The document summarizes a presentation given by Khuloud Odeh of Grameen Foundation at the European Lean IT Summit in Paris in 2013. The presentation discusses Grameen Foundation's use of Lean IT principles to improve their Community Knowledge Worker program in Uganda, which provides agricultural information to smallholder farmers via mobile phones and community workers. It describes how a Lean workshop was conducted for the CKW program teams, which identified key processes for improvement through value stream mapping and prioritization. An action plan was developed using tools like Kanban boards, daily stand-up meetings, and designating a Lean coach. In the 5 months following, the CKW program reported walls coming down and improved focus on creating value for farmers through problem

1. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
3 & 4 October, 2013
Paris, France
European Lean IT Summit 2013
Reaching the “Last Mile” of Poverty:
Creating Value for the Poor with Lean IT
Dr. Khuloud Odeh – Grameen Foundation

2. Reaching the “Last Mile” of Poverty:
Creating Value for the Poor with
Lean IT
Lean IT Summit
Khuloud Odeh
Steve Bell
3 &4 October, 2013
Paris, France

3. Global Poverty
7 Billion people, 27% live in absolute poverty, 1 billion live on less than
$1.25 a day, and more than 3 billion live on less than 2.50 a day
22,000 children die each day due to poverty (UNICEF)
2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion in poverty..every second child
Rural areas account for 3
in every 4 people living on less than $1.0 a
day
The poorest
children are most likely to be out of school
(UN MDG 2013 Report)

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5. Our Heritage
Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank;
launched Grameen Telecom in 1997
Began microfinance work in 1976 after beginning in agriculture;
launched Grameen Bank in 1983 and other Grameen
organizations over time
Gave $6,000 grant to launch
the Foundation in 1997 and served on board for 12 years
Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus
Today, we are a world-class team of professionals, partners and
volunteers who are committed to freeing the world from abject poverty.
5

6. Grameen Foundation by the Numbers
9.4 Million of the world’s poor helped
22% increase in crop prices earned by
by our MFI partners.
farmers with access to a CKW.
1.2 Million new borrowers have
received microloans via our Growth
Guarantees program.
200,000 poor, rural farmers helped by
over 1,100 CKWs in Uganda.
$225 Million in local currency
43% of the farmers we can reach are
leveraged through Growth Guarantees
program to support microfinance in 13
countries.
‘very poor’, helped by 35% of our CKWs
being women serving women
1.2 Million customers served by
covered by the 200 institutions around the
globe using the PPI.
12,000+ micro-entrepreneurs through
Mobile Micro-franchising in Indonesia.
20,000 women enrolled in the MoTeCh
maternal and infant health information
service in Ghana
90% of people earning <$1.25/day are
100,000 hours contributed by more
than 700 volunteers in 600 projects
worldwide (worth $5.5 million)
6

7. Challenges Faced By The Poor
Insufficient &
inconsistent
income
Inability to tolerate
shocks and
manage risks
Lack of essential
and actionable
information
Needs are
not understood &
sub-par services
are delivered
Financial Services
Provide appropriate, innovative products to
manage household cash flows and risk
Information Services
Build two way flows of trusted, actionable
information (esp. agriculture and health)
Tools and Insights for Anti-poverty Orgs
Mobile-based management and poverty
measurement tools, skilled volunteers and
human capital resources
7

8. Progress out of Poverty Index® (PPI®)
A poverty measurement tool for
organizations with a mission to
serve the poor
MEASURE
Poverty Outreach
TRACK
Poverty Over Time
ASSESS
Social Performance
www.progressoutofpoverty.org
10 easy-to-answer questions and a
scoring system
Provides the likelihood that the
survey respondent’s household is
living below the poverty line
Country-specific; there are PPIs for
46 countries

9. Opportunity with Mobile Technology
80%
World’s population
living within reach
of mobile signal
Rural poor have limited income
opportunities and lack of access to
quality healthcare and financial
services
Leader in IT and Mobile Development
(ICT4D) serving the poor
9

10. Grameen Foundation Mobile Tech Efforts
Uganda: mAg
& Financial
Services
US Based
Program and
Support Staff
Guatemala:
mAg
Colombia: mAg
& Financial
Services
Philippines:
Financial
Services
Cote d’Ivoire:
mAg
Ghana:
mHealth
India: mHealth
& Financial
Services
Kenya: mAg
& Financial
Services
Indonesia:
Financial
Services
# Employees by Office
10

11. Connecting the World’s Poor..

12. The CIO Challenge @ GF
To strategically “leverage IT” at GF to enable the poor, especially the
poorest, to create a world without poverty
How to transform IT to support a technology innovative, dynamic, missiondriven, global organization
How to Support 200 plus staff across the globe with scarce resources
available (2 IT team members and a small budget)
To enable productivity, mobility and flexibility in challenging work environment
in terms of connectivity and IT infrastructure
HOW to: Connect .. Deliver.. Innovate

13. Four Levels of Leverage
• IT
Infrastructure
• Keeping the
lights on
• User
productivity
Commodity/ Service
Technology
Added-value Technology
• program
management
• Impact
Assessment
reporting
GF Userfacing
Donor/
External
Userfacing
Programs
and
Regionsfacing
• Donor
Management
• fund raising
• Business
development
Poorfacing
• IT and mobile
solutions
development
and Tools

14. Strategies for leveraging IT@GF
Outsourced/
managed/
Cloud-based
• Strategies:
• outsource
• Drive cost
out
GF Userfacing
PPI, KM, M&E,
PM
• Strategies:
• Connect
• Deliver
• Measure
Donor/
External
Userfacing
Programs
and
Regionsfacing
• Strategies:
• Buy/ subscribe for
service applications
• cooperate / share
solutions with
other NGOs
Salesforce
CRM
Poorfacing
• Strategies:
• Pilot
• Build solutions
• Improve and scale
ICT4D

15. Strategy  Priority  Action
Outsourced/
managed/
Cloud-based
• Strategies:
• outsource
• Drive cost
out
Userfacing
Actions:
- Google Apps
- Box
- Managed Support
- IT Services Stability
- Connectivity
- Telecommunication
- Lean/Infrastructure-less
- Go Local
- Simplify and streamline processes
(Automated and self-service)
- Drop complex/under utilized systems
- Move to service-based models
(cloud)
- Standardize (what matters)
- User-centric
- Mobility & productivity
- Smart Asset Management

16. Strategy  Priority  Action
Priorities
-Single source of truth
- Visibility and access to
information on key donors
and partners relationships
- Transparency
- Ability to tell our story
- Sharing information and
collaboration with partners
Donor/
External
Userfacing
• Strategies:
• Buy/ subscribe
for service
applications
• cooperate /
share solutions
with other NGOs
CRM
Actions
- Salesforce.com
CRM
- AffinaQuest
Fundraising Mgt
- Volunteer
Management
System

17. Strategy  Priority  Action
Actions:
- Salesforce Phase II
-Upgrade
connectivity
- standard cloud
based PM tool
- Training- Capacity
Building
- InterCall
International plan
PPI, KM, M&E,
PM
Programs
• Strategies:
• Connect:
• Deliver
• measure
and
Regionsfacing
Priorities
-Effective programs
management (PM)
- Global and Regional
communication
- Impact Monitoring
and Evaluation (M&E)
- Knowledge
Management
(Feedback loops and
capturing lessons
learned)

18. Strategy  Priority  Action
Priorities
- ICT4D Thought
Leadership
- Innovative use of
Technology
- Tech skills development
-Collaboration among
technology development
Actions
- NetHope membership
- Field Force Innovation
- technology
collaboration group
(Tech_Collab)
Poorfacing
• Strategies:
• Pilot
• Build solutions
• Improve and
scale
ICT4D

19. Steve Bell
In the midst of the IT
Transformation I got
introduced to… LEAN IT
and the Lean4NGO
community!!

20. The Value I saw in Lean IT
 Integrate IT capabilities with business processes,
products and services
 Bring operational excellence to our innovative and
agile approach in leveraging IT in the four levels
 Help identify problems, guide improvement and
increase value delivery of the cloud-based and
outsourced IT systems and services

21. 2011: Demonstrating the Value of Lean IT

“Lean Leadership” workshop (pro-bono from Steve Bell) to
introduce Lean to leaders of the support services groups: HR, IT,
Operations, and Finance

New Hire On-Boarding Process was selected as the case study
process for the workshop

Results
• Significantly improved process (still running smoothly till today)
• Training of support services leadership and an in-house resource to
lead the improvement of other processes

22. In 2012: Slower Adoption
Why
- Organization Leadership Restructure
- Revised organization strategy
- Value of Lean IT in program delivery and solutions for the
poor was not demonstrated
- Technology Development work was program (budget)driven and not coordinated
Impact on IT
- Delayed strategic leverage of IT capability in the programsfacing and poor-facing levels

23. In 2013: new opportunity
A challenge faced by the Community
Knowledge Worker (CKW) technology
program in Uganda presented a new
opportunity for demonstrating the value of
Lean IT in programs that create value directly
for the Poor

24. What is the CKW Program ?
Community Knowledge Worker (CKW)
- Launched in Uganda in 2009 with support from Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Addresses the “Last Mile” challenge for
Agriculture Extension Services by combining
mobile technology and human networks
- Help smallholder farmers get accurate, timely
information to improve their farming and
livelihoods.
Ask Me About Farming !

25. Farmer management
Survey management
Poverty scorecard
CKW + farmer
groups
Content Management
System
Bulk messaging
CKW management
Call center & case
management
Dashboards
Handset + simcard control
Performance tracking
Reporting
Custom applications
Salesforce Production
Local + MTN Test/Backup
Servers (7)
Production Cloud
Server (1)
Android Apps
CKWs
MTN Mobile
Network
SMS + USSD
(178)
Project Management
Cloud Server (1)
Call Center
(178)
Radio
Farmers

26. Adoptable information & services

Expert, local databases

Progress out of Poverty Index® data collection embedded

Partnerships at all levels

28. CKW Program Impact !
2009/10
2011/12
Change
Best Practice Crop Spacing (No CKW)
28%
39%
11%
Best Practice Crop Spacing (CKW)
41%
79%
38%
Best Practice Fertilizer Use (No CKW)
32%
33%
1%
Best Practice Fertilizer Use (CKW)
42%
73%
31%
Price Received by Farmers for Maize (No
CKW)
354 UGX/kg
495 UGX/kg
40% increase
Price Received by Farmers for Maize
(CKW)
354 UGX/kg
721 UGX/kg
103% increase

29. Lessons learned from CKW
To create value for the poor
Information alone is not enough
Design for scale
Behavior Change vs. Info Increase
Build the
Data
business case
Understand
the customer
can improve outcomes
29

30. The CKW Challenge
- Scale and Replicate CKW (immediate need in Cote’d’Ivoire )
-Delivery of mobile financial services through
the CKW channel
- Attract and sustain funding
Requires
Document Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
Identify and Improve Key Processes
Capture Best Practices

31. Demonstrating the Value of Lean IT in Programs
 June 2013: “Lean Leadership”
workshop (pro-bono from Steve and
Karen Bell) to introduce Lean to CKW
program leadership and teams
• CKW program teams
• Mobile Financial Services
Product Design and
Development
Service Delivery
Content Development
and Analysis
Customer Care

32. The Lean Journey with CKW
Day1: Walking in the shoes of a CKW
Day2: Introduction to Lean and visual
management tools - Kanban
Day3: Process Value Stream Mapping & Scrum
Overview
Day4: Priorities
Day5: Action Plan & Celebration

33. Day 1: Walking in the shoes of a CKW
Destination:
Masindi District 200KM from Kampala
Challenges
- Connectivity
- Phone Maintenance
- Weather info
- Content Update
- Farmers expectations
- Transportation and Distances
- Financial Support
- Culture - Value of info
Trust .. Leadership.. Self Organization..

34. Day 2: Workshop Kick Off
Why we are here:
- Scale CKW
- Improve CKW framework to deliver Mobile
Financial Services ( and other future extension
service)
Obstacles as seen by the teams
Long meetings, Communication, Change in way of
thinking, Continuity of program, Resources,
Training, budgets
Visual Management Tools
Kanbans

35. Day 3: Value Stream Mapping &
Scrum
The Chaos before improvement
Process Mapping:
Partner/District Startup
Sustaining Operations
Country/ Expert Startup
Scrum
Product design and development
team (Android and Salesforce)

36. Day 4: Process Mapping and Priorities
- New Country Startup Process
(Preparing for CKW Cote’d’Ivoire)
-Solutions Workshop Process
- Procurement and Phone Maintenance
Process

37. Day 5: Action Plan, Report Out, and
Celebration
- Solutions Workshop (partner/district startup)
SOP
- Daily Stand up Meetings
- Lean Coach in Training: Charles Wanume
- Scrum Master: Eric Kamara
- Steve & Karen Bell continue to coach
-Kanban: individuals and teams
- Start utilizing A3 Problem solving
- CKW Fellow: Lean/ Agile/ Scrum

38. Impact in 5 months
“'We began our lean transformation 5 months ago. Since the implementation of
Kanbans, scrums/agile, root cause problem solving and value stream mapping, I
have seen the organization's walls coming down and the collective consciousness
rising. We are starting to celebrate problem solving and we are proactively helping
colleagues to unblock flow. But most importantly, we are experiencing a renewed
focus on creating value for the world's poor.'“
Sean Krepp
Country and CKW Program Director
Grameen Foundation Uganda
Value of Lean IT is recognized by Leadership now !

39. Lean@GF Community
Socializing Lean through Salesforce chatter group community of
practice

40. Next: Organization Lean Transformation
-
Roadmap for Leveraging IT capability in
programs-facing and poor-facing is resumed:
-
IT will champion Lean Transformation Initiative
through programs and organization at large
-
Applying Lean IT in data strategy, big data and
business intelligence initiative
40

41. How You Can Engage?
- Share with me your organization “Lean Transformation” experience
- Join Grameen Foundation Skillanthropy Volunteers Community of over 5000
members at BankersWithoutBorders.com
- Consider becoming the next “Lean Fellow” with one of our programs
- Visit Lean4NGO.org and join the LinkedIn group
- Find an NGO where you can help – make them a pro bono member of your
client portfolio
- Talk to a Lean Enterprise about making Lean Coaching part of CSR efforts
Become a Lean IT Community Knowledge Worker, and I will ask you
about Lean!

42. THANK YOU

43. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
3 & 4 October, 2013
Paris, France
More Lean IT videos and presentations on
www.lean-it-summit.com