2010
African Programs Report Investing in systems for scale
Ap
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Iddrisu Muniru Mustapha, an Agricultural Extension Agent with Ghana’s Ministry of Food & Agriculture facilitates a workshop to farmers in Taha, Ghana. The workshop, developed by EWB and the Ministry, aims to boost the business acumen and profits of rural farmers. Photo: Robin Stratas/EWB
The Problem
We don’t define the problem as the existence of poverty We define the problem as the persistence of poverty – that so much effort and investment hasn’t accelerated African prosperity sufficiently. There are many promising solutions. What is missing in Africa is organisations that have the capacity to take these solutions to scale.
What we do EWB invests people and ideas into African organisations to improve their capacity to deliver at scale solutions for the rural poor. We also influence the sector to invest more in building effective organisations in Africa. In doing so, we invest in Canadian and African leaders to strengthen their commitment and ability to bring about positive change.
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PROGRAMS in 2010 Improving Waterpoint Functionality To support the main actors in the water and sanitation sector to reduce the 45% inefficiency in water point siting and functionality; and to help take sanitation promotion to scale.
Getting Farmers ready for Market
To improve the functioning of national level extension / aggregation organisations that help farmers better prepare to engage with the market.
Getting Markets ready for Farmers
To accelerate the growth of Agribusinesses serving smallholders.
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Establishing Data-driven District Decision making
Supporting districts to incorporate evidence based decision making primarily focused on the delivery of rural infrastructure, and advocating among donors/ government for a strong district voice and better enabling environment.
Programs What’s new in 2010
Program Input metrics
Expanded model from just sending Canadian volunteers to hiring African leaders to work as EWB staff with our partner organization.
41 full time volunteers & 43 P/T 511 Volunteer months Equivalent to $2,000,000 of donated time.
Partners paying for services: Teams grew from 0 to 10% self-funded, and will grow to 35% self funded in 2011.
14 partner organisations, many linked from field to policy level.
Brand new funding potential - up to 5M$ of grants in the pipeline from foundations and social investment funds.
17 prototyped/piloted operational-service innovations.
EWBers taking own ideas to scale by starting their own companies (five in total); EWB invests people and money, and connects to network, to help succeed.
5 innovations at multiplication stage generating significant results.
Vertically connected – all teams work at field, management and connected to donor level.
Multiplication channels
2010 Results
1. 2. 3.
1.
4. 5.
Adopted by national body and scaled Amount of donor investment influenced Donor partner invest in EWB taking idea to scale Crowded-in funds: Donors-Partners investing in EWB-developed ideas Influencing donor/national “enabling environment”
2. 3. 4. 5.
Three EWB innovations selected and scaled by national organization. Estimated influence of 13M$ of donor investment Pipeline of 5M$ to take approach to scale; first steps of $110,000 invested in 2010. Donors/govt invested 320K in direct EWB innovations. Important policy voice with 15 publications, over 4000 views, sitting on 5 exclusive committees.
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HISTORY OF EWB’S Work in Africa
Supporting communities with Technology & Engineering
Volunteer sending and capacity development
Partnered with communities to solve their problems. Focused on Technology. But... Community level wasn’t where the problems were; local NGOs had context and sustainability.
Became one of top 3 groups in Canada at volunteer sending; superb recruitment, training, low cost operations.. Created great capacity building tools and support for our volunteers.
“After working with practically every development sending agency, I have never come across one who provides staff who consistently are as intelligent, quick learning and flexible.”
“EWB is a highly professional outfit committed to excellence and learning. The most interesting part of the EWB approach is that it is doing more to take capacity development as an objective systematically than any other development organization.”
Former USAID Program Director
12 community partners 50 volunteers
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But….. One-off placement unable to bring about level organisational change necessary.
Assessment report by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, former director of the UN Human Development Report
Partnered with 50+ leading NGOs in 25 countries around world 150 volunteers
Report
Organisational diagnostic and management support Built deep relationships with local implementing organisations. Helped diagnose and improve their capabilities for M&E, provide the resources to drive new projects, trained/support for field staff, and improved management processes.
Investing in systems for Scale
But….. all partners faced systemic constraints preventing large scale change. “The partnership with EWB has been among the most useful relationships in the last decade.” Country Director, Malawian NGO “It has been a wonderful thing having Heather here and we have made tremendous progress. She understands me in a way that no “expert” consultant could and therefore enables me to do more than I thought was possible.” Director of Planning Malawi Water Ministry, Head of SWAp process
Narrowed focus to 4 countries 200 volunteers
4 programs areas 150 volunteers $ 300,000 direct investments
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We Like Metrics but Not Over Simplified Metrics
Cumulative “Farmers reached” through development projects: millions
Most donors want projects that “reach” many beneficiaries. We think 50 years of focusing on the wrong metric led to the wrong work that didn’t address the bigger picture problems.
re ac he
So we have specifically chosen not to be a direct service delivery organization. We don’t dig wells or design improved irrigation systems.
rm a “F
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
Average African crop yields: Kg/Ha
So we invest in organizations’ ability to improve how they offer effective services to the rural poor.
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”
er s
We don’t think that Africa needs any more “big ideas”. Instead, it needs local organisations to continuously adapt and improve on existing ideas. It’s this evolutionary process that allows ideas to scale to new contexts.
This means that we don’t work directly with beneficiaries and we don’t measure the changes we have on them directly.
Million 3,000
d
“Reaching” many farmers isn’t helping
500
0 1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
Report
Investing in this “Missing Middle” 1. Inputs and resources
Money, donors, developmental Agencies United Nations, Developed Nation Governments, Projects, Policies, etc.
There is lots of money coming into development. And there are more than enough challenges on the ground that need sustained positive change. But effective organisations to transform these resources and investments into sustained outcomes are rare. This is the missing middle. So we work at the level of organisations - government, NGO and private sector – to help them improve their operational effectiveness.
2. Missing middle
Effective organization, systems and capabilities (within governments, ministries, business, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), NGOs, cooperatives, etc.
We also connect the top and the bottom. We are grounded in field realities and we are connected to the policy/ donor environment to help take operations innovations to scale. This makes finding metrics and attribution harder. But we think it’s the right problem to solve. And as engineers, we know defining the right problem is the most important step.
3. Sustainable Outcomes Farmers, communities, community leaders, microcredit recipients
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What is an Operational / Service innovation
We typically think of innovation as tangible products. For example, the Green Revolution is frequently described as a combination of new improved seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation. However, African organisations need innovations in their services and operations in order to more effectively take those product innovations to scale. An service innovation might be a rent-toown program for farmers to access irrigation equipment. An operational innovation might be an effective agent network to cost-effectively distribute seeds to isolated villages, or an improved monitoring system to support a network of rural agro-dealers. These operational and service innovations are what EWB helps our partners to prototype, pilot, and then scale throughout their organization.
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Product innovation
Service innovation
Operational innovation
Examples from the private sector:
Credit cards, product guarantees, insurance, B2B services.
Supply chains, inventory management, scheduling software, Kaizen manufacturing, six sigma.�
Report
O/S inovation example
Water and sanititation team Defined problem not as building more water points, but ensuring local organisations (government and private sector) able to reduce the 32% breakdown rate and the 15% bad siting rate to increase functionality of Malawi’s 42,000 waterpoints.
3. Organic Growth in Malawi Number of districts
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Potential Tanzania for Ghana... & Uganda
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Solution: District - Driven waterpoint monitoring system
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1. District driven monitoring
An excel data base
Team created an excel based monitoring using health workers to collect data.
2. Allows
up-to-date maps to be created ‘Only system to be self-replicated and fully-funded by districts themselves.
2 2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
4. Results $200,000 worth of repairs through the African Catalytic Growth Fund $18,000,000 worth of infrastructure installation and rehabilitation funded by the African Development Bank
$500,000 worth of infrastructure and rehabilitations funded by UNICEF $500,000 worth of rehabilitations
and new infrastructure funded by an NGO
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HOW IT WORKS venture model
Creation of a database and reporting template to help Ministry of Agriculture staff reduce reporting time by 60% to free up time for farmer interaction.
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m
How Develop? Work through multiple levels of partner organisation.
m en ple
t
Operational or Service Innovation
Use of template/database in 19 districts in Northern Ghana. From last to first in reporting response rate. Ministry invests own funds in training.
ov
Example:
Refine
Inn
How Develop? Close interaction with partner front lines & field.
Refine ideas until they are effective, efficient and credible enough to go to scale
I
Test multiple operational / service innovation ideas
2. Pilot
e at
1. Prototype
Report 3. Multiply
Leverage non-EWB resources to multiply solutions through other channels How Develop? Through policy/donor level to affect enabling environment & influencing program design. to incorporate operational service innovations. Database/template adopted by Ministry at national level, rolled out for all 174 districts using Ministry funds.
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VENTURE MODEL Tracking Progress and Impact Investment Phase
Leverage factor on EWB investments
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Prototype
Pilot
Key Metrics · Evidence of idea leading to performance increase · Level of interest expressed by partner organization
Key Metrics · Demonstrated and verifiable results · Link between OSI and beneficiary impact · Partner co-investment · Partner replication without EWB investment
0.5 : 1 high person investment required
2-3 : 1 Starting to bring in others investments
Report Impact Phase Leverage existing bodies/ resources to take multiply solution impact Five channels 1. Adopted by national body and scaled. 2. Amount of donor investment influenced.
Multiply
3. Donor partner invest in EWB taking idea to scale. 4. Crowded-in funds: Donors-Partners investing in EWBdeveloped ideas.
10-100 : 1 Smart use of others ‘ resources creates low cost multiplier
5. Influencing donor/ national “enabling environment.”
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Programs Improving WaterPoint Functionality
Reliable access to clean water is crucial. Diarrheal disease fills half of the hospital beds in developing countries, draining budgets, overloading services. However, it’s just not just about drilling a well to get clean water. Of the 45,000 water points throughout Malawi, 32% of them are non-functional at
any given time, and an additional 15% are redundantly sited, meaning some communities have many water points while others have none. While more investment in water supply is needed, it is clear that more efficient investment will be the key to sustainable and equitable water supply services at scale.
Shit @ Scale Similarly, more latrines reduce disease by 30%. New approaches to sanitation promotion (Community-Led Total Sanitation) generate nearly 100% coverage rates of latrines in pilot programs, but the district health departments lack the capacity and the effective donor support
to take these solutions to scale. EWB is also working to help CLTS spread at scale while maintaining essential quality elements.
EWB’s focus 15%
Officially Poorly lack access planned overlap
32%
Broken
Effective coverage
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Improving WaterPoint functionality Prototype
Purpose: To transform a series of actors in the water and sanitation sector to reduce the 40% inefficiency in water point siting and functionality; and to help organisations offer effective sanitation promotion at scale. Evidence of progress at Prototype/Pilot level • Growth in districts served from 4 to 13 • Testing 4-5 different ideas for more affordable repair models. • Ministry cited EWB as one of the top 3 agencies in Malawi working on water and sanitation. • 3 publications in leading journals. • Ideas cited major aid-reform blogs. • Partners co-investing $65,000 next year for EWB support.
Pilot
Multiply
Real-time waterpoint monitoring tool and system Supporting districts to scale CLTS to bring improved sanitation to 1M Malawians by 2012. National Government policies that don’t undermine the private sector and better investments Finding more affordable repair models using business principles
Results of Monitoring tool and system Used to help guide almost 20M$ of infrastructure projects.
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Programs Agriculture
EWB is tackling two related problems 1. Getting farmers ready for markets
2. Getting markets ready for farmers
EWB is working to transform the functioning of national level extension/aggregating organisations that help farmers better prepare to engage with the market.
EWB is working to accelerate the growth of Agri-businesses serving smallholders.
National level organisations can be challenging to work in, but have reach. Our typical work is promoting agriculture as a business - helping farmers learn the basics of businesses, learning about quality standards, especially for new types of crops. We also help farmers form into groups to engage with markets to have more clout. This work is primarily in Ghana and Burkina Faso.
Agribusinesses – whether selling seeds, offering credit or running outgrower schemes – are critical for raising rural incomes. Markets are in their infancy after decades of state interventions; markets are difficult to establish with low incomes and low rural population density. In the past 3 years EWB has worked with 20+ business or NGOs offering services to businesses. This work is in all four EWB focus countries.
Table: Farmer Based Organisations – need to change from quantity to quality.
Number of FBOs
Percentage of FBOs Formed
Formed
24,514
100%
Functional
11,162
46%
Accessing Financial and/or Market Information Services
5,309
22%
Accessing Credit
2,283
9%
Successfully Repaying Loans1
1,009
4%
Source: Department of Agriculture Extension Services, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana (MoFA 2009 Annual Progress Report).
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Getting Farmers ready for Markets Prototype
Purpose: To improve the functioning of national level extension organisations that help farmers better prepare to engage with the market. Evidence of progress at Prototype/Pilot level: Over 100,000 hours for frontline work in Ghana, over 50,000 in Burkina Faso produced over a dozen different prototypes. EWB worked directly with over 175 frontline staff serving over 250,000 farmers.
Agriculture as a Business (AAB) extension curriculum. Commercialisation management systems. CEF improvements in Burkina Faso Performance Incentives for AEAs in Ghana. Agriculture college entrepreneurship course. Management Information System. Farmer Innovation Challenge.
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Pilot
Multiply
Programs Getting Markets Ready for Farmers Prototype
Purpose: To accelerate the growth of agribusiness serving small-holder farmers through investments of human and managerial talent to help partners to: • Develop market-oriented skills throughout the organization, from extension staff to managers; • Improve management practices, focusing on processes, incentives and motivations, in an African context; • Design and implement better information-feedback systems so that interventions can be tailored more specifically to local contexts; Evidence of progress at Prototype/Pilot level: • Worked with 20+ of the top agribusnesses/market facilitation groups in the past 3 years. • Very high level of interest among social investment funds to partner with EWB. • Asked to undertake mid-project evaluations for partners. • Partner cost-sharing reached 35% in 2010.
Pilot
Multiply
Develop new approaches to support agro-dealers. Creative marketing – Eat Ghana Rice Campaign. Offer management support to Agribusiness to help them engage with small-holders. Support selective value-chain analysis in Ghana/Burkina Faso. Engage with leading donors to support the transition from conventional to value-chain approach. Offer rural farmers a Rent-to-Own scheme.
EWB spinoff
Impact of innovations at multiply level $50,000 investment in EWB’s “Eat Ghana Rice Campaign” by donor. Pipeline of investments up to 5M$ for agribusiness support based on growing reputation. Invitation to present field realities/lessons learned/research with 6 major donors. Innovation fund suggestions affecting 1M$ of investment . Produced 8 tools used to help organisations assess staff capacity, improve M/E, etc.
• • • • •
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Data Driven District Decision-making Decentralized dis-
Data Driven District Decision-making
trict systems in the Northern Region of Ghana are ineffective at generating evidence-based and
Donor driven development Donors influence plans which districts follow; local politicians change priorities at will
District Driven Development, in which districts have
transparent development plans resulting in inefficient and ineffective service delivery to rural communities. EWB
Transparent District Planning The planning process is transparent and communities hold the district accountable for implementing the plans.
is helping to accelerate the move:
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There are two pilots which have proven successful at the district level and which we would like to expand to scale nationally. They are the tools and processes for developing an improved indicator databank and a project implementation tracking database. The centralized district indicator databank is sampled to the right.
Strong District Leadership District leaders are proactive in assigning roles, motivating staff, and taking responsibility for implementing plans.
Evidence-Based District Planning District Plans utilize accurate data for evidence-based decision-making.
EWB developed the processes to gather the data in common formats and to consolidate it in excel. We then developed ma-
cros and used visual basic to make it easy for planners to see district trends graphically and geographically.
Programs Data Driven District Decision-making Prototype
Purpose: To ensure that districts have the ability and that donors/the Government provides the incentives for greater evidence based decisions at the district level that benefit the rural poor.
Multiply
District indicator database – tool and system District project monitoring database – tool and system
Evidence of progress at Prototype/Pilot level: • 50% self-funded – evidence of partner valuing work • Very high district buyin – district directors will continue projects using own discretionary budget. • Districts where we work among top 5-20% in national government rankings • Over-subscription to EWB learning exchange programs • Tools used to site hundreds of infrastructure projects.
Impact of innovations at multiply level: • EWB database management training program selected for a nation-wide program in all 170 districts in Ghana. • EWB invited to present at major donor/government events.
Pilot
Database management training program for civil servants Learning Exchange to enhance management capacities of district leaders National government policy changes that enable evidence-based district systems
• •
EWB only NGO invited to be on national monitoring and evaluation steering committee. 2000 views of 9 “district reality” papers for donors.
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Closing
Fr Failure Report
Reporting our failures in 2010 EWB’s 2010 Failure Report openly shares and analyzes mistakes across our programs. ewb.ca/publications
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We began by saying we like metrics, just not oversimplified metrics. In this report we have attempted to balance the complexity of our problem definition with need for common metrics to explain and manage our programs. We hope that this balance is good. And more importantly, we hope that both improve in next year’s report. In the private sector, the market punishes mistakes and organisations learn. In development, mistakes are rarely admitted. We
try to be on the cutting edge of reversing that trend. That is why we are proud of our annual failure report. It is the tip of the iceberg of EWB’s culture of seeking out our failures to learn from them and to improve. Most importantly, we thank our volunteers and staff who, put up with this challenge of understanding complexity while taking action. And we thank our partners and all the frontline workers who are striving to bring about positive change.
· One of Zambia’s fastest growing companies · Mobile payment systems · Focusing on payments to farmers · Working to offer vouchers for government schemes to reduce corruption · Potential to help farmers change saving patterns · EWB supported with 3 volunteers; currently CEO is EWB alumni, and 3 EWB alumni working there.
· Started by EWB staff member · Offers capital equipment to rural farmers; 12 month repayment scheme · Because asset produces income, 95% repayment rate · Grown in 15 months to 100,000$ in equipment leased · 9 staff · EWB supported with 50,000$ cash and access to Canadian networks
When ideas become spinoffs Some EWB entrepreneurs will decide that they would like to take their own idea to scale rather than scale through existing organisations.
EWB provides support to these entrepreneurs with access to our networks/credibility; cash investments, or people investments.
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Fr Ap Cp Os
Get the whole picture. Detailed program reports are available at:
www.ewb.ca/publications
366 Adelaide Street West Suite 601 Toronto, Ontario M5V 1R9 CANADA Telephone: 1.416.481.3696 Toll Free: 1.866.481.3696 Fax: 416.352.5360 Email: info@ewb.ca Charitable Registration Number: 89980-1815-RR0001 28
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