What are the roles in growing sustainable international development? The question is similar to "Who are the players?", but players don't break down as cleanly because some players choose to play multiple roles. So, start with roles, than overlay the players onto the roles. Effectively, we can have categories like "Fundraisers" and "Project execution" and Rotary groups might fall into both categories. Some might fall into even more, like EWB may be Fundraiser, Project execution, and Technology experts.
This framework seeks to consider the various potential needs of the roles in order to help develop some common ways to interact. By forming "standard interfaces", the different players can more easily work with a variety of partners. The functions become somewhat "commoditized" and the processes become more efficient. This is similar to the "assembly line" approach, where pieces are interchangeable.
Note: from a for-profit business perspective, commoditization is not so desirable for suppliers, but generally desired by consumers; profit depends on differentiation and "stickiness". But the assumption here is that the players in promoting sustainable development are seeking a "larger good" beyond the profits of their groups. Which is why most are non-profits.
So, essentially, with standardized interfaces, or "deliverables", a player can do their job without knowing in advance who will be the consumer of the deliverable. Similarly, a "consumer" has the option of working with a variety of "providers".
As an example, a host village group, or an independent assessment group, can produce a document that allows a variety of assistance groups to consider partnering with the village, and similarly, the assistance groups could choose among a variety of host villages. Similarly, fundraisers have some requirements that they need, and they have deliverables that they provide. It may be too much to imagine that all funders will have the same set of requirements, but potentially there could be a well defined range of what is desired by funders.
Next steps: Capture which roles have deliverables to each of the other roles. This could be expressed as a matrix. But seems like maybe a graphic would be better. Or, could do both. The matrix makes it easier to add text and description. The graphic would be easier to see the flows and connections, but not the details of the deliverables.
Roles/functions: Project delivery (“doers”) Site Assessments (done by locals or others) Local support (local organizations only?) Connectors (volunteer match, etc) Funders (charitable orgs) Fundraisers Communication (news orgs, blogs) Volunteering organizations. Technology Experts (thesis, article writers, technology developers) Education (host country, industrial country) Training (specific for a particular project) Economic analysis Language training and Translation Awareness building (vagabonds, local tour guides and hotels) IT support (Techreach, )
| Roles | They consume... | They provide... |
|---|---|---|
| Project delivery (doers) | Assessments, Plans, Materials, Travel, Volunteers | Delivered project |
| Physical Pre-Assessors | A | B |
| Human site assessors | A | B |
| Project post assessors | A | B |
| Host groups | A | B |
| Connectors | A | B |
| Funders | A | B |
| Fundraisers | A | B |
| Communication | A | B |
| Volunteer organizations | A | B |
| Technology Experts | A | B |
| Project Training | A | B |
| Economic analysis | A | B |
| Language services | A | B |
| host awareness | A | B |
| IT support | A | B |
| Material suppliers | A | B |
| Equipment suppliers | A | B |
| Shippers | A | B |
| Travel Coordinators | A | B |
| Project Coordinators | A | B |
| Providers of Deliverables |
Consumers of Deliverables | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 3 |