5. Learning and Communication with Purpose

Key messages (COVID context applies to all) VSCF business partnerships modality

Greener, responsible trade with the UK

Transparency of supply chains for building back better

• FCDO-business Roundtable • High Level Event: Partnerships for building back better and greener from the Pandemic • End of project event • Partnering for progress: How can the FCDO work with business to deliver the SDGs? • Partnering in a pandemic:

Embracing uncertainty • High Level Event 2: Partnerships for building back better and greener from the Pandemic End-of-project video

• High Level Event 2: Partnerships for building back better and greener from the Pandemic • Global Green Growth Institute Event • A Sustainable Trade Route for Kenya:

Unlocking opportunities for greener growth through sea freight

• X-Garments event on transparency in

RMG supply chains in Bangladesh • High Level Event 2: Partnerships for building back better and greener from the Pandemic • X-Garments Event – operational health and safety in factories • Building Back Better in the Garment

Industry • Improving occupational health and safety in ready-made garment factories during COVID-19 Short video – Supply chain transparency (August – ADP)

• How sea freight offers the Kenyan flower industry an opportunity for greener trade growth and increased employment • Kenyan flower farms view sea freight as a promising opportunity for greener growth • Diversifying income streams is an effective resilience strategy for

African farms and farmers Short video

Using digital innovations in supporting vulnerable workers in supply chains Climate change: climate resilient farming, decarbonising trade

• X-Agriculture Event – use of digital tools in African agriculture • Building Back Better in the Garment

Industry • Leveraging Digital Tools to Support

Factories and Garment workers • Remote survey tools for capturing farmer and worker information are here to stay

• High Level Event 3: Business

Partnerships Tackling Climate

Change: Summary Briefing

Women’s empowerment: increasing vulnerable women’s voice and agency within supply chains

• HLE1 Partnerships empowering women during the pandemic (Mar) • How sea freight offers the Kenyan flower industry an opportunity for greener trade growth and increased employment • Business Partnerships Tackling

Climate Change Short video

• Three lessons for empowering women during the pandemic (International Women’s Day

Learning Brief)

Table 2: VSCF Strategic Messaging Matrix which mapped dissemination of learning in key themes to events and products.

Using a range of communication tools on the principles of the ‘attention economy’. The Facility Manager produced a variety of communication products, suited to different audiences, and to communicate in different ways. The different events and products were convened under the title ‘Business Partnerships as a Force for Good’ learning series. This ‘brand’ not only ensured coherence across diverse communication outputs. It was identified as the specific communications niche occupied by the programme at the outset.

“The value of the programme was that learning was led with purpose – not just a learning event for the sake of it.”

Kate Cooper, Impact Investment Adviser, FCDO

A range of products in the ‘Business Partnerships as a Force for Good’ learning series included quarterly newsletters providing updates on progress to a very wide audience, short videos on very specific topics, Case Studies which presented research and learning by the Facility Manager (either across a portfolio, or the whole facility) and a business case that provided more technical detail on evaluations of the sea freight pilot. Learning events were followed by learning briefs which captured key lessons learned and shared at events so that stakeholders had a ‘takeaway’ document capturing salient points. Learning briefs also captured findings from field visits or insights from the processes and systems that BP4GG put in place, such as the impact performance management model, and how these insights could be considered by brands and retailers, donors or other stakeholders for similar initiatives or in similar contexts. All products were posted on social media, and over 178,000 people engaged with the 35 products shared this way.

The Facility Manager organised learning events that provided opportunities for VSCF projects within a sector to share learnings on specific topics. For example agriculture sector partners met to review lessons learned about diversification as a strategy for resilience for African farmers, agricultural workers and suppliers; garments sector VSCF partners convened to discuss how digital tools were used to support factories and garment workers in a time of crisis.

Learning events organised by the Facility Manager were of three types: (1) Projects-focused technical learning sessions where different projects across the portfolio shared their lessons learned around a certain theme like digital tools or operational health, (2) Facility-wide High Level Learning Events organised around global milestones like International Women’s Day, the G7 Meeting in June 2021 and COP26, (3) Business roundtables organised by the Facility Manager to enable open discussion between FCDO and businesses. A further type of event evolved during implementation, where other external stakeholders expressed interest to join hands with BP4GG. For example, the Kenya Flower Council and the Dutch Embassy in Kenya joined with FCDO (Kenya and UK offices) for an event organised by BP4GG in October about sustainable trade routes where lessons from the Sea Freight Project were shared externally. Additionally, FM participated in external events like the Global Green Growth Week in October 2021 to widely disseminate the lessons learned from the Facility. The Facility Manager led learning events were organised on priority themes identified in the Strategic Messaging Matrix, namely Women’s Economic Empowerment, Partnerships, Building Back Better and Climate Resilience. The High-Level Learning Events were facilitated with Business Fights Poverty, which increased the Facility’s reach into the responsible business community. For each high-level event and Roundtable, FCDO senior representatives provide the keynote messages which aligns and galvanises the partners around a common goal. Partners and FCDO colleagues interviewed for this case study commented very positively on the value the learning and engagement opportunities provided by the VSCF. These products have been collated by the FCDO within a knowledge resource which can be accessed by FCDO and wider departments of the UK government. In addition, the Facility Manager will maintain the VSCF site for a further two years. Engaging FCDO in communicating VSCF results. Over 100 FCDO colleagues including across the global network of country offices, were engaged by the VSCF in a wider dissemination of lessons learned on a variety of topics in the countries in Asia and Africa where VSCF projects were implemented. Additionally, the FM engaged with other FCDO projects which can benefit from the lessons learned by BP4GG like Growth Gateway and Manufacture Africa to appraise them about the Responsible Leaders List which was a specific product developed by BP4GG for engaging with responsible businesses.

Solene Bryson

Host of RIB List Workshop

Ian Felton

•FCDO Business Roundtable •High Level Event 3

Mita Samani

High Level Event 1

Kate Cooper

HLE2 and for critical events with partners

Keynote speaker March 2021

Helen King

High Level Event 2 Keynote speaker July 2021 Sep 2021

Jane Marriott OBE, BHC

Visit to Partner farms in Kenya Keynote speaker March 2021 Keynote speaker May 2021

Minister for Africa, Rt Hon. James Duddridge MP Short visit to amplify the recent UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement. He was shown the container depot at Nairobi International Airport where flowers are packed for sea freighting under the VSCF-funded trials

Keynote speaker May 2021 Visited Kenya Feb 2021

Figure 2: FCDO engagement in VSCF communication activities Visited Kenya January 2021

This section has highlighted the role that learning and communication for a purpose played in the effectiveness and sustainability of the VSCF projects. Lessons emphasised by respondents to this research include:

• Prioritise communication and lesson learning with a purpose within programme design, theory of change and logframe, and ensure resources are allocated to support these processes of change. • Using a Strategic Communications Guide that enables using one tone of voice and consistent messaging across a wide range of partners. • Ensure consistent and coordinated communication with a clear purpose through the strategic planning of themes, messages, learning events and products. • Engage the FCDO ‘Network’ to ensure lessons learned are being shared and institutionalised, thereby furthering sustainability. • Shared lessons widely with FCDO for enhancing the value of the work done by projects which can enable cross-programme learning. • Where possible, use external forums and partners opportunistically (like the GGGI workshop, the Dutch

Embassy in Kenya) for expanding the outreach of the lessons learned by FCDO projects.

Conclusion

Despite a short timeframe for VSCF project implementation, and volatile pandemic context, with high rates of infection, lockdowns, and a military coup in Myanmar - the VSCF delivered. The programme reached 1.4 million men, women and children, of which 55% were women and 63% with incomes less than US$5.50 a day, contributing to 8 out of 17 Global Goals. An examination of the management of the VSCF has identified aspects of Facility Management that contributed to this success:

• Collaborative approaches to strategic design of the Facility itself and co-creation of co-funded projects for increased ownership and effective projects that deliver development impact. • Commitment to funding and delivery through partnerships between organisations that have established relationships and those with complementary areas of capacity. • Shared purpose and clearly defined objectives. • Flexible and adaptive management practices implemented through very regular communication through varied formats. • Active risk management that is both well-informed and collaborative. • Monitoring focused on results and impact. • Creating feedback loops that ensure beneficiary feedback data can inform project management. • Integrating learning and communicating with purpose into programme strategy, project theories of change and funded activities. • Communicating clearly and effectively for consistent messaging using tools that enable strategic communications. • Using learning and sharing as a catalyst for continued adoption of proven good practice by a wide community of practitioners for sustainable impact. • Using social media effectively for wider outreach of the messages across the community of practitioners. • Effective management can enable the achievement of high value results even for short duration programmes which do not have a very large budget. VSCF has demonstrated that the value of such programmes can be enhanced through sustaining effective partnerships, sharing lessons widely and communicating strategically. • Partnerships are critical to achieving the Global Goals as the public funds are getting tighter. The sum total of a partnership is greater than the sum of its individual parts. However, partnerships need care and attention throughout the start-up, delivery and close out phases. VSCF demonstrates the strength of these partnerships where partners have not only committed and acted for now but also expressed continued commitment for future action beyond the projects (as evidenced from the wrap-up workshops, End of Programme Conference and the positive response to the ImpAct report survey). • Effective partnerships need trust, clarity and flexibility. Trust is built over time like a sequential game. VSCF shows how this can be done effectively by setting a solid foundation at the design phase and building on it through-out the implementation and close out phases by delivering on the FCDO and FM part of the promises, which solidifies partnerships as these mature.