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2. First Training: Business Analysis

During this first training, which takes place during three days, the entrepreneurs acquire basic business management knowledge and entrepreneurial competencies. The skills entrepreneurs acquire from this training is the foundation for the further SME Loop phases.

During this training entrepreneurs analyze their businesses and gain entrepreneurial as well as business management competencies while using systematically a number of tools. Two SME Loop certified trainers facilitate the workshop using adult learning principles and the experiential learning cycle concept.

The objectives of the business analysis training are:

To enable entrepreneurs to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of their businesses.
To enhance and develop business management knowledge & skills and entrepreneurial competencies.
To reflect on the aspects of marketing, production, and financial management.

Use an appropriate mix of tools and exercises to facilitate learning.
Conduct a short evaluation exercise at the end of each day and take into account needs, expectations and feedback of participants.
Encourage entrepreneurs to be actively involved and to understand that the responsibility for learning lies with themselves.
Talk about the privacy and confidentiality policy in the course to create a positive learning environment.

Learning contract: To increase commitment of participants, the trainers should introduce the concept of the “learning contract” and set clear house rules.
Andragogy: To make training contents more palpable for participants, trainers should encourage experiential learning (“learning by doing”)
Class size: Ideally around 25 and not more than 30 SMEs form a class.

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1. Assessment and selection of entrepreneurs

Potential participants are assessed on their entrepreneurial competencies and motivation on further improvement. The assessment also serves to define relevant training needs of the entrepreneurs and adapt the support accordingly. As a result of this phase, a group of 20 to 25 participants is formed.

The main instrument of the assessment is a questionnaire that covers three areas:

Entrepreneurial characteristics: (Self-) evaluation of personal characteristics e.g. initiative, risk acceptance and ability for problem-solving.
Training needs and capacities of the entrepreneur: Analysis of educational level and specific business skills.
Enterprises profile: Documentation of the field of activity, years of existence, number of employees and other data of the enterprise.

The questionnaire is filled out by the entrepreneurs themselves or together with an interviewer. Ideally, the questionnaires may be complemented by a short interview with open questions. On the basis of the questionnaire results and the interviews, the applicants are ranked and selected.

Entrepreneurs are selected according to a transparent set of selection criteria.
Business owners get the chance to proof their motivation and entrepreneurial potential.
Information gained through the assessment serves as the starting point for training and coaching and allows for content and methodology to be adapted to the participants’ needs and capacities.
Data collected during the assessment is used for the monitoring of the programme as well as for (self) evaluation for the trainer and coaches.

SME Loop trainers and coaches are best to be involved in the assessment of SMEs. The integration of trainers and coaches brings a number of advantages:

Sharpened understanding for assessment process and collected data leads to an improved integration of assessment results into their coaching/training work.
More and first-hand information about and experience with the target group assures larger understanding for their capacities and needs. This eases a successful adaptation of training/coaching methodology and content from the very beginning.
An early first contact accelerates the building of trust between participants and trainers/coaches.

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6. Graduation Ceremony

This ceremony marks the official end of the cycle. The graduates receive a certificate to value their successful participation. The Graduation Ceremony can be combined with a pitching event where a jury composed of representatives of financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders evaluate the entrepreneurs’ Business Improvement Plans and assess the possibility of business financing applications.

If needed, additional coaching through coaching vouchers can be offered to entrepreneurs. The vouchers allow the entrepreneurs to demand additional coaching sessions during the next three months.

The Graduation Ceremony serves as an opportunity to strengthen linkages between the entrepreneurs and financial institutions or other relevant stakeholders. This increases the probability of successful financing and implementation of the entrepreneurs’ Business Improvement Plants.
Opinions and comments of jury members concerning the Business Improvement Plans can help entrepreneurs to further optimize their planning. The additional coaching can be used to support entrepreneurs to take these comments into account.

Depending on the institutionalization of the SME Loop in the respective country of implementation, representatives of relevant stakeholders (e.g. chamber of commerce, ministry of commerce or other) should be associated during the Graduation Ceremony.
At the end of the SME Loop the coach should encourage the entrepreneurs to create a (digital) network to facilitate contact after the duration of the SME Loop.

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5. Second Coaching Phase: Business Improvement and linkages

The second coaching phase consists of three sessions per month for a duration of three months. After finalising their Business Improvement Plans, the entrepreneurs get in touch with other Business Development Services and prepare a presentation to financial institutions for credit assessment and business finance.

In the coaching process the coach strengthens the coachee by using suitable questions, techniques and instruments as well as reflecting observation to reinforce the coachees’ capacities for widely self-reliant problem-solving, enterprise and personality development. The needs, priorities and capacities of the coachee determine content and methodology of coaching.

The coach and the coachee have a relationship on equal terms.
The coachee has all required resources, skills, and experiences to improve their situation and to fix a problem themselves.
The coach doesn`t try to solve the coachee’s problems but rather provides support, feedback and guidance.

The coachees’ needs, priorities and capacities determine content and shape of the coaching process.
The coachees themselves are responsible for the results of the coaching process and the attainment of their goal(s) and therefore need to be motivated or facilitated enough to follow their goals.
The coach should not advise, preach, criticize or lecture the coaches. Instead, they should be accommodative and attentive.

Implementation

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Green Financial Instruments with Microfinance Institutions

BioInvest developed sustainable methodologies to create green financial instruments and measure their impact on the environment in collaboration with microfinance institutions.

Collaborative partnerships with microfinance institutions, customisation of green financial instruments, and continuous monitoring for effectiveness are enabling factors.

The development of customised methodologies in collaboration with public and private sectors is crucial. These frameworks play an important role in responding to sector-specific needs and promoting sustainable practices.

Monitoring

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Finanzas Verdes Identificación de Brechas Regulatorias e Institucionales para su Promoción en el Perú (ES)

Optimisation of the Public Financing Instrument

To optimise the public financing instrument, BioInvest works with entities from the public sector such as the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) and the Ministry of Environment (MINAM) to integrate sustainability criteria into their financing instruments. This involves optimising existing programmes to support biodiversity-friendly businesses.

Close cooperation with the public sector, clear understanding of sustainability criteria, and effective communication are essential.

Clearly communicating the objectives of the financing instruments is vital. Ensuring that both the enterprises and the government understand the goals and intended outcomes of the programmes establishes a foundation for successful collaboration. This transparency aids in building trust and fostering a supportive environment for the development of biodiversity-friendly businesses.

Implementation

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Recovery - restore damaged areas

Kampong Prak CFi floodplain tree nursery

N J Souter

A small tree seedling emerging from the wet soil

Germinated flooded forest tree seedling

N J Souter

Transplanted flooded forest tree seedling

N J Souter

Two ladies tending seedlings in a tree nursery

Kampong Prak Women's Saving Group members tending the community fishery nursery

N J Souter

Recovery from wildfire involves looking after community welfare, repairing infrastructure, and restoring fire-damaged landscapes. Wildfire on the Tonle Sap Lake has the greatest impact on the natural environment. Fortunately, direct impacts of wildfire on people and infrastructure are rare. Thus, recovery involves the restoration of fire-damaged vegetation. This involves determining which areas can be restored and which are left as they are. Some areas such as paths through thick vegetation are repeatedly burned to clear dried water hyacinth and grass to maintain access, or patches are burned to clear space for fishing nets. Each community must decide whether these areas can be restored or are best left untouched. Other areas can either be left to regrow naturally or be actively restored using techniques such as assisted natural regeneration, transplanting nursery grown seedlings or direct seeding using native species (commonly Barringtonia acutangula, Diospyros cambodiana, and Combretum trifoliatum). This generally requires outside resources, and the development of restoration plans with local communities.

Recovery from flooded forest wildfire requires:

Community members with experience in a range of restoration techniques. On the Tonle Sap this is most commonly the propagation of seeds in a nursery, with seedlings planted out at the restoration site.
An external source of funding is required to support restoration activities due to the limited financial capacity of local communities on the Tonle Sap Lake.

Slowly building community confidence in restoration is essential so they can increase the area of land restored over several years and manage that restored land.

Implementation

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Response - control and extinguish wildfire

Fire fighters using backpack sprayers to extinguish a wildfire in shrubland

Pov Veuy CFi supressing a wildfire in flooded shrubland

Conservation International

Implementing the actions described above in review, risk reduction, and readiness allows communities to respond to wildfires. On receipt of a wildfire alert, the Community Wildfire Management Team will either send a team member or ask a nearby community member to visit the site and assess the situation. On confirmation of an active fire, the Community Wildfire Management Team will determine if it requires suppression, and if so, attend and suppress the fire with the appropriate equipment. If the fire is not threatening shrubland or flooded forest, then they will monitor the situation.

Effective fire suppression requires on-ground planning and clear roles and responsibilities among the Wildfire Management Team. It is important that a clear and safe plan is developed and agreed to amongst the team as to how to approach and suppress wildfire and each team member’s role in doing so.

Recording the details of each fire alert, confirmed wildfire, and action taken to address each wildfire is important so that we can learn from our experiences and adaptively manage wildfires in the future. This information is needed for both the review and recovery components of the 5Rs.

Effective fire suppression requires:

Early warning of a wildfire
A trained and confident fire management team who can safely suppress wildfire with well-maintained locally sourced equipment.

Important lessons in responding to wildfire include:

Inexpensive locally sourced equipment that can be adapted to wildfire suppression is preferrable to expensive imported specialist equipment. Our community partners experience with locally sourced equipment demonstrated their familiarity with it, its effectiveness in suppression wildfire, and ease of replacement.
A variety of tools can be used to suppress wildfire. Community Wildfire Management Team members reported that they most often used hand tools such as rakes, hoes, and bush knives to remove flammable material and create a bare earth barrier. They also used backpack water sprayers to suppress wildfire.
Whilst Community Wildfire Management Teams often used water to suppress wildfire, the larger and heavier water pump and hoses could often not be used due to difficulty in accessing sites and lack of access to water (e.g. lake, streams, or ponds).
A clear description of the fire ground helped the Community Wildfire Management Teams decide on which equipment to deploy. For example, site access and a nearby supply of water is needed before a water pump and hoses are deployed.

Implementation

Monitoring

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Readiness - prepare for wildfire

Joe Tilley showing wildfire behaviour on a whiteboard

Community wildfire management training

N J Souter

Fishing community members discussing and planning how to suppress a wildfire scenario

Wildfire management training group excercise

N J Souter

Wilfire training particpant reporting back to the group on outcomes of group scenario excercise

Reporting back to the wildfire training group

N J Souter

Group of people observing wildfire behaviour using a hessian cloth and wire fire table

Fire table demonstration during wildfire training

N J Souter

Community fire team member suppressing a large fire with a rake

Wildfire training - suppressing a hot fire

N J Souter

Despite the best risk reduction efforts - fires will still occur, and partner communities need to be prepared to suppress them. To be ready to suppress fire CBFiM groups require:

well maintained locally sourced fire suppression equipment including protective clothing;
fire management training; and
real-time satellite-based fire alerts.

Each community wildfire management team should frequently patrol high-fire risk areas during the fire season. This allows them to identify and address high-risk behavior before a fire starts, monitor fuel loads, and assess access routes and water availability in the event of a fire.

Being ready to suppress wildfire requires:

A functioning community wildfire management team.
A system that detects wildfire and can alert the community wildfire management team.
External resources are needed to manage wildfire alerts, as due to technical constraints and community capacity they cannot be provided directly to community groups for action.

Lessons for being ready to suppress wildfire include:

Providing communities with protective clothing that are made of natural materials such as cotton, as polyester is flammable and highly dangerous when exposed to open fires. The provision of this safety equipment is important as most community members’ day to day clothes are not safe when worn to suppress wildfires.
Our partner communities reported that OroraTech’s wildfire alerts forwarded by project staff frequently warned them of fires before they were observed on the ground. This service is extremely valuable to them as they can respond quickly, investigate, and stop wildfires before they become large and uncontrollable.

Risk Reduction - prevent wildfire

Community fire management team members providing a fire education session to seasonal migrants

Boeng Prasan CFi fire management team members providing seasonal migrants with wildfire prevention information

Conservation International

With risk reduction we work with communities to prevent wildfires — focusing resources on their underlying causes. Prevention is ab effective control measure as almost all fires on the Tonle Sap are caused by human activities. Our partner communities identified four wildfire risk reduction strategies:

Conduct multiple wildfire education and awareness sessions with local community members and seasonal migrants.
Install fire information and warning signboards at high fire risk and high conservation value areas.
Conduct joint fire suppression patrols with local authorities and FiA officials.
Identify seasonal migrants who visit the community managed area for fishing and buffalo grazing. And inform them that they will be questioned if any fires occur around their temporary camping area.
Punish people who destroy the flooded forest by applying the Fishery law, which can result in 3-5 years imprisonment.

Effective risk reduction requires the following factors:

Community fire management teams need the support of local authorities in reducing fire risk. This is necessary when approaching and working with seasonal migrants who are not known to the local villagers.
Local authority support is also required when dealing with the legal aspects of reducing fire risk such as prosecuting offenders.

Important risk reduction lessons include:

Posting signboards - particularly those depicting the penalties associated with lighting fires - at high fire risk areas and high value sites discourages people from lighting fires and promotes responsible behaviour. We recommend obtaining approval from local authorities before using these signboards and seeking their advice on their deployment locations.
Holding multiple wildfire public education sessions each year. Sessions conducted prior to the fire season seek to change people’s behaviour and reduce wildfire risk. Sessions should continue through the fire season to ensure that people remain conscious of the risk of wildfire.
As wildfire is caused by people the wildfire management team should focus on educating community members and seasonal migrants whose livelihoods rely on fishing, and thus the flooded forest. Migrant fishermen and cattle grazers should be engaged as they are held responsible for lighting fires in the past.
Encourage women to join the awareness and education sessions as they are best at reminding their family members and neighbors about the causes and dangers of wildfire.
Members of the wildfire management team should share their contact details with migrant fishermen, so they can inform them if they detect any fires.

Implementation

Monitoring

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