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SEESALT in five minutes, and what we have had to correct.

Who we are, which pages to read and in what order, what we are not — and a public record of every claim on this site we have changed, with the reason. The two belong on one page: the second is how you can check the first.

01

In one paragraph

SEESALT 世光 is an independent, volunteer-run network of researchers and practitioners working on development. It began in 2015 as one teenager tutoring children near his hometown, took its name in 2018, and is now coordinated from New Haven, where its founder studies. Community programmes in five countries operate under the name, each led by the person who started it. Around them, SEESALT trains the people who lead them, connects rural initiatives with wider networks, and publishes its methods openly, including the ones that have not yet been shown to work.

02

Read in this order

Six pages, about five minutes each, read down the vine: from the seed it grew from to the person tending it. After the third you will know whether the rest is for you.

  1. Founding StoryWhere it came from, on one timeline: a classroom in the northeast, a school in Changshu, five countries.
  2. How We RunWhat SEESALT does itself, what the programmes do, who pays for what, and who answers for what.
  3. Our MarkWhy a red bean, two trees and a set of contour lines. The shortest way into how we think.
  4. GuhuzaOne programme in depth: a card game in Rwanda, what it found, and what it still does not know.
  5. Adaptation LabThe research side: a method for climate-adaptation finance, published before it works.
  6. FounderIf you want the person behind it, and the research the organisation grew alongside.

With more time: Terra · Alchemilla · Agrarian notes · Kiswahili notes · Playlists · One Red Bean

03

What we are not

Not a programme of Yaleor of any university. Our founder studies at Yale; SEESALT is not part of it.
Not a partner of any UN agencyor multilateral institution. Recognitions were won in open competition, and personal appointments are personal.
Not incorporatedSEESALT is an unincorporated volunteer initiative. Nobody here is paid.
Not the owner of its programmesEach belongs to the Program Lead who started it, on the terms of the Program Lead Agreement.
Not a clinical or crisis serviceOur seminars and workshops are educational. Anyone who needs care should be able to reach it locally.
Not finishedMost of what we publish is early, and says so.
04

What we have corrected

修枝 · Pruning

A tree grows straighter for being pruned. When a claim on this site turns out to be wrong, overstated or unsupported, we cut it back here, in public, rather than quietly. Newest first. Struck-through text is what the site used to say.

  • Oct 2026
    An award, named as on the certificateFirst place, Outstanding Abstract, PKU–Yale summer instituteAward of Excellent Abstract, PKU–Yale Global Health Economics Summer Institute 2026The certificate names the award but gives no ranking, so the ranking is not claimed.
  • Oct 2026
    Outcomes of a meeting, stated as discussionConclusions “adopted in the official summary”; recommendations “incorporated” into a World Bank frameworkWhat the roundtable discussed; what the team recommendedWe had no document showing either adoption. On the founder’s talks page.
  • Oct 2026
    A co-authored paper’s author orderListed with the founder firstXu Xiuli and Zhijun He, as on the final manuscriptThe byline of the manuscript is the record. On the founder’s pages.
  • Oct 2026
    A programme director’s profileHours, training and contact as first draftedRestated from her CV; a contact link that pointed to a different address than it displayed, fixedA profile of a real person should match what she would say herself. Alchemilla.
  • Sept 2026
    Where SEESALT is basedHeadquartered in, and operating from, New HavenCoordinated from New Haven, where the founder studiesSEESALT has no office and no legal seat. The coordination sits with a person, not a place.
  • 2026
    When SEESALT was foundedFour different founding dates on different pagesOne timeline: first lessons 2015, named 2018The same story should be told the same way everywhere. Founding Story.
  • Sept 2026
    Results of the first village workOutcome figures for Yanli VillageNo figures; what was built and who it connectedThe numbers were taken informally by the people running the work, and we cannot define them precisely. Terra · MoonHalo.

Found something we should correct? Write to zhijun.he@yale.edu. If we agree, it goes on this list with the date and the reason. If we do not, we will tell you why.

Start here · SEESALT 世光 · Last updated October 2026.