas -- good ones, bad ones, and downright ugly ones.

Here are some examples from my time here in Nicaragua.

Expanding BECA in 2010 to two other Nicaraguan cities. BECA was not even close to being ready for that. It was premature and impulsive. Put that one in the ugly category.

Offering BECA.org Course One, BECA's scholarship classification stage, on the weekends. The desertion rate was close to 50%.  Bad idea.

Positively, partnering with Nicaraguan bank BAC and getting debit cards in the hands of all of our scholars was a good idea. It makes distributing their monthly stipends a breeze.

Adding a social service component, the "Brigada," to the classification stage has proven to be a big win-win-win for our organization, the participants, and the primary schools that benefit. Belongs in the good idea basket.

My best idea so far?

That's easy.

Deciding that BECA should be run by its own graduates.

And it was my idea, man!

Maryury Ruíz and Urania Montoya (September 2013)