Transforming The Lives Of The Poor
With A Trailblazing Educational Project In Johannesburg
Developed World Education Falters
As Low Cost Model Wins Fresh Acclaim At International Conference
www.nlpwessex.org/docs/blecher.htm
'Waking Up All Aspects Of The Brain'
In An Era Of Intense Global Challenges
What Can Other Countries Learn From South Africa?

December  2010

"Shuttle buses were running between Michigan State University's campus and the state Capitol building Friday afternoon. Invitations to a rally organized by MSU's student government had been extended to the other 14 public universities in the state.... Michigan will spend $332 million less on higher education this year than it did a decade ago. ....the students in attendance.. spoke of mounting debts, cuts in academic programs, dimming hopes for a state already in crisis...."
College students rally against cuts to higher education funding in Michigan
Lansing State Journal, 23 October 2010

Blecher Model Wins Fresh International Acclaim At Global Conference In Bahrain

"Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Kingdom´s Economic Development Board (EDB), has brought The Education Project [in Bahrain] to a close. Thanking the 500+ delegates for being part of the global initiative, Shaikh Mohammed said, 'When His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa [the Crown Prince of Bahrain and Chairman of the EDB] had the vision and insight for a forum such as this, we could not have anticipated the level of interest and support that we have witnessed from around the globe. This continued support is vital to our shared cause - shaping the future of education for all.' One example of such support came from Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, who has played an integral role in stimulating educational advancement across the Middle East. Her Majesty said, 'Our children need a quality education to give them the skills and knowledge to thrive in a 21st century economy. They need an education that unleashes their creativity. But too often they get rote learning instead of dynamic inquiry. They get told 'what,' instead of asked 'why'. And they never wonder 'what if...' which leads to 'let's try!' ...... Earlier in the evening Shaikh Mohammed announced the winner of the 'Best Seedling' award. The Maharishi Institute, South Africa, presented by Dr Taddy Blecher, picked up the accolade as voted by the audience. The award recognises new educational models that have the potential to improve education outcomes significantly through an innovative, scalable and replicable business model that can work in different countries and regions. It is hoped that by recognising these seedlings they may be propelled into the broader public domain so that they receive continued funding and support. The winner, The Maharishi Institute, South Africa, creates large-scale and economically self-sufficient educational institutions, providing free education and salaries from Grade 11 to MBA level."
Bahrain Economic Development Board brings The Education Project to a close
AME Info, 11 October 2010

"Newspapers and TV screens bombard us with stories of the arrogance of government, the brutality of war and the collapse of communities. In this relentless mix, it can feel impossible to identify people who offer hope for the future. ... Be The Change has spawned a rapidly growing international movement. The name was inspired by one of Gandhi's most repeated aphorisms: 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.'..... A quality that unites all the individuals – many of whom are profiled on the following pages – is fearlessness.... Taddy Blecher joined the Community and Individual Development Association [CIDA], which taught in South African townships, and founded sub-Saharan Africa's first free university. "
The people changing the world
Independent, 13 November 2007

It's Not Possible To Create A Successful Coherent Society By Taking Giants And Turning Them Into Dwarves
There Needs To Be A More Holistic Approach To Education

"Blecher received the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award from the World Economic Forum in New York, where he was recognised as one of 100 young leaders under the age of 37 (he is 35 going on 15) making an exceptional contribution to a better world. At the conference he explained how he was making his contribution and why it was possible and necessary for business in general to act in 'enlightened self-interest' to alleviate poverty, create jobs and still stay in business.... . He does not try to flatter our current education system, which he says 'takes giants and turns them into dwarves. Ours is a totally new way of thinking about education. Each person has a unique genius that the world needs and all we need to do is find that thing'. Nor does he think it's too difficult to unlock the genius of his students on a mass scale ... Cida's educational model is a holistic one, based on the knowledge that 'businesses don't hire people with facts, they hire people with qualities'. ..... Blecher insists that it is both sustainable and transferable to other developing countries. And perhaps developed countries too: he tells the story of a US auditor who travels the world lecturing to accounting students. 'While he was touring the [CIDA] campus, he burst into tears. The students he has to teach couldn't care less, so when he met our students, who are so caring and so open to helping others, so extraordinary in the magnitude of their hearts and vision, he cried his eyes out.' This esteemed member of the accounting profession is not the only person who thinks it's a good idea to close all US business schools and start again using the Cida model. When Tom Peters visited the campus he said: 'For the first time, I believe there is hope for Africa...' Blecher thinks maybe there might be hope for America, too - providing they get a little of the Cida spirit."
Andrea Vinassa Interviews Taddy Blecher Co-Founder of Cida City Campus: Topic: The soul of Business in South Africa
Equity Skills News & Views: Volume 3, Issue 6, March 25, 2004

'Change Begins Within'
Who Is Taddy Blecher?

Taddy Blecher is a holder of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and has been named as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. His latest award came at the Global Education Summit in October.

"Maharishi Institute was honored with the ‘Seedling of Success’ Award, presented the final day of the Global Education Summit in Bahrain. Dr. Taddy Blecher, a Skoll Award winner, and The Maharishi Institute picked up the accolade as voted by the audience, more than 60 speakers and 600 summit delegates from 48 countries gathered in Bahrain to address challenges, solutions and opportunities within the global education system. The award recognizes new educational models that have the potential to improve education outcomes significantly through an innovative, scalable and replicable business model that can work in different countries and regions. The hope is that by recognizing these seedlings, they may be propelled into the broader public domain so that they receive continued funding and support. The Maharishi Institute is an urban-based economically self-sufficient center operating at five different locations around South Africa. It provides free education and salaries and is designed in such a way that it can be rolled out in any nation in the world. Maharishi Institute support students’ intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual growth. The Maharishi Institute provides the financing, educational access, skills development path, personal development tools, and supportive campus environment that students can make it step by step out of an often hopeless situation, to a life of success and achievement. They call this approach `Stepping Stones' out of poverty. Speaking after the ceremony, Maharishi Institute chief executive officer Dr. Taddy Blecher said he was overwhelmed to receive the award, 'This is just absolutely fantastic for me, for the institute and for the country of South Africa, which is so very dear to my heart.The hope is that this will help us to promote the institute and the work that we do so that we can generate support and thus develop our resources all over South Africa.'” Skoll Awardee Taddy Blecher and Maharishi Institute Wins ‘Seedling of Success’ Award Skoll Foundation, 16 November 2010

"Taddy is the pioneer of the free education movement in South Africa. His focus is the provision of mass-scale, low-cost, high-quality, effective and enlightened education for the historically disadvantaged, which directly brings youth from poverty to a position of self-sufficiency. He has helped found several free educational institutions in South Africa. As a direct result of his work: more than R 400 million in cash, property, and equity, has been raised to support free access to education; more than 4,500 Southern Africans have been educated, found employment, and moved from poverty to the middle-class; and more than 600 000 young South Africans in schools have been reached with one-week education and life-skills training courses. He is the founder or co-founder of: the Maharishi Institute – established to provide open access to education from Grade 11 through to MBA as well as intensive industry vocational programmes; CIDA City Campus - the first free university in South Africa; CIDA Empowerment Fund – a R 150 million education endowment; and the Branson School of Entrepreneurship."
Taddy Blecher - Biography
The Education Project, Bahrain, 8-10 October 2010

Along With Others In The Developed World America's Educational System Is Starting To Run Out Of Money

"Shuttle buses were running between Michigan State University's campus and the state Capitol building Friday afternoon. Invitations to a rally organized by MSU's student government had been extended to the other 14 public universities in the state....Michigan will spend $332 million less on higher education this year than it did a decade ago. The state's public universities just came off two years of level funding, a requirement for receiving federal stimulus money, but will see their state appropriations drop this year by 2.8 percent....the students in attendance.. spoke of mounting debts, cuts in academic programs, dimming hopes for a state already in crisis...." College students rally against cuts to higher education funding in Michigan Lansing State Journal, 23 October 2010 "...a country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself: in a number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel. And a nation that once prized education — that was among the first to provide basic schooling to all its children — is now cutting back. Teachers are being laid off; programs are being canceled; in Hawaii, the school year itself is being drastically shortened. And all signs point to even more cuts ahead. We’re told that we have no choice, that basic government functions — essential services that have been provided for generations — are no longer affordable.... state and local governments are cutting back..... America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere. " America Goes Dark New York Times, 8 August 2010

"[British] Universities will be forced to raise fees to offset a cut in subsidies, allowing the government to cut direct spending on higher education from £7.2bn to £4.2bn by 2014-5.... These decisions are in line with the recommendations of the Browne review, which called for students to pay a larger share of the cost of their education.... Rachel Taylor, director of higher education at accountants PwC, said: 'These cuts will call the viability of some universities into question and at the same time create greater urgency to pursue efficiency savings."
Universities face cut in spending to £4.2bn
Financial Times, 20 October 2010

But It Doesn't Have To Be Like That
As South Africa's First Free University Established By Taddy Blecher Has Spectacularly Demonstrated

"Innovative public sector departments in Africa are set to be honoured for their work and strategic partnerships during the second phase of the All Africa Public Sector Innovation Awards that opened yesterday, Tuesday, 20 July 2010..... Last year South Africa's CIDA City Campus, a tertiary education institution, took the Public Sector Innovator of the Year and Innovative Service Delivery Institutions."
All Africa Public Sector Innovation Awards open
BizCommunity, 21 July 2010

'Change Begins Within' With 'Consciousness Based Education'
Part Of Blecher's Model Adopted By David Lynch Foundation

"Blecher wanted to prove that the vicious cycle of unemployment and poor education leading to social problems like violence, crime and AIDS could be overcome. He wanted the school’s graduates to be trained as social entrepreneurs.... Throughout the [CIDA] building you’ll find quotes like this one: 'If we focus on survival, life becomes miserable. If we focus on progress, life becomes glorious.' They come from Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru whose ideas not only influenced the Beatles but also the founders of CIDA; transcendental meditation is part of the curriculum."
School for social change
Ode Magazine, October 2007

"The filmmaker behind the movies 'Blue Velvet' and 'Mulholland Drive' is giving $100,000 to launch Operations Warrior Wellness, an initiative to help 10,000 veterans overcome Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other war-related illnesses through transcendental meditation, which he says creates 'professional peacemakers.'  Backed by the likes of actors Clint Eastwood, directors George Lucas and Martin Scorsese, Mr. Lynch will announce the new program next month at a gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2005, Mr. Lynch started the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and Peace and since then has donated half a million dollars to help finance scholarships for 150,000 students who are interested in learning transcendental meditation. The foundation has also funded research at institutions such as the University of Connecticut and the University of Michigan on the health benefits of the meditation technique.  Called 'Quiet Time in Schools,' students and teachers meditate for 10 minutes at the beginning and end of each day. The funds pay to train educators and parents on how to administer and teach the method.   'Soon grades and attendance go up 20% to 30% and suspensions and expulsions go down,' Mr. Lynch says. 'Instead of giving the kids drugs like Ritalin that just numb them, we give them a technique to reduce stress and focus better.'.... Now, Mr. Lynch wants to bring this approach to help the thousands of war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. .... 'Clint Eastwood is about as macho as they get and he's been meditating longer than I have,' he says. 'We're behind this technique and we think it can help veterans reclaim their lives and save themselves, their families and their friendships.'"
Filmmaker Introduces Veterans to Meditation
Wall St Journal, 26 November 2010

'Waking Up All Aspects Of The Brain'
Taddy Blecher's Low-Cost Holistic Educational Model

Visit The CIDA Web Site - Click Here

"Although the postapartheid government has pledged to help blacks enter the professional classes, it has had limited success. Taddy Blecher thinks he may have a solution. He and three associates have started a university, called Community and Individual Development Action City Campus [CIDA], which many education and management experts think is the most innovative attempt so far to help South Africa erase the social imbalances of apartheid.  'I don't like to use the word 'miracle,' but it's an exceptional educational institution,' says Tom Peters, the author and management expert, who visited the campus a year ago. 'It's one of the most extraordinary quests in terms of the 99 percent of the country that was left behind when apartheid was dismantled.'... Applications flooded in even before the campus opened.... "
A New University, Filling Apartheid's Gaps
New York Times, 31 December 2003

"The first 83 graduates of CIDA City Campus - South Africa's youngest and most unique university - received their certificates on Thursday, and they literally jumped for joy after four years of hard work. Surrounded by white and gold draped walls, echoed on the chairs, several hundred students, their families, lecturers and the bosses of CIDA, the graduates skipped up on stage in their gowns to be capped and photographed, to stirring background music..... Established in 2000 with 350 students, CIDA now has 1 100 students enrolled.... CIDA has received worldwide accolades, and Blecher received the World Economic Forum's 'Global Leader for Tomorrow' award in 2002. International academics have also taken an interest in the model: professors from Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics have visited CIDA to understand its methodology, described as 'an African solution to African issues'.... Professor Njabulo Ndebele, vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT), was the guest speaker. He described CIDA as 'a worthy model for developing nations around the world', and said that a CIDA branch was to open in 2005 in Cape Town, with close connections to UCT. He called the students 'a special group of pioneers'."
First 83 students graduate from CIDA
Joburg News, 20 August 2004

"In his early years there was little to suggest that Taddy Blecher would end up in Johannesburg's inner city, surrounded by youngsters from poor backgrounds. An actuary turned management consultant, Mr Blecher first stepped into a township by mistake. 'I was terrified and thought I was going to die,' he remembers. In 1995 he was on the point of emigrating to America, but at the last minute he decided to stay and make a difference. He spent the next four years teaching transcendental meditation in township schools. This was quite a stretch from his upbringing as a 'white Jewish guy in Johannesburg', but he describes it as the best time of his life. He and three partners then started CIDA City Campus, an almost-free business university for students who cannot afford mainstream higher education. (Students are charged only $21 per month in tuition, and some also receive additional financial help.) In a country where poverty and poor skills remain endemic, he has become a local hero..... 'Education needs to be holistic,' he says with conviction. 'The school system is not producing a happy society, and people are not awake in the way they should be.' Besides providing tertiary education to youngsters who could not afford to attend existing universities, he hoped to help people find direction in their lives ......   'My deepest interest', he explains, 'is to help people realise how great they are.'....CIDA City Campus opened its doors in 2000. Today 80% of CIDA's income comes from donations, amounting to about 50m rand ($7m) a year. Sponsors include Dell, JPMorgan, Sir Richard Branson and Oprah Winfrey, plus an impressive list of local firms. Students help to run the school, providing them with experience and keeping costs down. Many teachers are professionals who offer their services free."
The transcendental crusader
Economist, 30 August 2007

"It's very easy to compile a list of the historic figures who have changed our world for the better. The 20th century, like every era before it, was shaped by a series of great heroes – the likes of Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King – who dared to stand up for what they believed and, in doing so, succeeded in sweeping the world along with them. It's much harder, however, to compile a list of the people currently changing our world for the better. Who exactly are the Gandhis of tomorrow? Where are the men and women who will one day be seen as the heroes of 21st-century history? In truth, today's world can seem a depressing place. Newspapers and TV screens bombard us with stories of the arrogance of government, the brutality of war and the collapse of communities. In this relentless mix, it can feel impossible to identify people who offer hope for the future. This week, however, a remarkable event will take place in London which attempts to bring inspiring individuals to the fore. The third annual Be The Change conference, to be held over three days at Central Hall in Westminster, will bring together a host of influential activists and opinion formers from across the globe, along with a range of prominent speakers, including George Monbiot, Bianca Jagger and Jonathon Porritt.... Its opening on Thursday will also mark the culmination of an extraordinary journey. From humble beginnings in 2004, when it was founded by a group of business leaders frustrated by the failures of governments, Be The Change has spawned a rapidly growing international movement. The name was inspired by one of Gandhi's most repeated aphorisms: 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.'.....A quality that unites all the individuals – many of whom are profiled on the following pages – is fearlessness.... Taddy Blecher joined the Community and Individual Development Association, which taught in South African townships, and founded sub-Saharan Africa's first free university. 'We wanted to prove that you could take somebody who, at 12, had been sniffing glue, and that individual could become a chartered accountant, a merchant banker, a stockbroker, and that they could be a well-adjusted human being. We wrote a letter to 350 schools in three provinces and asked them to send us their top-three brightest kids, who could never afford to go to university, and we would give them a world-class business degree for £25 for the year. Over five months, we ended up getting 3,500 applications. Today, we've been going for seven years, and about 3,500 graduates have come through our programmes. Those students between them are now earning 154m South African Rand in annual salaries – about £11 million. If you take net present value of those earnings over a 40-year period, it's about R4.5bn (£370m) going into the hands of the poor over the next 40 years."
The people changing the world
Independent, 13 November 2007

The Ultimate In Corporate Social Responsibility
And Even A Role Model For America And Other Developed Countries

"The first Soul of Business in South Africa conference made history earlier this month. Addressing a group of people from corporations, NGOs, SMMEs and the consulting world, Taddy Blecher said issues of ethics, sustainability, 'soulfulness' and meaning were now firmly on the agenda at business talkshops like Davos and the World Economic Forum. So it was only fitting that South Africans get together to debate ways for business to do good and make a profit. Blecher received the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award from the World Economic Forum in New York, where he was recognised as one of 100 young leaders under the age of 37 (he is 35 going on 15) making an exceptional contribution to a better world. At the conference he explained how he was making his contribution and why it was possible and necessary for business in general to act in 'enlightened self-interest' to alleviate poverty, create jobs and still stay in business.... Blecher exudes positive energy and childlike innocence, but under that exterior lies one of the most viciously intelligent minds the world has seen. A professional actuary and a man who clearly understands the vagaries of economic theory, Blecher has applied his insights to creating a radical educational model - and specifically to fill the gap in business education between matric and MBA-level qualifications.When he says Cida will generate the entrepreneurial skills to kickstart the national economy, it doesn't sound farfetched - precisely because Cida is not built on some airy-fairy esoteric hope that the future will fix itself, but on sound economic principles, and all the other things you'll come across in a B Com textbook. But Blecher is also way ahead of the textbooks, which he says hark back to the 17th century. His personal economic theory is based not on the philosophies of some dead guy, but on simple common sense. It is based on the idea that if everyone gave something to someone else, no-one would need anything..... He does not try to flatter our current education system, which he says 'takes giants and turns them into dwarves. Ours is a totally new way of thinking about education. Each person has a unique genius that the world needs and all we need to do is find that thing'. Nor does he think it's too difficult to unlock the genius of his students on a mass scale - unlike the people of developed nations, Africans still harbour 'that magical spark of possibility' within their hearts, he says. 'At Cida we know we live in a country that will amaze the world.'....Cida's educational model is a holistic one, based on the knowledge that 'businesses don't hire people with facts, they hire people with qualities'. What Blecher means is that good businesses don't go out to look for someone who can read a balance sheet, they look for someone with integrity, self-discipline, focus, passion, compassion, initiative and team spirit - who can read a balance sheet. These intangibles are, in fact, more important than the practical skills touted by other business schools.... At Cida everyone studies the same course - a four-year accredited Bachelor of Business Administration - incorporating accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, leadership development and IT. But that is only one of seven components of this holistic model. The components are knowledge, skills development, practicum in administration, self-management, professionalism, community skills transfer and recreation. Cida even offers Human Resource management. Cida's university accreditation did not come about by magic either. It took two years of hard work for 18 hours a day - and came only after six rejections. 'We started with nothing, now we have a library worth R120 million, 600 computers, a state-of-the-art IT setup, 130 members of staff and four buildings.' The realisation that Cida (which is funded by the private sector) is training graduates that will benefit corporate South Africa has unleashed a sense of corporate responsibility among a community of donors, says Blecher. 'Corporate South Africa has woken up and is accepting their responsibility in building the country.' The question everyone is asking, though, is 'Is it sustainable?' Blecher insists that it is both sustainable and transferable to other developing countries. And perhaps developed countries too: he tells the story of a US auditor who travels the world lecturing to accounting students. 'While he was touring the campus, he burst into tears. The students he has to teach couldn't care less, so when he met our students, who are so caring and so open to helping others, so extraordinary in the magnitude of their hearts and vision, he cried his eyes out.' This esteemed member of the accounting profession is not the only person who thinks it's a good idea to close all US business schools and start again using the Cida model. When Tom Peters visited the campus he said: 'For the first time, I believe there is hope for Africa...' Blecher thinks maybe there might be hope for America, too - providing they get a little of the Cida spirit."
Andrea Vinassa Interviews Taddy Blecher Co-Founder of Cida City Campus: Topic: The soul of Business in South Africa
Equity Skills News & Views: Volume 3, Issue 6, March 25, 2004

'School For Social Change'
The Extraordinary Story Of How CIDA Was Created
And What Other Nations Can Learn From South Africa

'The Poor Man's Pavement'
Crumbling Roads And Closing Schools
This Is What Life Is Becoming Like In Some Parts Of America Today

"Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls. In Michigan, at least 38 of the 83 counties have converted some asphalt roads to gravel in recent years. Last year, South Dakota turned at least 100 miles of asphalt road surfaces to gravel. Counties in Alabama and Pennsylvania have begun downgrading asphalt roads to cheaper chip-and-seal road, also known as 'poor man's pavement.' Some counties in Ohio are simply letting roads erode to gravel.... A gravel road 'is not a free road,' says Purdue University's John Habermann, who organized a recent seminar about the resurgence of gravel roads titled 'Back to the Stone Age.' "
Roads to Ruin: Towns Rip Up the Pavement
Wall St Journal, 17 July 2010

"Plenty of businesses and governments furloughed workers this year, but Hawaii went further -- it furloughed its schoolchildren. Public schools across the state closed on 17 Fridays during the past school year to save money, giving students the shortest academic year in the nation..... Four-day weeks have been used by a small number of rural school districts in the United States, especially since the oil shortage of the 1970s. During the current downturn, their ranks have swelled to more than 120 districts, and more are weighing the change..... Suffering from steep declines in tourism and construction, and owing billions of dollars to a pension system that has only 68.8 percent of the money it needs to cover its promises to state workers, Hawaii instituted the furloughs even after getting $110 million in stimulus money for schools. Unlike most districts with four-day weeks, Hawaii did not lengthen the hours of its remaining school days: its 163-day school year was the shortest in the nation."
Governments Go to Extremes as the Downturn Wears On
New York Times, 6 August 2010

"Writing in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash sees a Third World shabbiness when he visits the United States. 'Every time I come back to the United States,' the Oxford don writes, 'the airports, the roads, the public spaces look more tattered, battered, old-fashioned. Modernity is no longer self-evidently here.' Edward Luce, a brilliant and diligent reporter for the Financial Times, surveyed the American landscape.... Citing incontrovertibly bleak statistics about the struggles of middle-class Americans, and the growing disparity between the really rich and everyone else, he concludes that the U.S. is losing its essential character: it is no longer the land of opportunity and upward mobility; no longer the place where the future will surely be better, and more prosperous, than the past. ”
Post-Anti-Americanism
Newsweek, 9 August 2010

But America And Other Nations Can Learn From South Africa On How To Turn The Tide
If It Can Be Done In The Poorest Of African Townships It Can Be Done Anywhere

"If we focus on survival, life becomes miserable.  If we focus on progress, life becomes glorious.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
School for social change
Ode Magazine, October 2007