PROJECT DOCUMENTS

Decisions taken

How could the above mentioned possibilities of revenue generation be implemented in order to achieve self sustainability but at the same time to stay true to the mission and vision of the project and in order to strengthen and improve the project outcome and impact.?.

Decisions taken:

1. To rent a local in the commercial centre off Esmeraldas to ensure easy access of Street children not reached by the project so far and the wider public.
2. To install a network of 5 computers
3. The existing five computers will be moved to the new local. The network remains in the old local.
4. Replacements for the computers in the old local will be urgently searched trough purchase or donations.
5. 5 new additional computers are searched for the old and the new local.
6. The new local will be used for 20 hours a week for closed training sessions with street children/educators
7. The telecentre will be open to the public for the remainder of the time. The telecentre will offer for the public the following services: Usage of desktop pC, with and without Internet printout, black/white, scanning, Fax, Internet telephony and sales.
8. The capacitation courses have to include courses on the self-esteem and personal development of the educators and implementing such courses also for the street children should also be considered.
9. The existing local will be used for further training courses for children and educators and for formal training courses for the general public as soon as replacement computers can be found.
10. To employ one more telecentre administrator to cover for the additional workload created by the new local.
11. To secure and make increased use of volunteers
12. To implement an expanded training strategy. The project will seek to implement structured training courses for the children that result in training certificates that are internationally recognised.
13. The project will establish in cooperation with Chasquinet, CEFODI and other organisation to be identified a business/carer/start up and further education program for those who have successfully completed the structured training courses.
14. The implement a continuous measuring and evaluation program for the project.
15. To seek outside funding for those elements of the project that cannot be funded through the project.
16. To make all developed training materials and project document available to the public on the Ninos de la Calle WWW page in order to share experiences with other projects.
17. To purchase the following additional equipment for the new local:

1. Scanner
2. CD-burner
3. Fax machine
4. Computer consumables for sale
5. Furniture

Establishing the costs of a self-sustainability option:

Costs and prices for public services

¹ Average predicted use of public services per week: Opening hours 60 per week in total, 20 hours in use for training children/educators

5 workstations

² predicted profit per week: Sales USD 40 estimate, Week total 281.45, Month 1125.8, Year 13509.6

Services to be implemented in the future

Remittance services ( in co-operation with Chasquinet and CEFODI)

Training courses to the general public, Web pages, Office services as soon as standard of expertise allow. These are all services with a high profit margin and it is important that these services are implemented in the first 6-9 month to generate revenue in order to reach true self-sustainability. These services are also very important for the vision of the project as they are offering sustainable employment and open chances for further development for Streets children that have successfully complete the respective courses.

Finance needed for implementation

Using the criteria’s mentioned above the pure start-up costs for the new telecentre have been established with USD 2908 using the existing computers and with 7950 USD if 5 new workstations are purchased. The start up costs of USD 2908 are available trough reserves in the original funding allocation.

Running costs

The above figures show that the new telecentre can support itself and can cover the additional costs like rent for the local, the salaries of a guard, a additional administrator and shared the costs of a local technician with other NGO’s. To ensure a smooth transition from one site to another it was agreed that the running costs for the first three-month ( calculated at USD 2100 ) will be covered also through reserves in the original funding allocation

Analysis:

The above figures show that pure telecentres without an explicit social community orientated function are " good business " and reach self-sustainability and profitability very quickly. The problem arises when the telecentre takes on social functions like the free training and access for street children. The above also makes very clear that the project can self-sustain itself and even provide a basic service too street children with the implementation of the new local but the project can clearly not generate at this stage the funds for:

Training Staff, Educators and Volunteers.
Estimated requirement USD 3600 per annum for minimum training.
Estimated requirement USD 8700 per annum for extended training program.
External support services to the telecentre as they are provided at the moment by Chasquinet and CEFODI
Estimated requirements USD 3600 per year minimum support services
Estimated requirements USD 8200 per year for extended support services.
Developing training materials.
The costs are currently covered by Chasquinet, but Chasquinet has not the resources to provide these for an indefinite period of time
Estimated requirements USD 2500 per year for minimum development of training materials.
Estimated requirements USD 12000 per year for extended training material development.
Development of research and evaluation strategies.
Estimated requirement USD 12400 per annum for extended strategy
Implementing structured training courses for street children resulting in internationally recognized certificates.
Estimated requirements: Year 1 USD 38000, Year 2 USD 20.000
Expansion

The project would like to implement a further telecentre in a marginalized barrio of Esmeraldas based in a community centre in combination with an existing project. This telecentre would be on a small scale ( 3 computers, 1 staff ) ( project details available on request)

Estimated requirements:
Start-up costs: USD 6000
Running costs: USD 300 per month

Plan of Implementation

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