Rye Barcott, Co-Founder of Carolina for Kibera

Rye started CFK as an undergraduate ROTC student at UNC-Chapel Hill. He grew the nonprofit organization while simultaneously serving in the US Marine Corps in Bosnia, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq.

• Listen to it on iTunes, and hit the subscribe button to download future episodes automatically.
• Stream by clicking here.
• Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

Show Links for Rye Barcott

• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
• Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor by Paul Farmer
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
• Without a Fight: In a Slum Divided, Soccer is Survival Documentary

Show Notes for Rye Barcott

• Rye Barcott explains the concept of Participatory Development
• “The community itself must be in charge of driving the change that it seeks.” – Rye Barcott
• What Rye Barcott was doing when his daughter was born
• Carolina for Kibera is celebrating their 15th birthday
• Rye has been a volunteer this whole time for Carolina for Kibera
• Rye is now working in solar farm investments
• Kibera is the size of Central Park
• One sixth of the world lives in informal urban settlements or slums
• Slum dwellers don’t have land tenure rights
• What Rye’s first impression of Kibera was
• Why Kibera is a source of enormous talent
• “Talent is universal, opportunity is not.” – James Peacock
• Rye’s relationship to his mother
• The meaning behind Rye’s middle name
• “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.”
• Rye’s most popular and highlighted passages in his books
• Rye spent nine years writing the book
• Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
• We are not trying to “save” the world
• Why the savior mentality will lead you to fail
• Carolina for Kibera’s soccer program that was locally led
• Organizations have to be led locally
• The power dynamics for outsiders with a different skin color
• Participatory and local leadership has been Carolina for Kibera’s success
• Being the backseat and not in the front seat
• The Executive Director must be from the community or at least a reference point to it
• The Board of Directors must reflect the community
• The community itself must be involved in the decision-making
• Post-election violence in Kibera put CFK’s medical clinic at risk. They had to decide if they were going to keep it open during the crisis. The staff members took a decision together, and these decisions are life or death.
• Letting decisions be made at a local level
• Why Rye still deliberates today on the decision he took with his colleague, Cash.
• Integrity is everything.
• It’s easier to maintain integrity when you have Maslow’s hierarchy of needs taken care of
• Rye’s take on asking for money.
• Rye sent out 600 letters in his first fundraising campaign and the surprising result
• “Find the 5% who will care about your cause.”
• Rye’s first public speech for Carolina for Kibera and how he felt
• Rye’s public speaking routine now and how he works on his craft
• How Rye’s experience in the ROTC and Marines shaped his experience in Kibera
• Integrity is about doing the right thing when nobody is looking
• Analysis Paralysis
• OODA Loop decision making
• What is was like when Barack Obama visited CFK’s project site inside Kibera
• Rye’s take on slum tourism and why authenticity matters when an organization is hosting guests
• Why CFK is able to stay so lean and punch above its weight
• Rye’s take on selling things to generate revenue for your nonprofit organization
• Exceed expectations to help with fundraising
• CFK is working with the CDC to design long-term initiatives on water and sanitation for Kibera
• Julian Rowa, the new Executive Director for Carolina for Kibera was a boxer
• Rye’s advice on writing a book