As the year comes to an end, ScaleChanger would like to finish the year 2023 by highlighting three initiatives from the African continent: The path taken by Nutri’zaza, a social enterprise fighting chronic malnutrition in Madagascar, which we supported in 2021; the 100% women edition of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp bootcamp which took place in Marseille last month; and a look back at our support to the Initiative Développement NGO, which develops innovative methodological approaches as part of its international solidarity projects.

And don’t forget to check out our network news and opportunities below!

Enjoy your reading

🌍🌍🌍

As a major player in the fight against chronic malnutrition, Nutri’zaza develops and markets high nutritional value products that are accessible to all Malagasy families, regardless of their social status. The social enterprise was created in 2013 and relies on various distribution channels to make its products accessible to as many people as possible, while creating jobs for women in the country’s disadvantaged neighborhoods. From product diversification to territorial expansion, we are glad to take you through the company’s journey, which ScaleChanger helped to scale up two years ago…

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

🌍🌍🌍

🌍🌍🌍

Since 2017, ID has set up an innovative and integrated Stakeholder Involvement and Organization Strengthening Mechanism through a Program Agreement supported by AFD (French Agency for development), which focuses on experimenting with and scaling up empowering approaches within projects run by ID and toward its partners and other organizations (at their 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), a support mechanism that enables civil society organizations to identify their own strengthening needs, based on a self-diagnosis and a projection of what they want to do. Through this process, members of an association realize and identify their capacity building needs, then turn them into a request – which is a key factor in the success of an ROI. As the training and reinforcement actions have been defined by the members themselves, their motivation and commitment to the process are reinforced.

The impact  of these approaches on populations and associations had previously been demonstrated through a study carried out at the end of the first phase of the Program Agreement. ID then decided to carry out an evaluation of the functioning of the approaches run by the “Support and Reinforcement of Players Unit” (PAR – Pôle Accompagnement et Renforcement des Acteurs in French) at head office, in order to assess the potential for scaling up of these approaches.

ID sought the expertise of ScaleChanger to carry out this evaluation: 

• ScaleChanger first analyzed the approaches: their relevance to ID projects, their coherence with the NGO’s other activities, their effectiveness and impact on local populations and stakeholders. 
• Then we studied the support provided by the PAR Unit to the country teams who develop and disseminate the approaches in the field, measuring in particular the effectiveness, relevance and quality of the approaches’ implementation, as well as the existing organizational model and functioning, and the state and progress of the replication process.
• Thanks to the information gathered, we were able to highlight what is working well such as the implementation methods and tools developed by the PAR Unit to disseminate the approaches, the PAR’ support to the teams and its level of expertise. This makes the approaches particularly relevant and creates proven changes in populations and civil society players. We also explored the notable benefits of integrating these approaches into development projects. We also looked into areas of improvement (capitalizing on methodologies, for example) to ensure the effective transfer of these approaches to as many people as possible, a major challenge for the next phase of the Program Convention.

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!

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

🌍🌍🌍

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/