Kovel Foundation

About the organisation

Kovel Foundation (Kovel) was founded in 1994. Its objective is to support indigenous communities for the creation of sustainable livelihoods of forest and farm based products. Kovel Foundation is an apex organisation of 250 Community Based Organisations, namely Girijan Gum Pickers Associations. These are spread in 15 districts in tribal concentrated pockets of Andhra Pradesh. By 2015 the foundation intends to attend to 15000 tribal families. The organisation consists of a staff of 16 persons and support staff 50 persons.

The uniqueness of the organisation is the cooperative structure, whereas the tribal families are the owners of the organisation. The members are all engaged in collecting, aggregating and marketing of Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) including herbs. These products are in high demand as they have rare pharmaceutical and chemical applications. Therefore, the market for these products is guaranteed.   

Business case
Kovel found itself in a crucial phase of development. They were planning a transition from being an NGO, to a social enterprise with a hybrid structure. This means that the foundation plays the role of institution building and capacity building amongst the members of the co-operative. The enterprise (producers company) takes care of the commercial activities, marketing of the produce.

Kovel asked SharePeople to support them in the development of a strategy for this organisational transition: work out the strategy and process for setting up the social enterprise, including:

• feedback on the proposed organisational structure;
• advice regarding governance and stake holding pattern;
• outlines of the business model that it should follow in order to be sustainable and profitable in the long term

Mr. Krishna Rao, CEO of Kovel, asked SharePeople for the support from a strategy consultant, with experience in change management and business development. We linked him with Henk op het Veld. Henk is an Independent Consultant with vast experience in organizational change management, Strategic and Operational planning (business planning). Also, Henk had already worked during 3 years in India in the state of Andra Pradesh and therefore had a good understanding of the context Kovel is working in.

Results

Through a participatory approach, the expert - together with CEO Krishna Rao and his team, executed an organization audit, stakeholder analysis, SWOT analysis.

They drew up the outlines of a BUSINESS PLAN 2010 - 2015, based upon the wish of Kovel Foundation to transform itself into a Training and Knowledge Centre for tribal livelihoods.

• For achieving this mission they defined a four pillars programme
• They developed the Kovel Institutional Business Approach (KIBA) for implementing these 4 programmes (operational planning).
• They revised Kovel organisation structure
• They planned capacity building programmes for re-orienting the existing/new staff with KIBA, with the new organisation structure, responsibilities and performance standards for each position in the organisation as well as for introducing them in business planning
• They prepared an institutional budget for Kovel Head Office, its District Offices and for MACs Offices
• They gave input regarding the Management Information Systems. This MIS will monitor the development of Business Plans with related information/reporting systems from field level up to the Trust Board.
• A Human Resources Development Policy will be designed

Impact on the partners

Most important contribution for Kovel has been:

• Reflection on own activities with a focus
• Perceive the difference of a project-spending NGO versus a company that generates income
• Change in management style
• Planning/structuring activities with an own approach
• Change in the approach of group formation

Henk op het Veld:

"I learned to have more patience and to explore more deeply arguments in decision-making. In terms of your professional knowledge and skills. I practised in facilitating self-reflection and explaining analytical tools and sequencing these tools for strategic planning"

Mr. Krishna Rao:

 "The expert has used various tools and techniques while preparing the business plan. It enabled us to look at each and every programme as an interlinked and integrated approach. We learned about business plan preparation skills, Human resource development and management, financial systems and time management."

Follow up

First steps to be taken by Kovel are:

1. Re-orient all existing staff with KIBA and business planning/institution building
2. Start recruiting qualified Programme Managers
3. Start testing KIBA immediately

Implementing further recommendations will contribute to the Kovel's objective of "Promoting tribal cooperatives being controlled and managed by the member collectives and achieving self reliance within 3 to 5 years."

This is a start of a two-year partnership between SharePeople and Kovel. Both organisations will keep in touch, and with the experts as well. After this Group Programme, an official evaluation takes place every 6 months.