Aune _Strategic Mngmnt
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Transcript of Aune _Strategic Mngmnt
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STRATEGIC PLAN
For
Namibia Youth Credit Scheme (NYCS)Employment Programme of the Ministry of Youth, National Services, Sport and
Culture
January 2014 to December 2018
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Executive Summary
Strategic planning keeps an organization on track over time, and allows the organization to respond
to change while remaining faithful to their mission and vision. The process itself may have as much
value to the organization as the final plan, since so much can be learned from surveying both theposition of the organization and the state of the environment in which the organization operates.
Like other developing countries, Namibia has a small labour market, which cannot accommodate
young people searching for formal employment. Though it is now 24 years since independence,
Namibia is still trying to work out ways that will contribute massively to the fight against
unemployment, underemployment and poverty in the country. It is against this background that the
Namibian Government through the Ministry responsible for youth affairs embraced the initiative
from commonwealth to implement Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative which is currently
known as Namibia Youth Credit Scheme. Namibia Youth Credit Scheme is a programme of the
Ministry of Youth, National Services, Sport and Culture. Namibia being a member state of the
Commonwealth, this programme was started as an initiative of the Commonwealth Youth
Programme in 2005.
The programmes objective is to empower and positively contribute to the
living standard of young people in Namibia. NYCS is an integrated business development model
that targets committed out of school youth and prepares them to start and grow their own
enterprises with the objectives of generating incomes, creating employment opportunities and
contributing to the alleviation of poverty.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section Page
Executive Summary 2
Table of Contents 3List of Abbreviations 4Mission Statement 5Statement of Core Values 5Organization Profile and History 5Strategic Planning 8Strategic Programme Goals and Objectives 11Conclusion 14
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List of Abbreviations
NYCS Namibia Youth Credit
Scheme
CYCI Commonwealth Youth Credit
Initiative
MTR Mid Term
Review
NAMFISA Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory
Authority
NAMFLC Namibia First Luxury
Corporation
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MISSION STATEMENT
The NYCS (Namibia Youth Credit Scheme) empowers and positively contribute to the living
standard of young people in Namibia.NYCS is an integrated business development model that
targets committed out of school youth and prepares them to start and grow their own enterprises
with the objectives of generating incomes, creating employment opportunities and contributing to
the alleviation of poverty.
NYCS STATEMENT OF CORE VALUES
The Namibia Youth Credit Scheme, NYCS, is a member-driven organization.
NYCS exists to maximize the resources of its members in accordance with the
organizations vision and mission statements.
NYCS, a regional organization, now has partners from across the SADC region that
collaborates in the training and betterment of the Namibian Youth.
ORGANIZATION PROFILE AND HISTORY
The programme, from a pilot phase in 2005 that covered only four regions of Northern Namibia,
now has presence in all the fourteen regions; thus becoming a national programme. The rollout of
the programme to all the regions and its consolidation on the basis of lessons learnt during
implementation was based on a five year programme document, launched in 2007 and ending in
July 2012. It therefore finds itself in the unenviable position of an institution that has the following
features:
Assets on the ground, particularly financial assets running into millions of dollars;
a growing number of clients (youth), some trained and awaiting to receive loans;
a vibrant institutional framework complete with a board and management systems; Revised operating guidelines;
full alignment with Vision 2030 aspirations
Continues to receive financial support from the parent Ministry every year;
leaning on a programmatic infrastructure that expired in 2012;
The programmes continued operations without a legal mandate to stand on, coupled with its
growing complexity (both institutional and operational), and has become an enduring constraint to
continued service delivery and growth. The board finds itself without the legal mandate to make
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decisions while at the same time having to oversee several contractual arrangements. The
Secretariat, as staff assigned from the parent Ministry and also accountable to the board, find
themselves in a situation of dual loyalty and the growth of their capacity only determined by the
staff assigned and not the needs of the programme. At the programme level, there is an expanding
revolving loan fund whose required management competencies are not available at the Ministry.
In view of the foregoing, there is an urgent need to transform the programme to an institution that
would be able to enter into contractual arrangements, a board with powers to recruit staff as
determined by programme needs and a capacity to develop long term policies and strategies.
I nstituti onal Background
The programme has gone through three broad phases since inception: the design and
implementation of a pilot phase from 2005 to 2007; the design and implementation of the main
phase and the current post-main phase period.
The design of the Pilot Phase commenced in August 2005 through a collaborative arrangement
between the Government and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The latter provided technical
assistance to operationalize their youth economic empowerment toolkit the Commonwealth Youth
Credit Initiative (CYCI). The Pilot Phase, named CYCI Namibia, was launched for two years in
2005 (with the Commissioning of the first MAB by the then Minister for Higher Education, then
also responsible for Youth Affairs) and ended in 2007, with a budget of N$ 2,000,000. A Mid Term
Review (MTR) found that the project had a profound effect on the participating youth, some
owning assets for the first time in their lives. A stakeholder validation workshop to discuss the
MTR report recommended that a main phase be designed to roll-out the project in other regions of
the country.
The main phase, renamed NYCS, was launched in July 2007, with a budget of N$ 40,000,000, to
run for five years, to July 2012. The focus of this phase was consolidation of the programme in the
initial four regions and replication in the rest of the regions. It had as its target outputs creation of
13,000 jobs; establishment of a N$15,000,000 revolving youth loan fund and mobilization of
savings by young people to the tune of N$ 10,000,000. The phase was highly successful in its
objective to roll out the programme in all regions, a feat which was achieved in 2011. It has also
trained and provided financial access (loans and savings facilities) to 5000 young people and
established a revolving loan fund of N$ 7,200,000 which continues to expand with new capital
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injections and loan repayments by young people.
The main phase was to form the basis of the institutionalization of the programme, starting with the
development of a Policies and Procedures Manual in 2008 to further refine the organizational
structure. The MTR, to assess to what extent the goals of the programme continued to be relevant
and propose ways forward, was commissioned in early 2011 but its findings and recommendations
have not been adopted due to governance issues (the last boards term expired before they could
adopt the report and this was followed by lengthy period when there was no board). The
programme hence lapsed in July 2012 without any determination on the way forward.
The current phase, which commenced in August 2012, operated for several months without a board
to offer strategic direction. A number of youth trained (in excess of 1,000) during this period could
not access loans, leading to a general sense of frustration at the Secretariat, service providers andthe youth. Reporting also suffered, in terms of reports emanating from the field. The current board
was commissioned by the Minister in May 2013. A number of activities have been undertaken to
create the foundations for a robust institution that continues to serve the youth of Namibia
efficiently and effectively in years to come.
Programme funding
The pilot phase (2005-2007) of the programme was funded by three partners; the Government of
Namibia, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Social Security Commission. The pilot phase had
a budget of N$ 2,000,000. The Commonwealth Secretariat (SSC) provided a seed fund of N$
340,000 and technical assistance to support the programme design. SSC contributed an additional
N$ 1,000,000 and the Government covered the budgetary shortfall.
The main phase of the programme (2007-2012), with a budget of N$40,000,000, was financed by
the Government and the SSC.
During implementation, the programme has provided loans to youth, which have been repaid and
now form a pool of resources which will be used to set up a national youth revolving loan fund.
Going forward, the proposed institution will require being in a position to recruit and maintain its
own staff, whose complement will be guided by its own staffing needs. It will also be in a position
to develop programmes and products in response to changing needs of its target client, youth, while
maintaining appropriate accountabilities to its stakeholders.
This calls for an assured funding in order to provide predictability to programme strategies, policies
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and products/services.
I nstituti on management
The proposed institution is an enhanced variation of the existing programme with following
characteristics:
In place of Management Advisory Board, it will have a board of directors with powers to
set strategies and policies, develop institutional structures and frameworks, offer strategic
direction, and recruit and oversee staff management.
In place of a Secretariat assigned by the parent Ministry, there will be a management led by
a CEO accountable to the board of directors. The CEO will have staff running the various
departments/divisions whose recruitment and management will be guided by the board. In line with practice elsewhere for programmes with similar objectives and mandates, the
institution will investigate the potential of recruiting volunteers to run its affairs at the
constituency level while at the same time developing a working relationship with staff of
the parent ministry at the regional level (Youth Employment Officers).
In place of Management Advisory Board, it will have a board of directors with powers to
set strategies and policies, develop institutional structures and frameworks, offer strategic
direction, and recruit and oversee staff management.
In place of a Secretariat assigned by the parent Ministry, there will be a management led by
a CEO accountable to the board of directors. The CEO will have staff running the various
departments/divisions whose recruitment and management will be guided by the board.
In line with practice elsewhere for programmes with similar objectives and mandates, the
institution will investigate the potential of recruiting volunteers to run its affairs at the
constituency level while at the same time developing a working relationship with staff of
the parent ministry at the regional level (Youth Employment Officers).
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Features of the programme
The target beneficiaries are youth (18-35 years)
Operations through the group lending methodology
Training in basic business management skills. This precedes the receipt of any credit.
Development of business plans.
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Provision of credit. This is a series of three small loans, the participants qualifying for each
succeeding (and bigger) loan after servicing the previous loan.
Follow-up training, counselling and mentoring.
Access to other products after graduating from the initial package
2 Products of the programme
The programme offers a variety of products, whose features are reviewed from time to time in line
with changing market trends. The flagship product of the programme is an integrated youth
enterprise development package that includes initial training, a series of three small progressively
increasing loans. The other products of the programme are:
Training
The programme from the outset realized that its core target, out of school unemployed youth, has
only limited exposure (if at all) to basic business management. This led to a collaborative
arrangement with a global network of enterprise development trainers (CEFE) to develop
customized entry level training materials. This has the dual purpose of acting as an empowering
tool for youth entering business for the first time and also as a loan risk mitigation measure. This
training is the entry point for all youth into the programme. Other training offered is to strengthen
the entire system of programme delivery. The training products of the programme include:
Basic Business Management Training
Follow-up training for youth in business
Counselling
Training in basic risk management for service providers
Review and material updating training for training service providers
Capacity building training for Secretariat staff and regional youth employment officers
Exposure visits and training for board members
Mentoring scheme for business sustainability
Procedures for l oan disbursement and repayment
The programme does not deliver loans directly to youth but through a number of specialized
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service providers who cover specific regions of the country. Their operations are guided by an
implementation agreement with the programme.
The programme, through the service providers, currently delivers financial services through two
delivery models:
The Omusati model, utilizing the savings and credit associations (SCAs) to deliver credit.
They operate under cooperative laws.
The group lending model. This is the model adopted by NAMFLC but has also been
adopted by all the other service providers who are not registered as cooperatives.
An important distinction between the two is that while under the SCAs, savings and deposit taking
are allowed by law; no deposits/savings can be collected under the group lending model. However,
the model also facilitates youth to save by opening group accounts.
The Omusati Model is mainly applied in regions with strong presence of the cooperative
movement.
The service providers deliver and recover loans from the youth. Repaid loans form part of the
programmes national youth revolving loan fund. Currently the programme charges an interest rate
of 20% on a reducing balance basis and hopes to review this downwards to 16%. Over time, there
will be need to respond to changing market conditions and diverse needs of youth through the
following instruments:
Product reviews to adjust features of existing products;
Development of new products.
Proposed fu tur e loan products and del ivery models
As the programme enters the institutionalization phase, there is an ever present need for the board
to continuously review the loan products on offer for the purpose of keeping the programme
relevant to the changing needs of youth. Section 3.4 above outlined the current products and their
delivery model. In view of lessons learnt in the past few months as the MAB has reflected on ways
forward, two delivery models could be used to address the needs of two distinct needs of youth:
Lower level loans for youth joining the programme. This would normally be small and
delivered as a package, just in section 3.4 but through a different delivery model.
Higher level loans, delivered through financial intermediaries, competitively identified by
the programme.
Lower level loans and their delivery
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The proposed delivery model would involve the establishment of an infrastructure by the
Secretariat (hopefully by then transformed into the arm of the programme that has the following
three levels:
At the national level with the management of the loan fund, with full staff complement;
At the regional level with regional programme coordinators, under the management of the
NYCS;
At the constituency level would be volunteers, hired through the programme.
This delivery model would involve four related steps:
The youth, after mobilization and training, would complete loan application forms and pass
them on to the volunteers;
The volunteers would collect the forms and pass them on to the regional NYCScoordinators for processing and onward transmission to the national level;
At the national level, the loans would be disbursed, through an intermediary (such as
NAMPOST which has national networks and broad reach in the countryside) directly to the
youth
Loan repayments would be by youth (through youth group accounts) directly to the NYCS
revolving fund account or a facility established for that purpose.
The immediate benefit of this model is the removal of an implementing agency and related costs,
affording the programme an opportunity to charge minimal interest fees and making the repayment
burden to the youth very light. This has implications on survival of youth initiated businesses. It
model would however require more detailed cost-benefit analyses and refinement of the
institutional structure before roll-out. The entire operation has to be compliant with NAMFISA
guidelines for financial service delivery.
STRATEGIC PROGRAMME GOALS ANDOBJECTIVES
a. Reporti ng
The programme has mandatory requirements as follows:
Quarterly reports to the funding partners
Annual Audit Reports
Quarterly progress reports from implementing agencies to the MAB
Quarterly consolidated reports from MAB to the lead agency.
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Quarterly Reports on the Revolving Loan fund operations from implementing agencies
Evaluation reports
b. Data gathering
The NYCS programme design envisages information collection and dissemination at all levels. The
level and sophistication of processing will be dependent on the end-use. It is however envisaged
that information and processing at the grassroots level will be as simplified as possible to avoid
over-taxing information and processing capacity at that level. There is therefore need for a robust
management information system.
A system of data collection will be maintained at the following levels:
(i) The Omusati model SCA level: Data on membership, loan approvals and repayments, savings levels, age, types
of business supported, gender profiles, banking receipts, will be carefully maintained.
TMU level: Data from SCAs will be collected on a monthly basis and computerized and
analyzed. New data will be generated when interest rates are computed and allocated to
various uses and repayment rates per SCA determined. TMU will have primary data on
training and training providers under the Omusati Model in the four regions covered by
the pilot phase (there are also TMUs in Kavango and Zambezi regions). Lastly TMU will
maintain a clear record of expenses at the field level.
TMU will also gather qualitative data on the youth and their enterprises.
Enterprise/beneficiary level information will be collected at this level. The TMUs are the service
providers at the regional level.
(i i) The group lending model
In the immediate term this was applicable to NAMFLC but it is now applicable to all service
providers operating under this model and not registered as cooperatives.
Group level: Data on membership, loan applications and approvals, loan repayments,
savings, types of enterprises started, age profiles of members, gender profiles, banking
receipts will be carefully maintained. The groups will also maintain data on jobs created.
Service Provider level: The service provider will maintain information on trainees, loans
and trainers. It will also gather information from all groups for consolidation and synthesis.
Data on income and expenditures will be maintained at this level. The agency will also
gather data on qualitative data on youth and their enterprises.
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ii i) MAB level
MAB: A record of deliberations, decisions and actions taken will be kept.
(i v) Secretariat level
The secretariat will maintain data on income flows from funding partners, work plans and
progress reports from the service providers submitted to the MAB, requests for funding by
service providers, training service providers and their utilization. The secretariat will also
maintain a record on the submission of mandatory reports.
(v) Youth Centr es
The regional employment officers will maintain information on youth seeking information on the
programme, those joining the programme and the enterprises established.
c. Monitori ng and reporti ng instruments.
The monitoring instruments to be used will be the monthly reports (and weekly reports under the
group lending model), quarterly reports and reports of the regular monitoring visits. SCA maintains
data but the Service Provider (TMU) gathers the same for consolidation and computerization, this
is reported to the Regional Cooperatives and the SCAs. The service providers consolidate this
information in addition to information generated at that level and prepare a report for review by the
MAB. Reports to the MAB will include data on technical and financial implementation of the
programme. This will include a technical presentation of the performance of the loan portfolio,
using criteria to be provided by the Loan Fund Manager.
Qualitative information routinely gathered by the TMU will also be consolidated and analyzed for
presentation to the MAB. Under the alternative model, data maintained by the groups is
consolidated and analyzed at the service provider level. This information, together with information
generated at the service provider level, is analysed and a progress report prepared for review by the
MAB. This will include a technical presentation of the performance of the loan portfolio.
Qualitative information routinely gathered by the service provider will also be consolidated and
analysed for presentation to the MAB.
d. Evaluation: on-going, formative and summative.
Evaluation, a learning process involving reflection of set targets against achievements and lessons
learnt will be carried out by all participants on a continuous basis. Lessons learnt will be
incorporated into the implementation process and inform future programming. An all-inclusive
stake-holders forum, involving representatives from the participating youth, youth officers, service
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providers and the lead agency will take place on an annual basis. A summary of the resolutions will
be presented to the board for review.
The MAB will hold annual review (retreats) meetings to reflect on programme performance, the
institutional framework and make recommendations to the lead agency on the way forward. For the
main phase (which ended in July 2012, a mid-term review was to be undertaken by an external
evaluation team at the mid-point of the programme; i.e. after 30 months of implementation. The
MTR was commenced in early 2011 and the process is still work in progress. An end of project
evaluation will be undertaken at some point after the close of the programme.
CONCLUSION
In view of the foregoing, it is evident that the programme has evolved from just an idea in 2004 to
an institution that is today touching the lives of many young people. It is an institution that has
assembled a number of assets to its name and considerable goodwill from the community. It owes
its continued to growth and success in size, product range and institutional capacity mainly due to
the tremendous support it has received from Government and key stakeholders like the Social
Security Commission and the Commonwealth Secretariat, as well as participating youth. The
lessons learnt in the past nine years of operation and the momentum gained this far need to be
maintained and if practicable, accelerated.
In view of organizational growth challenges experienced in the past one year, and the vacuum
created by the expiry of the main phase, the programme can no longer operate on a business as
usual basis. The Secretariat assigned by the Ministry does not have all the competencies required
for running the programme of the magnitude of NYCS, mainly because it has no legal capacity to
source the required skills from the market.