This essay was submitted to Open Philanthropy's Cause Exploration Prizes contest.
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OUTLINE |
Part I. Introduction: The Many Broken Promises of Education |
Part II. The Potential Solution: Mentorship and Network Building as a Cause |
Part III. Importance, Tractability and Neglectedness of Network Building |
Part IV. Potential Projects for Open Philanthropy Funding |
Part V. Conclusion |
“Education is the key to opportunity. It’s a ticket out of poverty.”
George W. Bush
“Education can lift individuals out of poverty and into rewarding careers.”
Christine Gregoire
Solving the global problem of poverty is a gargantuan task.
Many thought leaders presume that education is the answer to this: study hard, get a job, work until poverty is nothing but a bad dream, a forgotten memory of the past.
Elementary concepts in Labor Economics supports this hypothesis: the quality and level of education are key components for the acquisition of jobs providing sufficient income and an amenable quality of life. On the topic of human capital, there is an established positive relationship between the acquired years of schooling and the earned wages or income. This is because in the contemporary labor market, education is deemed a fundamental prerequisite to be employed in many capacities, in order to earn a sufficient amount of income.
This assertion is supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s 2015 report on education. It shows how generally, the higher the level of education, the greater the resulting income.[1]
Looking at a country-specific report from the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States, the association of higher educational attainment with higher median earnings is also strong, as evinced by consistent findings from 2010 through 2020.[2]
Specifically, 25- to 34-year-old workers with a master’s degree or higher has median earnings of US$69,700, which is 17% higher than the earnings of those with bachelor’s degrees at US$59,600. Moreover, the median earnings of bachelor’s degree holders is 63% higher than the US$36,600 median earnings of high school completers.
Aside from relatively lower median earnings, unemployment rate is also inversely related to the level of education. In a data reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is only 1.5% of unemployment rate for those who have doctoral degrees; on the flip side, there is an 8.3% rate of unemployment for those who did not complete high school.[3]
For sure, education is important in addressing poverty. But is it really the sole key towards battling it, as George W. Bush highlights?
A cursory analysis of World Bank data from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) seems to indicate that education might not be enough.[4]
A macroeconomic example of this relates to government spending on education compared to GDP. Based on World Bank data, of the top 20 countries with the highest government expenditure on education ratio, only around 30% of them are from developed countries. An offhand conclusion which could be drawn from this is that spending on education to improve quality of life is not necessarily enough: there could be other factors which could help spur socioeconomic development, especially for developing countries.
Egypt provides an interesting case study regarding this. The country has registered high labor surplus in the past decade, with the unemployment rate even among college graduates alarmingly high. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), “91.9% of the unemployed workforce were university graduates, average and above-average certificate holders.”[5] This means that high school and college graduates are as unemployed as elementary graduates, defying the economic theory of labor economics that the years of schooling are positively correlated to income.
Cambodia has also registered relative increase in their educational enrollment, from 24.6% in 2004 to 61.08% in 2021. However, just like in the preceding developing country, the surge of college graduates was not matched by the number of job opportunities.[6] In fact, a small university study shows how for 1, 865 surveyed graduates, only 959 were able to find occupations that match their degree program and level of education. Unfortunately, 200 were overeducated for their current job (vertical mismatch), 306 acquired jobs unrelated to their degree program (horizontal mismatch), and about 315 experienced both mismatches.[7]
Clearly these are problems that providing education alone, even quality education at that, has difficulty addressing.
A third example to drive home the point is the Philippines. The Asian Development Bank reports that poor Filipino households tend to underinvest in areas pertaining to human capital, such as health and education. Primary reasons for these include the fact that their scarce resources would rather be allotted to the most basic human needs like sustenance, as well as that they are unaware of potential returns of such investments.[8] This is especially true in underserved rural areas and poverty-stricken urban areas. This results to high rates of undereducated adults of working age and educationally at-risk children and youth coming from these communities.
On the other hand, those who enjoy access to tertiary education are given more opportunities career-wise, giving them the chance to move up the socioeconomic ladder. Coming from the middle class greatly improves these chances, at a 37% rate of improvement compared to low-income families.[9]
However, the assurance of obtaining high-paying jobs if an individual finished tertiary education is still very minimal.[10] Especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, fresh college graduates in the Philippines get a monthly average salary of PhP16,509 (US$296.97). It also suffers an unemployment rate of 5.7% and an underemployment rate of 14%, respectively translating to 2.76 million jobless Filipinos, and 6.4 million with underpaying jobs.
These three cases studies indicate that while education is important in battling poverty at the microeconomic level, it might not be enough in the current labor market.
For sure, this shallow report will not discount the fact that education is very important, essential even, in battling poverty. However, the authors would like to highlight that in order to maximize social and economic returns, it is necessary to provide complementary mechanisms by which to support global initiatives involving quality education.
Enter the concepts of mentorship and network building.
One of the most powerful things in economics is the power of networks. Couple this with the economics of information and progress happens in leaps and bounds.
This is true in science. Artificial intelligence, for one thing, harnesses this concept in order to spearhead more efficient processes applicable in various fields, as well as conceptualize industry innovations. Foremost examples include knowledge graphs and artificial neural networks in machine learning, among others.
In sociology, political science, and international relations, this is also very true. Networks and organization-building lend more political power than individual states standing alone, hence the creation of such global agencies as the United Nations, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The power of networks is equally true in the global economic arena. The world’s trillion-dollar companies like Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft are focused on connecting people across the world. This is what had generated enormous economic value and resulted in mindboggling amounts of concentrated wealth for these companies.[11]
The concept of network effects relies on the fact that as more people use a good or service, the more valuable it becomes– contrary to the usual characteristic of resources as being limited.[12] A great example of this is the LinkedIn website: more job opportunities could be created as more professionals and employers use it. This means the more these platforms scale, the more social and economic value they can provide. The same can be said about movements like Effective Altruism.
From the elaborated cases of the three developing countries, we can infer that even though the citizens residing in each country possess education and promises intelligence and capabilities, these are still not enough to ease them out of poverty. They lack network as well as opportunities at both the national and international level. It is therefore still necessary to augment quality education efforts with network effects, hoping to serve as an equalizer for individuals coming from low- and middle-income households.
Recent mice studies indicate how environmental interventions increase general cognitive ability, including the addition of exposure of novel stimuli.[13] Regardless of genetics, mice who have been exposed to enriched environments have exhibited a mean intelligence score 0.44 standard deviations higher than their control group siblings in the control group, which is approximately an additional 6.6 IQ points if converted to human intelligence.
While humans are of course not mice, many of the behavioral studies in mice and rats have been applied to their human counterparts.[14] Who moved my cheese indeed.
From this particular example, what we’d like to show through parallel construction is that by fostering an engaging environment through external stimuli outside one’s usual academic and professional setting, we can improve both individual and population performance. This strategy is not necessarily just targeted towards the intelligent nor to the upper socioeconomic class, two groups of individuals who already enjoy privileges dictated by genetics and society. Instead, the network aims to connect young achievers to both fellow young achievers as well as ordinary individuals, with the goal of improving the general performance average.
In sum, the cause seeks not to build just networks: after all, the world does not need another Wall Street, or even a real-life Illuminati. What it intends to do is to spearhead initiatives where high achievers, primarily from developed countries but also coming from developing countries, are encouraged to volunteer in projects, programs and activities working directly with individuals, groups and communities from underserved locales. The end-goal is highly engaged interaction, mutual inspiration and collective motivation among all participants.
This is also not just an exchange student program, where the usual targets are high-achieving individuals from both sides of the agreement. It actually proposes a more democratic alternative to this, with less costs and more benefits. This initiative seeks to enable even ordinary students from developing countries access to top-notch advice, engagement and potential mentorship from some of the best youth leaders in the world.
Should this cause be funded, the suggestion is to focus on scaling this on an international level. Forbes reports that individuals who invest in widening their networks tend to have a higher potential for self and career development.[15] Locally meeting people is good, but getting into international circles is even better. After all, people with established international networks can have highly intellectual and even technical discussions with professionals and high-profile individuals from the same or related international fields, including asking for advice, recommendations and openings. These can result in over-all holistic development, for personality, reputation, and even lifestyle. Having an international network opens doors to a wide array of academic, professional and personal growth opportunities.
As mentioned above, based on education and income data year-on-year, having an education is typically not enough to improve one’s socioeconomic status in developing countries. Identifying how network effects, including access to mentorship, can be injected into current educational initiatives, particularly in developing countries, can provide a much-needed boost to the underdelivery of the promises of education.
At the same time, doing so supports Open Philanthropy’s global aid policy, particularly related to using advocacy to help expand high-return programs and investments within existing aid institutions.[16] It could also potentially support Effective Altruism Community Growth, under the heading of Longtermism, by ensuring that these network externalities projects include EA-focused learnings for widespread dissemination.
The question then is: does funding the projects related to network-building and mentorship through education initiatives pass the test of ITN?
As a simplification, the ITN framework seeks to answer the following questions:
Importance
Aside from asking what the problem is, which has been thoroughly expounded in the preceding sections, the question of importance asks: how many individuals are affected?
51% of the global population is considered low income, roughly 3.93 billion people.[17] These are individuals and families who might or might not have access to education, depending on their origin country, but for sure lack access to additional ingredients for career development and success, including opportunities for networks and mentorship.
The education numbers match: out of the total worldwide population, only 841.77 million people have had post-secondary education,[18] which corresponds roughly to a small percentage of the upper middle income and high-income population.[19]
As of 2020, the global unemployment rate averaged 6.5%. This corresponds to roughly 220 million underutilized potential human capital.[20] Youth and women were the sectors most affected, with 8.7% of young people compared to 3.7% for adults, and 5.0% for women versus 3.9% per men.
Even more alarmingly, as of 2019, 22.3% of the global youth population were not engaged in either education, employment or training (NEET), showing no improvement in the past decade.[21]
Based on these numbers, it is clear that there is indeed a problem with access to quality education. Even more so, as highlighted in the first two sections, addressing this social dilemma by providing basic education necessities is also not enough to create lasting impact on those already disadvantaged by coming from the lower socioeconomic classes.
This is why it is important to supplement quality education initiatives with network-building, especially those coming from developing countries and LMI households. Doing so can maximize these initiatives more a thousandfold, as to be discussed in the next section.
Tractability
What are the possible interventions? At the same time, what is the envisioned impact per dollar? Will it reach Open Philanthropy’s 1000X goal?
There are a number of possible interventions by which networking and mentorship can be spearheaded: as individual standalone projects, or otherwise integrated as necessary components in all quality education initiatives being implemented in underserved communities and marginalized groups. In fact, two existing ultra-early-stage programs will be discussed in the succeeding sections.
The question then is, can funding this cause either as standalone project or project component result in a 1000X socioeconomic yield?
First, we have to measure the expected total economic benefits of successful initiatives related to this cause. Then, we put it side by side to current equations predicting network effects. Through this, we can ascertain that funding these initiatives actually yield more than 1000X social ROI as envisioned by Open Philanthropy.
We could use the concept of benefit valuation to measure the net social welfare brought upon by the provision of services from these initiatives. A rudimentary equation which could be used to ascertaining total net benefits follows.
TEB = ∑ (∆C, ∆P, ∆G)
where: TEB = Total Economic Benefits ∆C = Change in Consumer Surplus ∆P = Change in Produce Surplus ∆G = Government Revenue
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Consumer Surplus includes the monetary value of applying and implementing exchange student programs as well as the consequent legal documents acquisition, increased employment opportunities in a lesser amount of time, and the creation of a community of young, aspiring professionals from which network effects can arise.
Producer Surplus includes cost savings from streamlined HR processes, including time, money and effort spent on discovery of potential trainees and employees. Potential markets can also be created at this point, leading to more producers.
Government Revenue in terms of GDP also increases, considering better access to international opportunities and the global labor market, higher remittances from possible job acquisition abroad, development of research projects and new technologies stimulated by training and collaboration, maintained or marginal increase in domestic consumption, and even a possible solution to generational wealth immobility.
The list above illustrates a non-exhaustive list of potential economic benefits that funding this cause provides. Most of these can actually be compounded by network effects.
How do we measure network effects?
One of the earliest proposals to do so include Sarnoff’s Law, proposed by David Sarnoff, the founder of the National Broadcasting Corporation. According to him, the value of a broadcast network depends on the number of its audience in a proportional manner. Interestingly, this is primarily a one-way communication network.
On the flip side, taking engagement into account, Metcalfe’s Law estimates network effects to have a value proportional to the square of the number of users (n^2).[22] It was proposed by Engr. Robert Metcalfe, one of the co-inventors of Ethernet and 3Com.
Computer scientist David P. Reed countered this, stating that this only accounts for one-v-one connections, thus undervaluing the network’s worth.[23] Instead, he proposed Reed’s Law, where he stated that Group-Forming Networks (GFNs) actually have a (2^n) value.[24]
Below is a visualization of the different mathematical models of network effects.
This means the value of $1 invested into a 50-person event targeting high engagement between all participants and with the goal of future network creation actually yields, according to Metcalfe’s Law, a modest value of US$2,500, for a total cost of US$50. Because it is squarely proportional, the social return of investment will reach 1000X once US$1000 has been spent. Any increases in marginal spending results to greater than 1000X social ROI.
For the purpose of this shallow report, let us focus on Metcalfe’s Law. If we allow for Reed’s Law, the numbers are mind-bogglingly large. Even a $20 spend based on the latter results to a potential value of US$1,048,576.
Based on the example, even just using the more modest Metcalfe’s Law already illustrates the tractability of initiatives in building networks.
A last observation: considering that the target audience are from underserved communities, where the worth of a dollar (especially when it comes to services) can be considerably higher than otherwise, investing in projects devoted to this cause actually drives more impact. Simply put, the economic growth curve will be much steeper because there is just more room to improve.
Every economic agent benefits from network building and the resulting mentorship. But it would be the low socioeconomic class from the developing countries who would benefit the most from this in the form of higher social welfare.
Therefore, a dollar spent on spearheading an event based on these parameters compounds horizontally (through time) and vertically (through network effects). In addition to the special case of steeper economic growth curves of developing countries, this leads to greater than antilog (3) social returns as originally envisioned by Open Philanthropy.
Neglectedness
For sure, the creation of networks is not the invention of the wheel. After all, social media’s value, as well as the value of the companies seeking to connect people, are primarily rooted in the number of people using their platforms and services. Economics of scale are magnified.
However, despite the nature of these social media platforms, it cannot sufficiently respond to the need of the lack of networks in developing countries. For countries like the Philippines, Egypt, and Cambodia, launching one’s career is not a walk in the park. More often than not, employers require at least two (2) years of experience or minimum training to be qualified even for an entry-level position. Given that social media platforms can only informally bridge people around the world, it lacks the function of providing accessory education and training, as well as job and external career opportunities.
The nearest one would likely be LinkedIn and similar sites, but it does not enjoy market penetration equally.[25] This likely translates to citizens from low- and middle-income countries not having access to these kinds of potential addition to their networks. At the same time, within the platform itself, there are a number of barriers to creating connections between people who are unaffiliated with each other.
Similarly, there are a number of organizations seeking to build connections. Exchange student programs like USAID[26] and Erasmus[27] initiatives exist, but the majority of these are limited to high achievers from both developed and developing countries, who are also often financially privileged.[28] Ordinary students from underfunded regions seeking to improve their conditions have very little chances of getting into these programs.
There are also organizations, including Childhood Education International[29] and Education International[30], focused on creating networks among educators. Funders for these initiatives include the Global Partnership for Education[31] and Plan International.[32]
These organizations are focused on children’s right to education. Although the provision of economic assistance to address gaps in the educational system is commendable, this is not the only solution that the problem requires. For instance, in the case of funders, financial support is limited only to education-related activities. This means that after a certain period, donees would no longer receive the economic assistance from these programs and organizations.
On the flip side, a platform to build networks could have a significant effect on career outcomes, making it more sustainable and achieve longer-lasting positive effects. No matter how much we spend on the education of disadvantaged children, if they do not have properly compensated career opportunities, all efforts would be wasted. On the contrary, if we are to give young adults and aspiring professionals the means to acquire relatively high paying jobs, they would also be given the chance to climb up the socioeconomic ladder. Consequently, their future children would benefit from this. Assuming that the cycle would continue and grow exponentially, we are looking at an economically sustainable world.
Based on this, it is clear that while current efforts to address problems in quality education access are commendable, and that attempts to build stronger networks for growth are present, these are not enough, unless and until new initiatives devoted to the latter cause is forwarded.
The need remains for a potential catalyst to bridge high achievers to underserved groups and marginalized communities to see possible areas of collaboration, networking and mentorship. To bring top-notch volunteers to these communities and foster an environment of cooperation can help democratize opportunities for everyone involved in the process.
As purpose-driven individuals, the authors have actually started building our own networks with the goal of mentorship, coaching and network-building to help address unequal privileges in underserved communities and marginalized groups. Two foremost examples which seek to augment the shortcomings of the educational system in underprivileged areas include Sociov and 1407 Graymalkin Group.
Sociov
Sociov (legally Social Innovation Technologies, Inc.) is a data-driven mentorship and career coaching platform which aims to bring mentoring and coaching services and democratize career data analytics to low- and middle-income households. It is geared towards using data leadership to make more strategic decisions in terms of gaining mentors and coaches, creating a network of young achievers and opening more opportunities for everyone involved in the process.
At present, it is based in the Philippines but is expected to expand to Southeast Asia in the next few years.
One of the programs it is currently exploring is advanced academic coaching. The proposal is a year-long programme, divided into quarters. It combines mentoring, coaching and peer support. Sessions are held online, which allows faster communication, easier viewing of files, visualization and presentation of strategies, among other benefits. It also increases the potential coach and mentor pool to scholars currently based abroad but who can be excellent coaches and mentors.
1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | BONUS SEMINAR SESSIONS |
Strategy Formulation | Implementation | Motivation | Assessment | Specific Skills Development |
Each student shall be assigned a peer group, and there will be individual and team coaching sessions. The peer group shall be as heterogenous as possible, which will maximize friendly competition and varied perspectives. Everyone will be encouraged to share opportunities with one another.
The target audience of this particular track are tertiary students or graduates seeking to study graduate degrees abroad, as well as high school students who aim to get into the best schools.
Target coaches and mentors shall come from top universities from the Philippine and abroad, exhibit satisfactory academic performance and excellent extracurricular track record, with a burning passion for helping and inspiring others to achieve their dreams.
Bringing these two groups together outside formal educational systems and traditional organizational networks like fraternities and sororities provide a number of essential value offerings. These include:
At the same time, Effective Altruism values can also be integrated into these initiatives, to ensure that coaches and mentors pass on their willingness to help others achieve their full potential to the next generation of dreamers.
1407 Graymalkin Group
1407 Graymalkin Group (GMG) is an initiative spearheaded by the authors of this shallow report. It is an organization of young high achievers from all over the world willing to volunteer as speakers, trainors and facilitators in events and activities geared towards communities and groups based in developing countries and underprivileged communities.
The primary offering of GMG is a platform whereby organizations from underserved communities and marginalized groups looking for volunteer speakers, facilitators and trainors for their events can browse at the different profiles to invite. These profiles will be curated by GMG from its roster of members. Should they also wish, GMG can recommend speakers and even help plan their events for maximum impact.
GMG also seeks to strengthen this network of international, high-achieving young volunteers which can foster opportunities for collaboration and growth.
GMG recognizes that a good network must provide accessibility, convenience, customization, assured performance, cost effectivity, brand acceleration and status improvement. Despite being a volunteer organization, GMG aims for the above-mentioned values in its endeavors.
Key resources offered by the Group include an e-platform available globally, with access to human capital, professional expertise, and possibilities of network growth and connections expansion. On the side, the website can also feature a portal containing youth opportunities from around the world, including grants, scholarships, and competitions.
As a platform, the Group seeks to connect three different markets:
For the AUDIENCE, these are characterized as underprivileged schools, aid organizations and development institutions ideally from developing countries and underprivileged areas in the EU. GMG seeks to provide possibilities to connect them with inspiring young leaders from within and outside their country, with technical expertise for training and new perspectives, without the former having to spend excessively for their insights and mentorship. It solves the lack of access to high quality international speakers and trainors.
For the SPEAKERS, these are envisioned to be young professionals and achievers. GMG provides them the chance to reach an international audience to boost their professional experience and CV. At the same time, it also creates a valuable network of potential collaboration with fellow speakers, organizations and industries. At the end of the day, it solves the lack of access to an audience.
Lastly, for the PATRONS. The group includes CSOs, government and regional orgs, and foreign aid looking for advocacy projects to fund; individual funders looking for tax exemptions, and; corporations looking for CSR and tax credits. Through funding projects, events and speakerships, GMG gives patrons the chance to give back to the community and at the same time get reputational and financial credit through publication and tax benefits.
“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice.”
Nelson Mandela
The goal is a world where everyone receives the basic necessities not only just to survive, but rather to thrive as a human being. Blocking the access to this dream is the unimaginably high rate of poverty in the world, where 9.2%, or 689 million people, live on less than US$2 a day.[33]
For sure, providing fish could solve this problem in the short term, but in the long run, there is a need to do more. Many people sincerely believe that education promises to be that messiah.
However, based on the data, we see how education is not nearly enough to pull people out of poverty. We need to help boost the effects of quality education by adding an essential, but underappreciated, socioeconomic ingredient: the power of networks and mentorship.
This essay highlighted a number of ideas:
Based on these metrics and back-of-the-envelope computation, the authors hope that Open Philanthropy finds the cause of networking and mentorship sufficient in scope and impact to fund, yielding social benefits and ROI.
What is uncountable, yet equally significant, would the improvement in the daily lives of the people touched by these projects, however small they may be. These can serve as baby steps towards the achievement of their hopes, dreams and aspirations.
Together with these communities and these volunteers, may we all light the way towards the path of the future.
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