Social Franchising of Humanitarian Aid

My qualifications to lead this proposal is 8 years as the Fundraising Consultant for different worthy causes spanning Africa and South East Asia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I volunteer my time to create strong partnerships that help philanthropists validate new approaches. It is my duty to inspire the hearts and minds of society to act in changing the quality of life for people that cannot improve it themselves.

My mother and father were born and raised in Africa. I was honoured to be chosen to attend the United Nations progress meeting on Africa's "Agenda 2063": the continent’s strategic framework for inclusive and sustainable development. It has been fascinating to work alongside many human rights defenders that call Africa home. 

My role with this project is to adapt to life in South Africa and not quit until there is a Goods for Good [GFG] franchise helping millions of people.

Implementing an 18-month pilot of our UK based model in South Africa. This will allow us to get prepared for social franchising and test if the model is truly adaptable whilst maintaining stringent outcomes for 490,000 of the most vulnerable people as we seek to restore and lift people out of the devastation that follows the pandemic. We will work alongside existing NGO's and grow the capacity of corporates to donate their surplus stock for social benefit. We will assess calls for aid from three continents and provide our blueprint for others to become franchisees. Three reasons this is vital now: 1) estimated $35 million shortage of humanitarian aid globally - so efficiency of our model is relevant. 2) Extreme inequality prevents basic access to: livelihood development, education and health, and limits the emergence of Civil Service Organisations [CSOs] that are led by these same beneficiaries. 3) Restoring natural environment.

We source and deliver goods (plus services) direct to communities and public services like hospitals and schools. The South Africa pilot will afford us the opportunity to respond to calls for aid from Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Asia Pacific. We anticipate that the UN will report nearly 85 million displaced people worldwide in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic. We know the challenge that displacement and discrimination creates in achieving progress enshrined by Sustainable Development Goal 1, and this is why we have decided to focus on these five outcomes:

1) Provide goods such as food or shoes that are of immediate benefit to vitality.

2) Provide goods that add dignity, self-worth and hope. 

3) Reduce isolation and improved wellbeing through access to recreation.

4) Increase vocational skills to help achieve financial independence.

5) Promote stronger civic responsibility (eg: corporates as part of the 'circular economy', or, growing the space for Civil Service Organisations).

We believe that Social Franchising of the Goods for Good [GFG] model is the best vehicle to meet global challenges from inequality. Poverty, access to education and access to healthcare have been exacerbated during COVID-19. We have already delivered humanitarian aid to over 2.3 million people in the last six years, and worked with over 100 corporations who donate goods such as boots from Hunter Boots, sleeping bags from Blacks, school uniforms from UK Schools and toiletries and hygiene products to frontline NHS workers during this current pandemic. The need for the efficiency in our model will be vital to low income countries [LICs]. Replicating to South Africa is driven by having to refuse over five “Request for Humanitarian Aid forms” [RfHA’s] - not because they didn’t score highly for severe needs identified, and not because that we couldn’t source the goods they needed, but because the countries themselves represented an insurmountable logistical or operational challenge from our Europe base. We have obtained the necessary building blocks to replicate here - such as approval by our corporate partner "The Dune Group” to provide subsidised office space, warehousing and vital logistical support.

One of our values has always been to be totally indiscriminate (location, age, disability, gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity or social standing) in who we serve. We validate the extent of need using several assessments completed by the beneficiaries, a supporting charity partner and our own research on the ground (happy to share our forms and templates!). Expanding on the idea of 'circular economy' mentioned earlier, we raise the awareness of each community group we support and build cohesion. In the current UK office, an example of this is the weekly Refugee and asylum seekers volunteering sessions where they learn skills and gain knowledge of recipients in our actively supplied countries. We produce a monthly newsletter that shares our efforts and asks for feedback. More formally, we have had in place a Steering Group since May 2018 which strengthens our governance. It is nine people strong, and is made up of three volunteers, two charity partners in different countries, two staff, one corporate partner and one Trustee. We monitor livelihood development projects - such as 18 sewing machines we delivered to Moldova - over a 3 year period to observe any positive outcomes. 

We relate to all three dimensions, but most commonly it is driving action to solve poverty trap and marginalisation from a variety of factors. We are experts in providing relief from both natural and human disasters, and delivering preventative projects around the world working with partners. Because of this, we are in a privileged position (and more so with the viability of social franchising) to elevate issues and take action on a global scale. In South Africa, we will pilot mobilising solutions for people living in neglected provinces (70% unemployment in a cluster in Johannesburg) and raise awareness through advocacy. 

Towards the end of 2019, we were determined to find a way of responding to the growing need for GFG interventions in Africa. We explored the different options in doing so, and we were referred by an international social venture based in the Netherlands to the services of 'The Franchise Company'. We have since been working with the founding partner Julie Waites to follow the readiness framework - resulting in a co-created roadmap and budget for the project as well as starting to document our procedures and talking to potential funders and partners. As we explored locations, we were encouraged by our corporate partner "The Dune Group” who committed to provide subsidised office space, warehousing and vital logistical support in Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town. This opens large regions that can benefit from our humanitarian aid and projects. 

I have experienced the brilliance of the GFG model in meeting global needs on a first-hand basis. I have also seen that too often international development grants do not reach certain demographics and do not include certain geographies. I am not underestimating the challenges ahead - the project, uprooting my life to live in South Africa, nor the duality of delivering benefits and building a blueprint for it at the same time. I am convinced that the GFG model can adapt to almost any country, and humanity will be closer to thinking and acting on equality if one day there are many models like GFG operating around the world. We have had to overcome many logistical hurdles over the last six years, and one such example was the government restrictions and duties exporting to Moldova. But we persevered and now it is possible to make quarterly deliveries. I have launched previous commercial and non-profit ventures that shared similar outcomes despite being in different sectors: transparent information/facts and evaluations about a particular issue, and increasing access to health, employment and education through new technology and affordability. 

The 'building blocks' to replicate in South Africa (additional to what was described above) also include: support from Ambassadors, Ministers and local officials; notifying the civil service infrastructure of our intent (we are members of the Independent Philanthropy Association of South Africa); starting discussions with several national businesses as we hope to convince them to embed us in their CSR / zero waste / ESG policies (from our existing corporate relations we have approval from "Harrods" and "UNIQLO”). In terms of the positioning of the team, Kumar and Julie will be able to implement the pilot (logistics, packaging, running an enterprise, legal, needs assessment, partnership development and donor relations) in a way that lends itself to review for franchising. Kumar has experience in obtaining social investment and this amplifies the chances of success in scaling. 

In January 2020, we received an SOS request from community leaders in Zambia. 

60% of the population live below the poverty line. Zambia’s literacy rate stands at 55.3 percent. And they had just been hit with a drought of the same magnitude as 1922. We knew that we would have to squeeze everything out of our network to be able to justify a cost-effective response. We devised a campaign called Zambia School Twinning where we matched 10 Zambian community schools (see a photo here demonstrating majority are makeshift buildings oversubscribed teaching over 400 children) with 10 UK Schools. 

They joined together to collect pre-loved stationary, school uniforms, shoes, trainers and sports wear from students, and then ask the students to fundraise on-top to pay for the transport costs. The biggest hurdles to overcome: 

a) Narrowing down from 26 Zambian schools to just 10 schools.

b) Raising £7K ourselves.    

c) Recruiting UK schools when many had already decided their charitable connections for the academic year.    

d) Finding a way of distributing 4.1 metric tonnes by sea and land over 5,000 miles by identifying two new charity partners who passed our due diligence.

I tore my cruciate ligament in 2014 and one of the few sports I could play was golf. After a couple of months playing with friends, we had reached that point where we considered golf memberships. I approached a handful of golf courses with a curiosity of how they were fighting against dwindling participation across the country. Four months later, a simple, functional (and unnamed!) website emerged that allowed my group and others like it to enjoy the social aspects of sport, the variety of playing different courses and a cost saving to attract new starters. 

I led my startup past the 100 member mark in 2019 and am proud to have won a place on a Venture Capitalists accelerator programme called "Black Nova's Nebula Cohort". But I am most proud when I see new people come and try the game of golf, complete our 6-week training schedule, and then go on to enjoy regular play. It was difficult initially; it was an unconventional concept for golf owners who had deep rooted traditions; and I had to give equity to entice smart, driven people to develop the tech and market my offerings. 

Any pilot is an opportunity to test better and new forms of the original innovation - in this case the GFG model. Firstly, this means stringent outputs and outcomes in a totally new country - we intend to start with a 1:6 multiplier meaning that for every £1 we receive will result in £6 worth of goods being distributed to vulnerable communities. Secondly, we know that we will be the only one with such a wide mandate of "providing the most vulnerable with goods that restore life chances". Of the existing NGO's, such as surplus food redistributor "Food Forward SA" (https://foodforwardsa.org/), we will actively seek partnerships (following due diligence) to test supplying goods they need to reach their beneficiaries. This gives the franchising blueprint and toolkit the best chances of adapting to other regions in the future.

We have just started contributing our voice (and those we serve) to the global conversation on Doughnut Economics: we embody concepts like distributive by design, open collaboration, environmental responsibility, transparent standards etc. Here is a recent article as we were named one of twelve 'most innovative' enterprises by the UK waste industry's main publication. We have not had the reach or resources to deliver more preventative projects, and that is something we want to add. Let's get prepared to fight the next human or natural disaster together and learn from our efforts, and improve the innotech that we use to coordinate international logistics.

Logframe & Results Framework: Please click to view this file on Dropbox. It goes into much deeper detail laying out the implementation timeline, milestones and means of verification per outcome.

Current number of people you’re serving through your work: Current annual reach of UK operation is 650,000 people per year.

The number you’ll be serving in one year: After 1 year of the South Africa pilot, we will reach 350,000 people in the new countries, plus the 650,000 from UK operation = 1 million people

The number you’ll be serving in five years: Assuming South Africa becomes a permanent presence + UK operation continues to increase capacity + assuming 1 new franchisee (hopefully in Russia or Latin America) = 3 million people each year (between 2025-26)

Key Performance Indicators over the next 12 months 

UK office: My role is to raise a further £11K to fund our pivot to support local community during COVID-19. See our crowdfunding campaign here https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/covid-19-response-food-hygiene-sanitary-items I will also be raising another £40K from all types of donors and income generating activities to cover core-costs as well as project-costs. 

South Africa office:

New corporate partners: 20 

New countries: 6

Vulnerable people receive goods: 350,000 (these have been broken down by outcomes in the logframe document) 

Estimated value of the goods: £1m 

Further funding generated by project end to be able to make the pilot permanent: £80,000 

Promotion of Social Franchising and cultivate new franchisees: 5 philanthropists interested.

Our 5 year goal is to be helping at least 3 million of the most vulnerable every year, and changing attitudes and behaviour. This can be exponentially increased by each franchisee. We want to have evidence to show we have ended poverty-trap in many instances. We want to be responsive to any natural or human disaster around the world. 

Aside from the challenge of finding seed funding, we have unpacked the challenges by stage of programme below. We have the technical, legal, existing strategic partnerships and operational skills in-team (aided by three new hires). We also have challenges pertaining to maintaining operations in the UK office whilst fundraising is expected to fall during this period. 

 LOCATING IN SOUTH AFRICA:

• Suitable storage (we know the dimensions of the warehouse), recruiting volunteers, hiring staff, recruiting corporates.

GOODS:

• Delivery risk - unsuitable roads or disruptions during offloading at ports

• Operational risk – ensuring that the goods reach the intended recipients

• Contextual risk e.g. affects of recent drought and famine in Zambia. Or prevailing gender inequality issues.

• SMART KPI’s to build capacity of CSO (for instance completing safeguarding assessments, teacher training outputs and corresponding to manage the fiduciary risk to achieve the VfM).

TOOLKIT:

• Adapted to application around the world e.g. advocacy to tie in with host government's national or district level priorities.

• Dissemination plan is insufficient to create actionable interest around the world.

FRANCHISEE SUPPORT REQUIRED:

• Cannot say with certainty how much 1:1 time will be needed per franchisee.

Local knowledge of South Africa is clearly important and we have several connections already helping with preparation, and committed to help during implementation too. 

We want to be able to empower CSO's in-country of the smallest size and capacity. Throughout this process, we will review if we can make our due diligence fairer, more robust and streamlined to speed up assessment and on-boarding. 

RE GOODS: We have six years of experience and The Dune Group's expertise in coping with delivery risk and operational risk. We have risk assessment forms when staff, partners or beneficiaries may be in harms way in different circumstances, or may be neglected eg gender equality framework.

Our approach is participatory. This will not change with the production of the toolkit. We will constantly seek the perspective of how our intended audience finds it useful and compelling.

Our pilot length is 18 months to account for extra time needed at various milestones, including the time to identify potential franchisees and the subsequent 1:1 time to cultivate those relationships. 

Finally, we are keen to use existing tools to think through our plan. For example, we have completed the Replication Readiness Test developed by Spring Impact. We are also speaking with International Aid Transparency Initiative about how to publish our results. 

1. Existing GFG corporate partners that have committed to providing support services and donating goods to South Africa once set up: The Dune Group, UNIQLO and Harrods. 

2. Existing GFG international charity partners that have committed to providing support services and on the ground distribution to South Africa once set up:Humanitarian Resources International Foundation [HRIF] based in Netherlands.

3. The Franchise Company (Julie Waites) - Project partner taking ownership of legal and toolkit. Also supporting with consultancy in South Africa such as fundraising.

4. The UK and South African embassy's: providing government approval and support.

5. The Independent Philanthropy Association of South Africa providing a platform to engage existing NGOs in the country

6. Local business in South Africa: The Landau Group - contact is Rael Landau. This is helpful for developing new corporate relations and having a distribution point in Johannesburg. 

We have provided typical examples of impact under each of our five desired outcomes:

1) Goods that are of immediate benefit to vitality: Access to food, shelter or shoes can sustain lives.

2) Goods that add dignity, self-worth and hope: We have provided mattresses to communities and hospitals in the Global South to bring dignity and comfort to lives.

3) Reduced isolation and improved wellbeing through access to recreation:We have provided sports clothing for children aged 5-18 in Zambia that cannot afford to purchase adequate sports clothing, and equipment and training. 

4) Increased vocational skills to help achieve financial independence: We have a blueprint for a Centre Services creation - we co-financed the refurbishment of a building in Moldova and invited community groups to use the space (mostly for free to service users). We supplied 15 computers and employed an IT teacher to train other teachers. There are now several classes each week, which even resulted in a e-commerce business launched last year! 

5) Stronger civic responsibility: we provide training, governance and leadership to Civil Service Organisations and support them to formally register too eg MCP in Zambia. We also provide corporate engagement and volunteering opportunities to get involved in our work. 

The intention is to have the South Africa hub self-sufficient within 18 months from donations and grants. This fundraising process will form part of the Social Franchising toolkit. By proving the social impact for many thousands of people, we hope to construct a mechanism with several funders that can provide the same seed capital to help others become franchisees. 

As a frame of reference, GFG has successfully raised funds that have grown 15% YoY due to increasing demand for services. GFG have maintained a 6 month reserves policy to mitigate against risks. 

There is only one other funder which we believe to meet their criteria (and not be omitted given their exclusions for awarding aid-based organisations) - we have sent a concept note to 'Redefining Our Future for Existing Business' by StartupCircles.

We seek a grant of $228,234 (£184,060) to make this a reality. 

Our timeline is based on being in position to respond to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope to have the funds in place before the end of the year. 

Social Franchising set up
$31,000
GFG core time and resources collation
$18,600
Four salaries (three staff hired locally in South Africa)
$126,480
Office rent (shared)
$20,460
Office costs (marketing, IT etc)
$4,414
Warehousing 
$2,480
Logistics
$19,840
Toolkit
$2,480
Independent Evaluation
$2,480

Next to each of our barriers, we have explained how The Elevate Prize can help overcome them over the next two years:

FUNDING - the minimum prize of $300,000 is sufficient to achieve our outcomes. We will not rely upon further funding if selected. 

LOCATING IN SOUTH AFRICA - In addition to the 6 partners listed in the More About Your Work section, we acknowledge that the Prize could connect us with native African influencers, industry leaders, and experts. This will save us time and allow us to focus our energies on the franchising and delivery. 

GOODS - A repetitive feature of our aid is the transportation of goods. Wherever possible we try to use trucks and ships that are already in transit to minimise the carbon footprint of transportation. It will be so useful to have the advice and guidance of the professional management and potential partner introductions that come with the Prize.    

CSO CAPACITY BUILDING - it would be perfect to pass on the same capacity building we absorb for others that may not be aware of best practice. Your educational training will be important for projects that involve learning.  

FRANCHISING - Your global footprint will help us get the word out and save us marketing spend through your tailored media and marketing campaigns. Being a Global Hero will provide the vindication and intrigue to further our TOOLKIT dissemination.

We would be delighted to share our CSO application form and maybe an example of one we had to turn down for not passing our due diligence!

Referrals to corporate partners in the our impact regions to increase the volume and range of goods for aid, are always welcome!