The International Newsletter #2
As the year comes to an end, ScaleChanger would like to highlight three initiatives from the African continent. We want to finish 2023 by sharing: the path taken by Nutri’zaza in Madagascar, which we supported in 2021; the 100% women edition of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp in Marseille last month; and a look back at our support to the Initiative Développement NGO.
And don’t forget to check out our network news and opportunities below!
Enjoy your reading!
Nutri’zaza continues its action against malnutrition in Madagascar
Nutri’zaza is a major player in the fight against chronic malnutrition. It develops and markets high nutritional value products that are accessible to all Malagasy families. The social enterprise was created in 2013. It relies on several distribution channels to make products available to as many people as possible. This activity also creates jobs for women in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
From product diversification to territorial expansion, we are glad to show the company’s journey. ScaleChanger helped Nutri’zaza to scale up two years ago.
“The search for social justice is an imperative in today’s world. If Nutri’zaza is to represent the change it would like to see, then Nutri’zaza is on the right track. And if Nutri’zaza is no longer just a company, then it becomes a model solution…”
Mandresy RANDRIAMIHARISOA (Managing Director, Nutri’zaza)
👉 Find out more about Nutri’zaza here
👉 To find out how we can help you scale up, contact us: contact@scalechanger.org
A look back at the 100% Women’s bootcamp of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp
It took place in Marseille at the end of November, and it was exceptional!
The 25 SIBC impact-driven women entrepreneurs gathered for a week to go deeper into the key themes of the program: leadership, scaling up, impact and investment readiness. In addition to a rich program, the week included talks with alumni and experts, a scale-up clinic and meetings with investors. The participants also took part in a series of unique activities, including a sailing session into the unknown and a bootcamp choir performance! An unforgettable human and transformational adventure for these women entrepreneurs from 15 African countries.
At the end of the scale up day hosted by ScaleChanger, some participants shared the following:
“This day helped me clarify a lot of unclear matters. Now it’s time to step back and reflect on what we’ve learned. I am leaving with serenity, calm and more confidence.”
“Engaging with peers and experts gave me the answers to so many questions that I had. I now know what concrete actions I need to take.”
ScaleChanger is a partner of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp, an acceleration program that has supported nearly 300 impact entrepreneurs in Africa to date. As a member of the consortium alongside Investisseurs & Partenaires, African Management Institute and Startup BRICS, ScaleChanger leads the scale-up component of the program and pilots the mentoring scheme with alumni.
👉 Find out more about the SIBC
Innovative approaches to changing international solidarity practices
Initiative Développement (ID) is an international NGO founded 30 years ago. It is active in 8 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Haiti, Madagascar/Comoros and Senegal.
ID places partnership dynamics at the heart of its strategy.
It helps populations define and respond to their issues. It also supports the structuring of civil society.
Since 2017, ID has implemented a Stakeholder Involvement and Organization Strengthening Mechanism. This program agreement is supported by AFD (French Agency for Development). It focuses on experimenting with and scaling up empowering approaches in ID projects. It also supports ID partners and other organizations on request.
The two key approaches are :
- The Change-Oriented Approach – applied to Social Mobilization (COA-SM): an approach that mobilizes people around a vision so that they can identify their problems and find solutions by themselves. This approach stimulates and encourages the dynamics of individual and collective change, and strengthens cohesion between citizens around the same issue and territory.
- Organizational and Institutional Strengthening (ROI), this support mechanism enables civil society organizations to identify their needs. The process begins with a self-diagnosis and a projection of future goals. Members then define capacity-building needs and turn them into a request. This reinforces motivation and commitment, as the demand comes from the members themselves.
The impact of these approaches had already been demonstrated in a study. ID then decided to evaluate how the approaches worked at the head office level. The goal was to assess the potential for scaling them up.
ID sought the expertise of ScaleChanger to carry out this evaluation:
- ScaleChanger first analyzed the approaches: their relevance, coherence, effectiveness and impact. Then we studied the support given by the PAR Unit to country teams. We assessed how effectively the teams developed and disseminated the approaches. We also examined the organizational model and the replication process.
- Our findings highlighted strong points such as the methods and tools developed by the PAR Unit. We noted the relevance of the approaches and their impact on civil society players. We also identified areas for improvement, such as better capitalization of methodologies.
- This will help ensure the transfer of approaches to more people, which is a major challenge for the next phase
Our approach:
At ScaleChanger, we strongly believe in the dissemination of social innovations to as many people as possible to achieve significant impact. When transferring a methodological approach or the organization to others, laying the foundations of the existing system, defining the key elements that can be replicated, anticipating bottlenecks, or even starting a process of internal structuring, … are the kind of tasks to be carried out before considering a larger scale-up, which is why getting support in this ambition is key!
“Thank you for your analyses, your insight, we were blown away by your ability to gather these analyses and they are already guiding our actions.”
Gaëlle Gandema, PAR Manager at ID
Image credits : Initiative Développement (ID)
👉 If you too would like to carry out a diagnosis or an evaluation with a view to scaling up, then contact us: contact@scalechanger.org
News from our network and more
EUCLID Network – European Observatory of Social Enterprises
Launched in 2020 and supported by the European Commission, the aim of the European Social Enterprise Monitor (ESEM) is to close the current gap on social enterprise data to inform decision-makers in government, civil society and the economy.
Discover more here and complete the survey to help this initiative 👉 https://euclidnetwork.eu/portfolio-posts/european-social-enterprise-monitor-esem/
LuxAid Challenge Fund
The LuxAid Challenge Fund is a new initiative from the Luxembourg’s development cooperation agency aimed at supporting pioneering approaches to development challenges, thereby helping to improve living conditions and protect the environment. Through this first call for projects, up to 15 companies from Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal proposing an innovation in food security or distance learning will be eligible for co-financing of between 50 000 and 140 000 EUR.
Discover more here 👉 https://tinyurl.com/3ssjv74z
African Development Bank Group – Call for proposals
This CfP aims to foster partnerships and finance innovative high-impact projects across the thematic areas at the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, both to scale up results and fund new initiatives to prevent fragility and conflict, and promote lasting peace and resilience in Africa.
Discover more here 👉 Call-for-Proposals under the Prevention Envelope of the Transition Support Facility (TSF) by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
Zayed Sustainability Prize Opens Submissions for 2025
The Zayed Sustainability Prize is the UAE’s pioneering global award that recognises and rewards small and medium enterprises (SMEs), nonprofit organisations (NPOs), and global high schools with impactful, innovative, and inspiring sustainable solutions. Small and medium enterprises, nonprofit organisations, and high schools working to revolutionise food systems, provide safe drinking water, bring quality healthcare and electricity to last mile communities, and tackle climate change are invited to apply to the Zayed Sustainability Prize.
Submissions until 23 June 2024 👉 https://zayedsustainabilityprize.com/
