GMM Grant Proposal Research LinkedIn Ready 2015 June 18

Goodness and Mercy Missions

P O BOX 4 FDG, JINKFUIN BELO SUB DIVISION BOYO

NWR of CAMEROON WEST AFRICA

www.gmmafrica.org

Grant Pre-‐Proposal WOMEN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROJECT RESEARCH (Research and Brainstorming Ideas to Expand on Women Economic Empowerment)

By Theressa Mah

United Nations Online Volunteer 2014

Vancouver, BC, Canada Email: [email protected]

Gmm -‐ Goodness and Mercy Missions WOMEN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROJECT RESEARCH

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary ................................................................................................ 1

2 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1

3 Objective ............................................................................................................... 2

4 Methodology (Potential Ideas for Growth) ............................................................. 2 4.1 Scaled Training and Program Facilitation .......................................................................................... 3 4.2 Resource Diversification ............................................................................................................................ 4 4.3 Product and Service Diversification ...................................................................................................... 5 4.4 Long Term Development ............................................................................................................................ 6 5 Budget ................................................................................................................... 7

6 Schedule ................................................................................................................ 8

7 Evaluation .............................................................................................................. 8

8 Unknown Factors ................................................................................................... 8

APPENDIX A: Questionnaire ....................................................................................... 10

Table of Figures Exhibit 1: Approach to Identifying Skills and Training ...................................................................................................... 3 Exhibit 2:Women’s Economic Empowerment Self-‐Funded Training Model .............................................................. 4 Exhibit 3: Basic Women’s Empowerment Project Cost ....................................................................................................... 7 Exhibit 4: Externally Funded Training Facilitator Cost ..................................................................................................... 8


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1 Executive Summary To help expand upon the development of women’s programs and projects already established by Goodness And Mercy Missions (GMM) further idea generation and research has been undertaken to provide this pre-‐proposal report (http://blogs.worldbank.org/dmblog/cameroon-‐working-‐together-‐to-‐educate-‐our-‐children). GMM is a non-‐profit organization in Cameroon that helps empower women and youth through its income generation projects, known as Women Economic Empowerment Projects (http://www.gmmafrica.org/women). GMM has been helping alleviate poverty in Cameroon since 2007. It recognizes that women who are financially independent are likely to secure their children’s basic education, preventing the cycle of poverty while improving life for future generations. The research conducted in this pre-‐proposal takes into consideration the current GMM Women Economic Empowerment Projects and program; it seeks to help establish further methods to help reach more women in Cameroon in the coming year. Through a brainstorming and research process a number of short and long term ideas for income generation and economic development were found. Section 2 and 3 outlines the current status of GMM’s program and projects and its goals for 2014. In section 4, idea exploration was undertaken; covering scaled training needs and facilitation, resource diversification and product diversification to help more women through GMM’s economic empowerment projects. While the focus of the Methodology section is on these three main areas of development, other ideas for long-‐term growth are also provided as well. With basic funding information (courtesy GMM) and minimum wage approximations, an estimated budget break down was produced. However, as discovered through the Schedule and Unknown Factors sections, the budget could fluctuate based on a multitude of known and unknown factors. Finally, the idea of evaluation of the development of these programs and projects for women are touched upon, this could evolve and be integrated into the current reporting process based on the needs of the Women Economic Empowerment Projects.

2 Introduction If literacy and education rates are any indicator of poverty and gender equality, then it would seem that economic growth and the gender gap in education and employment is a continuing concern in Cameroon. In 2007, 39.9% of the Cameroon population was living below the national poverty line. Chronic poverty persists amongst the population at about 26%. The literacy rate of the general population, aged 15 and older, was at 71% in 2010, where 85% of the male youth (ages 15 to 24) and 76% of female youth (ages 15 to 24) were found to be literate. In 2012, the staggering statistics recorded 50, 688 primary school aged boys and 244,125 primary school aged girls were not enrolled in schools in Cameroon. Also in 2012, it


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was found that 64% of women (age 15 and older) and 77% of men were active participants to the labour force (http://data.worldbank.org/country/cameroon). It would appear that poverty and gender inequality issues would need to be addressed now and in the future. Since its inception in 2007, GMM has addressed the challenges facing its struggling communities. GMM established 35 fully funded women’s work groups, empowering 500 women in communities across Cameroon. The concept behind economic empowerment projects for women is the benefit of economic freedom and the positive social independence it offers women who care for future generations (http://wbi.worldbank.org/developmentmarketplace/idea/children-‐education-‐through-‐women-‐empowerment). In one year alone, as a result of 100 women securing income generating projects, the education of 313 primary and secondary school aged children were funded (http://goodnessmercymission.wordpress.com/ and http://www.gmmafrica.org/women ).

3 Objective GMM is stretching to meet their goal of empowering 1000 women in 2014, by providing variable or new methods of income generation (Francis Yai, Teh (Founder, Director). Goodness and Mercy Projects and Programs 2014-‐01-‐30 document, January 2014). In the next section, three categories of methodologies and a needs assessment tool are explored in detail to help provide more scalable options to reach and empower more women.

4 Methodology (Potential Ideas for Growth) This section covers potential ideas to develop Women Economic Empowerment Projects, given the target to scale the projects to help 1000 women in 2014. Before training and projects can be undertaken, a training and goals assessment tool could be administered to help identify areas participants need help with the most. This data could then be used in the training, resource and product diversification stages of their projects. In order to scale recruitment operations, a systematic approach to identifying the needs of women, skills, training and compatibility to program options could be undertaken with a brief survey by GMM staff or volunteers (if this isn’t already in place). The questionnaire is based on diagnostic queries to assess the needs of participants and the compatibility with the program as referenced in exhibit 1. See Appendix A for a sample questionnaire. The form would help to identify the needs by establishing the needs and goals of participants. Questions and responses would lead participants through the following process:


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Exhibit 1: Approach to Identifying Skills and Training

Once a participant’s profile is established, recorded and discussed between GMM and the participant, a course of action can be established. Training would be a likely area of focus and a participant’s need for skills can be identified through the questionnaire.

4.1 Scaled Training and Program Facilitation To empower more women through training and education, flow of information could be scaled. Evolution of the current women empowerment project could see that it considers the following different models proposed for resourcing facilitators. Using a job shadow model to bring facilitators (acting as a trainer/mentor) and female entrepreneurs (trainees) together, exhibit 2 shows a self-‐funded model while model 2 describes an externally funded model, from additional seed or grant funding, see exhibit 4 for the cost break down. Both models are proposed based on 40 trainers, or facilitators, for 1000 women. Broken down there would be 2 facilitators (this takes in account for contingency of facilitation coverage that could affect availability, such as illness) for groups of 50 women. Model 1 – Self-‐Funded Training and Facilitation Select 40 trainers from the 500 successful pool of already empowered women who took part in economic empowerment projects in the past. As trainers these successful entrepreneurs can be matched with trainees with similar skill sets, interests, for example. From there the trainees attend one or two day training sessions on the facilitators’ site, labour in exchange for on the job training. In this way the trainee learns everything from finance tracking to production by helping the facilitator directly with her production for a temporary period. The facilitator in

Establish particpants': -‐Current skills -‐Responsibilities -‐Current living conditions/enviroment

Immediate needs? Long term needs?

Establish short and long term targets and

goals.

Establish skills needed to reach targets and

goals.


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turn is able to use tangible tools and examples to help in the training process. Both parties benefit, as both would have a vested interest. For example, the training schedule may look like this:

Exhibit 2:Women’s Economic Empowerment Self-‐Funded Training Model

Facilitator (F) 1 & (F) 2 June July August September October Group 1 (x10) F1 F1 Group 2 (x10) F2 F2 Group 3 (x10) F1 Group 4 (x10) F2 F1 Group 5 (x10) F2 Total: 50 One way to match trainers or facilitators with participants is to identify participants’ strengths in the areas of the various productions, for example, and match with trainers or facilitators who have similar skills and backgrounds. Model 2 – Externally Funded Training and Facilitation Recruit 40 contract facilitators based on previous experience and qualifications to provide training to 1000 women new to the economic empowerment projects. Schedule facilitators as needed for training sessions based on product or production cycle needs of the project. Each facilitator is contracted to provide training and facilitation services as needed throughout the production cycle or just at the beginning and end of the cycle. Please see section 5 for the estimated cost breakdown of hiring 40 contract facilitators.

4.2 Resource Diversification In the past GMM has reached out successfully to the following organizations for seed funding and perhaps these resources can be tapped into again, depending on previous loan feedback and fund availability from these organizations. Past funding sources included:

• World Bank • Catalyst Exhibits Company USA • Crowd Funding Indiegogo

(https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/women-‐s-‐income-‐generation-‐project -‐ home)

There maybe restrictions when sourcing funding. For example, the Indiegogo crowd-‐sourcing platform offers payment terms to international organizations, while other crowd funding platforms are limited by region and currency.


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To add another source of seed money Kiva (http://www.kiva.org) could be a potential finance method (http://blog.fundinggates.com/2012/05/small-‐business-‐lessons-‐third-‐world/ and http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227163). Kiva is a microfinance organization; it provides financial services to low-‐income individuals or to those who do not have access to typical banking services. Kiva's Field Partners have expertise in their local markets and a mission to alleviate poverty. These Field Partners are organizations that facilitate Kiva loans on the ground. Kiva teams up with Field Partners who are familiar with local communities and do all the leg work required to get Kiva loans to the borrowers, as posted on the Kiva website. Below are the general steps in Kiva’s financial process. Please refer to the Kiva’s website for more detailed information.

1. Field Partners disburse loans as soon as they are needed, as early as 30 days before, or as late as 90 days after the loan request is posted on Kiva's website. Loan request details, from photos, stories and loan project descriptions are collected. Upon successful review of the loan request, these details are published to Kiva’s site.

2. Borrowers are responsible for representing a positive lending risk by

building cash reserves. As such, Field Partners may require mandatory savings as part of the loan cycle.

3. Lenders can browse the website to select the loan requests to fund. Kiva

brings the lenders’ funds together and provides them to the Field Partner. The Field partner replenishes funds already lent out to the borrowers.

4. Borrowers repay their loans to the Field Partners in addition to any interest

that it may charge for these loans (Kiva doesn’t charge interest for the loans). Please note that there are repayment schedules to adhere to and to be mindful of these schedules and to communicate with the Field Partner. Lenders are credited as funds become available.

The current Kiva Field Partners in Cameroon are:

• Grounded and Agence de Crédit pour l’Entreprise Privée (ACEP) • Holistic Approach for People's Empowerment (GHAPE)

4.3 Product and Service Diversification At the moment, the current 500 participants are producing and selling palm oil, maize, beans, traditional textiles, soap, shoe polish and candles. Diversifying products and services seems to be a good way to increase market share, reduce market risk (for example due to unknown factors such as weather conditions that could greatly affect crop output) and help increase income generation. It seems those involved are already producing with variety in mind, but it would appear that palm oil production and marketing has been the major success story (http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/06/18/in-‐cameroon-‐


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agriculture-‐is-‐reemerging-‐as-‐a-‐promising-‐industry and http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/y1669e/y1669e0i.htm). To gain further success with variety and with more participants it would seem that a resource of similar significance and potential should be investigated. The following is a non-‐exhaustive list of possible products to diversify GMM’s current economic empowerment projects with women.

• Cacao beans • Coffee beans • Cotton • Bananas • Rubber • Peanuts • Cassava • Sugar cane • Corn • Tea

For the future, tea, for example, could be a new source of income, both regionally and maybe internationally. There are conservation and fair trade partnerships and standards (http://www.conservation.org/how/partnership/Pages/default.aspx, http://www.wfto-‐africa.org/ and http://www.starbucks.ca/responsibility/sourcing/coffee) for which the scaled women’s projects could eventually produce crops and generate further income. This would require more established production and the ability to meet the sustainable and environmental standards outlined on the standards of the World Fair Trade Organization and Conservation websites above.

4.4 Long Term Development In the first three sub-‐sections, three ideas for the growth of Women Economic Empowerment Projects in 2014, short term, were explored. Through the process of this research, the long-‐term future development of these ideas was further rationalized. Below are possible prospects of the three previously explored ideas related to growth in training, resource and product diversification. To help scale training in the field over time, and once sufficient technology is available, online video training integrated into the training process might be beneficial. Volunteers need to be trained on computer video applications and may also contribute to production of online training videos and to provide remote (online) training support. This process may require the up front cost of technology, either by donation or by acquiring used technology, but in the long term may pay off with productivity from the option of remote training. This training method would rely on any available computer video technology, power source and Internet connectivity.


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Another funding option that could be explored is the United Nations Democracy Fund. UNDEF projects are two years long, project grants range from $50,000 to $400,000 to support civil society and promote human rights. As such, some of the six theme areas that the fund seeks to develop are aligned with GMM’s goals of empowering women and youth. At this time the proposal process occurs during its annual window, to be accepted in a specified format online and in English or French. The on-‐line project proposal process can be accessed at the UNDEF website, only during the annual window (http://www.un.org/democracyfund/apply-‐funding). Project proposals submitted by e-‐mail, regular post, facsimile, diplomatic or UN pouch, hand or courier delivery or any other channel will NOT be considered. Neither will project proposals in any language other than English or French. Proposal submissions then undergo a rigorous selection process. Product diversity could potentially lead to Market Expansion Development and scaled social enterprise. Given that the target is to increase the opportunities for women to generate income, establishing a co-‐op market with women’s produce and services to local and eventually international markets (pre-‐fair trade preparation) could be saleable venture. A co-‐op food distribution outlet could combine the resources of many Women Economic Empowerment Projects and their product output to provide a more diverse market for more consumers on a regular basis. It could be based by village or by region, for instance.

5 Budget At the moment, one school approximately requires 827 USD (Francis, Teh, Goodness and Mercy Projects and Programs 2014-‐01-‐30 document. Cameroon, Africa) to fully fund a group of about 10 women, covering seed money and revolving capital. Given that the goal is to help 1000 women, the estimated total seed money required would be a total of $82, 700, see exhibit 3. Factoring the variable (known and unknown factors) costs for the above proposed training models and product diversification recommendations, the current estimate to fully fund a group of 1000 women may fluctuate.

Exhibit 3: Basic Women’s Empowerment Project Cost

Basic Funding Cost 2014 (USD) Cost to fund 1 woman $82.70 2014 Funding Target 1,000 Total 2014 Target Basic Costs $82,700.00

Budget wise, a monetary value would be incurred with model 2 of the scaled training and facilitation methodology found under section 4.1.


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Cost of externally funded facilitators could potentially add to the above minimum budget to fully fund a group of 10 women. Exhibit 4 shows the estimated cost breakdown to fund 40 facilitators based on the minimum wage in Cameroon in US Dollars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country). An alternative model to consider is the self-‐fund model; please refer to the methodology section for more information about the two training facilitator models.

Exhibit 4: Externally Funded Training Facilitator Cost

Externally Funded Training Facilitator Budget (USD)

Minimum Monthly Wage/person $56 Minimum Daily Wage/person $3 Facilitators/1000 women 40 Total Wage for 40 Facilitators $2,240

6 Schedule Schedules are dependent on funding as well as the recruitment, training and production cycle. To accommodate for proposed ideas under the section 4, Methodology, the schedule maybe shifted by product cycle output and available funding, as well as any unknown factors as found in section 8. See the methodology section, exhibit 2, for a sample of a training schedule.

7 Evaluation Part of a facilitator or trainers job could be to collect data from funded women’s projects and together with GMM leadership, could analyze successes and learning opportunities for the next target project. Reports on individual projects might be ideal to gain accurate data, depending on resources available. However, if the ideal amount of reports and data cannot be collected for unknown factors, at the minimum a sample should be evaluated. For example, data collection could occur for one in every five projects. Data from reports can be aggregated to provide to a greater context of quarterly and annual GMM reporting on Women Economic Empowerment Projects as a whole.

8 Unknown Factors To identify which methodology would work for women to generate income in Cameroon, there are a number of unknown factors to consider. Health, weather, economic markets, currency, politics, available tools, arable land or saleable raw materials to individuals are all to be considered. Other factors could be socially accepted practices that may deter any of the proposed methodologies, and potential for community outreach. Any long term established plans for other avenues of production and distribution models by commercial crop growers that could affect


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the above methods should also be considered. This list is a reference for factors to consider for both short term and long term business planning, but is not exhaustive.


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APPENDIX A: Questionnaire

Documents

GMM Grant Proposal Research LinkedIn Ready 2015 June 18