Deadly conflict has unfortunately made the Democratic Republic of Congo’s story one of tragedy and extreme poverty. The Asili project is working to change Congo’s narrative by providing sustainable access to healthcare, agriculture, and water.  

In 2012, the American Refugee Committee (later renamed “Alight”) invited our founder to assist in the creation of this groundbreaking initiative in the DRC. Greg soon became a trusted advisor on the Asili project and worked closely with ARC, USAID and international partners to deploy Asili in the DR Congo. The experience was challenging at times, but incredibly rewarding. The following is Greg’s account of his time on the project:

“I was shocked by the eastern DRC. I was shocked by its beauty and by its people - who were marvelously articulate and capable, even while facing severe problems across all aspects of life.

Shortly after arriving and getting our bearings, we began the intensive groundwork required to launch Asili. As CEO for The HealthStore Foundation, I was initially responsible for the healthcare component of Asili, but I also ended up playing a key role in the architecture of the overall Asili idea. Asili was a radical, experimental concept of how to transition an economy from relief--which ARC knows very well how to do efficiently and effectively--to investment, in an economy that virtually everyone else considers too unstable to invest in.

The DR Congo was an exotic environment, but from a systems-level perspective, I understood the dysfunctions. Small changes in conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes in systems. Our job was not to design a bulletproof intervention into a functioning system, but an intervention deftly navigating and gradually ameliorating a profoundly distressed system.

Ultimately, our hard work paid off and Asili launched in 2014. You can learn more about the final product at ARC’s website: arcrelief.org/our-work/asili

I thought Asili was inspiringly ambitious and I loved being a part of it. The environment of co-creation was exhilarating and I enjoyed the lesson in versatility while navigating multi-party, cross-functional environments.

As with any challenging project that I’ve been a part of, I gained an immense respect for everyone involved and was proud to see the initiative launched.”

Others involved in co-creating Asili were:

  • Daniel Wordsworth, CEO of Alight (formerly American Refugee Committee)

  • Ward Brehm, who at the time was Chairman of the US African Development Foundation

  • Ray Menard, CEO and founder of of Cheetah Development (agriculture lead)

  • Paul Polak and his LifeSpring group (water lead)

  • Various USAID officials

  • Abraham Leno and other key ARC staff in the DR Congo and Minneapolis

  • IDEO.org CEO Jocelyn Wyatt and her able staff

As a trusted insider and advisor to all parties, Greg:

  • Overhauled the original concept note and coined the phrase “social enterprise zone” to describe it;

  • Traveled to Washington DC and successfully promoted the idea to USAID Administrator Raj Shah

  • Traveled to the DR Congo to:

    • Visit existing medical facilities and interview local people in farming communities, to inform the design of the initiative;

    • Discuss the emerging idea with Congolese government officials, USAID staff, potential suppliers, etc.

    • Engage Congolese consultants to help design a healthcare intervention

    • Etc.

  • Acted as the initiative’s healthcare lead in meetings in San Francisco and the DRC with IDEO.org, who were engaged to help design and package the initiative