Small Incremental Change – The Path to Sustainable Change

Most non-profits want to show their impact with numbers. Big numbers. And, in a short period of time.

Stakeholders want people trained in the 1,000s or 10s of thousands. Stakeholders want number of lives touched in the millions. However, all too often, those numbers do not account for the depth of impact and confuse a small touch with programming to mean big change for that individual, their families, or their communities.

At TWB we have questioned the traditional numbers and goals for these numbers that non-profits use.

Some of the questions we asked ourselves were:

1. Will the women who go through TWB training ACTUALLY be able to get a job with the skills they learned?
2. Will that job allow them to work EVERY DAY, indefinitely, and slowing increase their salary?
3. Will they ACTUALLY be making more money than when they started training?
4. Will they ACTUALLY have access to healthcare?

This is what we have been trying to prove over two years later. And, the answers are yes.

1. 100% of women who go through our training program are offered jobs after training in TWB owned or managed bakeries.
2. Employment in TWB owned or managed bakeries is every day, six days a week, all months of the year (excluding public holidays).
3. On average, women working in TWB owned or managed bakeries make 2x their pre-bakery salaries from their first day of employment. 
4. 100% of women at TWB owned or managed bakeries have access to health insurance and monthly mental health counseling as benefits to their employment.

However, this is not without a tremendous amount of both financial and human capital invested. It is through the hard work of an entire team of 12 Rwanda-based employees and interns that execute and operate our programs.

We have realized the power of our impact on just one woman.

We believe that small, incremental change is a strong indicator of sustainable change. Our team is proud of all the hard work we have contributed to making a difference in the lives of the women we work with.

Incubator for Change (Part II)

This week, we are releasing a two-part series called "Incubator for Change" that showcases the impact that TWB has had on our community at large. Today, we are focusing on the women that work directly in our bakery, specifically in our Kigali location, the Remera Bakery. 

We have 100% retention rate with the women who have been working in the Kigali bakery. All seven women that began in the bakery in June 2016 are still with us. They have changed in small and big ways. Many of the employees can now purchase new clothes, new accessories, and new things that allow for self-expression. They proudly wear these items to work each day and it does not go unnoticed. There is confidence and assuredness. 

Our women report being able to send their children to school and having the purchasing power to buy nutritious foods.

We asked a group of them to share what advice they would give to a new training in the TWB program.

Here’s what they had to say.

From the Bakery

I would tell them how TWB has helped me to grow, to be “smart”, and eat nutritious bread. (Jeanne D’Arc) 

When starting a business, you must plan. Everything from inventory, to sales, you must know how you will go about achieving your business goals. And, you want to make the bakery a nice place to come. (Faith)

 Care about what you are learning and love what you are doing. This is how you can move forward. I would tell them how nutritious things are important in our lives. Oh, how important hygiene and cleanliness are, too. (Athanasie)  

I would tell them TWB helps open your mind and gives hope. (Rose)

Maintain your self-confidence. From this training and business, you can learn about nutrition and help your own children. (Suzanne)

Overcome your fears with self-confidence. (Cecile)

Don’t have fear of parts of the job that you might not know how to do. Love to work hard. Have patience. Never lose hope. (Liziki)

Measuring change is a formidable process.

We have data collection processes, survey questions, and measurements to understand the efficacy of our training program and business start-up services. When we see impact across all levels of our work, we can continue to press forward, knowing that we are “moving the needle” and achieving incremental change in a world of complex problems and systemic issues.

As an organization, we continue to grow and change as a group (and as individuals), always returning to the catalyst that got us started in the first place, “we can, and therefore, we must.”

So, Tell Me More

Last week, two TWB staff and Global Health Corps (GHC) alums, Aime and Meg, attended an East Africa GHC leadership summit in Nyamata, Rwanda to reconnect and share experiences with other co-fellows and staff from different parts of the world.

It was an opportunity for alums to share their achievements since they completed the GHC program. In doing so, everyone had to introduce themselves, where they were placed, their role during their fellowship year and what they are doing after the fellowship. 

When I (Aime) said that I work at The Women’s Bakery, another GHC alum approached me and said, “You work with The Women’s Bakery, so tell me more.”

This is a great inquiry that I always like to answer. It is an opportunity to showcase the uniqueness of The Women’s Bakery and what drives us in what we do.  We are promoting nutrition education, health and business education and above all we are availing locally sourced, nutritious and affordable breads.

This fellow continued, “So tell me more, how do you measure the impact?” 

An even greater question!

From the baseline surveys taken before training begins we learned that our trainee women/men couldn’t afford the health insurance coverage for the whole family or could only afford to cover the family members most vulnerable to sicknesses, like kids or pregnant mothers.

But, from our follow-up surveys taken 6 months after the conclusion of training, we can see that the training graduates who chose to work in bakeries are able to cover their health insurance, send kids to school and cover the basic needs.

That’s the impact.

“There is more to tell, come learn the Power of Bread!”