Osez Innover | Dare to Innovate Technology Strategy 1.1
Technology Strategy /Osez Innover | Dare to Innovate /
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Technology Strategy Goals and Objectives
Timeline
Technology Curriculum and Manuel
Technology Programming During the Research and Development Period
Post-Competition Strategy
Overview
Stages of the Passage of Control
Osez Innover Facebook Group
The Osez Innover Website
Osez Innover Blog
Monitoring and Evaluation
Introduction
The mission of Osez Innover | Dare to Innovate is to create a community of socially minded individuals and entrepreneurs that fosters the exchange of ideas, knowledge and resources, to catalyze and promote the social entrepreneurship movement in Guinea.Inspired partly by the success of Peace Corps Guinea’s YETP entrepreneurship trainings, the Osez Innover movement hopes to help the most promising graduates of the YETP programtake their training further and plan viable social enterprises.
This goal is supported by a six day conference of selected participants scheduled for August 2013 during which participants will be introduced to Social Entrepreneurship, trained on Business Plan creation, introduced to relevant thought leaders, and led through the process of planning their own social enterprises. Following the conference, participants will have 6 weeks (what we call the Research and Development Period) to write a business plan for their social enterprise. After the 6 week period, participants will present their proposals at a shorter conference (the Competition), and the winning plan(s) will receive seed funding. Other participants will be introduced to microfinance institutions that may fund other projects.
From the beginning the Osez Innover Team recognized the importance of technology to a dynamic and innovative social entrepreneurship movement in Guinea. On the one hand ICT and social media are slowly becoming increasingly important in Guinea. Over the past 5 years, cell phones havesoared in popularity, and recently Facebook accounts have become prevalent amongst well educated youth. This trend will continue to impact commerce in Guinea, and the next generations of Guinean Social Entrepreneurs need to understand these technologies and their potential.
On the other hand, the curiosity and excitement surrounding these new technologies is an important new motivation for social entrepreneurs and clients alike. The attractive power of these modern tools and the opportunities that they provide, have created an important means for facilitating positive change.
The Osez Innover Technology strategy should not be confused with the Osez Innover Social Media Strategy. The Social Media Strategy is focused on our use of social media to stay connected to our sponsors and other interested third parties through the use of a Facebook Page, the website, and our Twitter account.
Technology Strategy Goals and Objectives
Goal 1:Participants will interact (read and post regularly on the) with the Osez Innovercommunity through the blog and the Osez Innover Facebook group
- Objective 1: Participants will learn how to access the Osez Innover blog and Facebook group by the end of the initial 6 day conference. In addition they will learn how to post comments on the Facebook Group.
- Objective 2: Participants with internet access will visit and read the blog at least twice during the months of August and September (the months of the R&D period)
- Objective 3: All participants will contribute at least one comment a monthto the Facebook group starting August and continuing at least 6 months after the end of the competition (April 1st 2014).
- Objective 4: At least 4 participants will contribute a blog post during the Research and Development Period
Goal 2: Participants will use technology to enhance their business ideas and proposals
- Objective 1: Participants will learn to perform a basic internet search for news articles related to their entrepreneurship idea by the end of the Research and Development period
- Objective 2: All participants with internet access will cite a source of information from the web at least once in their business plan.
- Objective 3: Participants will be introduced to Microsoft PowerPoint and how to used it by the end of the Research and Development period
- Objective 4:At least one presentation to the Business competition will employ Powerpoint in their presentation
Goal 3: Participants will continue the Osez Innover online presence after the end of the competition
- Objective 1: At least two participants and/or a new Peace Corps volunteer (G23 or later) will learn how to manage the Osez Innover website and Facebook Page by January 1, 2014.
- Objective 2: At least two participants will learn to manage the Osez Innover Facebook Group by January 1, 2014, and they will begin doing so by January 1, 2014.
Goal 4: Research, Create, and Maintain Attractive Online Resources to Support Goals 1-3
- Objective 1: Create that provides an overview of the conference and the initiative in both French and English. It should be branded and attractive, and interesting. The site should be completely polished by July 1st 2013.
- Objective 2: Create an Osez Innover Facebook group that provides a brief overview of the initiative and the conference in French, and which provides a welcoming space for participants to network and communicate. The Facebook group should be completely polished by July 1st 2013.
Timeline
June 15th – Due Date for First Draft of Technology Curriculum and Brochure
July 1st – Due Date of Objectives 4.1 and 4.2
July 8th – Due Date for Tech Trainings and Brochure – All Technology Trainings including the brochure and curriculum for the Conference and R&D period are due in time to be incorporated in the submission of the first draft of the rest of the curriculum.
August 11th-18th– Dare to Innovate the Conference for Social Entrepreneurship
- Initial technology and networking trainings are conducted during the Conference
- Participants are given take home materials that instruct them on targeted technology skills
- Blog posts/Tweets/Facebook posts focus on conference
- Start searching for participants who would like to manage Facebook group
- Launching of Provocative Posts in order to motivate exchange on Facebook
August 18th– Beginning of Research and Development Period – During the R&D period, participants will:
- Interact with the Osez Innover Facebook Group
- Contribute to Blog
- Research business ideas, and participants without access will have a chance to do the same at Community Meetings
- Prepare Powerpoint presentations
- Provocative Posts continue on Facebook
August TBD– First Community Meetingin Kindia
- Participants will be required to attend at least one of the two community meetings
- Will take location with computers and internet access
- Participants will network, and be trained
September TBD – Second CommunityMeeting in Labé(Participants will be required to attend at least one of the two community meetings)
September 26th - End of Research and Development Period
September 27th-29th–The Competition
- Following the competition, identified participants will be trained on how to manage the Facebook Group, and possibly the Facebook Page, Website and Twitter
- Peace Corps volunteers are trained on how to maintain the Facebook Page, Website, and Twitter if no participants are identified
- Provocative Posts Continue on Facebook
- Objectives 1.1, 1.4 and 2.1 will be monitored and evaluated
October 1st
- Objectives 1.2, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 will be monitored and evaluated
2014 January 1st – Passing of Keys - By this date, the management and programming of the Facebook Group is passed entirely into the hands of our Osez Innover Participants.
- Objectives 3.1 and 3.2 will be monitored and evaluated
2014 April 1st – Objective 1.3 will be monitored and evaluated, marking the end of the monitoring and evaluation period
Technology Curriculum and Manuel
Osez Innover aims to incorporate some basic internet literacy into its trainings through a brief technology curriculum. The curriculum will help foster the Osez Innover community through online interaction and social media. In addition, the skills learned will show participants how to research their business ideas online and to use technology to present them. These objectives are summarized in the Technology Strategy Goals 1 and 2, and they are necessary to achieve goal 3.
The curriculum will consist of training modules, which will be prepared and incorporated into the curriculum of the six-day conference. In addition, programming during the six-week Research and Development period will be designed to reinforce these skills. Please read Technology Programming during the Research and Development Period section of this document for more details.
The modules will be accompanied by a printed participants’ technology manual, which could be a part of the larger Participant’s Manual. The manual and the module will teach participants:
Blog Skills:
- How to use a web browser to locate
- A brief introduction concerning the content of the site
- A brief explanation of the blog
Facebook Skills:
- How to use a web browser to locate
- How to create a very basic facebook account (if a participant does not have one already)
- How to navigate Facebook in order to locate the Osez Innover Facebook group
- How to navigate the contents of the Osez Innover Facebook group
- How to post comments on the Osez Innover Facebook group
Web Research Skills:
- An introduction to search engines
- How to use a web browser to navigate to a search engine
- How to formulate a good search engine query
- An introduction on how to distinguish good content from bad content
Basic Powerpoint Presentation Skills:
- An Introduction to Powerpoint presentations
- How to create a new Powerpoint Presentation
- How to create a new slide
- How to add and edit content on a slide
- How to launch a Powerpoint Presentation
The Osez Innover Technology Strategy:
- A summary of the programming that we envision for and the Facebook page (our monthly blog themes, facebook provocative posts, other online competitions…etc.)
- Introduce Technology Expectations – what participants are “required” to do (interact with the facebook group at least once), and what we would like them to do (write blog posts, get involved with the site and facebook page management etc)
Technology Programming During the Research and Development Period
Teaching the above skills effectively during the busy Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference will be challenging. It’s more realistic to expect that these modules will only be able to introduce skills. In order to encourage participants’ interaction with the technology resources of Osez Innover, programming during the Research and Development Period will be designed to reinforce the technology trainings. This will be achieved by scheduling the community meetings of the Research and Development period at cyber cafés, and programming these community meetings to include refresher trainings. These refreshers will include at activities and mini-competitions to give participants a chance to practice what they’ve learned
These community meetings will also be used to encourage and motivate participants to share at least one Facebook comment per month, as well as to help groups present their ideas using Powerpoint thus achieving objectives 2.2 and 2.4.
During the community meetings we will also congratulate contributors to our blog to support objectives 1.2 and 1.4.
The community meetings will also provide participants with an opportunity to use the web to research their business ideas with the help of Peace Corps volunteers, and Peace Corps Volunteers will help participants cite these resources in their business plans (objectives 2.1 and 2.2).
Post-Competition Strategy
Overview
As described by Technology Strategy Goal 3, the Osez Innover team hopes to foster an extended online presence post-competition. There are two main parts of this goal. The first aims to place the reigns of the technology resources ( the Osez Innover Facebook group, and the Osez Innover Facebook page), in the hands of Guineans and/or younger generations of Peace Corps Volunteers. This passage of control is meant to ensure sustainability of the online Osez Innover Community, and hopes to do this in the following stages:
- Identification of Future Technology Resource Managers
- Training of Technology Resource Managers
- Passing of Technology Resources to next generation of Technology Resource Managers
These stages will be further detailed below.
In addition to this evolution of control, we also hope to encourage participants’ interaction with at least the Facebook group after the close of the competition. This will be done through continued programming of the Facebook page through provocative posts. In addition, we will poll participants to learn about their Facebook page experience to learn how we can make it more attractive and interactive for them.
Stages of the Passage of Control
Identification of Future Technology Resource Managers will take place informally during the competition as we monitor and manage the Facebook group. We will be looking for participants who show a particular interest in, spark for and commitment to the Facebook group, and we will contact them individually towards the close of the competition in order to gauge their interest in a deeper involvement with the Osez Innover Facebook group.
If particularly technologically savvy participants present themselves, we will also vet them for the management of This may be overly optimistic, and so, we hope to identify at least one member of Peace Corps Guinea from a younger generation to take over the management of the site and its programming. Whoever runs the Osez Innover site should also be responsible for the maintenance of the Osez Innover Facebook Page as the page will be based more around information concerning the conference. The management of the site will be informed by the Social Media Strategy.
Training of Future Technology Resource Managers will take place in the months following the competition until the end of the year. This will hopefully take place informally through individual sessions between members of the current Osez Innover Peace Corps team and the selected individuals.
Passing of Technology Resources to next generation of Technology Resource Managers will be completed by January 1st, 2014, at which point, all maintenance of the Facebook group, Facebook page, and will be passed into new hands.
Osez Innover Facebook Group
Introduction
Participants will join the Osez Innover | Dare to Innovate Facebook group and be encouraged to contribute posts to the group’s feed. The group will be public, and its feed will also appear on our website/blog. A link to the blog/website will also be created in the Description section of the Facebook group, to encourage exploration. This Facebook group resolves Osez Innover Technology Objectives 4.2, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3.
Rules of Participation
There will be basic rules for participants that will dictate interaction with the group's feed:
•Be respectful of others (don't insult others)
•Only post relevant posts
•Avoid politics - posts concerning politics, irrespective of perspective or content, will be removed
•Participate
Provocative Posts
The Osez Innover | Dare to Innovate team will craft weekly Provocative Posts. These posts will pose a question, challenge participants to a competition, or simply solicit reactions from participants in order to provoke interaction with the Facebook group. Some potential examples include:
•Who inspires you to take on social issues and why? (non-politicians only)
•Which business leaders inspire you and why?
•What is the biggest obstacle to doing business in Guinea?
•What are the social enterprises you see in your community?
•What do you find the hardest about doing market research?
•What is the best way to advertise in your community?
•What is your favorite marketing campaign or favorite advertisement in Guinea and why?
•What do you think will be the next big technology to sweep Guinea and why?
These questions will be framed with a sentence or two for context.
Provocative Posts will also encourage connected participants to identify and share resources they find online. For example:
•Web Champ Challenge of the Week: Find as many social entrepreneurship blogs as you can (English or French), and win the title for this week’s Web Champ.
•Help us identify the laws and regulations for starting a business in Guinea by searching online or inquiring locally. Share with us what you find.
•What is an infographic? Can you find one related to Social Enterprise?
Provocative Posts and their reactions will not be the only posts on the Facebook group’s feed. We will welcome other productive, inspiring, interesting posts, but the Provocative Posts will be our way of ensuring activity and interaction within the community.In the case that Provocative Posts do not provoke reaction, we will reach out directly to participants and encourage them to interact with the Facebook group while also asking why they don’t already do so.
Coordination with the Blog
Occasionally, we will create posts on the Facebook Group feed that encourage participants to visit the blog. Likewise, posts on the blog will encourage the usage of the Facebook Group.
Welcome Post/Description
The Welcome Post will be posted as the first post on the Facebook group. It will also rest in the group's description field. A modified French version of it will be sent to new participants to orient them to the use of the page. Below is an English version of the Welcome Post.
Welcome to the Facebook group for Osez Innover | Dare to Innovate, The Conference for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Guinea. Run by Peace Corps Volunteers and young Guinean entrepreneurs, this Facebook group aims to foster a community of dynamic social entrepreneurs through an interactive electronic discourse that excites, motivates and informs.
Who are the dynamic individuals, who post links to exciting resources, confides their obstacles, and suggests solutions and ideas? You! It’s your participation, posts and comments that make this group a source of support for the social entrepreneurship community in Guinea. So dive in and dare yourself to participate.