Social enterprise manual

PROMOTING YOUTH DRIVEN SOCIAL ENTERPRISES TRAINING MANUAL

INTRODUCTION

The Social Enterprise Manual has been developed and published by:

Ghana Friends, Denmark www.ghanavenskab.dk

Youth Empowerment for Life, Ghana, www.yefl-ghana.org

Authors:

Lise Grauenkær lisegrauenkaer@gmail.com

Leila Kæmsgaard Pagh Schmidt lesc@via.dk

The materials in this manual can be used by organisations, institutions and individuals if publishers are credited.

To access the full materials go to: www.yefl-ghana.org or www.ghanavenskab.dk

Design by Lise

1st edition 2021

Grauenkær

www.yeflghana or g

PROMOTING YOUTH-DRIVEN SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES WITH SOCIAL IMPACT

OPERATING MODEL STRUCTURES

SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES SUPPORT SYSTEMS

RESOURCE STRATEGY

“PEOPLE & THINGS”

RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS

MOBILISING RESOURCES

THE BUSINESS MODEL

WHAT’S THE DESIRED SOCIAL IMPACT?

FORMULATE MISSION, SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED CHANGES OF THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

ASSESSMENT OF: CHANGES

SOCIAL NEEDS

SOCIAL ASSETS

COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCES

PROMOTING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND OPPORTUNITY ORIENTED MINDSETS

IDEATION PROCESS

YOUTH SPEAK UP

MAPPING IDEAS

QUALIFYING IDEAS

GENERATING PROMISING IDEAS

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

introduction

This is a manual developed for the E4L program under YEFL Ghana who implements youth empowerment projects in Ghana.

The manual is a training manual for supporting youth organizations to transform into social enterprises – and thus strengthening their financial sustainability, which is challenging in a developing setting where funds are very limited.

The manual is developed based on a model that consists of 8 modules, that builds on each other (See figure 1).

It is a training manual for staff that equips the trainers – in this case in-house facilitators - with the right understanding of working with social enterprises and specific training plans and exercises especially designed for the members of the youth centers.

Training and support

Supporting youth organizations to establish social enterprises is not an easy task and thus the training will also be a process rather than an one-off training done over a number of continuous training days. It is envisioned that the youth participants will receive training in four sessions, each covering one or more modules (see illustration 1 for suggested spacing and planning of modules).

Between each training they will have time and receive support to develop and implement the concepts and ideas from each module in the training session. The modules will also outline tasks to be carried out by participants between the trainings and how the field staff can support them in this. This also includes assessment of what monitoring and mentoring the centers will need between the training sessions

. The responsibility of assessing the needs lies with the program staff in Ghana as well as the participants in a participatory monitoring process.

The participant workbook

This training manual is accompanied by a participant workbook. The workbook contains exercise templates and tasks for the participants to fill out continuously during the trainings as well as tasks to be carried out between the training sessions. This will ensure that the participants have all the relevant information collated for setting up and implementing their new social enterprises. The workbook should be printed in color in advance and given to participants in a folder (including extra pages for notes etc.)

Filling out the workbook can be an “evening exercise” or take-home exercise after the trainings where other trainings materials are used such as flipcharts and creative materials.

The model is based on a number of concepts used in social enterprise practice and theory such as definitions of social enterprises and social entrepreneurs, effectuation, bricolage, design thinking and business development and the experiences gained in other project interventions. These are further elaborated in section 1.2.

BACKGROUND

The E4L program under YEFL Ghana works with a number of youth centers (YCs) in Northern Region in Ghana. They are to varying degree active and independent organizations who further youth development in the local districts.

The strategic objective is to support the YCs to become organisations that are run independently by youth and for youth – and organisations that are financially viable. Therefore, the aim is to support 5 youth centres to transform their structure into social enterprises, that can sustain their daily running and activities that provide the local youth with new and better opportunities.

The 5 youth centres are “molded” around the same shape, but as research carried out in January 20201

1 This will be developed in collaboration with the Ghana team during the staff training workshop and during the implementation period as lessons and experiences are

has shown they are still quite different. Especially in regards to their level of activity, number of members, strength in leadership and ability to generate resources.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

As mentioned above this model is founded on several theoretical definitions and concepts. The main ones that it draws upon are: What are social enterprises and social entrepreneurs, effectuation, bricolage, design thinking and business development. They will be introduced shortly below to ensure that the future trainers understand the model and are able to convey its principles and methodologies.

Creating worthwhile opportunities

The overall development of the model is inspired by the “Opportunity Creation Process” model developed by Guclu et al2 and the components and modules collected.

2 The empirical data consists of data from an organizational capacity assessment,

in the SE model incorporates the components and steps from this.

The model focuses on creating entrepreneurial opportunities that are worthy to pursue. Both in terms of creating a positive social change and financial sustainability. The model is a framework to guide social entrepreneurs through the process of creating a worthwhile opportunity. It is divided into 2 steps: 1) generating promising ideas, and 2) Developing attractive ideas into attractive opportunities.

The first step; Generating promising ideas is stimulated by personal (collective) experience, changes, social needs and social assets if the social entrepreneur adopts an opportunity-oriented mindset, actively looking for new possibilities to have significant positive social impact. Successful social entrepreneurs embody a “how can” attitude: How can I address a particular social need or make the most of existing social assets to improve society? How can I capitalize on recent changes to create new opportunities for social impact?

daily monitoring and qualitative interviews with Youth Centre Management Committee (YCMC), members of the youth center and youth in the districts and E4L district teams.

Figure 2: The opportunity creation process (Cuclu, Dees and Anderson 2002, 2)

1: GENERATING

In the second step focus is on how to take the brilliant idea and convert it into a worthwhile opportunity, which is the bigger challenge. The chances of success are increased if the ideas are grounded in plausible hypotheses about the underlying social impact theory and a business model that includes an effective operating model and a viable resource strategy (see figure 2).

The operating model describes how the social impact theory will be implemented in practice. It is a combination of specific activities, structures and support systems that are designed to work together to bring about the intended social change. The resource strategy is based on how you have decided that the most effective operating model looks like for you. The operating model cannot create value unless it is nurtured and supported by a viable resource strategy. The two must mesh together so that the entire business model is plausible and the on-going resource mobilization process reinforces, rather than undermines, the effectiveness of the operating model. At the most fundamental resource level the entrepreneurs need “people” and “things” to go forward and the strategy will outline what they are and how they will be mobilized.

Our definition of a social enterprise

The concept of social enterprise is not well known in Ghana in general and it is not universally nor consi-

stently defined in Ghana. We find inspiration in the British Council definition of social enterprises as ‘businesses that exist to address social and environment needs, and focus on reinvesting earnings into the business and/or the community’. The mantra of social enterprise is to balance making profits with a social mission and it is important to state that the commercial viability of a social enterprise is as important as its social mission. It involves the innovative use and combination of

resources to pursue opportunities to catalyze social change and/or address social needs.

To be effective, social enterprises have to solve the problem of achieving the right trade-off between the dual objectives of profit and purpose.

Want to know more?

For examples and cases on different social enterprises in Ghana and the Northern Region, SE Ghana provides a good overview that can be found at:

https://seghana.net/our_membership/members-directory-members-only/?orgname1=&orgtype1=&region1=Northern&membtypes1=

For more insight in the Social Enterprise Landscape of Ghana, the British Council provides a good introduction in their report “ Social Enterprise Landscape in Ghana” available at:

https://seghana.net/our_membership/members-directory-members-only/?orgname1=&orgtype1=&region1=Northern&membtypes1=

Design thinking

Design thinking is an overall understanding and methodology applied to the model’s process. It will be used in two ways in this manual. Firstly, the five stages of the design thinking process have been incorporated into the eight modules to ensure that the development of social enterprises takes into consideration elements of exploration, assessment, ideation, prototyping and testing. Modules 1 and 2 focuses on emphasizing and defining, where module 5 focuses on ideation and in the last three modules the participants will prototype, test and refine.

It is also essential that the trainers and the youth participants have some insight in the design thinking process as it can guide them in this process and in other development processes they might incur.

What is design thinking?

Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.

Design Thinking revolves around a deep interest in developing an understanding of the people for whom we’re designing the products or services.

The five phases

It helps us observe and develop empathy with the target user. Design Thinking helps us in the process of questioning: questioning the problem, questioning the assumptions, and questioning the implications. Design Thinking is extremely useful in tackling problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. Design Thinking also involves ongoing experimentation: sketching, prototyping, testing, and trying out concepts and ideas.

The five phases

There are five phases in design-thinking (as we apply it) and they are:

1. Empathise – with your users

2. Define – your users’ needs, their problem, and your insights

3. Ideate – by challenging assumptions and creating ideas for innovative solutions

4. Prototype – to start creating solutions

5. Test – solutions

It is important to note that the five phases, stages, or modes are not always sequential. They do not have to follow any specific order and can often occur in parallel and repeat iteratively. Given that, you should not understand the phases as a hierarchical or stepby-step process. Instead, you should look at it as an overview of the modes or phases that contribute to an innovative project, rather than sequential steps.

EMPATHISE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST

Entrepreneurial approaches: Effectuation and bricolage Effectuation

The theory of effectuation by Sara Sarasvathy informs this model, as this perspective on entrepreneurship fits well with being entrepreneurial in situations and contexts that are shifting and difficult to predict. In the following, the theory of effectuation will be briefly explained.

Saras Sarasvathy’s theory of Effectuation (2001) describes an approach to making decisions and performing actions in entrepreneurship processes, where you identify the next, best step by assessing the resources available in order to achieve your goals, while continuously balancing these goals with your resources and actions.

Effectuation differs from the causal logic, where there is a predetermined goal and the process to achieve it is carefully planned in accordance to a set of given resources. Sarasvathy argues that the causal logic is not suited for entrepreneurship processes that are inherently characterized by uncertainties and risks.

The fundamental worldview for effectuation is called the Pilot-in-the-plane (see below), which describes the future as something you can influence by your actions, i.e., you can create your own opportunities.

According to Sarasvathy expert entrepreneurs believe that people shape the future. They believe that if they can make the future happen, they don’t need to worry about predicting the future. The focus is on using a set of evolving means to achieve new and different goals. Effectuation evokes creative and transformative tactics. Effectual thinkers believe that if I can control the future - I do not need to predict it.

The model generally draws on Sarasvathy’s five overall principles:

1. Bird in Hand Principle: Start with your means. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. Start taking action, based on what you have readily available: who you are, what you know, and who you know.

2. Affordable Loss Principle - Set affordable loss. Evaluate opportunities based on whether the downside is acceptable, rather than on the attractiveness of the predicted upside.

3. Lemonade Principle - Leverage contingencies and embrace surprises that arise from uncertain situations, remaining flexible rather than tethered to existing goals.

4. Crazy-Quilt Principle - Form partnerships with people and organizations willing to make a real commitment to jointly creating the future--product, firm, market--with you. Don’t worry so much about competitive analyses and strategic planning.

5. Pilot-in-the-plane, Control < > predict: By focusing on activities within their control, expert entrepreneurs know their actions will result in the desired outcomes. An effectual worldview is rooted in the belief that the future is neither found nor predicted, but rather made.

Effectuation can be used in teaching to support self-efficacy and process understanding by letting students identify the next, best step for solving the problem they work with by applying Sarasvathy’s worldview and principles for effectuation.

You can either use the effectuation logic as the basic approach for a whole course or you can use one or more principles as a theme.

facilitators note

The five principles are illustrated at the next page. You can print it out and hang it in the workshop room for inspiration.

THe five principles of effectuation

BIRD IN HAND PRINCIPLE

Start with your means. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. Start taking action, based on what you have readily available: who you are, what you know, and who you know.

AFFORDABLE LOSS PRINCIPLE

1 4

Set affordable loss. Evaluate opportunities based on whether the downside is acceptable, rather than on the attractiveness of the predicted upside.

LEMONADE PRINCIPLE

Leverage contingencies and embrace surprises that arise from uncertain situations, remaining flexible rather than tethered to existing goals.

CRAZY-QUILT PRINCIPLE

Form partnerships with people and organizations willing to make a real commitment to jointly creating the future--product, firm, market--with you. Don’t worry so much about competitive analyses and strategic planning.

PILOT-IN-THE-PLANE

Control < > predict: By focusing on activities within their control, expert entrepreneurs know their actions will result in the desired outcomes. An effectual worldview is rooted in the belief that the future is neither found nor predicted, but rather made.

1 3 5

Bricolage

Another entrepreneurship theory that has come to the fore in the recent past is the theory of entrepreneurial bricolage (Baker & Nelson, 2005). The term “bricolage” can be defined as “making do by applying combinations of resources at hand to new problems and opportunities” (Baker & Nelson, p. 33). The concept was originally introduced by the anthropologist Levi-Strauss (1966) to distinguish between the actions of an engineer and the actions of a “bricoleur” or handyman. While the engineer focuses on gathering tools and materials for an intended design, the bricoleur chooses instead to make do with whatever material is at hand. For example, to design a table, the engineer might draw out a plan and requisition supplies—wooden boards, wood screws, sandpaper, and varnish—to achieve an intended design. In contrast, the bricoleur would choose to look around the workshop and create a table from a discarded wooden block. He or she might improvise table legs from metal poles and use leftover paint to achieve the desired object. While the end state in each case

is similar—a table—the mechanism used to achieve that state is quite different for the engineer and the bricoleur (Levi-Strauss).

In an entrepreneurial context, bricolage is creating something from nothing by making do with what is at hand to solve problems and uncover opportunities (Baker & Nelson). And this is specifically what this model will seek to promote and nurture in the youth centers and the social entrepreneurs.

Planning and preparing the trainings

The training consists of 8 modules that will be carried out over 4-6 weeks.

The first training will cover Modules 1 to 4 and last approximately 3 days. The second training will cover Module 5 as a full day training. The third training will cover module 6 and 7 and span over 3 full days. The eight module is not one training but a process where the facilitators will provide mentoring, support and training as the YC progresses.

The facilitator’s toolbox

The methodology promotes creativity and many exercises use different inexpensive materials. We recommend to have a toolbox with:

• Paper

• Flip charts

• Scissors

• Post-its

• Markers/crayons/pencils

• Straws

• Matches

• Play dough

• Tape in different colours

• Wooden building blocks

• String in different colours

In addition we recommend that you make a vision tree quilt for Module 4 and have print outs ready for the Participants Workbook.

Time to get started - Enjoy!!

Facilitator’s notes

Make sure you set the scene for a postiive and innovative environment, where all questions and ideas are welcome.

MODULE 1

- THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

• Understanding Social Enterprise Models.

• Analysis of current youth center as a business

INtroduction

This first module aims at giving the participants an introductory understanding of different social enterprise models, which will be done be introducing them to relevant local social enterprises that work in different ways.

A key element in supporting the youth in transforming their youth centers into social enterprises is to assist them in seeing their centers in a new light – as possible business working for a social good.

That will be done by assisting the participants in assessing and analyzing their current center in terms of their prospects for turning it into a SE with focus on its activities and organization. This will also inform the coming ideation process and for setting up or transforming their operating model.

Search for local Ghanaian social enterprises – present one or two social enterprises and the ideas and concept behind it to illustrate different opportunities (prepare this in advance).

EXERCISES exercise 1. Understanding Social Enterprises

THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

• Understanding Social Enterprise Models

• Analysis of current youth center as a business

HELPFUL TIPS!

Facilitator’s notes

For examples and cases on different social enterprises in Ghana and the Northern Region, SE Ghana provides a good overview that can be found at:

https://seghana.net/our_membership/members-directory-members-only/?orgname1=&orgtype1=&region1=Northern&membtypes1=

The objective of this exercise is to give the participants an initial understanding of what a social enterprise can be and what that means.

OBJECTIVE description

1. Ask the participants to discuss if they know any social anterprises? What are they?

2. Ask the group to list keywords, values etc. that define a social enterprise and pit each keyword on a post it and pool them on the table.

3. Ask them to choose and use the keyworjds to

CASE - BAMBOO BIKES GHANA

youtube.com/watch?v=8YHH-Iq-0ac

make their own definition of a social enterprise.

4. Ask the group to present their definition.

EXERCISE 2 - Mapping the youth center’s activities

OBJECTIVE description

The objective for this exercise is to explore what activities the youth centers undertake already and nudge them to start seeing their activities as possible business opportunities for the YC. The five youth centers already have a lot of different activities, such as clean-up happenings, classes for youth, youth forum, games, training on vocational skills, radio discussions, sport activities, art workshops, entrepreneurship bootcamps, youth rallies and much more.

1. Ask the participants to map their current activities using the template below. Each petal of the flower represents an activity that might be a potential part of a future social enterprise. It might be useful to cluster activities and make more than one flower.

2. Ask the participants to present their flowers and have a discussion in plenary on what potential the different activities have as a “business” activity that the YC’s can take advantage of.

3. The participants can finish with selecting the most promising opportunities/activities and put them in a new flower and put this on the wall for use in later modules.

EXERCISE 3 - Assessing the youth organization as a potential social enterprise

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the youth center to make an overall analysis of the youth center in terms of becoming a social enterprise. Where are they now and what will need to change to achieve this?

To do this we introduce the spiderweb method, that allows the participants to self-assess how their organization performs on different parameters. This is done by evaluating the youth center on 8 different parameters; human resources, financial resources, physical resources, Goal & strategy, members/ volunteer activity and commitment, management, organization and activity level. The dotted circles indicate a level to which each parameter is scored.

HELPFUL TIPS!

Facilitator’s notes

When you present the model, remember to explain the 8 parametres well, to make sure all the participants know what each headline represents.

1. Hand out flipcharts where you have drawn the spider web. Ask the participants to assess and rate themselves within the 8 parameters.

2. Secondly, ask the participants to assess themselves on the same parameters using the question: Imagine that you are a social enterprise how do you perform on the 8 parameters?

3. Ask the groups to present their two spider webs on where they are now and where they are in terms of being to transforming into a social enterprise. This will inform them when they make their operational plans in module 7.

MODULE 1 - EXAMPLES

MODULE 2 – NEEDS & ASSETS

Module 2 is the first step in Generating a Promising Idea and as outlined in the introduction there are different influencers in coming up with a realistic idea: changes that occur in your society; a community’s needs and assets and the personal and collective means and resources that the YC members possess. Different ideas might bloom from different influences.

Change in society

Social entrepreneurs strive to create change in society, but they are also highly stimulated by changes around them. Due to this they search for change, respond to it and exploit it as an opportunity. Changes in society can create new community needs or community assets, relevant to be aware of when looking for promising ideas. An example could be that the delivery of 4G network has improved significantly in a district thus providing new opportunities for providing services based on Internet access. This could be a course, a facility etc. at the youth center.

Community needs

Community needs can be understood as the gaps between socially desirable conditions and the existing reality. The participants can search for the social community needs that they and the YCs can address. For an idea to be promising, the youth groups’ values and commitment to addressing a particular social need must be shared by enough key stakeholders to give the proposed venture some initial viability. The youth group must look beyond their personal references and search for social needs in the whole community. In relation to community needs this model focuses on youth related needs in the districts that the YC can work to address.

Community assets

When looking for social needs there is a risk of overemphasizing the negative. Looking for community

needs & Assets

• Changes in Society

• Community Needs

• Community Assets

• Personal & Collective Experience

assets too, will present the community in a new light and may inspire creative new ideas that would not be visible if the youth group looked at only needs. It is important to understand the tangible and intangible assets in a community as it can lead to the development of promising ideas. It will also give the youth a sense of efficacy and help them understand what resources they have available – and see their resources in a new light. It is closely linked to the personal and collective experiences of the group.

Individual and collective resources

In this context, the youth centers’ individual and collective resources refer to each members’ means, experiences, skills and other resources, and the collective pool of all the members’ resources. Personal experiences often motivate, inspire, or inform the idea generation process. Many successful new ventures ideas arise from the entrepreneurs’ education, work experience, hobbies or experiences in community. Dissatisfaction with the status quo often stimulate entrepreneurial creativity, encouraging social entrepreneurs to look for new approaches to problems and frustrations they have encountered personally or seen in society. Both negative and positive experiences can inspire to social entrepreneurial ideas. The youth group being a group of individuals with different personal experiences, make it necessary to share the experiences within the group to get an overall view of the collective experiences in the group. Also, they already share common experiences from their former work in the youth group.

“Means” refer to “The Bird in Hand Principle” from effectuation theory. It is about assisting the participants to find their own and shared pool of resources. When using the Bird-in-hand principle, starting a new venture is no longer a very risky act, but it is something the participants can do within the constraints and possibilities of their normal lives. You use your means at hand to come up with creative solutions. The means are also what the participants can use as ‘bricoleurs’.

Means are about more than just money!

There are three categories of means available to all human beings:

1. Who I am, which is about skills, strengths, traits, abilities and attributes.

2. What I know is about education, experience and expertise

3. Who I know is about one’s social networks

EXERCISE 1 - Change in society mapping

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to map what big or small changes they have observed over the past 2 years in their local community or society. This can support them when going through the ideation process and give them ideas to what they can and should address. The participants should look for both positive and negative changes as the positive changes might hold possibilities and the negative room for improvement and business ideas.

description

1. Divide the participants in groups and hand out two flip-charts: One for negative and one for positive changes. Ask them to brainstorm on changes in their local community or in the society that they have observed. They can have varying degrees of detail. E.g. More youth struggle to get a job, there are new possibilities for young farmers, IT is more accessible etc.

2. Ask the groups to put them on the wall and present them briefly in plenary.

Exercise 2 - Community Needs & Assets Map

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is to map what needs and assets there are in the participants’ community. Knowing the community needs can help the youth centers in identifying new business opportunities that have an existing demand/market and ensure that the business activities provide a solution to a social problem. Knowing the community assets will open up new opportunities as they understand what resources they have available and maybe also bring forth new ideas on how these assets can be utilized to support the YC and its activities.

Each group will map the community needs and assets based on the Community Mapping methodology.

description

Step 1 – Making the map

1. Explain to the participants that they are going to draw a picture of their community. To prepare for this put 2 or 4 flipcharts together together and give that to each group to draw the map. This picture will help all them see what their

community looks like; what assets do they have; what is absent and why? The picture will be used to analyze all the social and economic assets and needs in their community.

2. You may ask them to start the construction by representing the major road or path in the community, then perhaps the chief’s palace and then each participant to represent his/her house on the ground. At each level ask for agreements among the participants on the location of the house represented. Do not allow a few young men or young women to dominate the exercise. When everything has been represented ask for a general agreement on the fact that the picture on the ground reflects their community. When they have finished the map explain that you will now use it to discuss further. Make sure to give the map a title,date and indicate North and South.

Step 2. Discuss and identify needs and assets

1. Explain to the participants that you are going to discuss their community using the picture they have drawn of their community. You are going to ask questions and they will provide the answers and that there are no wrong answers. Everybody should feel free to express his/her views.

2. Ask some or all of the following questions depending on your interest and many more to deepen the discussions.

• What facilities do we have in our community? (boreholes, markets, schools, clinic) (assets)

• What is the state of the facilities (one after the other)? (assets)

• What benefits do we get from the facility? (assets)

• What difficulties do we have using the facility? (needs)

• Who uses the facility most? (men, women, girls, boys), who controls the use of the facility and why?

• Which social and economic infrastructure is not found in our community? (needs)

• Why don’t we have one? (needs)

• How do we normally access those services?

• In which ways does the facility contribute to increasing our income? (assets)

• How does the absence of the facility contribute to reducing our income? (needs)

• What can we do to change the situation?

• What intangible resources are do we have? (assets)

Step 3. Capturing main needs and assets

In this step the participants will look at their maps and reflect on the discussions.

1. Hand out two flipcharts titled “Needs” and “Assets” and post-it notes. Ask the participants to list the main community needs on post-its and put them on the flipchart. Ask them to do the same for the community assets. (Note to facilitator: These posts-its will be used in a later exercise)

2. Ask the participants to present their discussion and mapping focusing on what interesting changes there have been and whether there are relevant social needs and assets that they can continue working on and with.

Facilitator’s notes

The community map is done to identify needs and assets in the community.

But needs and assets are not just tangible physical objects so...

Remenber to ask or probe for assets or needs that are intangible such as support structures, networks, etc.

Exercise 3 – Knowing your individual resources OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to map and understand what personal and collective experiences they have and how they can be put to use, and also understand what means they have at their disposal.

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1. Introduce the concept of individual resources and what is understood by means and personal experiences.

2. Each participant will now reflect on what their means and experiences are and write them down You can use the means cards or chart from the entrepreneurship boot camp if they need guidance.

3. Each participant will make a resource board (half flipchart) and put it on the wall. It can be written, drawings, pictures etc. in a collage.

Exercise 5 – Using your means and assets to change problems and address needs

OBJECTIVE

Exercise 4 - Mapping the collective pool of resources

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The objective of this exercise is for the participants to understand their shared pool of resources helping them to understand their collective strengths and opportunities. Each participant has their individual means with which you can do so much. When pooled together it illustrates how much they have and can do together.

OBJECTIVE

1. Ask each participant to share his or her experiences and means.

2. The second step is for the group to make a shared means/resource/experience board that pools all their experience. Hand out a flipchart and ask them to pool it all on that and put it on the wall to be used in the coming exercise and modules.

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to link the changes in society, the community needs and assets and their collective resources. In other word, the participants will see how they can match their own resources and the community assets with the community needs and changes in society to see if they have resources or assets that can help solve the problem. This will give them a new perspective on means and possibilities, and later how to turn them into business opportunities.

description

1. Ask the participants to put the flip charts with changes in society and the community needs next to each other.

2. Now ask the participants to look at each change and need and see if there are any of their collective resources or community assets that they can use to change the problem or create a new opportunity with. They can move the asset post-its and resource post-its to the needs and change flipcharts according to where they are relevant.

3. Ask the participants to present the needs or changes that they have the resources or assets to address.

MODULE 2 - EXAMPLES

EXERCISE 2.1

EXERCISE 2.2

EXERCISE 2.3

MODULE 3 - MINDSET

• Opportunity Oriented Mindset

• “How can we” attitude

• Social Enterprise Attitude

• Bricolage

• Passion & Commitment

module 3 - mindset

Opportunity oriented mindset

Personal and collective resources, community needs, community assets, and change can stimulate promising ideas, but only if the social entrepreneur also adopts an opportunity-oriented mindset, actively looking for new possibilities to have significant positive social impact. As stated in module 2 social entrepreneurs often start by paying careful attention to what is going on around them. When they have identified important problems or difficulties in society, they start looking for opportunities to solve the issues. An opportunity-oriented mindset, being able to see opportunities everywhere, is crucial to social entrepreneurs to be able to find possible solutions to social community needs.

Social Enterprise Attitude

Social entrepreneurs often adopt an opportunityoriented mindset, actively looking for new possibilities to have significant positive social impact. Always seeking innovative solutions to unmet social needs. They are viewed as change agents, who act on discovered opportunities. They think very broadly about opportunities and focus on locally available resources. Social entrepreneurs are having a dual purpose with their business. They work hard to balance between making profit for the business to keep growing and making social impact on local society at the same time.

“How can we” attitude

Successful social entrepreneurs embody the “how can” attitude, particularly in the idea generation phase. Instead of saying “can we” as a very closed question with the possible answer “no”, they use the more open question “how can we”: How can we translate our experiences into broad social impact? How can we address a particular social need or make the most of existing social assets to improve society?

How can we capitalize on recent changes to create new opportunities for social impact?

Effective social entrepreneurs carry this orientation into the opportunity development process, engaging in continuous innovation, adaptation, analysis, and learning along the way.

Bricolage

MINDSET

• Opportunity Oriented Mindset

• “How can we” attitude

• Social Enterprise Attitude

• Bricolage

• Passion & Commitment

Together with the concept of effectuation (Sarasvathy) the concept bricolage is very useful in resource constrained environments. The original concept of bricolage was defined in 1967 by Levi-Strauss and the definition was short: “making do with what is at hand”. The Bricolage concept has been refined since then. One definition to be found these days is this: “social bricolage is a process which involves making do, the refusal to be constrained by limitation, improvisation, social value creation, stakeholder participation and persuasion” (Di Domenico, Tracey, & Haugh, 2010).

Passion and commitment

Working in a social enterprise is not like just having a job. It is more than a job, it is also about having a unique passion. A passion for a special part of the social enterprise or a passion about contributing to a social change in society. When being part of the social enterprise you can have a passion for a specific area. It can be that you have a special interest in fighting child marriages or ensuring a clean environment in the community. Or any other kind of passion. You can also have a passion about gathering and activating local youth and make them unite and contribute to social change together. You can also see yourself as a role model to local youth, to inspire and motivate others to contribute to social change as well.

At this stage it is relevant to bring in local role models to share and exemplify. It can be role models brought to the training to inspire and share knowledge. When being in contact with relevant role models, it can also be a good idea to make a video with each role model, as it could useful in future trainings.

EXERCISE 1 - Dreams and passion

OBJECTIVE description

1. Ask the participants to put their dream boards and the community needs and negative changes map next to each other. Is there a match between the needs and what you are passionate about?

The objective of this exercise is to nudge the participants to start imagining realizing what their dreams and passions are for the youth center – individually and collectively.

• If yes: Which ones matches and why? And what could you do with your resources to solve the needs?

• What needs do we have the passion to work on?

2. Provide flip charts, ask participants to capture their ideas and present in plenary.

1. The participants will make a passion and dreams board using different materials. Divide the participants into groups of 4-5 and hand out different materials such as magazines, markers, glue and scissors and ask them to make a dream board on one or two flipcharts that answers the question:

”What are their key passions and dreams for the youth center and the youth in their districts?”

description Exercise 2 - The crazy quilt

Facilitator’s notes

The participants are not supposed to find endless matches between their passions/ dreams and the needs and negative changes.

The task is to find 2 or 3 really good matches that they are truly passionate about.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is that the participants get an understanding and visualization of how they can use their dreams and passions to solve some of the community needs that they identified in Module 1.

There might not be any matches - than you have to discuss how to channel the matches into their missions.

Exercise 3 - How can we attitude?

OBJECTIVE

Having a ‘how can we’-attitude is essential for social entrepreneurs If they want to succeed. It is not something that you can get overnight, but some of the participants might already have it, and some to a lesser degree. But it is not something you are born with - it is something you can learn. Therefore, the objective of the exercise is to promote a ‘how can we’-attitude among the participants.

Exercise 4 - Creative bricolage

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the exercise is for the participants to get hands on experience with bricolage. Therefore, before introducing the concept of bricolage, the participants will get an exercise that illustrates how you can use what you have to create something new.

description

description

1. Place the community needs flipcharts next to each other and ask the participants to join round.

2. Ask the participants to look at all the needs/problems and ask “How can we…” to each of the problems. Ask them to consider their passions, experiences and the community assets when they try to turn the problems into solutions.

Example: If you ask a class: “Can this lady in the wheelchair drive a car?” The most common response will be a “no”. But if you ask; “How can this disabled lady drive a car?” then a creative process is started where you find solutions together.

1. Introduce the participants to the concept of bricolage and how it relates to the YC solving problems.

2. Divide the participants into groups of 4 or 5.

3. Hand out specific materials to each group (e.g. soda cans, water bottles/sachets etc.)

4. Ask each group to use their imagination and resources to find a new use of the materials by combining or redesigning them.

5. Ask the participants to show each what they have created.

6. Give the participants examples of how people have upcycled materials that are otherwise seen as useless (upcycling). This needs to be prepared in advance.

Exercise 5 – Bricoleurs - using resources in new ways

Exercise 6 – Key problems, issues and opportunities

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the exercise is for the participants to understand the concept bricolage and support them to start seeing themselves as bricoleurs in their own context. Most of the YCs have very little resources so it can be very helpful if they are able to see what might seem as useless objects and turn it into something new and useful.

description

1. Ask them to map/identify what resources, means and materials they have access to – or could get access to by using their networkand ask them to discuss how they can use the resources to achieve their dreams/passion or to solve some of the community needs/YC problems. New and surprising business opportunities may arise!

2. the participants will present and the other group can ginve inputs to the ideas.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to define and sum up the ideas and opportunities that have come up during the first three modules. The identified opportunities/issues need to be relevant for the youth center and relevant for a social enterprise to engage in.

description

1. Ask the participants in groups to sum up what ideas and opportunities have come up during the last modules?

2. Ask the participants to discuss/analyze the ideas based on some of the following criteria:

• Do we have a shared passion for this?

• Do we have the relevant resources at hand?

• How will it benefit the YC?

• How will it benefit the youth in the district?

• Does it hold a value creation opportunity?

3. Ask the participants to rank the ideas or select the 3-5 best ideas that they can continue working on in the ideation phase. The ideas can be ranked using the template in the Work Book page 24.

Facilitator’s notes - building a ”HOw can we attitude”!

To encourage a we can attitude make sure that you ask: how can we... and get the particpants to answer: we can....

You can also make up a catchy slogan or chant that we instill a we can feeling!!

Exercise 7 – Stakeholder mapping and analysis

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to be aware of what other stakeholders there are in this area and not least whether they can support or impede the realization of your idea/business.

stakeholder mapping

description

1. Ask participants to go into groups and discuss what stakeholders can help you in building a successful Youth Center, and what stakeholders may hinder you in achieving your goals.

2. List individuals, organizations and institutions that are interested in and/or affected by the identified problem/idea/issue.

3. Identify and discuss their main interests and influence on the problem/idea/issue.

stakeholder interest influence total score

score THE STAKEHOLDERS ACCORDING TO:

Low - 1

Medium - 2

High - 3

MODULE 3 - EXAMPLES

EXERCISE 3.1

EXERCISE 2.4

EXERCISE 2.6

MODULE 4

SOCIAL IMPACT

• Mission, Vision and Values

• What is our specific objective for change?

• What do we need to achieve the change?

MODULE 4 – SOCIAL IMPACT

A ‘social enterprise’ is any enterprise that prioritizes transformative social impact while pursuing financial sustainability. Social enterprises can have nonprofit or for-profit legal structures, but they must have two key elements:

1. A social impact mission: a clear goal to improve lives or the environment

2. A business model: a strategy for how an enterprise will create, deliver and capture value in a sustainable way

The current Youth Centers have their mission, vision and strategy papers that were updated in 2020/21. This also includes descriptions of their organizational setup and management. Their current missions and visions all reflect a desire to positively change the opportunities for youth in their districts as a youth organization. They also have their – more or less utilized – resource mobilization strategies.

The strategies were made in a context of being a Youth Organization, which differs from being a youth organization run as a social enterprise. Therefore, the youth will start to revise their current mission and vision to correspond to being a social enterprise and also set specific objectives for change.

Having this will set a framework for the Youth Center to further define what they will need in order to achieve this change, and inform the idea generation process following this module. It will also inform how they will need to setup their social enterprise business model, which will be done in module 6 to 8.

It might be difficult for the participants to understand how and what makes a good objective/strategy. Therefore, it could be relevant to invite a local social enterprise to share what they have and why (and how they started). Otherwise, it is recommended that the facilitator presents a local case to the participants.

SOCIAL IMPACT

• Mission, Vision and Values

• What is our specific objective for change?

• What do we need to achieve the change?

Exercise 1 - Revising the mission and vision

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the first exercise is for the participants to reflect on their current vision and set a new vision and mission that corresponds with their future organizational setup as a social enterprise.

description

Step 1:

1. To get the participants started on working with their current and new mission and vision, ask the participants to briefly present their current mission and vision and explain:

• why this is the mission/vision,

• whether it’s still representative and

• if they are achieving it.

THE VISION TREE

VALUE

CLOUDS

vision & mission

PROBLEMS AND NEEDS

Facilitator’s notes

To prepare for this module hang up the vision tree and prepare post-its and markers for the participants to write and draw on. Introduce it to the participants: The vision tree symbolizes who you are, who you want to be and what you want to achieve. It captures the problems and needs that you as youth has, the vision you have for change, the values that define you and the change objectives or paths that will get you to your goals.

Step 2:

In the next step the participants will work on a value word cloud, that will start a reflection and discussion on what values they have now and what values they believe will reflect their new social enterprise.

1. Give the participants post-its and ask them to put the values that they feel represent the current YC the best on the left cloud of the vision tree..

2. Ask the participants to imagine having a social enterprise that seeks to have a social impact: What values would you like members, outsiders and yourselves to use when describing your future youth center? The participants will place these words on the right value word cloud.

3. Out of all the values on both clouds the participants will now choose the 8-12 value words they feel will and should represent the YC going forward. These values should remain on the vision tree while the remove the others.

step 3

1. Based on the first two steps ask the participants to go back to their vision and mission and change or refine it into their future vision and mission.

2. Ask the participants to write down the mission and vision and hang it on the vision tree

Exercise 2 – Setting change objectives

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to develop 2-3 specific objectives of change that will guide their work as a social enterprise. It will be based on and reflect the new vision and mission. What impact do they want to see long-term and how can that be broken down into specific objectives?

description

1. Ask the participants to revisit the initial ideas outlined in module 3 exercise 6 as they can inform the objectives of the social enterprise.

2. Ask the participants to choose 3 key problems/ needs/changes and put them at the roots of the vision tree.

3. For the participants to find real solutions support the groups in identifying the root causes to the problems and choose of of these to develop a change objective for.

4. Ask the participants to discuss the following questions and put keywords on post-its that they put on the vision tree’s trunk and branches:

• Who does it benefit?

• How can we do it?

• Who will do it?

• What is the goal(s)?

• When will it be done or completed?

5. Based on the answers facilitate the participants to develop a change objective for each problem. Remember that it should be feasible within their means, resources and passion and that it appeals to the youth.

Facilitator’s notes

When the YC work on causes, who will benifit, how they will solve it, and goals, it is very important that you support them in being as specific as possible.

The more generic and broad it is the harder it will be to understand, buy into and operationalise.

This also goes for the change objectives that should have a call for action and be relateable and feasable.

See an example on the next page!

Exercise 3 - What do we need to do to activate the desired change? OBJECTIVE

It is essential that the change objectives – while being something to aspire to – are achievable and within their means. The objectives will also inform their coming business model and the key activities in the business (which they will generate ideas for in the next module). Therefore, this last step is for the participants to make an overall outline/plan of what is needed from them – and possibly others – to be able to succeed. The facilitators must assist in assessing the feasibility of this or “nudge” the participants to re-evaluate the change objectives.

description

1. Roleplay: Put the participants in groups of 4-5 and tell that they are going to roleplay their change objectives to reflect on them and possibly improve them. The role play will be acted backwards – or in reverse – meaning that they will start by portraying the ideal situation (the goal:

“In this community the youth thrive because of xxxx. But it wasn’t always like this. Before the youth in the community experienced xxxxx, but then xxx decided to change xxx and did xxx together with xxx, and xxx happened…

2. After the role plays meet in plenary and give feedback on whether it sounds like a fairy tale or a true story, is there something they need to think about, change, are the actions appropriate, etc.? (assessment of the change objectives and actions to activate change)?

LOOK HERE!

stage gate exercise

Ask the participants to take the revised vision, mission and vision tree back to their Youth Center and present it to their colleagues. It is important that the it is grounded in the whole YC and not just the participants.

They should also present their suggested change objectives and get inputs and changes from these from their YC colleagues.

They can make any adjustments needed and present them at the next workshop.

MODULE 4 - VISION TREE EXAMPLES

PROBLEMS AND ROOT CAUSES

CHANGE OBJECTIVES

VALUE CLOUDS

VISION AND VISION

CHANGE OBJECTIVES

PROBLEMS AND ROOT CAUSES

THE VISION TREE

MODULE 5 IDEATION PROCESS

• Mapping Ideas

• Qualifying Ideas

• Selecting Ideas

MODULE 5 –

IDEATION PROCESS

The purpose of Module 5 is for the participants to identify and select activities or products that can create revenue in their youth centers. Or, in other words – come up with a range of business ideas

The aim is not to end up with an endless list of “what could be fun to have” but rather activities and products that are in line with the needs of the youth in the district (the customers or users), their current experiences, the means available, the fit with their objectives, and the “passion” of the youth running and using the centers. Thus, this module builds on the previous 4 modules and the components and issues identified here.

Mapping ideas

Mapping ideas will be done within a frame of what the participants have identified in Module 1 capturing their existing activities, the community needs and assets identified in module 2, the bricolage thinking introduced in module 3 and the mission and objectives for change outlined in module 4.

Thus, the ideas selected might be both existing ideas/activities, revisions of activities and new activities. The important focus is to map ideas that the users will need (and buy) and which can generate revenue for the youth center, while also contributing to the YCs social mission.

Qualifying Ideas

Based on the initial mapping the participants will have time to go into further detail and explore the feasibility of the idea: What is the value in this idea for the young users, who are the users, do we have the required resources and means, and what will it take to implement?

Selecting Ideas

IDEATION PROCESS

• Mapping Ideas

• Qualifying Ideas

• Selecting Ideas

Based on the idea qualification the participants will select the most feasible and viable ideas to continue working on. The ideas that have been qualified can be rated after their relevance to the users, the available resources and experience and based on the rating 2-3 main ideas can be chosen to prototype, test and implement. These ideas are also what will feed into the operating model’s key activities, the resource requirements and the YC business plan.

Exercise 1 – Setting the frame

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is for the participants to recap what they have gone through until now and ensure that they incorporate elements identified and described in earlier modules in their new ideas.

description

1. Introduce the participants to the Design thinking model (page 6) and how this workshop and module relates to that and how that can help them when developing and implementing ideas.

2. Ask the participants to review briefly what the already have for their frame:

• the activity flower from module 1,

• the community needs, assets and experiences from module 2,

• And the key problems and ideas outlined in Module 3 and

• their change objectives from Module 4.

Exercise 2 – Idea Brainstorm

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the brainstorm is to ensure that the participants have an open brainstorm session where all ideas can come out before they start to focus on specific ideas. The brainstorm is combined with constructing/ modelling the idea, to promote thinking out of the box and new ways of seeing the ideas. It also relates to prototyping in design thinking.

description

1. Divide participants in groups and ask them to choose one youth community need that they would like to make an open brainstorm on: “What can the youth center do to help solve this need?”

2. Ask them to brainstorm for 4 minutes and put the ideas on a piece of paper.

3. When the brainstorm is done ask them to construct the ideas out of creative materials of their own choice.

4. Ask the participants if the idea has changed during the creative process and in what way?

5. This exercise can be repeated with new groups and new problems, so that they have a chance to try different ideas and different partners.

Exercise 3 – The Idea Pool

OBJECTIVE

The idea pool exercise should help the participants to further qualify ideas and build upon them, so that they have a good basis for choosing their idea. This exercise can be combined with exercise 2 or you can choose to work with one of them depending on the participants and the idea process.

description

1. Keep the same groups who brainstormed on ideas. Ask the participants to put all the papers with ideas in front of them in an “idea pool”.

2. Each participant now picks one idea. Give them one minute to write/draw all the inputs, ideas, associations that they get when thinking of this idea.

3. After one minute they all rotate their papers to the left and do the same for the idea they are now given.

4. When all ideas have been around the circle ask the participants to put the ideas back into the idea pool. Now they discuss the ideas and contributions together.

Facilitator’s notes

Taking the ideas to a new creative level

To support the development and qualification of the ideas you can ask the participants to create/build the ideas together using the creative materials. This can give new discussions and perspectives on an ideas possiblities and challenges.

These idea prototypes can also be used at the Idea Fair.

Exercise 4 – Sustainable Ideas

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exercise is to ensure that the participants qualify their ideas before selecting which ones to test and implement. The exercise will assist them in selecting the most feasible and sustainable ideas.

description

In this activity, we use a revised NAF technic. NAF stands for Novelty, Attractiveness and Feasibility. For our purpose we have added: Passion and Change Objectives

1. Ask the participants to go through each of their many ideas from the ideation phase.

2. Each participant must reflect about each of the ideas using these guidelines:

To what level would you say it has:

• Novelty (is this a new idea in the context they operate or a revision of an existing idea?)

• Attractiveness (would this idea make any value to somebody, or fit any youth related community need, would it attract users and would they be willing to pay for it?)

• Feasibility (is this idea possible for you to do? Does it fit your resources?)

• Passion: Does the youth center and its users have a passion for this idea?

• Does it fit with the youth centers change objectives and mission?

3. Score each idea point from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest).

4. Ask the participants to select the most sustainable ideas to continue implementing (explain criteria: What makes these ideas the most sustainable?). The other ideas can be used later in the YCs as they progress in their setup.

the idea pool - illustration

IDEA1

Person1input Person2input Person3input ...

IDEA2

PersonPerson1input 2inputPerson3input ...

IDEA5

PersonPerson1input 2inputPerson3input ...

IDEA4

Person1input Person2input

Person3input ...

Novelty Attractiveness feasibility passion change objectives total score

EXERCISE 5 – The Idea Fair

OBJECTIVE

The participants have come up with different ideas and qualified them. The idea fair aims at giving the participants inputs from the facilitators and the other participants and give the groups a chance to sell their products to other likeminded youth. You can also invite external resource persons to give inputs to the ideas.

Facilitator’s notes STOP UNFEASIBLE IDEAS!

When the particpants present their 3 best ideas at the idea fair it is extremely important that you as facilitators probe into the feasibility of the idea and make sure that it is either adjustment or stopped if it is not.

Otherwise time and opportunity will be wasted for the YC.

Before making the business model make sure they have resources, means, capacity etc. to actually carry it out.

stage gate exercise

The partipants have to hold an ”Idea Fair” when they get back to present their ideas and ground it in the youth center.

Everyone needs to buy into the ideas or they will have to be revised.

This a prototyping or testing the ideas.

description

1. 1. Ask the participants to create a prototype of each of their ideas. This can be done in writing, drawing or using the creative materials.

2. 2. Ask the participants to arrange their prototypes on a display

3. 3. The participants will now pitch their ideas to the remaining participants, facilitators (and resource person if relevant)

4. 4. The other participants will get to ask questions, make suggestions and give inputs. As facilitator make sure to ask questions that also relate to the feasibility of the idea based on your knowledge of context and the youth center’s resources.

5. 5. Afterwards the groups will have time to sum up the inputs given and make adjustments to their idea/prototype.

LOOK HERE!

stage gate exercise

It is very important that the ideas that the participants choose are grounded in a real need and that they are plausible. Therefore, the participants will make a short “market analysis/prototype test” with their key target users.

Ask the participants to pick their top 3 ideas that they will share with their fellow peers on the most relevant social media platform. The post should include a photo of the idea and a short description of it. Furthermore, the post should ask from response from the potential users:

• Is this an activity that they are attracted to and would use at the YC?

• Would they be willing to contribute themselves or pay user fees?

MODULE 5 - EXAMPLES

EACH PARTICIPANT GETS A HAND ON THEIR BACK. NOW EVERYONE WALK AROUND AND WRITE AN APPRECIATION ON EACH OTHERS BACKS. STAND IN A CIRCLE AND READ THE COMMENTS ON YOUR NEIGHBOURS BACK, OUT LOUD TO PERSON IN FRONT OF THE CROWD.

EXERCISE 3.3

EXERCISE 3.4

ENERGIZER - CLAP ON THE BACK

MODULE 6 - OPERATING MODEL

• Key Activities

• Support Systems

• Organisational Structures

MODULE

6

–OPERATING MODEL

Every worthwhile opportunity needs to be supported by a business model. A business model should include an effective operating model as well as a viable resource strategy. This module focuses on the operating model, whereas module 7 focus on the resource strategy. The two parts of the business model has been separated for analytical reasons with the operating model coming first. Resource needs are determined on the basis of the operating model, as this model unfolds the resources needed to create the intended social impact.

Key activities

The operating model describes how the social impact objectives and activities will be implemented in practice. The model breaks down the social business opportunity into needed activities and trace a chain of activities from inputs to outcomes, identifying every necessary step in between. For each business opportunity you will need to find the activities you have to do and in which order you will do it, with the first activity placed to the left.

1 2 3 4 5 KEY ACTIVITIES

Chain of activities, each arrow representing an activity

Below you see an example, showing the chain of activities in relation to the Entrepreneurship Training.

Support systems

OPERATING MODEL

• Key Activities

• Support Systems

• Organisational Structures

To devise a resource-smart operating structure, the social entrepreneur should consider the needed support system.

After having identified the key activities it is necessary to make structural decisions. You need to ask yourself which capabilities you have already, which you will need to develop and which you will need to get from others. Others can be affiliates, partners, suppliers, volunteers etc.

To assure that you devise a resource-smart structure it might be worth imagining a range of different possibilities. Some capabilities can be delivered in multiple ways and it can be valuable to consider a few different possibilities. You might come up with a better solution by using your creativity and imagination to consider different combinations. Furthermore, looking for the cheapest solution is not always leading you to the most efficient use of scarce resources if this solution does not fit your mission or leaves you with a low quality.

Connected to the chain of activities you have a chain of support structures. For each activity you have to consider what kind of support you need to complete the activity.

1 2 3 4 5 KEY ACTIVITIES

1 2 3 4 5 KEY ACTIVITIES

1 2 3 4 5 SUPPORT STRUCTURES

Chain of support structures, in relation to the key activity chain

Below you see an example, showing the chain of support structures in relation to the Entrepreneurship Training.

OUTREACH AND MOBILISATION SELECT

OUTREACH TO

1 2 3 4 5 SUPPORT STRUCTURES

1 2 3 4 5 ORGANISATION

The previous example on entrepreneurship training is extended with organization plans below:

ESTABLISH AND TRAIN VSLA

PLAN BOOT CAMP HOLD BOOT CAMP

3 FOLLOW UP TRAININGS MENTORING

KEY ACTIVITIES

SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURS TO PASS IT ON IN

VILLAGE AGENTS, PARENTAL SUPPORT, E4L PROGRAM,

E4L PROGRAM, FORMER PARTICIPANTS, LOCAL MEN-

E4L PROGRAM, FORMER PARTICIPANTS, LOCAL

SUPPORT STRUCTURES

E4L PROGRAM, FORMER PARTICIPANTS, ENTREPRENEUR

Organizational Structures

To make sure that you will actually be able to handle all the key activities and to coordinate with all the players in the support system you need to set up an organization for your social enterprise. You need to know who is responsible for what activity and who coordinates the activities? I addition you also need to know who has to work closely together in a team and kind of management you will need.

The organization relates directly to the chains of key activities and support structures as shown below.

OUTREACH AND MOBILISATION SELECT

OUTREACH TO

ESTABLISH AND TRAIN VSLA

PLAN BOOT CAMP HOLD BOOT CAMP

3 FOLLOW UP TRAININGS MENTORING

KEY ACTIVITIES

SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURS TO PASS IT ON IN

VILLAGE AGENTS, PARENTAL SUPPORT, E4L PROGRAM,

E4L PROGRAM, FORMER PARTICIPANTS, LOCAL MEN-

E4L PROGRAM, FORMER PARTICIPANTS, LOCAL

SUPPORT STRUCTURES

E4L PROGRAM, FORMER PARTICIPANTS, ENTREPRENEUR

SET UP ENTREPRENEURSHIP CORRDINATION

ENSURE YC HAVE 2 VILLAGE AGENTS, COLLABORA-

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TEAM RESPONSIBLE

ORGANISATION

ECT RESPONSIBLE TOGETHER WITH E4L (HOLD

YC (ECT) SETUP ENTREPRENEUR HUB TO FACILITATE.

Exercise 1 –Activity breakdown

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this activity is for the participants to break down their business opportunities and identify the activities they will have to do and in which order to do them. This will provide them with a better and more operational idea of the process/ activities.

description

1. Hand out the template in Annex 2 and ask the participant to define and break down the activities needed to succeed for each of their business opportunities identified in module 5. You can show them the above example where “Entrepreneurship trainings” have been broken down.

2. For each business opportunity ask the participants to consider in which order you will need to do the activities and make a chain of activities or simply just write. The participants can also write down the activities on a piece of paper in the right order instead of using the template.

3. The participants will present the chain of activities in plenary for inputs and ideas.

Exercise 2 –Capability chart

OBJECTIVE

Each business opportunity requires specific capabilities to carry it out successfully. Therefore, the participants will need to create a capability chart/ map that can show them if they have the needed capabilities.

description

1. Hand out a flipchart and ask the participants to make write all the capabilities they have in their youth group. They can also look at the resources/assets/means that they identified in module 2.

These questions can guide them:

• What kind of activities do you have capabilities to run in-house?

• Do you for example have a trained journalist or accountant in your team or people who can do some kind of vocational training or entrepreneurship training?

Exercise 3 – Matching capabilities with your activities

Exercise 4 –Getting your support

OBJECTIVE description

In this exercise the participants will explore whether or not they have the capabilities needed to succeed with their business opportunities by analyzing what is needed in each step in the activity chains and assess whether or not they have the resources and capabilities.

1. Ask the participants to consider each activity on the chain of activities from exercise 1 according to the following questions:

• Do you have the capability to do this task yourself in your social enterprise? (use the knowledge from exercise 2)

• Could anyone else do this activity better than you, if so, who would that be? It is good to consider a few different options for each activity.

• Consider which activities are the most important (mark them with a star). Check if you have capabilities to do these most important activities yourself. If you don’t, consider if you should develop this capability in your organization or if it still feasible. It might be important to keep control of this crucial activity.

The objective of this activity is to help the youth centers to establish what support structures each activity requires, what they are able to do in-house and where they need help. This will ensure that the plans are as realistic as possible.

OBJECTIVE description

1. In the previous exercise the participants mapped what they are able to do themselves and thus what support structures they have internally. In this exercise, ask the participants which activities are you able to do yourself, and which will you need others to do?

2. For each activity be specific about whom you need to do the activities. This will give you a list of partners or suppliers that will be part of your support system, and who you can start engaging with to fulfill your plans.

HELPFUL TIPS!

It is a good idea to take out the example of the entrepreneurship activity and show what support structures could look like in the context. You can hand out a flowchart for support structures for them to work in.

(Annex 3)

Exercise 5 –Organizing effectively

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this activity is to initiate a process where the participants rethink their organization to ensure that it matches and supports the mission and intended activities in the best possible way.

Exercise 6 –yearly plans

OBJECTIVE

description

1. Ask the participants to consider how they need to be organized to succeed with all the activities from exercise 1 and to be able to coordinate with the needed support system from exercise

3: Do you need a management? Do you need some teams to be responsible for specific activities?

2. Based on what they have outlined in relation to the activity chains ask the participants to draw an organizational chart of the organization as you see in the future. Are there changes from how you are organized now? How do you ensure that specific roles and responsibilities covered?

3. Ask the participants to present their organizational needs based on the activities and their new suggested organizational chart for inputs and discussion in plenary.

HELPFUL TIPS!

When starting up a new business it is important to realize that it is not possible to do everything from day one. It is common to start small and scale up as the business generates a surplus. The objective of this exercise is to support the participants to develop a manageable and realistic plan for implementation. It will only be an initial draft at this stage, but the participants are expected to keep working on it and revise it continually (with support from E4L staff).

description

1. 1. Ask the participants to brainstorm, discuss and define what their performance targets could be for the first three years. What kind of activities do you run in the 3-year period? Does it relate to the change objectives and mission?

2. 2. Based on the defined targets ask the participants to make a timeline of their expected targets and activities in the three-year period. What do you expect to accomplish in each of the first three years? Do you have specific success criteria? The “Year 1 to 3 Plan” is in the work Book.

It is a good idea to take out the example of the entrepreneurship activity and show what organization elements could look like in the context. You can hand out a flowchart for organization for them to work in for each of their activity chains.

X. YEAR 1 PLAN

want to work on?

activity or change objective you

What is the key

when it will be done

step? State what it is,

What is the first

and by who State what it is,

year 1?

and by who State what it is,

when it will be done

Key activity or objective step 1 step

done and by who State what it is,

when it will be

when it will be done

and by who

and by who State what it is,

when it will be done

for this activity for

What are the success criteria

2 step 3 step 4 step 5

Success critera

EXERCISE 6.1-6.5

MODULE 6 - EXAMPLES

MODULE 6 - OPERATING MODEL

MODULE 7 - resource strategy

• Identify Resource Requirements

• People & Things

• Financial Assets & Needs

• Resource Mobilisation Plan

MODULE 7 –RESOURCE STRATEGY

Two essential components in a business model is the operating model that outlines what activities do we have; what structures are needed to support that; and how do we need to organize to implement these activities? This was developed in module 6.

The other essential component is having a viable resource strategy to support your business. Without that the operating model cannot create value. The two needs to correspond and ensure that is a plausible model where the resource strategy reinforces the effectiveness of the operating model.

Thus, module 7 builds on the operating model and exercises introduced in Module 6.

Module 7 focuses on what resources you will need to run the business and how to make a plan for mobilizing the resources. Fundamentally, the social enterprise needs ‘people’ and ‘things’ to start up or go forward.

People have intangible resources such as skills, knowledge, network, time, credentials etc.

‘Things’ are understood as the resources that people need or use e.g. space, equipment. For the social enterprise both types of resources can sometimes be attained without money, so the resource strategy is more than a financial strategy. 1 2 3 4 5 PEOPLE 1 2 3 4 5 THINGS

the 3 steps

RESOURCE STRATEGY

• Identify Resource Requirements

• People & Things

• Financial Assets & Needs

• Resource Mobilisation Plan

This module is divided into 3 steps on how to identify the resources available and the resources needed to set up the business and plan to run it sustainably.

Step One – Identify Resource Requirements

To develop a resource strategy, participants need to identify what resource requirements and assets they have based on their operating model. This will be done by differentiating between ‘people’ resources needed and available and ‘things’ that are needed and available.

Step Two – Defining the start-up costs

Based on the identified needed resources the participants will develop a startup budget (first 6-12 months). This will ensure that they have a realistic overview of what they will need, what their expenses will be and income/assets they have or will need to fund the operation.

Compare What You Need with What You Already Have To Determine Your Resource Gap. If starting a social enterprise from the base of an existing organization, it might be possible to tap into resources from that organization to get started.

By subtracting what is what is needed from what is available, you can identify resource gaps—things you need to acquire (things) or develop (people, partnerships, supporters).

Apart from a start-up budget the participants will create their fundraising targets, a shopping list and a cultivation list.

These are the three concrete end products of the resource assessment. The first is an overview of the resources needed, the second is a shopping list, which includes the resources you will use cash to acquire. Be as specific as possible about the characteristics you are looking for; it will help you shop. Finally, make a cultivation list of the resources you need to develop, but can’t buy, or at least not easily.

(Work Book p. 60)

Step 3 – Resource mobilization plan

As the participants know their resource needs and costs – or their operational model as outlined in module 6 - it is time to develop a resource mobilization plan.

How to generate resources (both people and things) to cover operational structure and ensure that it can evolve?

It is probably necessary to accept that the activities in the YC probably won’t be able to create the revenue you need to run and evolve the YC. Therefore, it is necessary for participants have to look at different creative options for creating revenue. This is where participants have to become bricoleurs and see if they can use what they have in new ways to generate income.

When developing the resource strategy there are a number of relevant questions participants have to ask themselves: How many staff and volunteers will be necessary for successful service delivery? Can we attract staff with the right skills at the proposed levels of compensation? Can we recruit, train and manage the required volunteers? What in-kind donations do our model need? Who might be willing to pay for our services and products? Who might be willing to donate to subsidize it? Are the revenue streams aligned with our mission?

CONSIDER!

Should we charge the intended beneficiaries?

Many social entrepreneurs are reluctant to charge their primary beneficiaries, especially when the beneficiaries are poor or are seen as deserving the benefit. This reluctance is morally appropriate in some cases, but it can also be patronizing and paternalistic. In Chapter 1, we noted that one of the trends in social entrepreneurship is encouraging people to take responsibility for addressing their own problems. Sometimes charging a fee, even a small one, can add to people’s sense of empowerment and responsibility.

Charging fees screens out those who aren’t serious. Those who choose to pay a fee tend to have a greater commitment.

Finally, charging a fee opens us to a market discipline that can be helpful. If no one will pay, we may not be delivering the value we think we are. Paying also gives beneficiaries more right to complain than if they receive free services. Creative structures can be developed to address affordability issues. These structures include sliding scales (with lower fees for poorer people), scholarships, and deferred payment.

Inspiration for mobilizing resources

There are different ways for social enterprises to mobilize resources. Here are some of the options:

Build partnerships and alliances

When resources are scarce or hard to mobilize, as is often the case in a start-up stage, it may be wise to build resource-based partnerships with others that have (perhaps under-utilized) resources of the kind required. This could be partnering with E4L to provide the training in a bootcamp, a local bank to provide VSLA boxes, a school or mosque to provide space, or the DA providing venues, or the local radio to advertise for the youth center. Or it could be borrowing/sharing equipment that is needed, e.g. printer, tablets, etc. Remember that partnerships may come with trade-offs that participants have to weigh – are they in line with the objectives and what are the risks involved?

Attract donations or sponsorships

It is possible to find donations or sponsorships from people, institutions or businesses that are sympathetic to your mission. It can be in the form of cash, products, goods or services. A local established business man/woman might be willing to support entrepreneur boot camps, or the local stationary shop might be willing to donate supplies to the center or give reduced prices.

Volunteers and in-kind donations

Volunteers are one of the YCs main resources and they can significantly reduce the cash need for a social enterprise. It is important to be aware of fact that there are risks related to over relying on volunteer work. There may be certain critical tasks/positions where efficiency and continuity weighs in. Volunteering or in-kind donations may also be from external people. E.g. the local business man/woman who volunteers and mentor new entrepreneurs or the local teacher who has study clubs every week, or the local contractor donating left over materials.

Payments from users and members

It is necessary to decide whether or not to charge users or members of the YC/SE for services. This could be membership fees, payment for using e.g. computer/internet, or for receiving trainings. The users are –basically – the customers. Do you feel that they should contribute, or do you want to find a business model where everything is free? Which requires that that your organization needs to find more resources.

Produce and sell products

One of the youth center’s activities may also involve some production. For instance, training in vocational skills create a product (e.g. beads) that can be sold to support the running of the center. Or collecting plastics or waste that can be sold to. It might also be upcycled to new products – e.g. producing lamps from tins or soda cans. Think creatively!

Sell your services to possible other customers

The YC might also have more intangible products to sell in the form of skills or services. This could be carrying out a survey for the DA or an NGO, training other VSLA groups at a fee, or doing radio programs on specific issues. The sky is the limit – it all depends on how participants perceive their own capabilities as a marketable asset.

Exercise 1 – Identify Your Resource Requirements

OBJECTIVE

In this exercise the participants will outline their resource requirements based on the breakdown of activities made in module 6 that focused on activities, structures and organization. In this exercise they will add breakdowns on people and things needed.

description

1. Ask the participants to find their exercise from module 6 and draw (or give handout from annex 6 & 7) for people and things? They should answer the questions? What in-house people/ skills/knowledge do we need specifically for each “sub-activity” and what external people do we need? You can see the example of the “Entrepreneurship boot camp” below.

2. Ask the participants to make a full list from their activities on their requirements that are separated into need to have, nice to have, love to have. E.g. need to have: Trainers and materials, like to have: Creative training materials, love to have: Computer and internet access for searches etc. (WB p. 57 )

KEY ACTIVITIES

6 VOLUNTEERS FOR ECT, NETWORK, MEMBERS, OPINION LEADERS

COMMUNICATION, TRANSPORT

ECT, VILLAGE AGENTS, E4L, ROLE MODELS EQUIPMENTSPONSORS

PEOPLE

VSLA BOX, TRAINING MATERIALS, TRANSPORT

ECT, E4L FACILITATORS, ROLE MODELS, SPONSORS

ECT, E4L ROLE MODELS, MENTORS, SPONSORS

YC (ECT), E4L, LOCAL BUSINESSES, SCHOOLS, PARTNERS, DA, COORDINATOR

VENUE, MATERIALS, ACCOMODATION,

TRAINING MATERIALS

THINGS

VENUE MATERIALS (PAPER, FLIPCHARTS, COM-

Exercise 2 – Defining Your Start-Up Costs

OBJECTIVE

Defining startup costs and making budgets are part of the financial plan for the YC and will support the participants in developing a realistic business plan where available funds can cover the expected resources. In this exercise the participants will develop a startup budget and an initial budget fo running costs.

description

Start-up costs can be separated into two categories:

Assets: What is owned or will own and can use in the long term. Assets can be sold during difficult times or can be used as collateral when applying for loans. Most assets are once off purchases and the majority of business start-up costs will be on assets. Typical start-up assets include property, equipment, furniture, and materials. Cash in-hand when the business starts can also be considered an asset.

Expenses: These are the recurring fees and services that cannot be resold later. Typically is it necessary to spend money on expenses at the start of the business before an income is being generated. Typical examples include licenses, borrowing costs, set up for utilities, promotion etc.

1. Shopping list: Ask the participants to make a shopping list of the things they will need to buy using cash. Some resources can be acquired in other ways. But this list contains what cannot be donated, found, made etc.(WB p. 59)

2. Cultivation list: This list will show what they need to get or develop but can’t buy. (WB p. 60)

3. Give the participants the template for a startup budget (WB p. 58) and ask them to look at the requirements identified in exercise one. Which ones do we need to get to start up, and which

ones can wait to later, and how much will they cost? Support the participants in filling out the budget.

4. The participants will present the budget and get inputs.

5. After that ask them to fill out the running cost budget.

Start up budget

Monthly operating budget

facilitators notes

It is very important that you explain what goes into a start up budget and what goes into a running cost budget. Remember that they should include all revenues and costs!

Be critical of their budgets - this is where you really try out whether their enterprises can be sustainable - how long it will take for them to be sustainable - or whether they need to re-plan their activities to fit their resources.

Exercise 3 – Making a resource mobilization plan

OBJECTIVE

Knowing the resource requirements is the basis of making the resource mobilization plan that shows resources needed, how to get them, when and from whom. Based on the identified resources and costs related made in exercise 1 and 2 the participants will now discuss and outline where, how and when they will get the needed resources. This plan is a more long-term plan than what is covered in the start-up costs and it will also cover “immaterial” resources such as people.

1. To get the participants started ask them to brainstorm in groups of 4-5 people on possible creative ways to generate resources for the youth center. Each group will then present their ideas to each to share and inspire each other.

2. The first step focuses on what and how. For each key activity and the related resources needed ask the participants to discuss what possible avenues they have to mobilize the specific resources.

3. Ask the participants to fill out a flip chart for each activity which is divided into 6 categories: 1) Donation/sponsorship, 2) Volunteers and in-kind donations, 3) Payments from users and members, 4) Partnerships/alliances, 5) Produce/ sell products or services, 6) Other (see annex 12)

4. The participants will share their ideas and plans for inputs and then finalize their mobilization plan by answering when and who is responsible (develop a template for this). (WB p. 62)

EXERCISE 7.1 EXERCISE 7.2

EXERCISE 7.2

EXERCISE 7.3

MODULE 8

- SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ACTION PLAN

• Social Enterprise Start up Plans

• Social Enterprise Business Plan

• What, how, who & when?

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ACTION PLAN

• Social Enterpri

Start up Plans

• Social Enterprise

Business Plan

• What, how, who & when?