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Fingo Powerbank Evaluation 2021

This report shows the results of the Powerbank evaluation survey of 2021. This survey is part of the evaluation that is conducted to reflect on the achievements and lessons learned of the Powerbank programme extension and to inform the future programme of Fingo. The report consists of 7 parts corresponding to the survey.

53 member organisations, partners and other organisations that have participated in Powerbank activities and networks from Finland, Eastern Africa and elsewhere have shared their experiences and opinions. In this report, you can read what has worked and what can be improved, what most significant changes are that have been achieved and what the hopes for the future are.

Reading guide: Every dot represents one person. If you click on a dot, the story of this person is shown on the left side of the screen. Their dot becomes larger, also in other graphs. If you click on it again, the dot returns to its usual size. You can also click on the dots in the legend on the right, then only the answers of that category become visible.

Who are the storytellers?

People from 43 different organisations responded to the survey. Two respondents responded on an individual title. There are almost the same amounts of respondents from Finland (25 – 47%) and from Eastern Africa (24 - 45%). Four respondents indicated to work elsewhere: Germany, Iran and Afghanistan, West Africa and Nepal. The organisations are of varying sizes, with most respondents working for organisations with 6 to 20 employees. The majority of the responding organisations with less than five employees are located in Finland (apart from 1). Most Eastern African organisations that responded have between 6 and 20 employees.

Location

Number of paid employees

Their connection to Fingo

60% of respondents work for organisations that are members of Fingo. 15% of respondents work for organisations that are partnering with a project or organisation that receives funding from Finland. 17% are not a member or working with member organisations and 8% indicated not to know whether they are a member. All Finnish respondents work for member organisations of Fingo. For Eastern African respondents, they work for member organisations, partner organisations or organisations that are not a partner. The respondents participated in different Powerbank activities, mainly in the training sessions and experimentations and piloting.

Type of activities participated in

28% of respondents participated in 1 activity, 36% participated in 2 to 4 activities and 28% in 5 or more activities. One respondent shared they were not able to estimate, and three respondents shared they did not participate in any activities. Finnish organisations participated on average in more Powerbank activities than Eastern African organisations and organisations from elsewhere. None of the respondents working for organisations with 5 or fewer employees participated in more than 4 Powerbank activities. On average, member organisations participated in almost twice as many Powerbank activities as non-member organisations.

Number of activities participated in + Location

Number of activities participated in + Membership

Member of Fingo

Stories of Change

Respondents were asked to share the most significant change that happened because of their participation in the Powerbank activities. You can read their stories by clicking on a dot.

Most significant change that happened because of your participation in the Powerbank activities

32% of the changes shared were about knowledge and skills, 30% about experimentation with and application of technological solutions and 25% about partnerships and networks. Seven people shared that their story was not about any of these themes. This was mainly selected by Finnish respondents. They shared that there were no changes or that it was too soon to say. One respondent said their story was about gaining confidence.

Changes about experimentation and application of technological solutions were shared by those who participated on average in more activities than respondents who shared changes on partnerships and networks and on knowledge and skills. Most Eastern African organisations who partner with Finnish member organisations shared changes on experimentation and application of technological solutions. Changes in partnerships and networks were mainly shared by Fingo members.

The change is mostly about ... + Membership

The change is mostly about ... + Number of activities

Respondents shared different assisting and limiting factors for the changes achieved through Powerbank.

Assisting factors to achieve the change

Having a smartphone that has constant power, with an available power back-up. And also people, trained community facilitators, so we had human resources on the ground.
Fingo had clear process for experimentation
Thinking about the networks the people involved already have and utilising those a lot more. Quite many are really happy to participate and donate their time and skills as long as the subject is interesting to them and linked to the work they are doing. The experiment has a goal that the rest of the network can easily relate to. The kick-start financing that enabled there to be something concrete, not only a group discussed it.
people who are working in Power Bank were very helpful.
International webinars combined with my organisation's changes in project planning phase, better and broader mapping of actors and promoting collaboration with them. Involvement of our local staff as well as local implementing partners in the discussions. Projects started more or less at the same time than Powerbank sessions, themes could be included in the projects from the beginning. Innovation seed fund also made possible to map better digital tools and solutions. One important facor is the Fingo Powerbank staff in Kenya as a lot is going on in the South that should be acknowledged in Finland.
The training sessions, the resources and reports, learning about other partnerships and possibilities.
Of course the resources were important but also the way in which the possibility was described. It was encouraging and approachable. It was also important that there was enough follow-up and sharing with other organizations.
Resources ( both Human resources through the collaboration and financial resources through the experiment funds)
CEPBU is still new in this sector.
knowledge sharing through informative webinars with great speakers
Opportunity for participants to introduce themselves, sending of e-mails
Any one
knowledge
Partnership with Fingo Powe bank, and resources in terms of finance which eabled us to integate technological approahes in our project onwomen's property justice
I had knoledge that i wanted including meeting some people (stakeholders)
Time keeping and collecting data
knowledge and resource materials
-
The following factors contributed to the success of the project. 1. Technical skills to develop and deploy the solution. We have a team of experienced developers who implemented the solution within a short period 2. Leveraging on the strong collaboration with the hospital administration, the county government and the support network of the community health workers drawn from the hospital 3. The availability of the ICT resources necessary for the experiment at the hospital. We did not need to procure any additional resources to deploy 4. The use of the community health workers who are well known in the community and have a clear understanding of the cultural norms in the catchment area 5. Availability of relatively good Internet connectivity within the catchment area of Bungoma 6. The ease of use of the application by both the community health workers and also the nurses at the cervical cancer clinic
Working with the students themselves, not working from an office and assuming what the problems are. We went directly to them and worked with them for over four months to understand what was the vital information in the platform. Funding and assistance from Fingo to answer questions and discuss how we were going to monitor the results.
The content has been good and how it has been served with the attitude. The personality of Mika V is quite key. He is a person who manages to make things look simple, even the scarier subjects like digitalisation and technology. They respond very quickly to emails.
The factors that made the sigficant changes in my work was on knowledge and skills on digital data collection. We had experienced a lot of problems in collection information from the field due to COVID-19 restriction. There wasn't the normal way to meet the beneficieries in their villages. We bought phones, trained a few people living in the communities on how to use them and submit the information to us. It was fast, safe and economical in terms travelling costs. After attending Fingo webinars and following presentations from companies which have made practical examples in innovations, i was challenged to influence my organization to come up with various strtegic innovations. We're working on various ideas and one of them being training young people on entrepreneurship through online courses. We have identified a training institution from Finland who will be trainign young people in Burundi. The piloting process will end in December 2021 and looking forward to have a full fledged training programme in 2022.
Practical case examples and sharing experiences
virtual learning resources such as Zoom.
- Knowledge acquired - Opportuinty for Planning project activities - The operational context where networks are required witin the communitues - Human resources
It was very good to have had the possibility to consult Fingo during the experiment, also in the very initial stage when writing up the proposal.
Through the funding we were able to build a basic database of information that an AI based chatbot uses when answering questions of users. Without the funding we would not have had the resources to complete this task.
Excellent presentation by the Finnish company, willingness from our organization to plan a pilot to receive direct feedback from our final beneficiaries in order to improve the way we work.
Knowledge, resources and the context
Knowledge and networking with many different NGOs.
Existing AI growing eco-system in the Tanzania development sector
Organisation of events and bringing people together by Fingo. Time available in our organisation to participate and develop and think how we can use what we have learned. Exchanging information even if you dont know where it leads to.
Clearly external success factor was the experiences shared by other organisations that gave our organisation the needed background to proceed with our own journey. Also, our organisation reserved the needed resources, a person was recruited for the digitisation project.
Knowledge and contacts
It was interesting to see tendencies and other proposals
Neworking
No change yet
Knowledge and skill
networks resources knowledge skills
we received khownledge
Resources during the trainings,
The main factor was that we shared some of the participants the themes and the program we work on. In addition, there has been a lot of innovations presented during the experimentation session.
The opportunity to particiapte in different trainings and share ideas help to see new opportinities and ways of implementing project activities. Then the opportunity to apply for funding to pracically test new ideas was a big factor in facilitating innovation.
Throughout exchange and collaboration in projects, people can push forward faster and improve the quality of works with proper amount of knowlegde and skills enhancement, individually or in groups.
knowledge sharing
Opportunity to expose myself to new developments and trends in this line of work --> short duration, sharp focus, supporting research/reports. Have not applied directly in my work.
Information is key. When all information available is in Finnish, communication is lost. Being able to attend design and funding projects, especially has been most helpful.
The way I have been interviewed and those detailed question forwarded from Mika and asked me to tell more and more about my selfe.
The Knowledge gained and the people working to implement various ventures.
Project activities
Timely invitation and flexibility of project activities
Too soon to say. Unfortunately this survey doesn't seem very relevant to where we currently are in the process - hopefully we will get a chance to return to these questions later on.
Knowledge gained through participation in Powerbank events, encouragement to be open to new innovations and techologies. Events and trainings were good and clear and encourament for experiments was built in them. Financial resources received from Fingo helped to start piloting a techological solutions.

Limiting factors for change

The issue of data. Sometimes, the community facilitators do not have enough resources to buy data. Also network connection for sending information on time. This is a rural project, sometimes they have to move to certain places to get a stable Internet connection before they can send the recordings. The first court with local council leaders where our people usually go to report cases in the first place. The leaders do not have smartphones and then they cannot follow the whatsapp groups and be part of the conversation. So they would have to be rang to update them. Not enough time for training in using the available applications for community facilitators, like Zoom, or to fill in information in an app. We didn't have an organised way of reporting that you can fill in so that relevant information is shared. We wanted to have an app, but of course it is expensive. Right now they share everything. Sometimes they would send a lot of audios and videos. The training wasn't enough. For some of them, it was the first time to have a smart phone. We didn't give them enough training for how to use it and not enough organised reporting. Right now it is scattered reporting and it is up to us to get out what is relevant. Most of this is doable, but a bit more time and resources would be needed. Some of the situation are psychological around behavioural change, for you to get an outcome that is so positive it would have been at least one year minimum, or two years for us to see the actual change.
Our internal resources. Fingo's contribution was significant and the powerbank a very inspiring project
Time, it also requires changing attitudes and thinking about how projects are run.
joining the program and listening to speakers . since I participated from Iran, I couldn't participate to project activities and talk about my experiences in Iran, most of the people said" it is not related" and they wanted to focus on Africa continent.
Resistance within my own organisation in Finland (not in the South offices), limited understanding on the ongoing changes in the operational environment. Other limiting factor is that changes in ongoing development processes/projects are difficult to make in the midlle of the project period. New planning phases enable more easily new approaches. It is important to encage local partners in Powerbank themes, because they need to see relevance of new topics and partners in practice. In other words, good idea is not necessarily implementable or even good from beneficiries' point of view (ownership is important).
We were limited by our own organisation's partnerships in the powerbank countries, especially Tanzania. Our organisation works through partnerships with local organisations and we were unable to establish suitable technology focused projects. We have decided in our next four year plan to make 'digital development' among persons with disabilities and Organisations of Persons with Disabilities a thematic focus area for our activities.
It would have been interesting to participate in matchmaking events, but to my understanding those events haven't been organized lately (if SDG Boosters are not counted).
Financial challenges may be something that comes to mind since some of the innovations will require extra funding for scaling up. We would benefit from training/coaching on how to expand our organization's funding base and how to access other funding instruments outside of the MFA
CEPBU is requesting to be part of the program.
resources (staff and financial) to explore opportunities and partnerships further
Targeting only East African countries, we need other countries and regions on board like West Africa. Increase number of Nordic businesses required
The network and time planned to attend the trainings or sessions
resouces
Fixed timeline for the project which has been for 6 months. which has limited adequate follow up of emerging gaps and need from the project implementers and beneficiairies.
Lack of networking and collaboration as it was expected
We had a Ombea data collection and there has been no limits in using except the purchase of batteries
As I already mentioned, we have not participated. I would like to do a project on the islands but due to a lack of resources (included human resources), our activities on the islands is limited. Therefore there is no motivation to participate in the Powerbank events.
-
Some of the challenging factors include; 1. It took some time to get the approvals from the Minister of Health in the county to commence the activities. 2. Beyond the experiment, our desire was to actually fully integrate the solution with the existing systems in the facility for easy workflow management. We are looking for additional resources to accomplish this. 3. We wanted to get feedback from the participants on the system and performance of the experiment but had limited time.
I wish it was more time, I wanted to see more results from the Powerbank project. It is a very huge thing but then it will take us four more months to understand exactly how we have impacted students in Dodoma and Dar es Salaam.
They are inside our organisation, limited human resources and lack of time. Both in Helsinki and locally. We wanted to participate more but our time schedule is full. It has been a frustration for me. We should have resources to take on opportunities if they come along. Certainly also the type of work we do, I do not know how easy it is to work with private sector in our work in refugee camps. It is not easy.
The inspirations gotten from attending Fingo Powerbank activities led my organization to use digital solution in data collection and provide online business courses. The challenging factors in this engagement are resources which include skilled instructors and digital equipments like computers and internet connections. The online Programme is offered in English and there are few English speakers in Burundi. Plans are underway to translator the learning material into French so as to reach many young people as possible.
Early stage
competing responsibilities --sometimes I could not participate in some activities because of they overlapped with my core duties.
- Lack of budget geared towards innovations and networks - Time constarints - Resistance to change
The budget allowed us to start the project. We would need further funds to continue the project.
We realized that we had been too ambitious with our goal within the timeline of the funding. We soon realized that building the database but also the testing and identifying the flaws in the operation of the chatbot requires a lot of work and time. Also, on the final steps of implementation we faced limitations that were beyond our scope of influence and were therefore unable to complete all the planned steps.
Financial resources for using different technical solutions in our project work. Some hesitancy by the staff as well how these high tech solutions work in demanding developing country context.
Time and resources
Resources and time were very scarce for the full participation.
N/A
Time available to dedicate to this.
Change is never easy, so change management is essential. Since we have not yet reached the full change, the journey still needs intensive steering. Also, time and context factors are also giving challenges, but the organisation seems committed to the change.
The biggest limitation was the somewhat different nature we have with our partners. We do not have projects of our own with our partners. We do not plan them - the choice of methods and modes of working is up to the applicant organisations. Our primary role is in funding and networking. I linked one of our new Kenyan partner with powerbank, thinking that they could possibly utilise some technological solutions in (broadcasting?) their indigenous cultural work in one educational institute. And I know that this partner was communicating with Powerbank, too. But I do not know much about this either. Then when there was an event organised, where possible trials in East Africa were discussed, it made me realise that our mode of operation was not very suitable for the purpose, but would have needed more active role in the programme / project design than what was possible for us. After that I have mostly read their newsletters and e-mail updates - being curious of various suitable and accessible technological solutions to help in development cooperation.
It has allowed us to check if we are going to right direction.
Time limitation
We were considering taking part in the 3rd round of applications for the outsourced experimentation (?) and participated in the launchign event (?). To be honest, I was surprised that even after attending the event I did not get a clear picture of what was expected of organizations interested in taking part. The event did not clearly describe what the whole thing is about. I only had a vague idea that previously Fingo powerbank has funded small-scale technological experiments (?) in East Africa and was expecting something similar this time, but failed to catch what was expected from organizations now. It was just briefly mentioned at the end that in the previous rounds there was a focus on technology but this time not. Also, the schedule seemed very tight, I got the idea that there would have been something like three workshops requiring partners and stakeholders all to be present within the coming weeks. Therefore we had no opportunity to take part, I thought there would have been more time to even understand what this is about, then starting to explain to partners etc.
Yes
time resources (internet)
N/A
External factors- on matters technology, most of the beneficiaries I work with in the rural areas are not tech-savvy
I think main factors that are challenges for us are limited resources as well as limited knowledge on the new technologies we need.
Time constraints is always a challenge. For me personally I started being a more active part of powerbank trainings/activites from September 2021 onwards. Before that time was more limited being based in the field. We could have also shared the opporunities through powerbank more actively through our organization, that would have given more of us in the field a chance to participate.
I have not participated in these activities yet but I think distance, committment and communication are potentially the challenging.
limited information on how to participate in power bank activities and networking.
As my focus is on new ideas and refreshing my thinking (in adviser role), they take time to materialise. Need other people to implement.
Access to information- funding, projects that people can participate in especially.
To speak truely, I am not much more long introduced with Fingo Power Bank group and what they do before. This has an impact on my knowlege how the group works and the gaps they have too!
N/A
Think about time
internet connectivity
Too soon to say
There is structural issues in my organization that parhaps limited changes. Although my organization is small and flexiple we are not always in position to introduce innovations to our partners. We are not fully in control of the work that is being done on the ground with our funding as project implementation is done by the partners that are independent. We cannot dictatate the way they work, for example. Although I found PB activities interesting and inspiring it is not easy to get colleagues exited as well.

47% of the stories shared included the theme of gender equality and the status of women, 38% included rights of people with disabilities and 32% climate sustainability and 32% did not include any of the themes. They also elaborated on the other changes that they saw regarding these three themes.

Inclusion of cross-cutting themes in stories on change

Changes experienced on cross-cutting themes

Evidence-based reporting is one change in the way how we are addressing our issue. The second one is a fast referral network among the actors, for example, from community facilitators to the local council, and to police. Because there is evidence, we can communicate faster. I can also see women being more assertive because they have the back-up information. Before, it was hard for them to justify their situation, but now they have the backup evidence that something happened. Courts of law require evidence, not stories. I see them speaking to the police they have confidence now in reporting and assertiveness of the women victims.
Our team tested remote education and the methods are of great help for people of disabilities in any circumstances. I see that digitalization reduce the gender gap, thus improving status of women as well. Replacing printed materials with electronic reduces emissions as well as interaction remotely reduces the need to travel.
Rights of people with disabilities: We have linked this experiment to '16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence' and 'International Day for People with Disabilities'. During a session at high-level discussions at UNFA, we are presenting this application and show how technological solutions can support it. Organising the sessions and linking them to support thinking more holistically. Powerbank support has been a booster in this.
N/a
It has been refreshing to aknowledge how many young women are working with innovative solutions in the South. Women in rural areas and improved access to digital tools, can open literally a new world. Challenge in climate sustainability when only collaborating with private sector. Most of the development work in climate sustainability requires quite a lot of expertise (energy solutions, water solutions, soil management and land use plans, crop management, cicular economy). Many actors battle with same problems, joint research/expert cooperation is important before one can know if certain solution that a company offers is practical and relevant.
We have seen an increased interest from non-disability focused organisations to enhance their understanding of disability and inclusion. We have also seen the landscape in Tanzania shift (supported by the MFA and Finnish Embassy in Dar) to where disability is becoming a stronger cross-cutting and core development theme. We have developed a pilot project with another Finnish NGO and their local partner in Tanzania to implement a technology focused project which will be inclusive to persons with and without disabilities. This will build the capacity of the Finnish NGO to mainstream disability within their programme work. Although this did not directly come from the Fingo Powerbank, the idea to focus on technology certainly did. When we talk of disability we also include the status of women and girls in this, as women and girls are highly marginalised, suffer greater poverty, have less access to educationa and are more likely than the general population to experience sexual harrasmenrt and abuse.
Altough it is not the main thing regarding the innovation, one of the aims is also to encourage young women to find jobs and also companies to hire skilled women.
All the three themes are part of the crosscutting themes in our programmes
Except the already existing actions of the CEPBU and FSPM implemented in various sectors (Education, Health, Livelihood, Environment and Climate resilience...), we expect to gain more experience after our request is granted.
n/a
The rights of disable was highly championed and also climate sustainability with technology solutions
None
greater information on challenges to access to health care services for people with disabilities, other supportive services they need to improve their livelihoods and the role of care givers to persons with disabilities
Women being able to get prompt and swift redress thogh the use of phone based voice and text messages (via whatsapp, calls and sms) other than only basing on word of mouth which takes longer.
N/A
receiving information about girls health education, gender equality and problems in fulfilling education
Based on the materials provided online, I think they are important and well deserved to get supports and to be promoted.
-
The focus of the experiment was really on gender education and empowerment on the need to demystify cervical cancer screening and treatment especially in rural settings and underserved communities. The use of the technology, together with the community health workers and nurses to raise awareness of the risks and the need for early screening is extremely important in reducing the prevalence of the disease and mortality.
Many students who struggle with housing and sexual health are women. When it comes to getting transport and field work, youth or young girls in university do not get reliable information in most cases. They go to offices that provide field work that might be abusive or might be unpaid. They are not valued as women in that office, eg overworked, sex bribes. What we are providing in the site will for sure provide appropriate field work spaces, so female students can feel safe, without having to feel wanted.
We shared the material with our field officers, the one on applications that are accessible.
Thanks. I don't have a good experience with Powerbank Project for now apart from attending the training sessions and Webnairs which I find gender balanced. Regarding our programme on online studies, it is still in its inception stages and has enrolled both young men and women with a few people living with disability. The programme also is climate friendly because it doesn't have products that polute the environment. The student are also taught on how to select businesses which are not harmful to the environment. Our Country Programme is under Fida international which emphasises on gender equity, disability and environment.
In impact investment these themes are built inside and selected targets might work towards these goals.
The Digital Tools for Women Farmers project that we experimented with Fingo Powerbank was about ensuring that the women farmers were able to maximum their potential despite the gender constraints that they face. For example, by training women on the use of m-banking, we were nagivating through the challenge that requires the women to stay at home by ensuring that they can enjoy banking services while at home.
Inclusivity is a vital
Our initial focus with the project has stayed the same (providing trustworthy information on matters such as sexual health to youth), but in the course of the project we realized we needed to change the approach. This meaning -instead of giving out information on f.example S.T.D.s, by providing information on safe housing, safe transport, safe work placement, we can offer a larger frame that contributes to a healthy environment (including sexual well being for youth).
Although we have not been able to fully implement the experiment, so far we have experienced that the AI based technology will provide additional and easy access to sensitive and necessary sexual and reproductive health information which is vital for equality and the status of women. The techology is also accessible which means that the techology can transcend the barriers to information that persons with disabilities might face.
With the new tool, we could gather information directly from beneficiaries concerning their views/experiences on gender equality, promotion the rights of persons with disabilities and how climate change has affected small-scale farmers for example.
Th powerbank project gave us the opportunity to collect information and data abput the economic, social, cultural and political rights of people with disabilities while entrenching gender equality.
Now accessibility seems to be taken more seriously than before.
That the developed system shall be helpful in respsonding and reproting on GBV cases
Through the tools
-
At least the event related to digital accessibility was well attended.
none
n/a
?
Not now
integration of gender into full time prigramming and practice at every level of implementation
supporting Disablities
It has helped me to be more gender sensitive in terms of designing and implementing activities
Y-PEER program include women rights and gender equality as well as inclusion of people with disabilities in our programs. So, all the ideas and information we got from Powerbank will be helpful for all these target audiences.
The story I shared did not directly comment on these topics but they are all related and included. These themes are all cross cutting issues in all of Fida's development programmes but powerbank gave us the opportunity to test some new innovations and technology that could have an even bigger impact to support vulnerable groups (women and PWD) more effectivley. The use of improved technology can also have benfits on the environment.
I have not participated in the activities but observed them.
not participated
None so far - not directly involved in implementing Powerbank projects (as some colleagues are).
I have been well educated and on gender equality, the rights of people with disabilities and climate sustainability. I however found that modules on the rights of others, especially Africans- educated immigrants, is not well explored. I will love to see real equality and equity interwoven with Finngo projects. I will love to see Finngo developing partnerships with West African countries like they do with East African countries.
The group is now becomming too closer to the community and working more participatorily.
The inclusion of issues of vulnerable people with disabilities in tech solutions to ensure accessibility by way of universal designs is very partinent.
Designed more inclusive People with disbility and Climate sustanibility programs
there is change of attitude for men on domestic work
Too soon to say
The PB experimentation, a technological solution, that we implement has a potential positive, even if small impact on climate sustainability and disability inclusion. It will save energy and provide people with disability better access to information and education. However, the experiment has not been concluded yet.

Partnerships and Networks

Fingo Powerbank has been providing a variety of networking, training and match-making events during this year in order to facilitate new contacts and partnerships between NGOs and other actors such as companies, other organizations and universities. In this part of the survey, respondents reflect on their experiences regarding this objective.

How relevant is the objective "to support CSOs in networking and collaborating more with East-African and Finnish businesses"?

64% of respondents considered the objective to support CSOs in networking and collaborating more with Eastern African and Finnish businesses to be highly relevant. 15% of respondents thought it is not relevant at all. Eastern African respondents seem to consider this objective more relevant than Finnish respondents and respondents from elsewhere. 58% of respondents considered the Powerbank activities and networks to be very useful in creating new contacts or partnerships. 13% considered in not useful at all. Eastern African respondents seem to consider the activities more useful for creating new contacts than Finnish respondents.

Usefulness of Powerbank activities and networks in creating new contacts or partnerships

63% of respondents reported having gained new contacts or partnerships inspired or facilitated by the Powerbank in 2021. The total new contacts gained is 482. The average amount is 14 and the median is 2. These new contacts and partnerships mainly consist of Finnish CSOs (41%), Eastern African CSOs (29%), and Finnish businesses (24%). East African businesses 15%, 12% innovation hubs and 12% universities. 64% of respondents were inspired or supported by Powerbank to apply for new funding and 36% were not. Respondents who were not inspired to apply for funding opportunities mainly participated in training sessions and networking activities, whereas those who were inspired mainly participated in training sessions and experimentation activities.

Number of new contacts/partnerships during 2021

Type of organisations part of new contacts/partnerships

Applied for new funding inspired by Powerbank

Knowledge and skills

Fingo Powerbank has been conducting different training sessions for CSOs on technological solutions, digitalisation, best practices and corporate collaboration as well as advisory and sparring services together with partners. This part of the survey asked respondents to reflect on this objective.

81% considered this objective to be very relevant. 4% considered it to be not relevant at all. Respondents who participated in 5-7 and more than 8 activities and those who participated in only 1 activity, considered this objective to be more relevant on average than those participating in 2 to 4 activities.

How relevant is the objective "to increase CSOs’ knowledge and skills on digitalisation, technological solutions and collaboration with the private sector"? + Number of activities participated

Respondents were asked how useful they thought the Powerbank activities and networks were for different elements of gaining knowledge and skills. 62% considered the activities and networks to be very useful for learning about using technology in their work, 13% not at all. 58% of respondents considered the activities and networks to be very useful in learning about innovation practices, methods, and examples in their work. 9% not at all. 47% of respondents considered the activities and networks to be very useful in learning about collaborating with the private sector. 11% not at all.

Usefulness for learning about using technology in your work

Usefulness for learning about innovation practices, methods and examples in your work

Usefulness for learning about collaborating with the private sector

Application of technological solutions

Fingo Powerbank has supported CSOs to test, pilot and adopt technological solutions, for example through training courses, experimentation programmes and the portfolio with technological solutions. This part of the survey asked respondents to reflect on this particular objective.

83% of respondents considered the objective to support CSOs in experimenting with and applying technological solutions highly relevant. 4% considered it not at all relevant. Eastern African respondents considered it to be slightly more relevant than Finnish respondents.

How relevant is the objective "to support CSOs in experimenting with and adopting technological solutions"?

60% of respondents adopted at least one technological solution in 2021 for longer-term use (32 respondents). 31 solutions were adopted in total, which included 27 different tools. Some solutions were mentioned multiple times, like KoboToolbox, Aino Chatbot, Miro board and the Tienoo platform.

Number of technological solutions adopted in 2021

Number of technological solutions adopted for long-term use in 2021

Names of solutions adopted and experimented with

Smart phones and powerbanks
Aino
A platform for online education
Digital solutions to farmer info sharing and advice, mapping ongoing
Miro
Digital literacy for teachers, digitizing training materials
GQR Code, FarmDroid
Data collection from on going project beneficiaries usinģ digital platform
phone based Voice and message via whatsapp
Reporting and information sharing system
Ombea Tech
Mobile and Web-based Cervical Cancer Tracking and Managment System
Tienoo
KoboToolbox, PowerBI
Data collection for baseline survey, reporting data and online training Program.
Digital tools for women farmers; OMBEA
Kobo Collect tool box for data collection
Tienoo.co.tz website
An artificial intelligence based chatbot for providing SRHR information
TryMe app
application on gender based violence
AINO chatbot
Miro board
iptim by Simosol but this is outside of Powerbank
discussed opportunities for networking and linkages with other partners
energy saving stoves
Job matching and recruitment mobile application
digital e-learning platform, digitize food security learning materials
Solarized system
Koob toolbox
Smart Solar Media. But, he experimentation in the field has not started yet.

The technological solutions adopted brought quite a number of benefits, the most frequently selected among them being more efficient operations (37%), more accurate information (31%) and easier or more efficient communications (31%). 53% called these benefits very significant for their organization. 11% considered the benefits very insignificant for their organization. Respondents who shared stories about experimentations or piloting of technological solutions saw more significance of the benefits than those who shared stories about other topics.

Benefits gained by adopting the technological solutions

Rating the significance of the benefits of adopting the technological solutions + Topic of changes

Overall reflections Powerbank

The last part of this report includes questions on the Powerbank project in general.

79% of respondents share that they think that the Powerbank activities and networks are highly relevant for the changing contexts of development cooperation. No respondent thinks they are not relevant at all. The respondents who participated in more than five activities or in 1 activity consider Powerbank more relevant for the changing contexts of development cooperation than respondents who participated in 2 to 4 activities.

How relevant is Powerbank for the changing contexts of development cooperation? + Number of activities participated

Respondents were asked to reflect on the coherence of the Powerbank activities with their own activities. 70% stated that the activities fit very well with their own activities. 4% thought that the activities did not fit at all. They elaborated on their answers. The respondents who participated in experimentations and piloting share that the activities fit particularly well for them.

Do the activities you have done with the Powerbank project fit with your own activities? + Topic of changes

Why do the activities fit or not?

We are always looking for a faster, efficient and evidence-based referral system for our affected victims. Having something that encompasses all that is really important. It helps us to, first of all, have our actors into a knowledge base where they are able to share information amongst themselves faster, efficiently and with evidence as supposed to just sharing a story. It is also helping the referral system to get strengthened because it is fast and they are connected. As I speak now, we have so many cases, because of that service. Now it is easier to report, before it wasn't like that. It has helped the community facilitators to get more strongly connected to police officers. Now when they take a case, the police officers don't think they are making up a story but know it is real. It increased the credibility in the community, using the backup information that they bring to the police. The only part why it doesn't fit is because we feel that the timeframe is small, six months for a behavioural change project. Sometimes, impact is not easily measured in such a short period of time. But in terms of others, the rest is ok.
Powerbank has produced significant outputs, it has been really inspiring and fresh approach, but our organization has experienced quite a turmoil due to the corona and in addition we have gone through an organizational change which has had a lot of impact on how we have been able to reap the benefits of powerbank results.
It is supported what we are doing. It increased the scope of what we are doing as it comes to gender-based violence work. It has also linked some of our projects that have been a bit separated, especially for the second round of funding. It has been a booster, despite a little experiment with little money, but boosted. Small money easy to get, a lot of work for a small amount, but gave us a tangible thing that we can present. We can link to other processes in the field of gender-based violence.
If you could gather all information of the programs to a PDF file it would be lots of time saving
My work addresses directly local companies and collective enterprises, hence, basically all Powerbank themes are relevant in my work. In organisational level, not all Powerbank themes are as relevant than in my specific field of work. Although there are opportunities in human rights work that may not yet be fully explored and understood.
The focus on technology and private sector partnerships fits very well. But... Finnish NGOs/CSOs may not understand or be able to harness all of the possibilities due to the structure and culure of development funding. We have wanted to do more but been limited by the capacity and motivation of our partners in the global south. Relaiable and trustworthy local partners are required, good (trusting) relationships take time to build.
Some of our projects have very similar targets and it's been great to have support and collaboration with the PowerBank. On the other hand, another project has big potential in adapting technological solutions and the staff of this project has gotten new ideas and encouragement for this.
The new curriculum for teachers in Kenya is digitized but teacher training has not benefited those in marginalized areas. The training we offered teachers helped to fit that gap and hence reach the programs educational goals. Digital literacy is important for teachers in a changing world. We saw the need for this during lock down
We have not yet received funding from Fingo PB in Burundi
n/a
Networking and Finnish Ghana business collaboration
Nothing
In our project on promoting sexual reproductive health and rights among women and girls with disabilities fingopower bank project will help us to be more focused of the kind of interventions we are to put in terms of project activities. The experimentation project undertaken with support from Fingo power bank, we have identified areas of need, where we are able to suggest solutions. The experimentation has served as a needs assessment exercise to help put relevant interventions for the benefit of the project beneficiaries
The activities fit, first because we are network organization that reaches many people from different geographical location-so it eases communicationand coordination of work,which ii key in our work. Secondly,we have gender and human rights programming and providing the technology solutions has helped us to contribute to the narrowing of gender disparities in the digital era and providing solutions to pressing problems of abuse.
KIOO did nothing with Powerbank
They only need a computer/laptop and some electricity. data collection is easy
Please note, that my answers are based on the materials provided online since we have not participated in the activities as I already mentioned above. If we will have a project, will definitely make sure will take into account gender equality, inclusion and the environmental impacts of just a project.
There is clear overlap in some parts, e.g. characteristics of rights-holders we work with. There is not much relevance in some individual business concept as the sector seems to be too far to be very relevant.
The activities align very well with our work on eHealth and Health Informatics research and innovation for the benefit of the base of the pyramid, especially in rural settings.
Using the platform I have been able to share my own work and that of colleagues and use it to share information on sexual health.
It fits well, but could be better. They have put us up to date with many things regarding digitalisation. It is a large part of the work. When it presented to you, you can choose what to do with it.
Apart from joining the training sessions and webinars, Fida International in Burundi haven't done any project with Fingo Powerbank. We are thankful for the knowledge and skills acquired during the training and Webinar sessions.
Our company is yet in very early stage in impact investing so there is not yet concrete cases. However, the information and experiences gained through activities increase knowledge and support for doing investments in future.
At International Solidarity Foundation, our vision is to achieve a world where every woman enjoys all her bodily rights and is economically empowered. The adoption of technology is one of the surest ways of ensuring that our vision is achieved.
The power bank project fits into our interventions and activties since we are a learning orgaization and willing to replicate laerning. It encourages the use of technology to solve community problems, and encourages networking which enables us to reach to places that our project does not target.
The technological solution we implemented in a new context (Tanzania) is already in use in Finland. Our organization in Finland is pro human rights and childrens rights, and the project experiment in Tanzania aims to help youth to have more knowledge on human rights (f. example information that is crucial, health matters, legal matters..)
Providing comprehensive sexuality education is an elemental part of our organization's and our partner organizations' work. We always try to find new ways of providing it so that people have easy and reliable access to it. Experimenting with an artificial intelligence based chatbot is a necessary additional method to reach people.
If we can adopt the technical solution for monitoring (pending on funding at the moment), I think it will be a good fit with all of our cooperation projects as it is very important to receive direct feedback from our benefiaciries.
The activities directly support achieving of our project objectives and improved the involvement, participation and inclusion of the participants and target groups
The activities fit better to my own aspirations than my organisation's as i cannot influence so much on my company's aspirations.
We run the National Child Helpline in Tanzania where children and young people are given access to all formal services eg. health, education including a place to report GBV. AINO Chatbot provides an online automated responsive text system aimed at receiving cases of GBV. The chabot is aligned to work we do:)
They fit well, but it takes time so we haven't been able to take full advantage yet.
Better impact management, monitoring and data collection tools.
Potentially important information and contacts for organisations that have a more active role in the project design and implementation. But unfortunately we do not have much role in those aspects of project work. Pushing those technological solutions from outside might feel a bit too patronising. And many organisation we are working with (funding their work) have already some quite advanced technologies in use, for example, in mapping and community documentation.
The calls were outside of the development of our application development.
The activities are a good fit because they expose the projects to potential users/clients.
-
This activities to align the latest technology and trend
our target beneficiaries are about 80% women who go through financial literacy training and later join VSLAs ,start small businesses for livelihoods.
no comments
We have a number of activities that intergated technological approaches including offering legal aid services
One of the objectives of Somaliland Y-PEER is to have innovative technology based program. That is why we think Powerbak project fit with our wone interventions and activities.
They fit in very well. Fida now has its own ITCC (Innovations, Technology and Corportate collaborations) objectives as part of its programmes. Fingo Powerbank is sparring us forward with regard to all of these issues. This collaboration has been very fruitful for us so far and we expect it will continue to be in the future.
I think connecting with people around the world is a good start and benefit everyone involved as long as the activities are well organised and implemented, evaluated and developed.
not participated
These are the upcoming / strengthening trends that anyone should be aware of and prepare for.
I attended a session on funding, how to raise funds and how to partner with other organisations. The session was helpful as I have a better idea of how and where to find information on funding, how to find potential partners and how to develop projects for funding. Thus, the activity was a good fit for our planned interventions.
In this respect, I can be witness what Power bank has done for me. It was a success story written and published by fingo power bank that tells my story and how NGOs work collaboratively with private companies working for profit and at the same time how persons with disabilities could work business with investors in the market world computitively to be examplery to other. The way the story was prepared honest, transpart and very professional that describes our work clearly.
N/A
It is fit becouse it is up todate and the wordl needs solution
The activities fit because it enables the easy monioting of field work and also automatically get results in time.
Brings new thinking to our projects
On the one hand we already use for example mobile technology a lot in our operations, but on the other hand our activies i.e the work our partners does in the field is quite traditional and culture of experimenting is not always strong.

Respondents also provided several suggestions for future programming of the Powerbank. As a last question, they added anything else they wished to share.

Suggestions for future programming of Powerbank

Longer time for the project & more seed granting money How to continue forward and not lose track, which is not a Powerbank thing. Especially with online tools, there is a lot of online abuse that can happen. If people are not trained well, that can cause problems. But also for our people to be more trained in using the applications. We need a special application for reporting cases and doing referral, which is more controlled and to get only relevant information as opposed to all information.
Actually, I would just recommend to continue!
Exchange of insights and experiences of organisations participating in experiments, sharing if similar challenges come us. Something less official, where organisations could openly discuss and learn from those kinds of experiments more. Fireplace sessions is a good idea, but it was mainly presenting. Not as interesting, particularly for partner organisations. Finnish NGOs are usually competing for government money, could cooperate more here. An opportunity for a new cooperations or partnerships with Finnish NGOs, if the little money is split again, it could be that it is not enough. For big organisations, the money is not appealing. A lot of potential for this kind of mechanism to support cooperation, rather than competition among Finnish NGOs. Practical cases to work on together.
I hope Fingo supports CSO'S who help Afghans. For example help them access to Finish Online Education platforms for Afghan girls who cannot continue theireducation.
More brainstorming on potential joint initiatives/collaboration at national/regional/thmatic level in the South (strong local partner involvement). In Finland, strengthening Powerbank links with Finnfund (funds investors in the South but has little knowledge on their work that might be relevant for Fin CSOs and their local partners) and Business Finland (funding and innovative cooperation possibilities). Identification of some key sectors of Finnish CSOs and sectoral actor mapping in key geographical areas. This might be possible to conduct in cooperation with Finnish CSOs, or with their facilitation.
Keep going! I would be interested in seeing more start-up accelerators or initiatives with universities and colleges in the global south.
More training on grants management will be welcome especially access to funding instruments other than the MFA. This is because some of the solutions will require more funding for scaling up. having the MFA as the only source of funding is limiting.
We request from you to allow Burundi to be part of the program. CEPBU is already partnering with FSPM of Finland which is member of Fingo PB
Extension of programme to West Africa
1. Plan many sessions of training for CSOs working in the humanitarian field 2. Seton Mobile Powerbank application
Having just participated in only one project, need to have more time and activities to clearly identify gaps for improvement
Need to undertake followup pogramming for pilots that prove relevant. Initiate training sessons for grantees on technology solutions being adopted to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. For example our project uses whatsapp voice and sms for communicating with the target groups, and if relevant apps are developed for the same use and other platfroms to enrich it, would be helpful.
Let we have collaboration and partnership with all those participated into the training so that they start implementing what they learnt. If someone has no partner or collaborate if we have adopted to welcome him/her into the traing we have to find how o engage him/her
Informative Video creating to web/application
Perhaps some of the results of this questionnaire will be online. It would be good to also hear about the involvement of Fingo/Powerbank in realising some of the projects. What are the experiences of NGOs working with Fingo/Powerbank?
Focus more on health programmes with the focus of building capacity in the Health Workforce amidst the emerging trends of global pandemics and climate change. Also, focus on local capacity building of technical skills especially on emerging technologies to ensure sustainability and long term use of these solutions in the community.
If we could learn from each other, in country Powerbank partners to have meetings and understand what we are doing, it would help motivate with what we are doing.
Refresher courses, for example on KoboToolbox and digital monitoring. Good initiative to focus on the social innovation in community. Keep going on, you are on the right track. The piloting is a good idea. Don't quit anything.
Yes, I suggest that Powerbank Project could have individaul organisation sessions to enable us alighn the power bank issues to our project programming
It seems a pity to have to quit the project now because there is no more funding for the continuation.
I have really liked the experimental emphasis of Powerbank: it's great if you succeed but you can also fail and learn from both. The application process and management is lightweight which I truly welcome. If only the available funding would be bigger, and the array of countries in which to carry out the experiment would be larger.
Peer support and experiences from other NGOs are always really important. Sharing of information from NGOs that have already adopted a solution or are working together with a business etc. is always very interesting and can help other organizations adopt similar tactics.
It would be good if the operations could continue like this a few more years. Maybe one topic could be the preparation of project manuals and integrating planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning.
When you have workshops were you quite openly invite CSOs, NGOs, companies, education sector, government. Like during the SDG boosters. It's good that they include all the actors and focus on one sector. Then there are many events that have a very open call, I think that is too open. Then it may happen that is doesnt really result in matchmaking because it is too wide.
It is good that they are openly available for expertise and consulting.
Engage the members more in planning the events
We suggest when you are conducting experimentation to devide the partners into groups based on their themes of work or the type of work they are experimenting.
All these activities have been very good so far. I think it has been a good resource reflecting the changing climate in development cooperation. If Fingo keeps tracking global trends in development and helping member organizations respond and react to them it will be very beneficial to all.
I would like to see valuable contacts and networks. Everyday I received many emails but I will be overwhelmed sometimes.
Appreciate the training opportunities.
1. Agro-processing and food waste in West Africa. 2. Food wastage and conversion to other products- eg- Mango being turned into vegan leather
We request for disbility specific sessions to ptomote inclusion
organising training for each country programme There need for more practical and esay access to information of the private sector.
I was expecting some more information on practical issues - for example, to what extent research and data collection with end users requires permits? Maybe a session with legal and government issues with experimental projects could be added?
I think the concept is good and does not need to be changed.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Powerbank needs to continue having those networking meetings so that maybe they can be scheduled quarterly with different CSOs so there is continued learning and networking among CSOs in the region. They can give us guided sharing. Right now we just share according to how we feel, it is not so guided. They can inform us and give us guidelines to how to share and then we can follow. Guided sharing in the networks, with the key areas Powerbank is looking for. Trainings for technology and then they can call on CSOs who are interested in a particular technology, they can join the Zoom. If possible, there should be sharing with us additional resources to address some of the gaps we found in this pilot so that it doesn't stop there. They can journey with us into that process of follow-up to address the gaps in the pilot (for example training of people in using technology and how to create our own application).
In addition to the results, a fine human grip is one of the most important factors
thank you so much to accept me as I am not from Adrica and you gave me this opportunity to learn from many experts and people in the field.
I hope Powerbank can continue because you have started well and something new. You have taken first steps and it would be bad if you could not build on them.
Thank you to the power bank project team. Thank you for the quality of support offered. We also want to applaud the idea of having power bank staff hosted by member organizations. This helps to bring the Powerbank project closer to the organization, enhance Powerbank team's understanding of the local challenges organizations face, and promote ownership of the Powerbank project by the member organization. We are proud and privileged to host one of the staff.
My wish is that Burundi can be among eligible countries.
Collaboration is the way forward
Thanks a lot, we'll cooperate =)
Thanks for the good work.
Thank you.
No thanks. Just to thank FINGO for the support. God Bless
I am wondering can young organisation, like youth-led organisations in Tanzania, can they apply for Powerbank. How well established do you need to be? Can recently established organisations apply? If not, I think it is important to create a platform for these young organisations and young people who try to be really innovative.
I hope their funding continues. We should take full advantage of it now before it ends at the end of the year. Two earlier models of working have been very useful for us as an NGO, to set up the monitoring system and the other one piloting qualitative monitoring system. In an similar way as those two had a major influence in our work, the Powerbank has had an influence on our work.
I wish to thank Fingo Powerbank for the benefits we have gained from the trainings. The acquired knowledge and skills are valuable and useful for effetiveness Program implementation. Digitalization and cooperate collaborations is the way to go for Now. Thanks.
I am very thankful for the opportunit given to me to be able to improve my skills and work. This is going to help me coope up with the changing trends is development corporation
Thank you for the opportunity to carry out our experiment!
Thank you for Fingo for the Powerbank project. For us NGOs it is sometimes difficult to research different opportunities for technical solutions, business cooperation, etc. The Powerbank sessions have brought us information and opportunities in a way that has been easy to digest :) And at least I have personally experiences many eye-opening moments of different possibilities that are out there. There might now always be financing for those opportunities but it is very important to keep those in mind and try to find new solutions to improve our work and enable more sustainable change for our final beneficiaries.
It's been valuable and they are really enabling the collaboration between different actors.
When finally we were interested in applying for powerbank activities, the focus had shifted.
THANK YOU!
Keep up the good work!
create more networking opportunities
There is a need for more diaspora engagement and retainers of idea contributors.
No. But I would like to underline that your work is so empactfull and I would say please keep working your at most.
The training I participated in was not very practical for volunteer-run organisations since the sessions were during working hours and there was sometimes only a couple of days between the sessions, so it was difficult to find the time to complete assignments together.