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Building Sustainable Futures for the Handcraft Sector in Rwanda. End of year 1 Project Report This project started in November 2015 and promised to deliver training sessions, mentoring and follow-up support to ten co-operatives in Rwanda by the end of Year One (October 2016).
Overview
50 individuals took part in training (29 women & 21 men) All ten co-ops were represented at the six training days Mentoring by ‘Cards from Africa’ delivered to all ten co-operatives Follow-up 1-2-1 support provided to each individual co-operative
Training delivered & its impact Three days of training were delivered in February to two representatives from the ten cooperatives. 12 women attended and eight men. Day 1: Participants revisited their mission and vision statements and explored whether their cooperatives are meeting their own objectives. Other lessons focused on basic business planning. Many of the co-operatives had a business plan but had not updated it since its creation (many years ago). Participants also explored co-operative values and principles focusing on the rights and responsibilities of members, board of directors and the supervisory committee. 91% of the feedback received from this day was either “Good” or “Very Good”. Day 2: Focusing on basic financial management including the various aspects of good book keeping, this training session enabled participants to improve their understanding of how to set realistic costs for their products and record their income and outgoings. 91% of the feedback received from this day was either “Good” or “Very Good”. Day 3: Participants received an introduction to the implementation of fair trade in Rwanda, focusing on the positive impact of this approach to trade. They also received a mentoring session by Cards from Africa around the theory and implementation of the ten Fairtrade Principles. 91% of the feedback received from this day was either “Good” or “Very Good”. A further three days training were delivered in June to three representatives from the ten cooperatives. 17 women attended and 13 men. Day 4: Participants received an introduction to basic leadership skills to assist them in managing their co-operative in an appropriate and effective manner. This session built upon the lessons from day 3 to help the participants put the fair trade principles in practice when leading their cooperative. 80% of the feedback received from this day was either “Good” or “Very Good”.
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Day 5: A complete day focusing on marketing was delivered. The sessions worked through from market research to strategy. It also enabled the participants to think more about supply, demand and price of their products. 88% of the feedback received from this day was either “Good” or “Very Good”. Day 6: The final day training was split into cooperative management skills and environmental protection policies. The cooperative management section of the day focused on good practice in terms of internal procedures and financial record keeping. The environmental protection part of the day enabled participants to reflect on their practices to be more environmentally aware. 96% of the feedback received from this day was either “Good” or “Very Good”.
Meeting our objectives 1. Enable ten co-operatives to achieve increased sales At the nine-month point of this financial year, 60% of the cooperatives have already surpassed their 2015 total sales figures with a further 20% of the cooperatives on track to surpass their 2015 totals by the end of 2016. The cohort of ten co-operatives have improved their sales from 11,258,015rwf in 2015 to 16,133,146rwf in 2016. 2. Develop ten co-operatives to operate as sustainable businesses The sustainability survey completed at the baseline and end of year one show an overall improvement of 11% of cooperatives feeling their businesses are now operating in a sustainable manner. In particular, 91% of participants now know what is needed to produce quality products, an increase of 25% since the start of the project. The project has also witnessed an increase of 31% of participants feeling that they achieve their targets and a decrease of 15% of members feeling that they don’t. 3. Enable individual members of ten co-operatives to have a more positive perception of their co-operatives future At the end of year one we can see that there is an 18% average increase in positive perceptions of the cooperatives futures. The perceptions were surprisingly high at the baseline point but a 42% decrease in the number of participants feeling their business has reached its limit illustrates the project has improved the positive perception of the cooperatives futures as they now talk about growth rather than just survival. 4. Enable RWAFAT to gain increased income through membership fees RWAFAT’s total annual membership fees for 2015 was 120,000rwf. In 2016 RWAFAT has achieved a massive 609,930rwf. We hope to see RWAFAT build upon this success in 2017.They have invested this money in buying an office based computer that their members can access to improve their financial record keeping.
Case study: Koabimu Koabimu was set up in 2007 and makes chairs from bamboo and banana leaves. As a cooperative is serves 92 producers. It can take between 7-10 days to make 1 chair which it sells to its local customer base. Participating in this project has acted as a catalyst for Koabimu to introduce its own saving system for producers to save to pay school fees and make home improvements. Its 2016 sales figures have grown to 3,809,650rwf from 2,400,000rwf in 2015. The technician interviewed stated that the most beneficial part of the training programme was
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the sessions on marketing and business planning so that growth continues and Koabimu can have a wider impact on their local community by providing more jobs.
Budget As only £20,801 was secured for this year’s activities Shared Interest Foundation was unable to recover its delivery costs as originally budgeted. Total cost (£)
Item Training venue hire, equipment and materials Refreshments, accommodation and travel pp =£15.28 x 50 ppl RWAFAT preparation for training delivery
Year 1 Budget
Year 1 actual £810
£877.72
£3,820 £1,800
£4380 £1976.02
RWAFAT delivery of training Cards from Africa Mentoring RWAFAT product analysis and selection for trade shows RWAFAT co-ordination and logistics for trade shows RWAFAT baseline study - data compilation and basic analysis
£600 £100 £600 £600
£840 £100 £600 £600
£1,800
£1,800
RWAFAT collection of M&E data Travel costs for collection of M&E data
£2,400 £310
£2,400 £545.45
£925
0
£740 £2,220 £3,600 £2,880 £264 £23,469
0 0 £3218.51 £3190.90 £272.73 £20,801
Shared Interest Foundation support and analysis of M&E Shared Interest Foundation time and overhead contribution Shared Interest Foundation capacity building of RWAFAT RWAFAT provision of membership services RWAFAT ongoing mentoring to 10 co-operatives RWAFAT Board meetings Totals
Next steps At this time, we would like to thank St Mary’s Charity for their support in delivering year one of this two-year project. Our next step in building sustainable futures for the handcraft sector in Rwanda is to deliver a revised year two of this project that focuses on building RWAFAT’s capacity to operate beyond this project life cycle. In particular, remote forward planning and financial management support will be provided. We have currently secured £14,717 toward year two which does not cover RWAFAT’s running costs. A donation of £500 would help to pay for RWAFATs staff costs for the next year. If you would like to find out more about the activities scheduled for year two of this project please contact kate.odell@shared-interest.com
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