GivingTuesday and the coalition to end ebola

Today I gave to support More Than Me in Liberia, who is part of the Coalition to End Ebola.

The Coalition to End Ebola by More Than Me

Liberia Disaster Recovery

The Coalition to End Ebola is a group of government, community, and NGO partners working together in Liberia to end the Ebola epidemic and stop the spread of the virus. The objectives of the coalition are simple: to provide information to communities about Ebola and coach them on prevention, identify the sick, treat the ill, bury the dead, reintegrate survivors, and support the families of the affected.

I was honored to be able to tell part of their story in my book, now available via Amazon:

Ebola is one of the greatest threats modern society has ever faced, but not for the reasons you might have heard. It compels good people to do great things and not-so-good people to do horrible things. This is the story about resilient communities, strained systems, lawless nations, and individual people becoming leaders.

I wrote this book because I was appalled by all the misinformation. As a scientist and a non-profit analyst I could share both perspectives. I wanted to infuse facts with as much first-hand perspective as I could, letting the people who are battling Ebola in West Africa tell their own story. My life’s work has been a search for ways to let citizens speak for themselves about what they want and who is or is not giving it to them. Now, more than ever, someone needed to project their voices out above the noise.

Nonprofits need to tell this kind of story more often. It makes abstract concepts digestible to people who don’t want to talk about development economics. They just want to know why things got so bad, and what solutions we can offer. The second half is all about positive deviance, behavior change, agile / lean thinking, systems, countering corruption, technology, and most of all- how empathy makes our work possible.

After you donate on #givingTuesday I hope you’ll grab this book and tell others about it!