A New Independence for the Poor
MUSLICH ISMAIL
Organizational Vision
Citizen Base Strategy
Islam has five principles that its followers must practice. One of these is zakat, which is supposed to redistribute wealth and improve the welfare of the community. The two most common forms of zakat are giving charity to the needy and contributing to the mosques. Neither leads to self-reliance or development. Nor do they encourage the donor or recipient to use the funds as development investment capital. Zakat perpetuates charity. This does not assist the poor to break out of poverty but rather perpetuates income inequality in the village.
Muslich's response is to revitalize zakat giving by making both donor and recipient responsible actors in the community's development. He engages interested donors in selecting the poorest families and working out sound investment strategies for each of these families. Muslich also pays attention to the beneficiary families. The families must take responsibility for managing the investment wisely. He encourages them to work with the donors as partners in a development process that benefits both. In the process, he hopes to help rural Indonesia move away from the patron-client relationship that long limited the horizons of the poor and to get the poor involved in their own development.
Muslich worked closely with religious leaders to convince them that the goal of the zakat should be to improve the community's welfare. To underline the change from relief to development, Muslich asked that the zakat be given in different forms, such as a live goat (an investment), rather than grain (to eat). Musclich actively meshes citizen organizations into this new dynamic. They provide some of the initiative, technical help and ongoing organization for this new development process. The process in return gives them a very strong base of financial and other support. The need no longer be so dependent on government and international donors.
Their new independence in turn leads toward a less dependent community that increasingly initiates its own development. Further, by receiving a renewable investment community members are able to give back the following year.