BLR Meeting Planning

Pre-read slides on the funding platform and recording

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/TAhZeY4vqFPQDrzWtsOiSoYw01ZeuD4Z4Q_YiyLkctIScH-pzDnDzQWCspCj1jJm.OL0DXe11Ku5TXu33?startTime=1650599457000
Passcode: T$m62#&+

For context, slides on how we arrived at the funding platform idea here

Meeting Objectives

  • Establish a shared understanding for funding platform MVP:

    • Types of projects we are considering

    • Contributions we need from across the org to launch an MVP (eg, to fund [4] projects over the coming months)

  • Agree on what is success over the next six months:

    • Put forth key hypotheses / learning questions we want to better understand

    • KPIs / success indicators that give us a clear signal about how things are going

  • Define key workstreams, owners, and operating rhythm

    • “Front-end” design and development

    • “Back-end” design and development

    • Capacity Building:

      • Data officer training

      • Project Scoping and Due Diligence

    • Incentives:

      • Donor/Co-funder engagement

      • Data consumer engagement (scope additional data driven use cases), etc

  • Nice to have (but can also be addressed in followup sessions). Cover in a smaller group meeting

    • What data should we capture as part of the funding platform reporting requirements (high level)

    • Alignment on types of projects we will fund. Eg, do we want to be totally farmer / demand driven vs. encourage farmer groups to select from a curated list?

    • Establish timeline to say yes/no the FPOs so we don’t leave them hanging

Proposed agenda

Open questions

  • Should we pre-select a few projects in advance using 2x2?

Time

Description

Notes and Links

900 to 910

(10 min)

Welcome, objectives, and stories from the field

  • Link field visits to today’s discussion

910 to 925

(15 min)

DFN ambition + Why Funding Platform + Questions

  • Funding Platform MVP, Slides 3 and 4 

  • Ashu to present with input from Alesha

  • What questions do these concepts raise? 

925 to 930

(5 min)

SHG digitization in Ethiopia

  • Acknowledge up-front and put in the Parking lot

  • As a followup, how can this work converge w Funding Platform

  • Callout Kenya as well

930 to 1015

(45 min)

Pipeline opportunities

  • 5 min on context and per each opportunity

  • Currently have 9 opportunities, whittle down to 5 which represent the breadth of options we have so far

  • Funding Platform MVP, Slides 5 to 13

  • Down-select to 5 ideas 

1015 to 1030 (15 min)

Break

 

1030 to 1130 (60 min)

Everyone splits into groups, each group reviews one of the opportunities. Exact number TBD; maybe we do all 8 or consolidate / parking lot some opportunities based on attendee feedback

There are 30 people in the room, pre-assign groups or dynamic?

Baseline:

  1. Detail whats needed across each of the 4 pillars for this opportunity to become real

    1. Capacity Building

    2. Incentives

    3. Frontend tech

    4. Backend tech

  2. What are the key learning questions we should be working towards answering over the next 6 months?

 

 

Alternative: Prompts that help us get to an output which shows whats needed across 4 pillars:

Examples:

  1. Who plays the role of data officer and what training do they need? What incentives are necessary to make this concept relevant to them? 

  2. How will farmer groups build trust / credibility in the data (eg, verification / validation opportunities)

  3. What support will farmer orgs need beyond the data officer?

  4. What considerations should we have around DFN backend / data management / consent?

  5. Fund disbursement - how should it play out? (tranched? Based on what criteria?) What data would provide visibility and transparency?

  6. What would donors need to see to be interested? De-risking mechanisms (eg, insurance)

  7. What is the most relevant data to capture for this concept? How is it validated? 

  8. What are the key questions that emerge? What of these are essential to test in the very beginning? 

  9. How would you test these questions in a light touch way? What’s the cheapest, easiest way to get some feedback?

  10. What is DG’s role vs other organizations?

  11. Rank the idea on two criteria: (i) farmer benefit (income increase, resilience) and  (ii) complexity (time to payoff, execution risk) 

1130 to 1230 (60 min)

Share out

As groups share out, we map out which next steps fall into front end, back end, incentive + ask, and capacity building, and whether those are near term actions or later  

1230 to 1330 (60 min)

Lunch

Venue = 20Char (Hotel restaurant)

1330 to 1530 (120 min)

Where do we go from here? 

Down select to a smaller group. Who?

  • Can we get to “no” for any of the ideas? What additional info do we need to make a decision and on what timeline?

  • “Flying formation” what are the major workstreams and owners (list all the workstreams and everyone votes)

  • Capture key learning questions / hypotheses

 

Other things to cover during the day

  • Implications for Ethiopia and Kenya; how do we drive towards convergence

  • What is happening w backend work that will support the Funding Platform MVP (and be informed by / support other projects and use cases)

References

Proposed agenda v1. Source

 

Related pages