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ADAM MATHIS Monterey Institute of International Studies December 2013 MA International Education Management Deliverables + Explanatory Narratives Practicum Report
ADAM MATHIS Monterey Institute of International Studies December 2013
M A I n t e r n a t i o n a l E d u c a t i o n M a n a g e m e n t D e l i v e r a b l e s + E x p l a n a t o r y N a r r a t i v e s
Practicum Report
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Table of Contents Summary of Project Learning Objectives ……………………………………………………… 3 Deliverable 1: Comprehensive Partner Feedback Report Explanatory Narrative ………………………………………………………………… 4 Deliverable …………………………………………………………………………… 8 Deliverable 2: Best Practices Guide for Partner Organizations Explanatory Narrative ………………………………………………………………… 12 Deliverable …………………………………………………………………………… 15 Deliverable 3: Strategic Partnership Outreach Plan Explanatory Narrative ………………………………………………………………… 19 Deliverable …………………………………………………………………………… 23 Deliverable 4: Program Marketing, Coordination, & Assessment Report Explanatory Narrative ………………………………………………………………… 30 Deliverable …………………………………………………………………………… 34
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Summary of Project Learning Outcomes Deliverable #1: Comprehensive Partner Feedback Report Organization: Omprakash Deliverable Type/Learning Outcomes: _____International Education Theory __X__Program Design and Assessment __X__Intercultural Competency _____Resource Generation _____Resource Management Deliverable #2: Best Practices Guide for Organizations Organization: Omprakash Deliverable Type/Learning Outcomes: __X__International Education Theory _____Program Design and Assessment __X__Intercultural Competency _____Resource Generation __X__Resource Management Deliverable #3: Strategic Partnership Outreach Plan Organization: Omprakash Deliverable Type/Learning Outcomes: __X__International Education Theory __X__Program Design and Assessment __X__Intercultural Competency __X__Resource Generation _____Resource Management Deliverable #4: Marketing, Coordination, & Assessment Report Organization: MIIS Peace, Trade, and Development Program Deliverable Type/Learning Outcomes: _____International Education Theory __X__Program Design and Assessment __X__Intercultural Competency __X__Resource Generation __X__Resource Management
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Explanatory Narrative #1: Comprehensive Partner Feedback Report Project Background
The idea to prepare a feedback report came about after our first Omprakash
partner organization meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I don’t think I realized quite
the level of feedback we were going to receive, and until that time, I’d expected to
spend the bulk of our time observing partner operations and answering general
questions about Omprakash or showing staff members how to use the fundraising
platform on the website. It quickly became apparent that this was not going to be
the case.
I met with a former Omprakash volunteer named Laura and her husband
Clive, who are now full-‐time staff at Life & Hope Association where they are in
charge of organizational development. They provided me with a considerable
amount of explicit and detailed feedback about what they felt was a strained
relationship with Omprakash that they wanted to improve. They also proposed a
few interesting ideas about how to do so. Notes were taken, and a promise was
made to provide the details directly to Omprakash management.
Then I met with another organization, and another, and it quickly became
clear that many (if not all) partners in the region were dealing with similar issues. I
began outlining the main themes and noting partner recommendations for ways to
improve them. This continued when meeting with partners in Thailand as well.
Partner organizations are largely experiencing the same problems because
there are Omprakash policies that are either misunderstood or simply are not
currently working as they were meant to. There are recognizable problems with the
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website (www.omprakash.org) that all partners I talked were experiencing. This
includes both issues with site functionality as well as partners not knowing how to
make full use of some pages – specifically related to fundraising. I also discovered
that, for many of the partner staff, they were not completely comfortable operating
solely on a virtual level as Omprakash prefers to. These local organizations – and
the countries in which they are located – tend to operate on personal relationships.
In fact, each organization I spoke with began their partnership with Omprakash as
the result of a personal connection, either directly through Omprakash staff or a
previous Omprakash volunteer. Not one had been recruited through virtual means.
Therefore, the fact that Omprakash does not have staff on the ground in the region is
resulting in isolated and disconnected partnerships. Consequently, volunteer
placements in the region are severely lacking. Beyond this, some partners see
Omprakash as leaning too far in favor of volunteer support and not providing
enough for their partners. Some felt frustration or even anger at what they saw was
a preference for volunteer experiences at the expense of organizational mission.
This was evidenced by impassioned feedback given by a few partners whose words I
cannot print verbatim in the report.
Project Challenges
I have encountered a number of challenges from different perspectives
during the documentation, preparation, and (upcoming) delivery of this report.
First and foremost, I was visiting these partner organizations as a consultant for
Omprakash and therefore meant to be representing the interests of Omprakash.
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This made obtaining objective, critical feedback difficult during the first few partner
visits. Laura and Clive at Life and Hope were more than willing to provide feedback
straightaway, but I found the organizations operated by local Khmer staff to be more
hesitant. It is clear that they were concerned about maintaining their standing as
Omprakash partners and did not want to be seen as badmouthing Omprakash. In
some cases it took considerable assurance from me that I was (a) genuinely
interested in helping them to improve their relationship, (b) their partnership status
was not in jeopardy, and (c) not a permanent staff member of Omprakash before
they relaxed and began to open up. On more than one occasion, I could feel the
atmosphere in the room change as this happened.
It was also difficult in some cases to continue representing Omprakash in a
positive manner when it came to certain policies that I do not agree with. On some
occasions I had to stop and check myself to ensure that I did not join in the criticism
and I can admit that sometimes, I found this quite challenging.
Finally, one challenge I have yet to undergo – but will very soon – is
presenting what is, in some cases, very critical and negative feedback to Omprakash
management without (a) insulting them, and (b) causing them to go into defensive
withdrawal and ignore the feedback they are receiving. I am confident that the
report I have prepared contains very valuable information that will ultimately help
them to improve not just their relationships with the partners I met with, but their
overall relationships with partners worldwide. I have therefore structured the
feedback in non-‐threatening terms and have provided recommendations (including
those offered by partners) for each issue.
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Contribution to My Learning
As I noted above, this feedback is critical for Omprakash to consider when
they look at how to manage their partner relationships going forward. The
information contained in the report comes directly from the mouths of those on the
ground in the region and should be taken seriously. It was my job to consolidate the
information and present it clearly, concisely, and in such a manner as not to insult or
offend. My experience in MIIS courses such as Program Design and Assessment as
well as Program Evaluation helped prepare me to think critically while preparing
the report. I am confident that this has been accomplished and the words of the
partner organizations will not go unheard.
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Omprakash Partner Feedback Report I: The Omprakash Website The most common criticism that partner organizations had about working with Omprakash is the stability and functionality of the Omprakash website. Omprakash conducted a major website overhaul within the last 2 years. The interface of the site itself was completely changed in an attempt to make the site more user-‐friendly. Multiple custom scripts and custom functionalities were added and continue to be added to the site. In addition, the dashboard portion of the site which both partner organizations and registered volunteers use to manage their profiles, position listings, and the communication process was changed. As a result of our discussions with the partner organizations in Southeast Asia, it is clear that there are multiple stability and functionality problems that still exist within the system, and until these are fixed, partners cannot take full advantage of the benefits Omprakash has to offer. A.) The Fundraising System
None of the organizations we visited were aware of how to make full use of the Omprakash Fundraising Platform. Some did not even know it exists. Those who knew they could use the partner dashboard for fundraising did not know how. There are notes in the Partner Handbook that describe the fundraising platform, but it is clear that either the language used in the handbook is too complicated or partners are not being made sufficiently clear when partners are accepted -‐ maybe both. While onsite, we provided each partner with a basic fundraiser training based on our own limited understanding. During one such training, the director found he actually had money in his Omprakash account -‐ almost $500 -‐ but didn’t know it was there and had no idea how to access it. B.) Functionality Issues
We found during the course of our project that some aspects of the Omprakash Dashboard -‐ the portal through which volunteers and partners manage their profile -‐ were unstable or poorly programmed, resulting in a lot of confusion, frustration, and ultimately, lack of use for some partners. Karla and I experienced some of these problems ourselves during our application for funding for this project, and multiple partners in Southeast Asia echoed our frustrations. One staff member (himself a former Omprakash volunteer) expressed such frustration with the website that told us he’d had actually stopped updating his Omprakash profile. He provided us with a detailed list of issues he’s experienced:
• Dashboard freezing repeatedly when volunteers try to submit a partner review
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• Paragraph spaces/carriage returns are missing from Cost Breakdown, Project Description, and Volunteer Grant portions of website, leading to formatting issues
• Reviews not appearing on a partner profile once added • Volunteers appear as having served at an organization when they actually
did not • No possibility for partners to respond to volunteer reviews • Map function on partner search tool cannot be navigated, making it
essentially useless • Excessive amounts of spam/junk mail showing up in partner’s Omprakash
inbox • Content/social media must be “re-‐posted” to Omprakash Dashboard, e.g.
blogs on other sites cannot be linked to, resulting in time-‐consuming extra work
Recommendation: It is vital for Omprakash to get the website operating reliably and simply -‐ particularly for partners. English is not the first language of most partner staff and many are not completely comfortable using technologies such as the dashboard or online fundraising platforms. More training is needed for partners, particularly with regard to the fundraising platform. It is essential that key staff within each organization understands thoroughly how to make use of the fundraising platform, and a video on YouTube clearly does not suffice. It is recommended that a simple online training module be developed and each organization be required to complete it in order to maintain partnership status. II: Organizations in Low-‐Income Countries Don’t Operate on a Virtual Level We were interested to learn that for all six partners we met with in Southeast Asia, one of their staff had either been an Omprakash volunteer in the past or had met with an Omprakash staff member in person prior to becoming a partner. In addition, each had issues they were excited to discuss with us (as Omprakash staff). Mostly these issues focused on how to use the fundraising platform or how the partner could work more effectively with Omprakash, but what these meetings told us is that for local, grassroots organizations in developing regions of the world, relationships are not built virtually in the same way they are in the US. Rather, local organizations operate on personal relationships, and these partners want more personal attention from Omprakash. Trusted relationships in many countries are established through personal connection, not virtual connection, and going forward, this may make the Omprakash strategy of focusing on virtual outreach difficult to sustain. Recommendation: Based on feedback from partners is Southeast Asia, more personal attention is needed from Omprakash. We understand that sending staff to all regions in which Omprakash operates is far too costly to be considered an option. To that end,
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one of the partners in Southeast Asia proposed a possible solution that we fully support, and which was roundly endorsed by other partners in the region. The proposal involves the establishment of several regional volunteer “boards” around the world, whose members are endorsed by regional partners. Every six (or twelve) months, a travel grant would be given to a chosen board member who would travel the region and visit each Omprakash partner to conduct relationship maintenance or training if necessary (similar to what we were doing on this project). This way, Omprakash could maintain an engaged, motivated presence on the ground all around the world without the need for a paid staff. III. Omprakash Appears Too Volunteer-‐Centered The most impassioned feedback we received during our project focused on the perception that Omprakash has become too volunteer-‐centric. Some partners expressed frustration and, in some cases, outright anger at what seems to be a focus on the experience of the volunteer at the expense of the work of the partner organization. We believe that, at its core, Omprakash has the best interest and mission of its partner organizations as its central focus. Unfortunately, the message seems to be getting lost on its way to partners. For example, Omprakash distributes a Partner Handbook to each new partner organization. This manual, which is nearly 35 pages in length, explains in complicated English all the expectations, benefits, and instructions for maintaining a partnership with Omprakash. There are two pages of partner expectations with regard to all the things the partner must provide for the volunteer including orientation, support, training, counseling, supervision, and (if possible) food and shelter. All of these are expected to be free of charge for the volunteer, as Omprakash strictly forbids volunteer fees. Surprisingly, there is no corresponding “volunteer handbook.” Partner organizations are expected to enforce their own expectations and screen their own volunteers. We find this to be alarmingly insufficient, and based on feedback given to us by partners, local organizations agree. Volunteers are very expensive to manage, and their experience and value to a local organization can vary greatly -‐ in some cases, undedicated volunteers can have serious adverse effects on an organization and its mission, as well as its standing in the community in which it serves. As one director put it, “We are not here to serve the interests of [wealthy foreigners] looking for a volunteer vacation…they are here to serve the needs and the mission of the organization.” Recommendation: It is strongly advised that verbiage in the Partner Handbook be revised so as not to come across as offensive to partner staff. It must be made clear that the organization, its mission, and its activities are of primary importance -‐ not necessarily the experiences of the volunteers. Volunteers are there to serve the organization, not the other way around. Volunteers should be prepared to secure their own housing, meals, and insurance, and should be prepared to pay a reasonable volunteer fee if the organization provides assistance with these issues. A Volunteer Handbook, complete with expectations, should be developed to ensure that volunteers understand this point and are willing to abide by rules set forth by partner
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organizations. We agree with the Omprakash view that excessive volunteer fees should not be tolerated. However, volunteer management is very expensive; locally based, grassroots organizations cannot be expected to bear these costs. Modest fees based on the cost (both monetary cost and opportunity cost) to the partner organization should be acceptable so as to not impact the mission of the organization. Every dollar an organization spends on managing a volunteer is a dollar not going toward the completion of its organizational goals, and we believe that is a dollar the organization should not have to spend. IV: Partner Organizations Are Not Receiving Volunteers When we originally decided to go to Southeast Asia for the fieldwork portion of this project, we planned to meet with a number of Omprakash volunteers so that we could assist Omprakash in the preparation of a volunteer manual similar to the partner handbook mentioned above. We were led to believe that many organizations in the region were currently hosting Omprakash volunteers. Unfortunately, once we arrived, we discovered that not a single Omprakash volunteer was currently working with any of the partners in the region. Further, as we spoke to each organization, we found out that despite posting available volunteer positions on their Dashboard continuously, some organizations had not placed an Omprakash volunteer in as many as four years. One organization had never hosted an Omprakash volunteer. Our discussions led us to a number of possible conclusions:
• There are not enough qualified volunteers to fill posted positions • Partners are not being given sufficient training on how to advertise positions • Volunteers cannot find or are not interested in positions in the Southeast
Asia region
Unfortunately, it is likely that a combination of all these factors is contributing to this issue. What confuses us is the fact that Omprakash is actively seeking new partners, not just in Southeast Asia, but all around the world. It seems that they are having difficulty maintaining the relationships they have with their current partners, so outreach at this time seems unjustifiable. Recommendation: More training on the part of Omprakash is needed to ensure partners are comfortable developing and posting specific, targeted volunteer positions. Additional new partner outreach might need to be reduced while trying to ensure that existing partners are receiving the support they need and existing positions are being filled.
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Explanatory Narrative #2: Best Practices Guide for Organizations Project Background
Originally I had intended to prepare a Best Practices Guide for both partner
organizations and international volunteers. When the discussion with Omprakash
that ultimately led to the Capstone project began back in February, one of the things
Omprakash management told Karla & I was that they needed manuals that could be
distributed to new volunteers and organizations. Unfortunately, it was clear that we
needed first-‐hand information to formulate these documents correctly, and there
were no Omprakash volunteers to interview in the Southeast Asia region during our
visit. Therefore, the guide for volunteers was scrapped and I began concentrating
on the organizational guide.
The need for this document became painfully clear during our meetings with
partners in Cambodia. Locally run organizations there are doing excellent work, but
they are not receiving Omprakash volunteers. This is occurring for a number of
reasons, and many of these can be minimized through effective training and making
partner staff aware of how best to make use of the Omprakash website and Partner
Dashboard. Omprakash currently distributes a Partner Handbook that explains
much (but not all) of the information contained in this guide. It is more than 30
pages long and written in complicated, technical language. It is not at all suited for
non-‐native English speakers. That is the essence of this guide. It is meant to quickly
inform partner staff of things they should think about before marketing to or
hosting an international volunteer. The information in this guide is derived from a
number of sources including partner feedback, conversations with development
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workers, interviews with non-‐Omprakash volunteers, my own personal experiences,
and research on effective volunteer placement.
In Cambodia, we met with partners who had not hosted volunteers in more
than four years, despite continuously advertising positions on their Omprakash
Dashboard. This indicates a breakdown somewhere in the process, and this guide
attempts to address the shortcomings that I encountered in my conversations with
partner staff.
It is my goal that this stylized document be distributed along with the
Partner Handbook to all current and new partner organizations. Its purpose is to
get partner staff thinking about things they might have missed when considering
positions to advertise, corresponding with potential volunteers, planning for their
arrival, or managing them onsite. The guide provides best practices and useful
information for each step of the volunteer recruitment process. It begins with
general recommendations and then moves through the marketing stage,
preparation for incoming volunteers, and concludes with volunteer management.
Effective volunteer assignments take place when organizations take the entire cycle
into account, and it is my hope that this guide will help them to do just that.
Contribution to My Learning
The term “best practice” is thrown around a lot on the MIIS campus and, it
seems, in development work in general. While there are certainly some agreed-‐
upon practices in certain spheres that can be looked at as most likely to assist in
reaching a desired goal or objective, it appears that the use of “best practices” is
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somewhat subjective. I don’t believe that any course I have taken at MIIS has clearly
outlined the specifics of what defines a best practice. That being said, what I have
attempted to do with this project is to create a guide that outlines the most
important items that a new partner organization needs to know and think about in
order to host an international volunteer. Of course, this guide should be interpreted
in terms of the local cultural context. There will be recommendations made that will
not or should not be applied based on cultural differences and the realities on the
ground. Theoretically, the director of an organization that has never hosted a
volunteer before should be able to pick up this guide, and with it, go through the
steps of marketing, attracting, choosing, hosting, and managing a volunteer and have
the outcome be a success. This also includes managing the resources s/he has at
their disposal to ensure – to the greatest extent possible – a successful outcome,
whether it’s creating a specific volunteer program-‐based budget, making best use of
staff to minimize opportunity cost, and keeping the activities of the organization
focused on mission despite volunteers who might be more interested in a working
vacation. It is not enough to attract a volunteer to your organization.
Organizational staff (and especially management) must thoroughly think through
the process and consider all variables and potential issues, and this guide is meant
to help them do that.
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Best Practice Guide for Partner Organizations A How-to for Hosting International Volunteers
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I. General Recommendations For Getting the Most Out of Omprakash.org
• Read the Omprakash Partner Handbook, and ask if you
have questions about anything in it. • Check your Omprakash inbox often - even if you have
your mail forwarded to another account. • Inform Omprakash immediately if you receive spam or
suspicious messages. • Pay attention to your volunteer reviews; inform
Omprakash if anything is incorrect. • Make sure all previous volunteers listed on your profile
are accurate. • Upload videos and photos to your profile. Make sure
they are relevant to your volunteer projects. • Be aware of the Omprakash fundraising platform and use
it. Ask if you don’t know how. It’s great for: o General fundraising o Specific fundraising campaigns • Check your fundraising page often. o Donations are not transferred into your account until
you request them. • Conduct your own due diligence to make sure each
volunteer you accept is a good fit for your organization.
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II. Market Yourself To Recruit the Best Volunteers for Your Organization
• Be explicit in your volunteer expectations. • Set a timeframe for a reply each time a volunteer responds. • Omprakash asks that you do not charge a volunteer fee. However,
you may request a reasonable amount to cover volunteer costs and ensure volunteer commitment. Please contact Omprakash for more information if you are unclear about this policy.
• Respond promptly to all volunteer inquiries. • Require a minimum time-commitment for each position and post it. • Avoid posting “general volunteer” opportunities. • Be clear with potential volunteers about the financial realities of
working for your organization and living in your community. • Be open to receiving virtual volunteers - ask Omprakash about this if
you are unclear what it means. • Don’t offer anything to volunteers that you can’t provide for them. • The more targeted you make your volunteer position, the more
targeted the volunteer responses will be. • If you can, create a volunteer application and ask all volunteers to
complete it. Ask them their reasons for wanting to work with you. • Browse other organizations’ profiles on Omprakash.org for ideas. • Ensure volunteers are aware of all costs you will incur (visas,
preparation of work documents) and that you will expect them to pay.
• For each volunteer position you post, consider including all of the following:
o A position overview o The volunteer’s expected responsibilities o Minimum required volunteer skills/experience o Minimum time commitment required for the position • PLEASE contact Omprakash for help if you need it.
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III. Prepare to Host And Make Sure the Volunteer is Ready, too
• Always require a background check (at volunteer expense)
• If you or your staff must prepare paperwork for volunteers (visa, work documents) and you incur fees, pass the cost onto the volunteer.
• Require volunteer to provide proof of travel insurance • Ask volunteers to sign a basic letter that lists your
expectations for them.
IV. Manage Your Volunteers And Get Feedback
• When possible, provide assistance to volunteers in finding local transportation and accommodation.
• Take advantage of your local expertise. • Set up a schedule for volunteers to follow as soon as they
arrive. • Volunteers should treat their position like a job, and you
should expect them to do so. • Encourage volunteers to post reviews and blogs about
your organization on the Omprakash website. • Require feedback at the end of each volunteer’s service in
the form of an interview or survey, and take it seriously. • Remember that the best volunteer relationship is a
mutually beneficial one.
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Explanatory Narrative #3: Omprakash Partnership Strategic Outreach Plan
Project Background
This is the centerpiece of our project with Omprakash and is the primary
deliverable they are looking for from us. When discussions began with Omprakash
management back in February, strategic partnership outreach is what they were
most focused on. Up to this point, outreach has been conducted primarily through
volunteers or part-‐time staff using text-‐based emails from their own personal email
accounts. There was no means of tracking what was working, and their outreach
goals were general at best. It became clear early on that what Omprakash needed
most in terms of outreach was a concise strategic plan that could target their efforts
moving forward. This was not an easy task, as I’ll document in the challenges
section below.
We conducted a SWOT analysis to help us identify areas that could use
improvement and identified a number of strategies to address them. We began by
developing a formalized email campaign through MailChimp that could be tracked
so outreach efforts could be monitored for effectiveness. In addition, using the
MailChimp Campaigns makes it easy for partners, volunteers, or Omprakash staff to
pass along the outreach message and reach new organizations.
Next, we began discussing how exactly we felt that Omprakash should move
forward in terms of targeting new organizations for partnership. When we asked
Omprakash how they currently research, the answer was “primarily through Google
searches.” We felt that in addition to being unsustainable and time-‐consuming this
was unacceptable because this of their focus on virtual outreach (rather than in-‐
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person relationship building). Omprakash is dedicated to conducting its outreach in
a virtual manner, and this includes organizational vetting. Only so much can be
learned on paper, regardless of recommendations the potential partner provides.
As a result of their last few rounds of virtual outreach (using Google searches), they
had expanded their network to its highest level ever, but ultimately had to cut more
than 40 partners due to them not being a good fit for Omprakash partnership. We
strongly believe this stems from how they conduct their partnership at a
fundamental level. We decided that if outreach is to be done virtually, partnerships
could be created to assist with research and vetting. Thus, the establishment of one
of the cores of our strategy, making use of “trusted networks.”
For the purpose of this project, we focused on four areas: Funding
foundations, locally based connector organizations, large development
organizations, and the Monterey Institute network. It is our belief that, by making
partnerships within these areas and targeting their outreach, Omprakash will
ultimately form more sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships, even if the
overall number of partners does not grow at the same rate as before.
As noted above, the goals for outreach that Omprakash provided us were not
targeted and did not included measureable indicators. This was the next focus of
our strategy. We have made use of a generally accepted best practice and
recommended that they use a QQTP method for creating targeted, attainable goals
going forward. Without targeted goals and indicators to measure their success, we
don’t feel that Omprakash can move forward with partnership outreach.
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The final part of our recommended strategy involved making more extensive
use of social media and using consistent messages, along with the other items
created above, to broadcast their message to a wide but still targeted audience. We
are happy with the overall plan we have provided to them. We are confident that
this plan, if properly instituted, will help Omprakash achieve its outreach goals in a
more targeted and sustainable manner, resulting in better partnerships for all
involved.
Challenges Involved
Despite their stated interest in conducting more strategic outreach,
Omprakash has been less receptive than we had hoped during this process. I believe
that, in the absence of concrete and measurable goals, the organization is still stuck
in a numbers first mindset. Throughout the process, they continually asked
questions like “how many organizations had we contacted? How many applications
did we expect them to receive?” It seemed as though only the raw numbers were
important and they never seemed to buy into the idea of strategic outreach. This
has been an ongoing challenge that continues to this day. We wonder if, during this
upcoming call for partner applications, they don’t receive as many applications as
they hope, will they revert to wide searches using Google and abandon the strategic
plan?
Contributions to My Learning
Despite the frustrations noted above, this has been a very interesting and
productive project for me. I was able to make use of a number of skills learned
during my time at MIIS. This is the first time I’ve been involved in formulating a
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strategic plan and I feel confident that the final product is of sufficient quality as to
be instituted by Omprakash and could fundamentally change how they conduct
their business. This project offered the opportunity to think through an
organization’s key operations in detail and look for targeted ways to help guide
them toward their goal. There have been some difficult conversations (to be
expected when hitting at the heart of an organization) and learning how to approach
these has been good practice. We were able to put to use skills learned in courses
such as Marketing and Recruiting, Design and Assessment, and Program Evaluation,
as well as a number of workshops like Systems Thinking and International
Organizational Behavior. Ideally, this strategic plan can be easily adapted for any
country-‐ or culture-‐specific context. Overall, I am confident that this plan will help
lead Omprakash in the right direction moving forward.
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Omprakash Strategic Partnership
Outreach Plan
Karla Micheli & Adam Mathis December 2013
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BACKGROUND Over the course of the previous four months, partnership outreach has been conducted for Omprakash via a number of different strategies. Several existing and potential partner organizations were also interviewed in the Southeast Asia region. As a result of this research, the following strategy is recommended for conducting targeted, sustainable outreach. The strategy aims to establish more mutually beneficial partner relationships, which will provide for highly engaged organizations and an increased number of fulfilling opportunities for volunteers.
SWOT Analysis
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THE STRATEGY
1. Focus your campaign by providing measurable indicators for success. “Grow our network of quality partner orgs who have specific needs in terms of hosting volunteers.” The above goal was provided by Omprakash staff. It is important to keep in mind that goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely). A common best-practice is to quantify and focus these outreach goals using the QQTP method. This refers to establishing measures for Quantity, Quality, Time frame, and Population or place targeted. Using the above stated goal, the following is an example of using the QQTP method. We decided to focus on the Caribbean region for this example since Omprakash does not currently have a presence there.
GOAL: Establish seven [Quantity] new partnerships with education, environmental or health grassroots organizations [Quality] in a minimum of 3 countries in the Caribbean region [Place] by July 15, 2014 [Time-frame]
Or, since Omprakash doesn’t have a strong environmental presence, the following is another example using the QQTP method:
GOAL: 20% [Q] increase in new partnerships established with environmental grassroots organizations [Q] in Asia [P] by April 15, 2014 [T].
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2. Make it easy for your stakeholders to refer potential partners. Make use of the new MailChimp E-mail Campaign. There are lots of ways to use this system to generate buzz and broadcast important information about Omprakash and the benefits of being a partner organization. It allows Omprakash to create targeted campaigns (using goals created above) and easily spread the message through the following methods:
1. Refer a Friend (bottom of the message): Anyone who has received a partnership email can pass it on to an organization they believe could benefit from partnership.
2. Unique EepUrl: Each MailChimp Campaign has a unique URL that can be shared. The URL leads to a copy of the e-mail that lives online.
3. Social Media Share: MailChimp also provides social media share features that allow people to easily share the e-mail campaign through Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
Website: It is recommended that Omprakash put several referral links on the the front page of their website that will make it easy for users to quickly understand the “ideal partner” and allow them to easily participate in partnership outreach.
1. Button: A side bar button (ie. Help Us Expand Our Network or Refer New Partner Organization) should be placed on the front page of the website. This button should ultimately link to the MailChimp e-mail campaign that provides all valuable information needed and is easy for people to pass on.
2. Banner: Focused recruitment banners should be created and designed to reflect targeted goals created above in Step 1. These banners can be linked to focused campaigns with unique links created on MailChimp. This will help monitor and measure your segmented efforts.
3. Drop Down Menu: A link in the drop down menue should be created. In the current layout of the website, we recommend putting a “Refer a Partner” link under the About section next to the “Become a Partner” link.
Measuring Success: Making use of the MailChimp system (as well as Google Analytics) and being consistent in how outreach is conducted is the best way of tracking what works (and what doesn’t).
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3. Create Social Media Campaign around Focus A timely, focused social media campaign should compliment your efforts. Facebook and blog posts and Twitter tweets should consistently appear around the focus of your recruitment efforts. These social media campaigns should run in accordance to the time frame listed in your QQTP indicators. Unique links and social media wikis through MailChimp will make it easier to implement and track these efforts. Social Media Outreach Tactics and Ideas:
• Always include a call to action • Link Twitter to your Facebook • Monitor success through Social Media Analytics such as retweets, Facebook
shares, and number of views. • Feature old or new blogs from volunteers working in your area of your
outreach focus • Feature specific volunteer opportunities related to that focus • Feature new partners shortly after they are accepted (especially if related to
the focus of campaign) • When possible, tie in holidays: ie. Earth Week or Woman's Day and current
events
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4. Partner for Partners The process of identifying, contacting, and vetting local organizations around the world is a time-consuming process. There are many organizations whose business it is to conduct this research. Take advantage of this. Establishing partnerships with larger development organizations, connector organizations, and funding foundations is an excellent way of reaching new markets and can provide Omprakash with an excellent pool of vetted potential partners. Development Organizations: Reaching agreements with large, established organizations such as the US Peace Corps is a great way to reach potential partners. PC Volunteers are generally both trusted and well-connected within their communities and often look for ways to assist local organizations once they finish their service. PCVs also work in all the places Omprakash wants to go. Connector Organizations: These locally-based organizations can provide links to smaller organizations that would otherwise be difficult to find. They are a great resource for locating potential partners because they are trusted and well-connected within their communities. For example, Better Life Organization is a connector based in Yangon, Myanmar. They don’t have the reach of a larger development organization, but they are familiar with the local organizational climate and can provide valuable referrals. Through collaboration with Better Life Organization, contact information was obtained for more than 30 local grassroots organizations in Myanmar. Funding Foundations: These organizations conduct extensive partner validation and often have large partner portfolios. As such, collaborating with such foundations is an ideal way to reach a large number of potential partners while saving countless hours of research and validation. Take Firelight Foundation as an example. They recently agreed to collaborate with Omprakash, and subsequently provided partnership information to 58 pre-vetted organizations in 10 countries, many of which are new markets for Omprakash. It is easy to see the value of such collaborations.
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Explanatory Narrative #4: PTD Marketing, Coordination, & Assessment Report
Project Background
This project developed over the course of a few months between January and
March of 2013. Before coming to MIIS, I worked as a tour leader for a responsible
travel company in Southeast Asia. My job during that time was to organize all
logistics for groups of people during their trip, accompany the groups to provide
leadership and safety, and be available for questions or assistance at any time
during the trip. In January 2013 I was brought in to the Special Programs
Department (SPD) at MIIS to execute the Development Project Management
Institute (DPMI) marketing plan that I wrote as the final project of the IEM
Marketing and Recruiting course taken in Fall 2012. By March, I had largely
completed the new activities I had proposed and was finding myself with
considerable free time at work. The SPD Director asked if I’d be interested in
coordinating the Peace, Trade, & Development Program (PTD), a job that would
carry full-‐time throughout the summer. Knowing that it was a culturally diverse
program that would be ideal for someone working in IEM, and also was an excellent
fit for me based on my experience in Southeast Asia, I accepted.
In March (while continuing to market for DPMI), I began marketing as well
for PTD. I was responsible for recruiting six general participants who would
complement the 12 pre-‐enrolled United World College scholarship recipients.
Taking applicable crossover activities from the DPMI marketing plan, I worked the
existing PTD marketing plan and was able to secure all six spots with excellent
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undergraduate students from around the world – Uzbekistan, South Korea, China,
Nigeria, Australia, and Tanzania.
Our program ultimately had 18 participants from 16 countries. I worked
with our International Student Advisor to make sure all received their visas and that
all 18 provided their eligibility documents. I helped book plane tickets, and secured
housing for the six general participants before their arrival (including finding a
room for one student in the home of a current IEM student). I also organized all
logistics for the program, including securing classrooms and scheduling site visits
with organizations like Kiva, Google, Firelight Foundation, and Earthbound Farms. I
created and managed a Google Site for making announcements, and generally
provided support to the participants while they were in Monterey. I was also in
charge of managing the program budget -‐ a job that proved difficult due to high
transportation costs – but we were able to complete all activities in the program
while coming in under our designated budget. I worked far more than my
documented 40 hours each week and was on-‐call for them 24 hours a day. Overall,
the program was a great success and all 18 participants left the program satisfied –
some are even planning to apply for MIIS graduate programs. It was great
experience for me and financially successful for MIIS as well.
Challenges I faced
There were a number of challenges I faced while trying to ensure the
program was successful – for the participants, but also for MIIS. Most offerings in
the SPD are self-‐sustaining and do not receive any financial assistance from MIIS.
Therefore, the program had to not only function on a budget, but also had to be
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profitable enough to justify continuing to offer it. I had to get very creative to offset
what turned out to be very high transportation costs. In previous years, hiring
chartered buses to take the participants to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley,
and Carmel Valley on their scheduled field trips ended up costing nearly half of the
entire budget for the program. As a result, I looked for alternative ways to transport
them. I made deals with rental car companies at the Monterey Airport, found a less-‐
expensive charter transportation companies based in San Jose, and organized
complicated public bus routes to save money.
Another challenge was working with so many participants from different
backgrounds and cultures. Keeping 18 undergraduate students happy and out of
trouble required considerable time and patience on my part. There were some
behavioral issues, so additional restrictions on drinking and class attendance had to
be put in place. Overall, however, I was able to get them all through the program
successfully and without serious incident.
Contribution to My Learning
This program was a very good fit for an IEM student and I was fortunate to
be given the position. Marketing for and coordinating the PTD program allowed me
the opportunity to put into practice many tools and skills I’ve acquired at MIIS, both
as part of the MPA program and the IEM program. First and foremost, I spent
considerable time developing and executing a number of marketing and recruitment
activities, taking lessons directly from the recruitment portion of the class
mentioned above. I was responsible for recruiting six international students (who
were paying $2500 each in tuition) in less than four months – no easy task. I was in
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charge of executing a complicated budget and did so successfully. The program was
a good lesson in intercultural communication as well – both in terms of miscues in
English as well as managing cultural and religious differences among a large group
of students. Keeping the program moving and ensuring all events and field trips
went smoothly required considerable organization on my part. Finally, as part of
my program evaluation background, I know the importance of assessing a program
not just at the end, but throughout. That is why we conducted assessments at
regular intervals and again at program completion, and the SPD takes that feedback
very seriously when planning for the following year’s program. Overall, I am very
happy with the success of the PTD program and with the integration of my learning
outcomes into its planning, execution, and assessment.
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Peace, Trade, & Development Program Marketing, Coordination, & Assessment Report
Between March and August of 2013, I worked as the Coordinator for the
Peace Trade, and Development Program (hereafter PTD) offered by the Special Programs Department at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). My responsibilities consisted of executing a marketing plan to recruit the participation of six participants (in addition to 12 pre-‐enrolled scholarship recipients), organizing the program logistics and site visits, acting as the main point of contact for participants during the program, and soliciting feedback from participants both during the program and at its conclusion. Program Coordination of the PTD Program can be broken down into six main components: Marketing, Application Processing, Material Preparation, Site Visit Organization, Program Coordination, and Feedback Solicitation. Below is a timeline that illustrates the major components of the work that was completed during this time.
I.) Program Marketing
A basic marketing plan was already in place when I began my role as Program Coordinator. This plan was put in place as a result of the IEM Marketing and Recruiting course that took place during the Spring 2012 semester. This marketing plan, developed by IEM students had been adopted in theory, but had not yet been put into practice. I myself had written the marketing plan being used to recruit participants for the Development Project Management Institute (DPMI), another offering of the Special Programs Department at MIIS. I saw useful crossovers in the DPMI plan which I integrated into the PTD plan so that I would have the highest probability of reaching our stated goal of six full-‐tuition participants.
Between March and June 2013, I worked approximately 20 hours per week
in the Special Programs Office, of which approximately half my time was spent executing aspects of the combined marketing plan. This extensive marketing campaign consisted of outreach to universities around the country, consistent and targeted postings on various social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook), submissions to listservs, and advertisements on job boards such as Idealist.org and
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Peace & Collaborative Development Network. As a result of this outreach, a total of 33 unique and qualified applications were received by the Special Programs Office (See Appendix A1). II.) Application Management & Participant Follow-‐up
During the course of the application cycle, I was responsible for managing applications as they were received, processing them, and providing acceptance or denial correspondence as appropriate. In addition, I coordinated with the International Student Advisor, Kelly O’Connell, to ensure that the appropriate measures were taken to assist each international student with the visa process. I was also the point of contact for the potential participants so that they could ask clarifying questions, be it about the program, costs, itinerary, logistics, or anything else they needed. I kept a live document on the MIIS Server with up-‐to-‐date information about each participant as they were accepted and subsequently enrolled or withdrew from the program. This document (Appendix B1) was shared with other essential MIIS staff so that it was clear to all involved exactly where each applicant stood in the process. As each applicant confirmed their participation with a deposit, I coordinated with the MIIS admissions office to secure a student ID for them and get them into the MIIS system. III.) Organization of Site Visits One of the main components of my program coordination responsibilities was to organize a series of professional site visits with organizations in the greater Bay Area region. These visits were meant to function as complementary to the classroom topics and discussions. In collaboration with the Special Programs Director, I solicited eight organizations that were willing to host our participants and organized them into themed weekends so that participants could get out of the classroom, have something meaningful and organized for them to do, and ideally complement the topics they discussed in class. These visits ranged from non-‐profit organizations such as Firelight Foundation and Kiva to public and private corporations like Wells Fargo and Google. It was my responsibility to coordinate these visits and lead them as well -‐ I was responsible for organizing transportation, booking restaurants for lunch, and also accompanying the participants to ensure both safety and punctuality on each visit. Before the participants arrived in Monterey, I developed a detailed itinerary with all visits and extra-‐curricular activities listed (Appendix C). IV.) Program Coordination We ultimately secured the participation of 18 program participants from 16 different countries. The program participants arrived in Monterey for the program, which took place from July 22 and August 15. While they were in town, I acted as the main point of contact for any questions they had about Monterey or the PTD program. Participants had my mobile phone and I was essentially on-‐call 24 hours a
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day (though I was only to be contacted in an emergency outside of office hours). I attended the first class taught by each professor (there were 10 MIIS professors) to ensure all participants were present and to assist with any technological problems (use of projectors, PowerPoint presentations). I created and maintained a Google Site throughout the program where students could go for up-‐to-‐date announcements, classroom changes, photo posting, FAQs, a copy of the itinerary and program schedule, or background on all site visit organizations. This site can be viewed HERE.
During the program, there were two major events that I was in charge of
organizing. The first was a Roundtable, which was developed in collaboration with one of the professors. The second was the final presentations that took place on the last day of the program. Coordinating these events consisted of securing a room, organizing A/V, preparing the participants, and video recording the events themselves. I also organized a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, a brief orientation program to introduce them to the campus, and a closing reception. V.) Preparation of Various Program Materials
Throughout the course of the program, I was responsible for the development of a number of marketing materials, door signs, reference documents, certificates and programs. I have provided copies of these documents as follows: Appendix D: Marketing Email provided to Universities Appendix E: Marketing Brochure Appendix F: Roundtable Door Sign Appendix G: Participant Biographies (provided to Professors) Appendix H: Program Overview Appendix I: Final Presentations Program Appendix J: Certificates of Completion VI.) Solicitation of Feedback At specified points during the program, I was responsible for gathering feedback from participants regarding their satisfaction with the course content, the professors, and the program in general. Using Survey Monkey, I developed surveys which were administered at the end of each week of the program and at the end of the program overall. Reports on individual and group feedback can be found in Appendices K & L, respectively. The surveys themselves can be accessed in the GSIPM SurveyMonkey account. A screenshot of all surveys I completed is listed in Appendix M below. _____________________________________ 1: Personal Information in these documents has been removed for privacy.
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Appendix A
Appendix B
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Appendix C
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Appendix D
Appendix E
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Appendix F
Appendix G
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Appendix H
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Appendix I
Appendix J2
_____________________________________ 2: This is one of 18 certificates
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Appendix K3
Appendix L4
_____________________________________ 3: This page is one of 13 such responses from participants and part of a 28-‐page document.
4: This page is part of an 8-‐page comprehensive document.
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Appendix M
