Module 11 - Monitoring and evaluation

What you will learn in this module

How to improve the business
How to track business performance
To evaluate and readjust to new business situations in order to survive and grow
To collect and collate information on women's cooperative businesses to facilitate planning of future support activities.

Session 1 - Evaluating women's cooperative businesses

• It is important that members of rural women's cooperative groups assess and evaluate themselves on a regular basis.

• The evaluation must be multi-dimensional.

• The dimensions of success relate both to business as well as the cooperative nature of the business.

• Initiate a discussion on the six different dimensions of success explained in the handout. Add any more dimensions and indicators that they may want to include.

• Divide participants into groups according to their business activities and assign them the task of assessing their group business based on these criteria. Allot about 45 minutes to one hour for the exercise.

• Assist the participants in categorizing the results of the exercise in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Handout 1: indicators of a successful rural women's cooperative business

Business-related indicators

The business success of a rural women's cooperative can be assessed from the following indicators:

• Volume of sales
• Regularity of sales
• Profit per member
• Quality of product
• Marketability of product
• Returns on investment

It is important to see if there has been growth in sales and profits over the preceding three to five years. Sustained growth is an important indicator of the success of a business. If the business has not grown in any way, there is a chance that it is losing out in the market and must be examined carefully.

Indicators of effective cooperation

In a rural women's cooperative business, the nature of cooperation is the key to its success. The first and foremost indicator of a cooperative enterprise is that it has common purpose. This can be assessed from the group's articulation of its purpose/mission. There should be clear statements of the product/service to be produced by the group and its business strategy.

It is useful to see if the group has used the tool of business planning, which makes periodical monitoring and necessary adjustments easy.

It is even more important to meet the following criteria:

• Cooperation among group members
• Sharing of work and responsibility
• Sharing of information
• Maintenance of books/accounts
• Sharing of accounts/information with members (transparency)
• Team spirit - interaction among different group members with common purpose
• Leader's ability for business, group management and networking.

Social factors

Family and community support has a direct impact on the group's success. Many cooperative women's groups engage in social and religious ceremonies and celebrations. While this may bring recognition from the community, it can also drain the group's finances. It is important for the group to keep in mind the importance of re-investment in business.

Networking

A group that is well networked with other women's groups, government officers and local business, finds it easier to sustain and expand its enterprise.

Handout 2: success checklist using MAIR model

The following checklist is useful to assess if the business is successful. The list has been developed on the basis of MAIR model in module 2

Motivation and determination

• What is the group's primary motivation for starting a business?
• Did the group try to start a business before this?
• How much do the women already know about the business?
• Did members' families support them in starting this business?

Ability and experience

• Does any member of the group have previous experience of running a small business?

• Does any group member have experience in the business they want to start?

• Does any member have experience of managing a similar business? Can a person be locally hired to manage the business?

Idea with market

• What product or service will the group sell?
• What customer need does it meet?
• Who are the customers?
• Is the product developed and tested, if necessary, for the standards specified? Is it ready now for the market?
• What quantity does the group expect to produce and sell?
• How does the group know that customers will buy? Has a market survey been conducted, even if informal?
• Why will the customers prefer the group's product/service over that of competitors?

Resources needed and their availability

Physical requirements

• What is the minimum scale of production for starting the group business?
• Will that level of production give enough income to group members?
• What resources will be needed?

- Premises
- Machinery
- Equipment
- Stock of raw material
- Workers

Financial requirements

• Is there a business plan of any sort?
• What are the cash needs for the first year?
• What are the profit and balance sheet projections?
• What will be the unit cost and how has it been calculated?
• What targets/standards are built into the proposal? Look at:

- utilization of resources
- efficiency
- wastage
- quality maintenance factors

• Does the group have training requirements - for example in design or packaging? How much finance is needed to meet these and how will it be obtained?

Session 2 - Preparation of action plans

• Distribute copies of the action plan format among the participants.

• Explain that the objective of the training is to improve the management of their businesses.

• They have learnt many things during the training and it is important to reflect on what has been learnt. This learning is based on the evaluation of the group business in the previous session and can be summarised in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the group business. The participants must also summarise any new opportunities or threats they face.

• This will help them to decide changes needed in their business practices and the actions they should take after the training programme.

• The action plan may include items that will be immediately implemented and others that require longer tem implementation.

• Let the participants work in groups for about 45 minutes. Hold a plenary session after this and have all groups share three major points of action.

• The action and business plans are the tools which the groups can use to monitor themselves on a regular basis.

Handout 1: format for action plan

Action planning after training on promoting sustainable cooperative women's group enterprises

You came to this training as representatives of your group and have spent five days learning how to improve the business of your group and conduct it along cooperative principles.

How would you like to make use of this learning when you return to your groups? Use the following stem statements to prepare your action plan.

1. We will teach our group members about......................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................

2. The analysis of our cooperative women's group business indicates the following:

Strengths.....................................................................................................................
Weaknesses:...............................................................................................................
Opportunities:...............................................................................................................
Threats:.......................................................................................................................

3. We will now change and do differently (group meetings, marketing, leader selection, etc.)

.........................................................

4. We will take the initiative in.............................................................................
(Optional) Name of Participants:.........................................................................
Name of group:...................................................................................................
Product/ business:..............................................................................................
Province:.............................................................................................................

Session 3 - Information for monitoring and support

• The CPD is supporting 6 000 women's groups in Thailand.

• About half of these groups have a good business while the others face difficulties.

• Many groups with viable businesses do not function on cooperative principles.

• The CPD needs information about these groups in order to facilitate their transformation into vibrant cooperative businesses.

• Each group must provide this information to the CPD.

• Group members can provide this information on their own or they can seek the help of the CPD provincial team and give the required information.

• The department can then analyse and consolidate this information for building business capacities of the groups and to provide them with business development services.

• The handout contains the format for collecting this information.

• It is useful to explain the format to the participants and have them practice filling it out.

• Trainers may guide this process and help members to identify additional support services needed.

Handout 1: format for collecting information on rural women's groups/cooperatives

Data category

Information about the rural women's cooperatives has been organized into several categories for easy data collection.

• General information

• Production information

- product details
- raw material and equipment details
- production process details
- packaging details

• Marketing information

• Financial information

a) Sales

b) Savings

c) Accounting results of the previous year from audited statements. These may be from the year currently closed, or the preceding year, whichever are the last audited accounts:

- sources of funds
- uses of funds
- revenues
- costs
- profits

• Group member information

• Problems and needs

- history of support and training from the CPD and other government departments (Financial support by way of grants and loans, marketing support, training programmes attended (dates/topics)

General information

1. Name of the cooperative
2. Address
3. Year of establishment
4. Total number of members and number of active members
5. Brief history of the group
6. Type of Business: such as service, producer, wholesaler

Production information

Product details

• Product name and picture
• Product type such as wood, handicraft, food, textile, other
• Quality guarantee or award
• Quantity of the product per month/year

Raw material and equipment details

Raw material

• Name of raw material
• Resource of raw material
• Cost of raw material

Equipment

• Name of equipment
• Resource of equipment
• Cost of equipment

Production process details

• Description of each stage of the production process for each product

Packaging details

• Packaging material
• Package designer

Marketing information

• Advertising channels: TV, newspapers, brochures, word-of-mouth marketing, exhibitions
• Market place
• Customer details

- customer response to product
- main customers

Financial information

Sales

- Production cost per unit
- Sales price per unit
- Amount sold per month/year

Saving

- Saving per month/year
- Maximum and minimum saving

Accounting and bookkeeping

- Name of accountant

Group management information

• Name of committee members
• Role and responsibility of each committee member

Data collection form

1. General information

2. Production information

Product details

Product name:

Please attach sample pictures of each product if available.

Product type

· Wood · Food · Handicraft
· Textile · other- please give details

.......................................................................................
.......................................................................................

Quality guarantee or awards achieved:

Quantity of the product per month/year

What is the maximum number of products you must allow for? What does this mean?

Raw material

Equipment

Production process details

Description of each stage of the production process for each product

...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................

Packaging details

Packaging material:

· wood · glass · water · hyacinth · cloth
· Paper · Plastic
· other - please give details

.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

Name of packaging designer: .........................................................................

3. Marketing information

Advertising channels:

· TV · newspapers · brochures · exhibitions
· word-of-mouth marketing · other - give details

.......................................................................................
.......................................................................................

Main market place: ..........................................................

Customer response to product: .........................................

Main customer (may have two or three main categories, trader in Tambon, trader in Bangkok, government departments, could provide five categories):

..............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................

4. Financial information

Sales

Savings

How much does the group save per month:
.........................................................................................................

What is the interest rate members get from saving:
.........................................................................................................

Maximum savings per month: ..............................................................

Minimum savings per month: ...............................................................

Accounting

Accountant's name: ............................................................................

Is she/he a qualified accountant: ........................................................
(Write the specific qualifications of the accountant)

5. Information about group members

Name and position of the committee member

Problems and needs

History of financial support

History of training

Future training programme required:

1. ..................................................................
2. ..................................................................
3. ..................................................................
4. ..................................................................
5. ..................................................................
6. ..................................................................

What are the other business support needs of the women's group?

1. ..................................................................
2. ..................................................................
3. ..................................................................
4. ..................................................................
5. ..................................................................
6. ..................................................................

What you have learnt in this module

Regular monitoring and evaluation of rural women's cooperative businesses helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the group and its business. This helps the group to take its businesses towards success.

Preparing an action plan gives an indication of how each individual participant adapts the training lessons to practice. This helps to spread and replicate training lessons.

A coordinated information system helps to build the capacities of rural women's groups. The information collection format provides a tool for maintaining the database on women's cooperative businesses.

The CPD can then analyse and consolidate this information to build capacities and to provide business development services to the groups.