4 years down the line

Unlimited funding is a guarantee of success for any organisation, right? Wrong. In the course of  8 years working with community-based organisations in developing countries such as India, Jordan and Uganda we learned that resources need to be coupled with the capacity to strategically and sustainably invest them.

That is why, in September of 2010, we set off with a group of MBA students from the University of Westminster and a programmer from our strategic partner, Westbrook to Kampala, Uganda. Our mission was to support KCCC, a local clinic that provides free health care for the local community and neighbouring villages. KCCC had many patients and one problem: how to keep track of the data and treatment of all their 5,000 clients.  At that point, all information was managed by using over 10 spread sheets, each managed by a different department in the organisation.

Westminster students had done their preliminary research, and our strategic partner Salesforce.com had kindly donated licenses for their data management system, to be implemented at KCCC. The group had no more than 2 weeks working with the clinic and programmers to implement the system and train users. Quite a challenge.

But one that was happily overcome. By the end of those 2 weeks, KCCC had a new system implemented, with the information about patients, community workers and drugs already input, not to mention employees capable of using the system to increase efficiency in their tasks.  This included releasing four members of staff from data collection and management work to other areas, capacity building and building capacity!

The project was so successful that KCCC’s employee responsible to support the system implementation was invited by Salesforce.com to their annual conference in California, as a guest speaker reporting his experience.

Almost 4 years after the project, The Great Generation’s team spotted the lab employees still using the system in their everyday work life! And we are now preparing for the next projects that will build on this successful experience, and take KCCC one step closer to their long term plans.

Picasso once said that “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction”. How appropriate to remember this quote, as we were in the midst of planning our first session with the new cohort of students from the MSc in Marketing & Creativity from ESCP Europe Business School. We had in front of ourselves the challenge to lead an action-based session, part of a wider module named “Managing for Social Impact”, that would discuss “How positive social impact can generate value”. If we wanted to create something different, then our act of destruction was portraying itself as a paradox just in front of us: why can’t our minds be comfortable with combining social impact and value creation – even financial value?

Not to our surprise – because we knew the high calibre of students that would take part in the session – but to our delight, the discussion was energetic. They had been prepared to engage by reading examples of companies that had incorporated social impact to the way they do business. From Barthi Airtel, the low-cost network provider from India to the luxurious cashmere brand Brunello Cucinelli, and from Tesla Cars electric vehicles to Living Goods, the Avon-model distribution company in Uganda. They were familiar with a range of sectors and company sizes that viewed their impact beyond the sales of their own products.

Together, the class concluded that the paradox is a consequence of what we understand social impact to be. Social investment brings to mind the idea of companies sponsoring community projects and hunger programmes in Africa, but the cases and the discussion showed social impact to be much more than that. We understood it as the role a company plays to the agents that interact with it. It goes from creating jobs and development opportunities for its employees, and therefore developing the economy of the region around it, to creating a deep and trustworthy relationship with customers by offering products that are relevant to their needs and respect the environment at the same time.

Essentially, social impact will be the driver of the revolution we are starting to see in the business world: Business 3.0. The businesses that are concerned about not only existing in the next few decades, but also about having competent and dedicated employees, responsible investors, trustworthy suppliers, enough natural resources to produce and a loyal customer base. Ultimately: to be successful.

But those businesses can only succeed basing themselves on social impact if it’s authentic, integrated to the corporate strategy and sustainable in the long term. Are you wondering why? Stay tuned to our next blog post from our founder and CEO, Suzanne Gowler.

From the best day so far! to the last day! the volunteers in Uganda tell you their story...

Wednesday 28/04

Best day so far... Tuesday was a day for the academics among us but Wednesday morning was for the fun lovers! In a word, DAYCARE... Wednesday morning marked the arrival of some of the craziest kids we had ever seen! It was a chance to allow the parents to have some time of their own, and for us to take some of the pressure off owning a 4yr old! We had a mixture of personalities and ages but unfortunately all of them were HIV positive. On the plus side, you never could have guessed it, all of them were healthy, intelligent, and had unanswerable levels of energy. As soon as there was a sight of a football, that was it, game on.

When the madness had eased for lunch, we thought it was a good time to unleash some sugar on them for the parents to enjoy on the way home. Large bags of sweets were soon clambered over and very quickly 'shared' out amongst the fastest and the strongest... Home time!

The afternoon was a chance for Rachel to unleash some of her expertise and for myself and Alex to see how Marketing is done, Barclays style. Rachel had the uphill task of educating the beaders in Marketing through the medium of a translator; not an easy task one may think?? You haven't met Rachel.... The session was excellent and once again received very good feedback.

With our day at the centre complete, we met at a local bar with a few of the staff. This was a great chance to chat about anything but work and enjoy the last of the sunlight. To top off a great day, we ate at a recommended Italian, we were not disappointed, roll on Thursday!

By Brad Clarke

Thursday 29/04

Today was our last chance to pass some of our skills on to the staff, community volunteers and client entrepreneurs at KHC. Rachel and Alex kicked off with a Successful Business Management session with the Head of Community at KHC and some clients who have recently started a business with KHC's help. The objective was to develop an agreed template for a business proposal and encourage local entrepreneurs to consider their business idea in detail (objectives, resources required, budget and targets) - and happily we were able to agree on a new template for KHC to embed for future use. Again, this was a session that had to be translated but everybody got really involved and had lots to add.

In the afternoon Rachel had been asked to train the KHC leadership team in some conflict management strategies. This was going to be a challenge, as when asked previously the KHC team had denied any conflict in their office! What a surprise then, when the conflict management session turned in to a Pandora's Box! The group had lots of questions and challenges for the various approaches, and we were able to really get them to think about how they deal with conflict on a daily basis.

By Rachel Eyre

Friday 30/04

The last day of the project! The volunteers have delivered a huge amount in a very short space of time and have managed to build excellent rapport with the staff and clients at KHC. They handed over copies of the content of each of their workshops along with handouts for the participants. In a meeting with Dr. Sam (the Director of KHC) and Chris (Operations Director) the volunteers talked about how the content of each of their workshops can be embedded among the staff to ensure that it has a lasting impact at KHC. Each member of staff's personal objectives that they wrote after the workshops were also shared with Chris and Dr. Sam so that they can form part of the appraisal process at KHC. As Chris put it, the volunteers have planted a seed and now KHC can't wait to watch it grow and see what blooms!

After lunch there was a closing ceremony with all the staff, which gave the volunteers chance to say thank you. There were some touching speeches from a number of staff members too and then all the staff sang a song to wish the volunteers a safe journey home. It was a lovely end to an extremely successful project!

By Amy Daw - Project Leader

Challenges and Successes in the world's hottest room...

Today was our first day of delivery and chance to get fully stuck in. After meeting everyone yesterday it felt as though we had to live up to everyone’s’ obvious expectations (more than a little daunting!), coupled with the fact that it was by far the hottest and most humid day yet, the day had definite potential to be a challenge.

We gave two separate workshops to the departmental heads, a group of around 12 people and of course the ever-present Chris and Dr Sam.

The morning was the turn of Brad, talking through Leadership and I spoke through Project management in the afternoon. The experience was superb - after some initial shyness from the heads (and the challenge of the world’s hottest room), there were some fantastic ideas coming through - particularly when we broke out into smaller groups. I was left quite surprised by the sophistication of their existing knowledge, although seeing the amount that they’ve achieved at KHC, perhaps I shouldn’t have been.

Leadership workshop led by Brad

Feedback after the from the heads after the sessions was amazing, although owing to the cultural differences in how feedback is delivered, this was probably skewed somewhat! Whilst going well, in my heart of hearts I’m not sure that we lived up to the 100% scoring that we received – still, you never know.

The day was also broken up nicely by that international language that is football (something that is possibly more of an obsession here than it is back home). Some of the clients visiting KHC for treatment brought along their children, as soon as the footballs were out, all language barriers were removed. It was a great interim, with everyone enjoying themselves.

By Amy Daw, Project Leader

The Days in Pictures - volunteers leading workshops

Daniel making beads at home with his family

Leadership work in small groups

Pig breeding project

Project management group work

Project management workshop led by Alex

Day 1 - Volunteers in Uganda meet Founder Dr Sam

This was our first real day in Uganda (post the traumatic flight!) and we spent the morning at KHC. After all the preparation, it was great to finally see how KHC functions and the great work carried out by everyone that works here.

We met with founder Dr Sam and Operations Director Chris and they gave us a tour of the facilities – it is astonishing to see what a breadth of work can be carried out in such a small space – medical attention, counselling, training, retail and childcare to name but a few of the activities we saw within an hour of arriving. There is a real sense of professionalism about the KHC staff – they look smart, they think smart and they are very focused on their work.

In the afternoon we went out in to the community to see some of business projects KHC have supported, including a necklace beader, market stall vendor and pig breeder. These projects are all run by clients of KHC – that is people receiving medical care from KHC (living with HIV / AIDS / TB / cancer). It is inspirational to see their drive, positive outlook and genuine courtesy to us visitors. One gentleman beader we visited was making beautiful necklaces in his living room – surrounded by his 10 children, the majority of whom were also HIV +. The support from KHC to set himself up as a beader means he can be at home, looking after his wife and children and still be generating an income.

Amy, project leader, arrives in Uganda!

Amy will be helping to facilitate a tailored project for Barclays staff volunteering in Kampala, Uganda on a HIV/AIDS Outreach and Home-care Initiative.

Whilst waiting for the volunteers to arrive Amy is sitting in on a meeting w/ beaders...

"Yesterday I spent the afternoon at our Expert Partner, Kawempe Home Care (KHC), and I sat in on a meeting of the beaders - they are the people who make beads from recycled paper and sell them to KHC. It is called the Beads for Education project because it helps the beaders put their children through scool, and KHC then sell the beads on at a profit. Last year, the beads contributed 17% of KHC's total income, but they have adopted lots of the recommendations made by last year's Barclays/TGG group, and in Q1 2010, the beads contributed 31% of KHC's total income which is amazing!

I have attached a photo because when I was there yesterday, a gentleman from the bank was there opening bank accounts for each of the beaders to encourage them to manage their income and start small savings."