SEDPI Conducts Financial Literacy Training to Palaweños

SEDPI trained a total of 696 residents of San Vicente, Palawan on Financial Literacy (FL), December 12-15, 2013. The training is part of SEDPI’s partnership with the Climate Change Commission (CCC) in a project to create eco-towns or ecologically sustainable and economically stable communities. Those who benefitted from this project were mainly entrepreneurial mothers and most were also beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4 Ps).

The FL Training aims to change the conservative mindset of its participants about money by providing basic financial dos and don’ts to more comprehensive advice on livelihood and income management. It is a crucial first step of the project where after being financially trained, the participants may qualify for loans and venture to economically and ecologically sound livelihood. The participants, coming from baranggays Poblacion, Alumanguan, Sto. Niño, and New Agutaya, had to sit through the 6 parts of the FL training—Importance of Personal Finance, Managing Expenditures, Setting Financial Goals, Savings and Creating Savings Plans, Insurance, and Debt Management—where they also get to interact and share their financial situations with SEDPI trainers.

The success of the trainings is evident with the feedback SEDPI received from the participants. A participant from Poblacion commented, “Masaya po kami sa pagtuturo namin at marami kaming natutunan lalo na sa aming pag-iipon at pagsavings.” (We’re happy in the training and we learned a lot especially in saving) A Sto. Niño participant expressed, “Thanks po sa pagpunta sa amin at sa pagpapaliwanag kung ano ang dapat naming gawin at marami po talaga akong nalaman.” (Thank you for visiting us for explaining what we should do. We really learned a lot.

SEDPI is positive that the FL training will build a solid foundation to make San Vicente an eco-town. More importantly, SEDPI looks forward to the concrete results with more economically empowered and disaster-resilient families of San Vicente.

Financial Planning for Social Enterprises

Most social entrepreneurs think that the biggest challenge in expanding operations is attracting funding. In this course, social entrepreneurs will learn to identify and describe the advantages and disadvantages of different sources of financing. They will be able to weigh options and identify appropriate financing strategy for specific situations and social enterprise stages. The course will also provide the motivations and goals of various financing sources and provide tips on how to meet these.

Strategic Planning for Social Enterprises

The course addresses the issues of strategic and operational planning that are vital to the successful development of social enterprises. The right to left planning approach will be used as the framework for the strategic planning process. A vision questing workshop is the highlight of the course enabling social entrepreneurs to set ambitious but realistic plans. The course presents common strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that will aid social entrepreneurs in generating strategic options. The strategic planning course will aid social enterprises in clarifying their niche and differentiation in the competitive industry they are in. One of the most awaited portion of the course is on how to creatively generate resources to fund the operations and growth of social enterprises.

Social Performance Management for Social Enterprises

The starting point for many social enterprises has been their mission and commitment to providing access to the poor and helping them improve their social and economic conditions. Due to the magnitude of social enterprise models, there are a number of emerging ways on how to measure social performance and impact. The course will present various methods in measuring social performance such as Social Return on Investment, Development Indexing, and Balanced Score Card among others. The course aims to provide tools to social enterprises in developing relevant social performance measures and installing a system on monitoring these.

Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship involves the promotion and building of enterprises or organizations that create wealth, with the intention of benefiting not just a person, family or clan but a defined constituency, sector or community usually involving the public at large or the marginalized sectors of society. The course aims to inspire participants to establish or participate in social enterprises. Topics to be discussed include definitions of social entrepreneurship, case studies on existing social enterprises, crafting a social enterprise concept, identifying sources of funding, and creating action plans for delivering social enterprise products and services. Modules integrate the use of management practices (human resource, marketing, operations and finance) with sustainable development. The course emphasizes that social enterprises, like business enterprises, are also concerned with financial sustainability. However, social enterprises go beyond profits, setting bottomlines that not only contribute to financial sustainability, but also towards development objectives.

How to Start a Social Enterprise

Social enterprise is experiencing a meteoric rise in interest and relevance in the Philippines and the rest of the world. It is an entirely new way of working, a way of creating a new sort of wealth and most of all, a way of changing people and the world. It is not an easy route and the conflicts between social goals and business, values and democratic working call for innovative approaches to planning, governing, selling and managing. The training aims to equip budding social entrepreneurs with information on getting started on their social enterprise venture by providing tips on business strategies and planning, marketing and communications including using new media in establishing networks plus raising finance.

Winning Program Designs: A Write Shop (Proposal Writing)

Various development projects rely on partnerships and support from other organizations, whether it be from the government, private sector, non-government organizations or international organizations. To make these partnerships happen, organizations are often required to submit proposals which undergo competitive screening. As such, proposals have to be well-written, with program designs and project details carefully planned and thought of. This course discusses the determining factors that set apart winning program designs and project proposals from the rest. The different kinds of development programs will be presented to help the organization choose which approach is most suited for the organization’s needs. The course also teaches technical writing guidelines and standard formats for project proposals, along with sample proposals and writing workshops. At the end of the training, participants are expected to understand the basics of proposal writing, and to be able to craft their own proposals and presentations.