As we have done more and more projects, we have discovered ways to make the projects repeatable - meaning that we have applied what we have learned from one project to improve the next one. This has led us to Project Templates - a way to repeat the success of one project many times over.
An education example
We have done many education projects. While each has some uniqueness since we are very focused on meeting the actual needs of the school, there are some common structures. They include
- Project selection and validation. The project typically begins with identifying a school and conducting a school visit (either physically or virtually). These visits help us validate the need, meet the actual children and staff who will benefit, and hear from them directly what they need
- Vendor selection. In most cases, our work involves purchasing supplies, assembling them into kits, and delivering each kit to one student. For cost efficiency, we buy each item (like books, pencils etc.) in bulk from whatever vendor gives us the best quote. Our volunteers then assemble the kits.
- Transport. These kits tend to be very heavy when we have hundreds of them for the same school. We have found ways to do the most efficient transport possible.
- Feedback. By interacting with these schools, we are learning how to assess the long term impact of our projects.
The combination of the above means that we can repeat a variant of the same project very efficiently across multiple schools.
Other templates
We are in the process of developing a template for Sustainable Food Communities as well.
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