Passion and proactivity collide this July as Team Spirit International launched its High Impact Incubator Training of Trainers initiative alongside amazing partners,Unleashed, as a part of its U-Catalytic Program in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. The collaborations and impact that came about by simply bringing together knowledgeable leaders under a shared vision for prosperity affirmed the greatness of effective localization.
This program took place in Uganda’s largest refugee district and brought together over 22 leaders from 15 Community Based Organizations (CBOs) across the country to engage in an intensive 5-day facilitator training program. Participants learnt how to teach courses on personal development with an entrepreneurial lens, targeting root causes of economic stagnation and introducing tools to minimize stress and trauma- induced barriers that often arise in the refugee entrepreneurship journey.
Participants also embedded their own CBO expertise into the training’s methodology, developing a comprehensive and collaborative curriculum that made the content practical and adaptable. Graduates from this program will adopt the curriculum into their own CBO programming, catering it to various target demographics and implementation capacities. The process is intended to synergize leadership potentials and build CBO networks that aid capacity building and the growth of a global refugee entrepreneurship ecosystem.
This allows solutions to be:
- 100% locally led
- Replicated by at least 15x
- Reaching 1000s of aspiring entrepreneurs across the country and beyond!
The next 2 months of the program is dedicated to ensuring the sustainability and useful integration of content into each CBOs programming and goals . Our Lead CBO, Relief Aid Foundation, will maintain accountability amongst leaders and foster opportunities for continuous learning and connection among trainers. We have also developed a consortium of leaders across the country that will be responsible for:
- Procuring financial investments into a joint venture fund to provide CBO support and start up capital for high impact entrepreneurs
- Developing regional and global partnerships to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem
- Conducting ongoing monitoring and evaluation amongst all implementing CBOs
- Managing our digital resource hub and integrating new content from CBOs into a shared curriculum
- Maintaining trainer accountability, connections, communications amongst cohorts
- Conducting social media campaigns
Once CBOs have implemented their pilot high impact incubator programs, they will have opportunities to collaborate with our partners from the African Leadership University in a student exchange program. Here, CBOs will have long term strategic, operational, and research support from student leaders to strengthen the visibility and reach of the high impact entrepreneurship ecosystem.
This program propelled the bottom-up paradigm shift in global development, confirming that localization works just as well in both theory and practice. Not only are participants more engaged as the primary agents of change in their communities, the return on investment is exceeded by the simultaneous ripple effects of impact. Through the networks initiated in this program, CBOs now have more visibility and credibility as a whole, working together as a cohort to mobilize resources and share capacities to promote awareness and solutions to a wider range of issues.
Thank you to my incredible passion twin Chantal Braunwalder for inviting me to be a part of this dream. The professional and personal growth we shared in such a short amount of time allowed us to push the boundaries of meaningful impact, making us more effective leaders and compassionate development practitioners. I can’t wait to see how our confident and dedicated leaders take this initiative to new realms and show the world what’s possible when you lead with a combination of rigor, heart, and respect. Let this serve as an example to all, that if there is a will, there most certainly is a way. This milestone is one of many more to come!
Thank you to our partners and everyone who supported us in achieving this milestone. If you would like to support our mission and growth of the refugee entrepreneurship ecosystem, feel free to reach out or directly donate to our crowdfunding campaign linked below.
Excited to keep the momentum going and share more updates on our participants’ progress soon! Wishing you all a fulfilled and productive rest of your week
Hi Prajna! This post is probably getting downvotes because it isn't (or doesn't seem) relevant to the project of effective altruism. Let me know if you have any questions.
Somewhat relatedly, I didn't get a clear sense of what your project was about in concrete terms. I think most people who read and vote here are looking for different things than non-EA grantmakers might be looking for.
Looking at your GoFundMe site, I think the material quoted below is an example of content that would be more helpful to share here:
That paragraph says several things about your organization's past results and ability to execute a program using specific data points. I get a much better sense of how the Agroecology and Business Bootcamp was intended to achieve impact than I get for the U-Catalytic Program.
Of course, I'm just one data point, and other people may feel differently! Moreover, different audiences will respond to different approaches -- for example, I think people here tend to be allergic to buzzword-heavy text that may help you in other contexts.