The organisation works to empower the tribal communities of Northeast India through education and economic development, having earned the trust and respect of the people it supports. It believes in the integrated approach to empowerment, focusing on self-awareness, self-development, and self-direction. By providing education and livelihood opportunities, the organisation strives to uplift men, women, and children, fostering sustainable growth and independence.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STRATEGY ENGAGEMENT
The organisation was facing pressing organisational challenges such as organisation systems, people processes, donor retention, etc. The organisation collaborated with Sattva for a 2 day workshop to seek strategic guidance for designing its future direction and driving growth in the coming years. They aimed to make informed executive decisions on key areas such as target audience, thematic focus, approach, organisational processes, and partnerships.
OUR APPROACH
Prior to the workshop, Sattva aimed to understand the organisation in depth through multi-modal engagement, including interviews, field visits to see work in action and secondary research to understand the peer ecosystem. This was facilitated by conducting document review and conversations with the leadership team.
The workshop began with the organisation reflecting on its past work and clarifying future priorities, such as target audience, themes, processes, and partnerships.We helped them develop a 3-6 month action plan, identifying key changes in systems and operations to adopt a structured approach. We also identified their core strengths—stakeholders, geography, and services—for positioning moving forward.
We concluded the workshop by consolidating the key learnings and decisions taken during the workshop in the form of an insights deck and sharing it with the participants of the workshop. We also conducted a virtual working session with the organisation leadership on the concrete next steps to be taken by the organisation to be able to make the desired shift. Finally, we provided data-driven insights on the funding landscape and shared best practices and learnings from peer organisations.
BENEFICIARY PROFILE
The organisation supports livelihoods across 70+ villages in Northeast India.They have successfully supported 4,000 farmers, formed 400 self-help groups (SHGs), and provided education to over 25,000+ children.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES
- Proposed an action plan that involved reviewing the organisation’s programs, developing a Theory of Change, revisiting people and knowledge management processes, mobilising the community, and establishing an advisory team.
- Documented key insights, discussion points from the workshop, including action points for next steps
- Provided an overview of the funding landscape in India across different donor channels relevant to the organisation.
- Consolidated best practices and learnings from the peer organisations.
IMPACT
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The organisation-
- Refocused their programs with livelihoods of the tribal communities at the centre, and rationalised other pieces of work.
- Started a process of internal alignment and organisational readiness and culture shift to be ready for this change.
- Reconstituted the advisory board to bring in broader diversity of expertise.
- Streamlined their external communications.
