Dr. Catherine Chan Project Director, UPLOAD JOBS Professor and Chair Natural Resources and Environmental Management College of Tropical Agriculture and.

Dr. Catherine ChanProject Director, UPLOAD JOBS

Professor and ChairNatural Resources and Environmental Management

College of Tropical Agriculture and Human ResourcesUniversity of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

UPLOAD JOBS for Mindanao2015 USAID GLOBAL EDUCATION SUMMIT

November 2, 2015

Central Mindanao

• In the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, there are as many out-of-school children and youth as there are in-school children and youth

• Mindanao’s underemployment rate is 25%, one of the highest in the country (USAID 2011). • Traditional livelihood opportunities for OSY are largely agricultural-based enterprises

dominated by unpaid family labor (Briones 2009)• Without appropriate skills, OSY, as unemployed drop-outs, become easy targets for

recruitment into counterproductive activities (USAID 2011)

Project OverviewUPLOAD JOBS for Mindanao seeks to provide out-of-

school youth (OSY) with workforce skills.

Partnership: Southern Christian College and the University of Hawaii with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

through the Higher Education for Development (HED)

Outline

• Agri-Entrepreneurship training program development and operating framework

• Factors leading to effective project implementation

• Challenges for project implementation• Sustainability via CAFE

Agri-Entrepreneurship Training Program Development & Operating Framework

a. Develop a program that considers regional context,

b. Monitor and evaluate the training program, examine training effectiveness

c. Adapt training program as needed without compromising the overall desired impact

Curriculum Development & Operating Framework

Set Goal

Develop indicators of success

Assess Baseline Data

- OSY Skills & Needs

- Business Demand

- Faculty & Institutional skills

& capacity

Review Standard Curriculum of successful

entrepreneurial programs

Courses & Content

Certificate Curriculum

Sustainable Training Model

Evaluate & Adapt

• To sustainably increase the institutional and human capacity of Southern Christian College

• To sustainably improve livelihood and increase incomes of community and out-of-school youth

Step 1: Set project Goal

Step 2: Develop Indicators of Success

How: Stakeholder collaboration – ground truthing, surveys focus group discussion and interviews with businesses and experts and literature reviews in indicator developmentWhat: Indicators • # OSY trained• # Trainers/Faculty trained• Development of a Center for Agriculture and Farmland

Entrepreneurship (CAFÉ)• Degree of satisfaction with the training programs

Step 4: Review Entrepreneurial Courses and Curriculum

Requirements by Certificate Program Mean

Number of courses 5

Credit hours 15

Total number of student hours 175-200

Most frequent course topics and syllabiIntroduction to EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurial MarketingEntrepreneurial FinanceBusiness Plan and Model DevelopmentEntrepreneurial Venture Creation

Reviewed 32 entrepreneurship certificate programs

Step 5: Align Baseline Assessments and Curricula Review (Combined Ground truthing Data)

• Introduction to Entrepreneurship• Entrepreneurial Marketing• New Venture Creation (Starting a new

business)• Entrepreneurial Finance• Business Plan Development

Entrepreneurial

• Crop Management• Postharvest• Pest management• Market Research

Agricultural

Curriculum Development FrameworkSet Goal

Develop indicators of success

Assess Baseline Data

- OSY Skills & Needs

- Business Demand

- Faculty & Institutional skills

& capacity

Review Standard Curriculum of successful

entrepreneurial programs

Courses & Content

Certificate Curriculum

Sustainable Model for Training

Phase 1: Train Phase 2: Coach Phase 3: Mentor

Sustainable Human Capacity Building Model: Train, Coach, Mentor (TCM)

UH Faculty

SCC Faculty

SCC Faculty

Out-of-school Youth

UH Coaching

SCC Faculty

OSY Trainers

Out-of-school Youth

UH Mentor

Men

tors

hip

Out-of-school Youth

UH Training

Phase 3: Mentor

Human Capacity Building Sustainability Model:Train, Coach, Mentor (TCM)

SCC Faculty

OSY Trainers

Out-of-school Youth

UH Mentor

Men

tors

hip

• Community extension and training

• Enhanced curriculum

• Youth-to-Youth training• Enter higher education• Continued

entrepreneurship/employment

What’s next?

Curriculum Development FrameworkSet Goal

Develop indicators of success

Assess Baseline Data

- OSY Skills & Needs

- Business Demand

- Faculty & Institutional skills

& capacity

Review Standard Curriculum of successful

entrepreneurial programs

Courses & Content

Certificate Curriculum

Sustainable Training Model

Evaluate & Adapt

Other evaluation methods

• Teaching content evaluation• Discussion of teaching methods with US

professors in entrepreneurship• Encouragement to adapt training to how the

OSY are progressing• Attend international conferences on teaching

and research on agri-entrepreneurship to evaluate teaching materials and pedagogies

Progress towards indicators• 200 total OSY attended training• 102 obtained certificate of completion

What are the OSY doing?• 31 OSY actively employed• 17 OSY enrolled in school• 87 OSY started a business• 20 OSY pursuing a business

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

Teach, Coach, Mentor Training (TCM) Model

1. Co-Teach first cohort of faculty & OSY

SCC Faculty and Staff

Out-of-school youth

2. SCC Faculty teach and UH Coach3. Select Faculty to become trainers

Train second cohort of OSY

Train other stakeholders

based on needs

Select FC to be trainers and select SC coached

Original trainers are observers and continue to

coach

Expansion of the capacity building programs to wider

communities

6 SCC Faculty Teachers

OSY Trainers-Barangays-NGOs

CAFÉ

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

Building SCC’s Institution and Human Capacities

• Agri-Entrepreneurship trainings• Colloquiums• Community workshops• Skills training• Stakeholder engagement workshops• International and domestic travel• Land grant model of higher education• Budget creation and management• Personnel management• Communication protocol • Website, newsletter, crowd sourcing• Team collaboration and effective

leadership

• Business skills training• Soft skills training• How to train yourself– Professional training– Consultants

• As needed

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

Annual Colloquium and TradeshowJune 2014, June 2015 (Twice)

• Interact with real businesses• Open mentorship

opportunities• Participate in competitions• Showcase their products• Customer evaluations for

their products• New UPLOAD JOBS

partnerships

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

Market Research for OSY products

• Consumer product preferences• Proposal and report writing• Survey administration• Academic poster presentation• Attend academic conferences• A new skill to conduct market

research

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

Trips to the U.S.2013: SCC Project team visits University of Hawaii, IFAMA conference in Atlanta

2014: SCC Faculty trainers present posters at conference in Baltimore, MD

2015: SCC Faculty trainers present papers at IFAMA academic conference, St. Paul, Minnesota

“This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the University of Hawaii and Southern Christian College and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Higher Education for Development (HED).”

Linking with Local Government Units (LGU)•Support OSY business initiatives in their community•In-kind contributions to UPLOAD JOBS training•Assist with monitoring and evaluation•Open up market opportunities for OSY products

Linking with National Agencies and Institutions• TESDA• DTI• ATI• UPLB

Linking with private sector and businesses• On-the-job Training for OSY• General advising on entrepreneurship• Market linkages – shelf space for OSY products

Factors to effective project implementation

1. Continuous face-to-face mentorship between UH and SCC, SCC and OSY

2. Support from government and barangay officials3. Creativity and enthusiasm from OSY, SCC

teachers4. Excellent project leadership, strong coordination 5. Use current faculty to build the next generation 6. Income generation mechanism7. Effective promotion and marketing of programs

Factors to effective project implementation cont’d

8. Flexibility in training calendar and location9. Trust and mutual respect building 10. Training shifted more to sustain businesses11. Community and parents support12. Women leaders as role model13. Prescreen participants14. Transparency and authentic, professional

communication

Quotes• Ground truthing and detailed plans help to stay on course• Perhaps the most important positive factor of influence for this project were the

people involved and committed to making a difference in the lives of the out of school youth.

• The passion for people doing it. Sometimes I see people doing international work and their heart isn’t in it. That to me is the capacity building for the US and for the international partner

• People from UH are still willing to support us in our extension services. I think that is one of the best outcomes that money cannot buy

• The youth selection process was run at the community level and rooted in local support derived from an established protocol that involved government officials and barangay captains

• Having Dr. Chan (+Dr. Neyra) as a female lead, contributed to the empowerment for those female faculty

Challenges1. Continuous face-to-face mentorship between UH and SCC, SCC and

OSY2. Commitment for OSY to attend trainings

a. Ala carte modules

3. Train, Coach, Mentor model: ensuring that course content is transferred accurately and with relevancea. Bilingual evaluator

4. Incorporating ‘soft skills’ training into agri-entrepreneurship modulesa. Sales and leadership training

5. Satisfaction and progress difficult to monitora. Trainees invited to all SCC activities and update info collected

Challenges cont’d

6. Quality of training difficult to gauge using simple indicatorsa. Unintended benefits and costs

7. SCC fiscal management strong influence on program operationsa. resolved by face to face meetings

8. Too much empowerment at timesa. prize money

9. Getting commitment from teachers not directly under co-PI supervision

a. built capacity for cross units communication

10. High transaction costs to get trainers and traineesa. security reasons – more training to trainers

11. Sustainability of CAFE

Quotes• A major challenge of this potential program sustainability factor is

that the evaluation found that only a handful of the OSY’s businesses remained in operation at the time of fieldwork.

• Somewhat disjointed support of the CAFE among some leaders at SCC• There remains a significant amount of effort to be expended in order

to foreground the CAFE as the center of activity for UPLOAD JOBS once USAID funding has ceased, in large part due to the need to embed the place as a valuable and worthwhile extension of the UPLOAD JOBS project in the minds of all stakeholders

• The planning for sustainability of CAFE as a project outcome needed to begin earlier in the project

• But after a few years, we can walk away from that apple tree and it will bear fruit for 100 years. I think CAFE is like that seedling. In very early stages and still needs attention

What worked and what did not?7. Use current faculty +OSYs to build the next

generation Strong commitment by faculty

8. Income generation mechanismStrong business plans, selected businesses as model for

incubation and equity sharing

9. CAFÉ not grounded and institutionalized at SCCNeed a couple of years of mentoring – minimal costs. Words no actions.Director only working part-time supported by other

project

11. Stronger community and family supportSocial capital building

12.

Quotes• It has improved their livelihood and income• OSY are not idle anymore and with the skills gained, they will most

likely less vulnerable to be recruited to do unproductive activities (crimes, terrorism, etc.) in their communities.

• I don’t think they will ever forget their experience. You have to believe this is a good thing

• Positive psychological effects for the OSY, opening their minds, building confidence, and exposing them to new places and different people

• One of the larger retail business in Midsayap said that they could place their products there

• People from UH are still willing to support us in our extension services. I think that is one of the best outcomes that money cannot buy.

• Sense of accomplishment and pride in these achievements was expressed and observed

Data (18 OSYs surveyed in May, 2015)

Before training income in Phpaverage: 15,918 median: 6,500mode: 0

After training:average: 36,412median: 24,000mode: 20,000

What they were doing before?8 employed10 unemployed

What they are doing now?12 have businesses2 employed1 unemployed3 didn't answer

CAFÉ’s Core Businesses & Services1. Small-scale business incubator: Start-to-finish business incubator to support daily consultation with burgeoning agri-entrepreneurs, including providing production facilities and equipment, marketing and sales expertise, and financial guidance.2. Agri-business consulting: One-on-one consultations in marketing, financial management, sales, new ventures, and production3. Agri-entrepreneurship Training (Certificate): 10-day training opportunities on the basics of agri-entrepreneurship4.Community kitchen for food processing: Provide a key food production facility and rental equipment following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to enhance food business production efficiency and scale-up

CAFE is the first academe-based agri-entrepreneurship incubator in Central Mindanao that strives to be financially self sustainable and income generating

AcknowledgementsThe author would like to acknowledge the UPLOAD JOBS for Mindanao project implementation team (Mary Pleasant, Rusyan Mamiit, Emilie Bayona, Dawn Hope Sulit, Jovelyn Bantilan Cynthia Lai, Jean Fantle-Lepcyzk, Michael Caligbayan, Angela Barrato, Dr. Elma Neyra, and Tins Lee) for making this presentation possible. Thank you also to all the SCC faculty trainers and U.S. based trainers who are the brains behind our agri-entrepreneurship training programs. Acknowledgement goes to Higher Education for Development and USAID Philippines for their support in the administration and funding of UPLOAD JOBS for Mindanao.

This presentation was adapted from the work of many people including Pleasant, Lee and Mamiit.

Thanks

People, Passion, Program and Pride

Salamat for a fun project!!

Financial Plan for CAFE

Request for Extension and Funding