Tag: CARE Impact Accelerator

Scale X Design Challenge Corporate Sponsorship

by Savannah Miller Leave a comment

The Scale X Design Challenge countdown has kicked into high gear for us at the Accelerator! While we are coordinating with participant teams from across the globe, making the logistical plans to get them to the event and nurturing the very best in development innovation, we also have some fantastic corporate sponsors providing financial support to make the Scale X Design Challenge truly a can’t miss event.

The Scale X Design Challenge is a way for our teams to show off all of the hard work and significant progress they have made in areas of development need. This is an opportunity to get unprecedented visibility for their work that they could not achieve in their home region. We have teams flying in from India, Ethiopia, the Balkans, and beyond to work with their peers in interactive workshops that will elevate their skills. Events surrounding the Challenge give teams the chance to connect to potential donors, business and specialized mentors, and global partners that will enable them to multiply their impact. The Scale X Design Challenge’s corporate sponsors gain high profile promotion and advertising during and surrounding the Challenge and ensure a lasting impact through all 15 of our participating teams.
Would you or your company like to join the likes of Delta in supporting the next group of change makers in their quest for scale? Check out our sponsorship brochure below for all of the perks and make sure to RSVP to the Scale X Design Challenge!

 

Meet the Teams: Chomoka (Digital VSLA)

by Stephanie Carey Yeargan Leave a comment

Over the past 25 years, CARE’s VSLA (Village Savings and Loans Association) model has revolutionized efforts to help low-income women improve their lives. Not only has CARE enabled 5,000,000 women and men to form and manage these life-changing groups, we have driven a global savings-led movement, engaging NGOs, banks, governments and donors in a journey that puts women and their savings first. Our efforts have resulted in over 12,000,000 members of VSLAs and groups like them as NGOs from global to local have replicated the CARE model. Members are routinely improving their lives through investments in education, health and entrepreneurship and women’s increased control over resources is leading to improved quality of life and opportunity for themselves and their families. VSLA has quite simply changed the game for poverty reduction. Through Chomoka (Digital VSLA), CARE is poised to do it again. This new initiative will empower low-income women to build a new generation of VSLAs that not only improve access to finance at the community level but also open doors to the digital economy that is rapidly transforming the world we live in and – until now – far too often leaving low income women further behind.

Chomoka is an emerging social enterprise driven by a proprietary mobile application used by VSLAs to manage their records, access banking services and gain advisory support from a trusted network of Chomoka agents. Once deployed at scale, Chomoka will accelerate and deepen formal financial inclusion while increasing usage of digital financial services in rural areas. The platform will generate an unprecedented, real-time data stream on the financial behavior of un- and under-banked groups and their members and offer new insights into the size, scope and behavior of these groups. Most importantly, Chomoka will enable groups to more effectively and accurately manage their transactions while also establishing digital financial histories and connections that open up a world of new possibilities. Chomoka expects to have over 1 million group members using the application by 2021.

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Meet the Team

Mwimbe Fikirini | Program Coordinator | CARE Tanzania

Mwinbe Fikirini is the Program Coordinator with CARE Tanzania, and for the last several years has planned, lead, organized, directed and evaluated implementations of financial linkage activities to the VSLAs groups in areas of operation including Morogoro and Zanzibar. Mwinbe brings extensive knowledge of VSLAs to the team, having also trained and monitored the adoption of financial linkage and Financial Education skills by VSLA members. Going forward, Mwinbe will translate the proposal into a viable activity at the field level, including VSLA engagement in product design and testing, VSLA training on the developed solution and formulation of a realistic, field-level scaling strategy. For the past two years Mwinbe has been leading the LINK Up project in Tanzania, the largest effort by CARE to enable VSLAs to access formal finance. She holds a Master of Arts in Gender and International Development from the University of Warwick obtained in 2012 and a Bachelor of Laws from University of Reading obtained in 2009.

Christian Pennotti | Senior Technical Advisor | CARE Tanzania

Having worked across CARE for seven years, Christian has a strong institutional knowledge and relationship needed to move the project forward and find the right institutional fit. Christian is the overall LINK Up program manager responsible for program quality, design, M&E, partnerships and donor engagement. He is the chairman of the project steering committee and will serve as the lead in identifying and coordinating with project development partners and other external stakeholders including donors and prospective investors. Christian is a recognized leader in market development and is frequently invited to present at industry events. He sits on the Board of Directors of Farm Shop Ltd in Kenya and is the Chair of the Board of Directors at the SEEP Network. He holds a Master of Arts in International Development from George Washington University obtained in 2005 and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan where he founded a branch of the National English Teachers Association in collaboration with local officials.

Ken Banks | Entrepreneur in Residence | CARE International

Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net and creator of messaging platform FrontlineSMS, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world. He has worked at the intersection of technology, anthropology, conservation and development for the past twenty-five years and, during that time, has lived and worked across the African continent. He is a PopTech Fellow, a Tech Awards Laureate, an Ashoka Fellow and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and has been internationally recognised for his technology-based work. In 2013 he was nominated for the TED Prize, and in 2015 was a Visiting Fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. In late 2015 Ken was appointed CARE International’s first Entrepreneur in Residence. He is also a published author, with his first edited book, “The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator,” self-published in late 2013 with a follow-up, published by Kogan Page, released in March 2016.

Mark Malhotra | Innovation Advisor | CARE International UK

Mark Malhotra, Innovation Advisor for CARE International UK supports a number of social enterprises that CARE owns and operates globally. He provides technical support to the teams from business planning and financial modelling to operational guidance and hands on support. Prior to joining CARE Mark spent six years working in the telecommunications sector with a focus on marketing and partnerships. He has extensive experience working across organizations with IT, finance, sales and brand teams. He moved into the NGO sector through overseas placements in Jamaica with a local organization and in Egypt with the Aga Khan Foundation.

Karen Vandergaag | Analyst | CARE Access Africa

Karen is an analyst with the Access Africa program where she supports the LINK Up program’s monitoring and evaluation, CARE’s VSLA management information system, and the human-centered design process for the Digital VSLA project. She has previously spent time in Malawi working a youth entrepreneurship initiative, and a year in Brazil on a cultural exchange through Rotary International. Karen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Honours from Okanagan College.

Meet the Teams: A Different Cup of Tea

by Stephanie Carey Yeargan Leave a comment

The tea plantation community of Sri Lanka – over 1 million people of Indian origin brought as slave labor by the British – is the poorest and most disempowered segment of the country’s population. Denied Sri Lankan citizenship until 2003 and completely dependent on their employers for over 150 years, they have been subjected to various forms of discrimination and currently experience limited livelihood security with little or no access to alternative economic opportunities.

More than 55 percent of tea plantation workers are women. They are expected to work almost twice as many hours per day as male laborers before their “second shift” of work begins at home. They are rarely able to hold positions of authority which would enable them to influence changes which impact their socio-economic conditions. Also, disenfranchised youth with a higher level of education and greater desire to change their socio-economic circumstances than the previous generations have also become dissatisfied with conditions in the plantations and are leaving their communities en masse for greener pastures in urban areas. However, due to a lack of suitable qualifications and basic documentation, they are often limited to menial work in overcrowded cities.

For the past 35 years, the Community Development Forum (CDF) has been a cornerstone of CARE Sri Lanka’s work with the plantation communities. It is a proven method of inclusive governance where members of the community are skilled, empowered and given a voice to engage with relevant stakeholders with the aim of achieving social transformation for the entire plantation community. It has resulted in dispute resolution, informed decision-making, improved communications, better working and living conditions, and general upliftment of the plantation community and the tea industry.

Different Cup of Tea

Meet the Team

Ananda Alahakoon | Plantations Advisor | CARE Sri Lanka

Ananda Alahakoon is a Senior Advisor for the Plantations program at CARE Sri Lanka, and brings extensive knowledge regarding Plantations to the team. Ananda has more than 15 years of working experience with CARE International Sri Lanka and has previously served as Project Director for the SHAKTHI project and Plantation Community Empowerment Project. The Community Development Forum (CDF) was nurtured under these two projects and Ananda had a hands on role in its expansion of membership. He has experience working with workers, management, community members and other stakeholders, including state and trade union representatives to make joint decisions that he will be able to bring to the team going forward. He holds a Bachelor of Art in Geography from the University of Kelaniya obtained in 1978 and has received a Post Graduate Diploma in Community Development from Colombo University obtained in 1995.

Faizal Cader | Area Director, Plantations | CARE Sri Lanka

Faizal provides expertise in innovative leadership in strategic planning, institutional development and program management to coordinate and support all programs operating from the regional office of central region, Sri Lanka. Faizal has worked with CARE Inernational in different portfolios since 2003; and has over fifteen years of management and technical experience in development and humanitarian programs with special focus on community empowerment, governance, food security and livelihood, agriculture and coordination of emergency operations. As a development and humanitarian professional, Faizal has contributed to the origination and execution of over US$ 10 million of funds for beneficiaries in development and humanitarian responses. Faizal holds a Master of Business Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture at the University of Peradeniya obtained in 2003, a Master of Arts in Sociology from Kamraj University of India in 2010 and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Peradeniya obtained in 2000.

Lahari de Alwis | Manger, Private Sector Engagement | CARE Sri Lanka

Lahari de Alwis is a Manager with CARE Sri Lanka focusing on private sector engagement. Lahari is keen to expand the work the team has been doing to impact more people effectively, culminating better lives for plantation communities. Through innovative thinking and dedication, Lahari will assist in the engagement of the private sector to catalyze the reach and impact of the team. Lahari has experience organizing events, meeting with prospective companies to initiate collaboration and liaising with government contacts. Before joining CARE, Lahari served as Project Coordinator of the IUCN and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, responsible for setting up a platform for collaboration between the private sector and conservation agencies. Lahari holds a Master of Science in Biological Mathematics and Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Warwick obtained in 2005, a Master of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 2004 and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Warwick obtained in 2003.

Dayal Perera | Project Manager, Governance Project | CARE Sri Lanka

Dayal is a Project Manager with CARE Sri Lanka, and has overseen the implementation and evaluation of the Strengthening Policy and Action through Citizens’ Engagement (SPACE) Project. Dayal has 12 years of experience in the private sector and 17 years in the development sector providing leadership for projects funded by USAID, Norway, HelpAge International (UK), UN Habitat and many others. Prior to joining CARE, Dayal worked for HelpAge Sri Lanka for nearly 9 years and become the Director Programmes. He has participated in overseas exposure visits, seminars, conference and training programs across Europe and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Moratuwa and a Diploma in Psychology & Counseling from the Institute of Psychological Studies. He is a visiting lecturer for Statistics at the University of Kelaniya and a lecturer at the Institute of Psychological Studies.

Roshan Prashanth | Project Coordinator | CARE Sri Lanka

Roshan Prashanth currently serves as a Project Coordinator for CARE Sri Lanka. Roshan supports the day-to-day implementation and management of projects, and is dedicated to the initiatives of the team. Roshan brings innovative thinking and understanding of the people and their needs, as well as a wealth of experience in planning and implementing projects. Roshan is eager to expand the current work of the team to catalyze the reach and impact of the approach.

Kalani Ranasinghe | Senior Advisor, M&E and KM | CARE Sri Lanka

Over the past several years, Kalani has monitored and evaluated projects funded by OAK Foundation and European Union while maintaining the projects information systems, including databases. Kalani has also provided technical guidance on M&E strategy at the programme and project level and designed M&E activities and new initiatives. Kalani has worked with CARE Sri Lanka on several different portfolios and has expertise on tea plantation community related governance and gender and inclusivity programmes. Before joining CARE, Kalani worked with the Institute of Social Development, an NGO based in Kandy, where she designed and maintained project M&E plans, and guided field staff. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Development Practice course at University of Peradeniya; and she holds a Bachelor of Arts Second class Honors degree from the University of Peradeniya obtained in 2010 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management at University of Colombo.

What We’re Learning: What’s our Value Proposition?

by Whitney Pyles Adams Leave a comment

As we work through our Design for Scale lab, we’re tackling five key design questions – starting with question #1: What’s the value proposition of our innovation?

Very simply, the value proposition of your innovation is the benefit your solution provides combined with why it’s better than anything else that exists! The tricky part about value proposition is that it’s not defined by us. It’s defined by our user.

value propositionOf course, we always start implementation thinking that we know what the value proposition is for our end user. However, a key step in identifying our value proposition is being prepared to be wrong or not understand the full story.  We need to be prepared to learn from our users and pay careful attention to unexpected results. At the beginning stages of an innovation it is critical to use qualitative methods that can capture unexpected value that the innovation has.

A second way we can learn about our value proposition is to look for viral replication and sharing. To see people who are replicating or copying our work without prompting or incentive tells us we’ve found an area with a strong value proposition.

Once we’ve identified a value proposition, we need to be able to articulate it!

We’re loving the simple formats from these excellent blog posts: Proven Templates for Creating Value Propositions that Work and Three More Proven Value Proposition Templates that Work