Celebrate success with a Graduation CeremonySince our visit last year, we have graduated three new groups (close to 100 women in total) who are now all running their own business ventures. Returning to the villages and having the pleasure of handing out Certificates of Graduation is always one of the highlights of my trips.
Monitor and Evaluate Our Impact
Each visit, I continue to meet with previous program graduates (at their businesses) to assess the effectiveness of our program and gain an understanding of the challenges they face as their business matures. In addition to providing us with evaluation metrics, it provides insight as to additional information that should be included in the initial training.
Further Develop our Team Capacity
We are going to focus on building the facilitation skills of our own training team in the Kilimanjaro region so that, in addition to training in the villages, they can facilitate train-the-trainer workshops with other village leaders and NGOs who want to use our curriculum and training materials.
Have a Strategic Planning Session with our Kilimanjaro team to map out our direction for the next year. While we have regular Skype meetings, face-to-face discussions are invaluable to our growth and sustainability.
Onboard New Partners
We are thrilled to have several NGOs who are now using our Biashara Village Ventures training curriculum. Meeting with our partners provides a better insight as to their needs and the needs of those they are training. It also identifies opportunities to expand/enrich our materials and identify additional opportunities for collaboration.
