The underlying philosophy of CBI is to maximally benefit the people it serves. By putting this philosophy to practice, CBI adopts a holistic approach to its projects that takes into account social, financial, and logistical elements.
Achieving CBI's mission requires the successful formation of a three-way partnership: 1) the CBI donor/student team, 2) the Mexican community we aim to serve, and 3) a local leadership partner to help us carry out the project to completion.
With this three-way partnership in mind, the following are the project criteria we consistently look for and aim to achieve:
1. Communities we serve should have a history of demonstrated unity and motivation to help themselves.
2. Communities we serve are to make a substantive commitment to the projects, whether through labor, nominal financial contributions or the like. This commitment is essential to the success and especially the sustainability of our projects. All of the communities we have served make sacrifices to complete the projects we initiate, giving them an important sense of ownership and responsibility.
3. The needs of the communities should be consistent with the mission of CBI, and should represent a feasible project attainable within a year by the CBI student group, our donors, and partnering leadership and communities.
4. In addition to the community we serve, there must be a third party commitment to providing local leadership and financial support. To this end, CBI has partnered with local governments, national NGOs, teachers' unions, and the governor of Veracruz. For most of our projects, CBI has negotiated for its financial contributions to be matched by our partner organizations. CBI does this leverage itself in order to pursue ambitious projects that we could do alone.
5. CBI fulfills its financial commitments in a staged, success-driven manner. As projects progress, and milestone commitments of our partners are fulfilled, CBI provides its critical funds until the completion of the project. We believe this approach creates incentives for all parties involved and ensures the most efficient use of our funds.
6. The communities and local leadership should be committed to welcome the student CBI groups and providing a safe and engaging environment for them during their stay and as they help initiate the projects.
Owen Fletcher
Member, CBI 2005
"The trip was unforgettable. Both the land and the people were beautiful. When we were given around six million flowers on our arrival, I realized how much it meant to the people that we had come and appreciated that much more the opportunity to be among them."
