Community Media/IAN PRINGLE/Sustainability Exercises

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Sustainability Planning: Exercises

Note

These materials were developed for the Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK) though they were never formally integrated into the kit. The MMTK provides an integrated set of multimedia training materials and resource to support community media, community multimedia centres, telecentres and other initiatives using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to empower communities and support development work.

About this workshop

This workshop is intended for use by media and ICT initiatives, for example a community radio station, a multimedia centre or a telecentre. The workshop addresses the need for community media and ICT enterprises and initiatives to be sustainable and to plan for sustainability in an engaged and participatory way.

About this document

The following exercises will help guide participants – ideally a representative group of stakeholders – to brainstorm the different elements that will make up your organisation’s sustainability plan. It is important to keep in mind that while group work is excellent at generating ideas, it is not very good at putting them into a cohesive format. It is essential that you have a small team of people who will take the groups’ ideas and put them into the Sustainability Plan format over the course of the workshop itself, ideally after or before the full group sessions. To do the entire workshop will take several days, a timeframe that is not always feasible for small, busy organisations. Although it is critical that organisations prioritise their time to ensure that sustainability planning is inclusive, holistic and comprehensive, it is worthwhile for trainers to review the exercises in advance, in conjunction with the module’s other elements, and decide which components and related exercises are the most important and which one might perhaps be done in a second workshop.

Exercise 1: Brainstorming ideas and developing a “mission statement”

Divide into three groups of three or four people. Try to find a balance in terms of gender, age and different roles within your organisation. For instance, you could put a staff trainer together with a youth volunteer, a senior community user and a member of a local partner NGO. Wherever possible try to make sure that the groups have separate spaces in which to work, ideally different rooms or locations far enough away that they can work privately and independently of the other groups.

Note on teams: It is essential to the success of the workshop that people work as teams, both as a whole group and in the smaller ‘breakout’ groups. We suggest that you try keeping people in the same groups through the entire workshop so that they get to know each other and learn how to work together.

Each group should have a ‘facilitator’ to guide the exercise as well as a ‘recorder’ to take notes of the discussion. Prepare your facilitators before they start the exercise.

Note on facilitation: Facilitators are essential in fostering teamwork. They should make sure that everybody’s voice is heard. Workshops of this kind need to strike a balance between getting a good product and ensuring an inclusive and empowering process. Facilitators should encourage people to speak freely and not to feel inhibited. It is important to foster new and creative ideas, even if at first they might seem outrageous. At the same time the facilitator needs to make sure the group finishes their assignments. Facilitators should emphasize and try to work towards consensus, meaning that people discuss and compromise in order to come to a result with which everyone is satisfied.

Each group will ask themselves a series of questions about your organisation’s mission, discuss possible answers and decide on one or two to present back to the larger group.

Questions:

• What is our purpose? What are we here to do?
• How do we achieve our purpose? What are the main elements of our work?
• Who do we work with? Who are we working for?

Provide each group with 15 minutes to discuss the questions and then have them come back and present their ‘answers’ one-by-one to the larger group. Put the groups’ suggestions onto chart paper so that everyone can see the answers. Put the charts up on the walls. Encourage discussion about the answers, the commonalities and the differences. In the process, try to highlight key words and group similar ideas and phrases. Facilitate agreement and try to move towards common concepts and wording.

Assign two or three people from the larger group to work with the materials from your discussion and to draft a mission statement that they will bring back to the group for discussion later on.

Note on documentation: Wherever possible, put your documentation up on the walls of the workshop space and encourage participants to read and comment on the materials that are being produced. In terms of moving from brainstorming, discussion and ideas on chart paper towards actual written plans, assign drafting work to people with some experience. Group work is effective for many things, but writing is not one of them.

Exercise 2: Turning outrageous ideas into a practical vision

Note on Exercise 2: If you are pressed for time or do not see a lot of value in brainstorming outrageous ideas, you might want to pass over the exercise and move on to Exercise 3

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the note on teams in Exercise 1). Each group should have a ‘facilitator’ to guide the exercise and a ‘recorder’ to take notes of the discussion. Prepare your facilitators before they start the exercise (see the note on facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will brainstorm at least five ‘outrageous ideas’. The ideas should represent results or achievements that your organisation would realise in ideal circumstances, for instance, computer literacy for at least one member of every household, a digital library that 300 people visit in a week, or

The purpose of the exercise is to encourage your sustainability planners to think about their ideals, their dreams and their ambitions for your organisation. Even if they are outrageous, it is important that you set your sights high and that your stakeholders have a chance to talk about what they feel your organisation could accomplish and how it might grow into the future.

To prepare your groups you might mention a few words written by Robert Browning: A [person’s] reach should exceed [their] grasp. The suggestion is that to achieve anything worthwhile a person should attempt even those things that seem impossible; in the process of trying they might just find that they are possible after all or that they inspire equally important but more manageable achievements.

Each group should present their ideas back to the larger group. Keep track of the ideas on chart paper. Try to combine and adapt ideas in order to narrow the list down to five or six achievable ideas that represent your organisation’s vision of where you want to go.

Assign a couple of people to rewrite the agreed upon ideas and then present them back to the main group for discussion later on. (See note on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Exercise 3: Developing a clear set of objectives

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will discuss your organisation’s objectives and decide on two or three objectives to present back to the larger group.

Questions to guide each group’s discussion:

• Information and communication: What do these words mean in the context of your community? How do they fit into people's day-to-day lives in your community?
• What are the needs that your organisation is trying to address?
• How do you address these needs?
• What are the main things that your centre is trying to do?

Provide each group with 15 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their ‘objectives’ one-by-one to the larger group. Put their suggestions onto chart paper so that everyone can see the answers. Put the charts up on the walls.

Questions for discussion:

• • Was it easy for you to answer these questions?
  • Do people from the different groups agree?
  • How often does your organisation consider its objectives and ask these sorts of questions? Would it be beneficial to do so? If yes, then why?

In the process of looking at and discussing the different groups’ suggested objectives, try to highlight key words and group similar ideas and phrases. Facilitate agreement and try to move towards common concepts and wording.

See if you can get the group to agree on a set of four to six objectives. If this seems like too difficult a task in a large group and at the very least for proper drafting, assign two or three people to work with the materials from your discussion and to draft a set of objectives that they will bring back to the group for discussion later on.

Exercise 4: Inventory of programmes and services

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will discuss your organisation’s programmes and services and return to the larger group with what they consider to be a comprensive list. Each group should also propose two new programmes or services to add to the list of existing ones and be ready to explain why they would make good additions.

Provide each group with 15 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their list one-by-one to the larger group. Put their suggestions onto chart paper so that everyone can see the answers. Put the charts up on the walls. (See notes on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Questions for discussion:

• Are the lists of existing programmes and services more or less the same?
• How consistent are the suggestions for new programmes and services?
• Go through the list of existing programmes and services. How popular is each one? What need and specific community does each one serve.
  • Go through the list of suggested new programmes and services. As a group discuss the strengths, weaknesses and the feasibility of each new idea.

In the process of looking at and discussing the different lists, try to build a common list that everyone agrees with.

For new ideas for programmes and services, discuss with the group and choose four to six suggestions that can be included in your plan.

If either task seems too difficult in a large group, assign one or two people to work with the materials from your discussion and to draft the list of existing and suggested new programmes that they will then bring back to the group for discussion later on.

Exercise 5: Stakeholder identification and community participation

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will discuss a different topic relating to stakeholders and community participation in your organisation. Each group will present their lists and a short summary of their discussions back to the larger group.

For the purpose of this exercise, we focus on ‘community’ stakeholders rather than you own staff.

Group 1

• Make a list of your organisation’s main community stakeholders
• Why and how are these stakeholders involved? Do they stay involved?

Group 2

• Make a list of all the different types of people who are involved in your organisation
• Why and how do people get involved in your organisation? Do they stay involved?

Group 3

• Make a list of your organisation’s target or special focus groups
• How do you identify these groups?
• Why and how do these groups get involved in your organisation? Do they stay involved?

Provide each group with 20 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their lists and a summary of their discussions to the larger group. Write up the key points onto chart paper so that everyone can see. Put the charts up on the walls. (See note on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Questions to pose to the larger group:

• Was it easy for the groups to answer these questions?
• How do the results of the different groups’ discussions differ?
• Do you agree with the answers provided by the other groups?
• Are there gaps in your list of current stakeholders?

As a whole group, use the results of the small group discussions to make a list of your stakeholders and their relationship to the organisation.

The answers to the following questions should be included in your sustainability plan as action areas.

• Are there any gaps in terms of your ideal group of stakeholders?
• Do you think your centre is doing enough to encourage the participation of stakeholders and other community members in the organisation? If not, what can you do?
• What is required to increase the confidence, trust and commitment from your stakeholders?
• How useful do you think this exercise is likely to be for your centre? Do you think that more people should be involved?
• Is there anything that we missed or that needs to be discussed?

Exercise 6: Managing human resources

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will discuss a different aspect of human resources in your organisation. Each group will present a short summary of their discussions back to the larger group.

Group 1

• List the tasks that are required to run your centre on a day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month basis
• For each task, what is required in terms of time and skills?

Group 2

• List the different staff positions – both paid and unpaid – that exist within your organisation
• How is each valued? In other words, what does a person receive in terms of money, recognition, status, benefits, etc?
• Map the positions in terms of their relationship to one another how each is valued

Group 3

• What ways might an organisation value the contributions of its staff (both paid and unpaid)?
• What sort of facilities does your centre provide to your staffs and volunteers?
• What are the kinds of training required for your staffs and volunteers to run your centre effectively?

Provide each group with 20 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their lists and a summary of their discussions to the larger group. Write up the key points onto chart paper so that everyone can see. Put the charts up on the walls. (See note on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Questions to pose to the larger group:

• Are the answers of different groups compatible?
• In general terms, how would you rate the commitment and morale levels of the organisation’s staff?

As a whole group, use the results of the small group discussions to make a list and rough diagram of your human resources and their roles and responsibilities within the organisation.

The answers to the following questions should be included in your sustainability plan as action areas.

• Does our staff structure match the needs of our stakeholders and organisation?
• How can we increase staff capacity?
• How can we more suitably and effectively value the efforts and contributions of staff, especially volunteers?

Exercise 7: Mapping your organisation and developing governance strategies

Before breaking into smaller groups, ask participants if they know

1. How your organisation is legally constituted,
2. How decisions, like the introduction of new programmes or purchase of equipment, are made,

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will create two maps: the first to illustrate how your current organizational structure, the second to suggest idea to improve organisation and governance.

Give each group 10 minutes to map your organisation as it exists now. The map should show the following elements:

• Different groups and positions, e.g. a steering committee and facility coordinators, as well as key roles and responsibility, e.g. major decision-making and day-to-day operations
• The structure, in other words how the above groups fit together and what their relationships are, i.e. the management committee might be responsible for supervising the staff, the coordinator might be responsible for trainers and other part-time staff, a volunteer coordinator might be responsible for new volunteers

Ask the groups to come back together and have each group do a brief presentation of their first map. In the course of the presentations, if they are not already evident bring the following issues into the discussion:

• Does your organisation have a management or steering committees? What are their roles? How often do the committees meet?
• Are the members nominated or elected? What is the process for becoming a member? How long is the tenure?
• How do decisions get made and implemented? How are they communicated?
• Are the committees accountable? Are the processes transparent?
• Are there any feedback mechanisms for staff and stakeholders?
• What might be the dangers of having transparent and accountable forms of organising and goverance, for instance an elected steering committee? What are the advantages?

Ask the groups to do another map, one that includes their ideas for improving organisation and governance. Encourage the groups to get specific and include suggestions for how often committees and other groups meet, how decisions should be communicated, etc.

Give each group 15 minutes and then ask them to come back and present their map and their ideas to the larger group.

Use the results of the small group discussions to make a list and rough diagram of your human resources and their roles and responsibilities within the organisation.

In the process of looking at and discussing the different maps, try to build a common structure that everyone agrees with. Ask two or three participants to

The answers to the following questions should be included in your sustainability plan as action areas.

• Does our staff structure match the needs of our stakeholders and organisation?
• How can we increase staff capacity?

How can we more suitably and effectively value the efforts and contributions of staff, especially volunteers?

Exercise 8: Assessing your organisation’s income and expenditure

Preparation: For this exercise you need to have an accurate financial statement that clearly shows the organisations income and expenditure prepared in advance. Remember that part of this workshop discusses the importance of accountability and transparence. Although it may be new and therefore even difficult for some people within the organisation to discuss these matters in the open, our experience shows that the burden of financial management is eased when information is shared among trusted stakeholders. The statement will be shared with participants during the discussion after small group work.

Divide into two groups of three or six people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1). Ask any participants who actually work with the organisation’s income and expenditure to sit out the small group work part of the exercise and rejoin during the larger discussion.

Each group will discuss a different aspect of human resources in your organisation. Each group will present a short summary of their discussions back to the larger group.

Group 1

• List out all of the organisation’s expenditures that you can think of; guess if you don’t know the actual cost of something
• Rank them in terms of importance in achieving the organisation’s mission (as defined in your mission statement)
• List out all of your organisation’s sources of income
• Include support provided by outside agencies, like donor agencies or major partners; estimate if you don’t know the actual figures
• Rank them in terms of how appropriate they are to your organisation’s mission

Group 2

• List out all of the organisation’s expenditures that you can think of; guess if you don’t know the actual cost of something
• Rank them in terms of importance in managing the organisation’s day-to-day operations
• List out all of your organisation’s sources of income
• Assign a financial value to in-kind contributions, especially the work hours provided by volunteer staff
• Rank the difference income sources in terms of their size

Provide each group with 20 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their lists to the larger group. Put their lists up on the wall. (See note on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Distribute your organisation’s financial statements to the group.

Questions to pose to the larger group:

• How easy was it for people to assess income and expenditure?
• How do the groups’ lists compare with each other? With the actual financial statement?
• Are there are any major surprises?
• Do your organisation’s expenditures seem logical in terms of your mission?
• Is your organisation maintaining a financial balance? On a month-to-month basis how does income compare to expenditure?
• Where does your organisation stand in terms of financial self-reliance?
• In general terms, what do you need to do to achieve a financial balance and self-reliance?

This exercise is for organisations that run training programmes either as part of their mandate, as revenue generator, or both. The exercise uses a tool developed by ??? in ???. The ‘Training Cost Caluculator’ allows you to easily calculate at what point your organisation will breakeven and start making a profit from training courses by plugging in certain information into a formatted spreadsheet.

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1). Each group needs access to a computer and a copy of the Training Cost Caluculator.

Ask each group to use the calculator to plan a training programme of their choice. They will need to discuss and then enter into the spreadsheet the following information:

• ===== Fixed monthly cost: a reasonable portion of your monthly overhead or operational costs =====

• ===== Variable cost per lesson: the cost to the organisation for each training lesson, for instance, the cost of trainers and materials =====

• ===== Course: name of the course Income per training lesson: =====

• Course income per participant (price): the fee you will charge per lesson
• Number of lessons per course
• Number of participants per group

The calculator will show each group at what point they will breakeven with their particular training plan.

Give each group 15 minutes to use the calculator to plan a lesson; then ask the groups to present their idea and the figures and chart to the larger group.

Exercise 10: Strategies for financial self-reliance

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will discuss different ways to help achieve financial self-reliance and then present their ideas back to the larger group.

Group 1

• • What ways could your organisation reduce expenditures?
  • What effect would this have in terms of your programme and services?
  • Can areas of current expenditure be replaced by in-kind or voluntary inputs?
  • Would reducing expenditures have an impact on your mission?

Group 2

• • What ways could your organisation increase income from current sources?
  • What would these ideas require in terms of new inputs, for example paid and volunteer staff inputs or additional materials?
  • How could you minimise new expenditure?
  • How would your suggestions impact on your mission? Would this help to meet community needs?

Group 3

• • What new sources of income could your organisation tap into?
  • What would these ideas require in terms of new investments, for example paid and volunteer staff inputs or additional materials?
  • How could you minimise expenditure while still introducing new sources of income?

Provide each group with 20 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their ideas to the larger group. Write up the key points onto chart paper so that everyone can see. Put the charts up on the walls. (See note on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Points for larger group discussion:

• What additional resources are required to meet our vision of an ideal centre?

• In terms of programmes and services: Are we doing enough? Are we doing too much?

• Are there other resources available that we have not tapped?

As a whole group, use the results of the small group discussions to make create income and expenditure budgets that you can reasonably achieve in 1) six months and 2) one year. These budgets should chart a clear course for your organisation to reach self-reliance. They will become part of your financial statement and projections, part of the sustainability plan.

To do this, you will need to facilitate agreement among participants for the following:

• Are you going to reduce current expenditures? If yes, how?
• Are you going to increase income from current sources? If yes, how?
• Are you going to introduce new income generating activities? If yes, what are they and what do they involve?
• What monthly income can reasonably be expected after six months and after one year from expanded or new programmes or services?
• What new operating expenditures will be incurred after six and twelve months in order to carry out new plans?
• What new investments need to be made in order to carry out new plans?

Exercise 11: Making suitable technologies choices

Divide into three groups of three or four people (see the notes on teams and facilitation in Exercise 1).

Each group will discuss your organisation’s current and projected technology requirements. Take a moment or two to prepare the groups: Equipment should meet current and future needs, for example to conduct training and run audio/video programme, but also consider ways that capital investments may help to achieve financial self-reliance, for instance, in some environments a photocopier or a photo printer might be a real money maker, in others a fast internet connection could be a good way to generate income. Needless to say, technology choices have a lot to do with sustainability, both day-to-day and long-term.

Each group should discuss questions listed below and then present their ideas back to the larger group.

Group 1

• • Make a comprehensive list of all your organisation’s equipment
  • Are your organisation’s current facilities appropriate in meeting your current services? What deficiencies are there? Is there equipment that is not really used?

Group 2

• • Keeping in mind the discussions about new programmes and services, what sorts of new equipment does your organisation need in order to implement your new plans?
  • Make and prioritise a list and if possible assign each equipment budget in terms of cost, benefit and, if relevant, potential income

Group 3

• • Are your equipments easy to use? Can you suggest alternatives?
  • Are they easy to maintain and get serviced? Can you suggest strategies?

Provide each group with 20 minutes to discuss and then have them come back and present their ideas to the larger group. Write up the key points onto chart paper so that everyone can see. Put the charts up on the walls. (See note on documentation in Exercise 1.)

Points for larger group discussion:

• What strategies should your organisation adopt to deal with issues of maintenance and servicing? What investments should you make (e.g. relationships, training for local staff, etc)?
• Are your current equipment facilities adequate? If not, what are the priorities? What are the costs and benefits?

• What new equipment is required for your organisation to introduce new priority programmes and services? Will they pay for themselves?
• Discuss the overall priorities for equipment keeping in mind costs and possible options to meet them. Try to approach planning the way a business would: capital investments should yield profit that in turn will finance past and future investments. As a business would, can you take a loan?

• Are there other issues that we have not thought of in terms of technology?

As a whole group, focus your discussions in order to create a Technology Section of your sustainability plan. The list of current equipment should be an appendix to your plan. Your priorities for new investments and strategies for how to upgrade and introduce new facilities should form part of the plan itself.