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Cycle Connect

Mission

Cycle Connect’s mission is to increase income for smallholder farmers in East Africa through productive-asset financing and training.

Challenge

Develop stronger training curriculum and client-centric processes to deepen social impact for farmers.

Research Activities

Keeping Cycle Connect’s mission of increasing the incomes of farmers in Northern Uganda in mind, our research team conducted research that looked to improve Cycle Connect’s training processes. To collect our data, our team created a survey that Cycle Connect’s employees completed. The data we received from the survey included a mix of quantitative and qualitative responses regarding Cycle Connect’s training practices. Our team also collected data through mock asset training sessions with Cycle Connect’s loan/credit officers and marketing officers. Through our investigations, our team identified areas of opportunity within the organization’s current training processes.

Key Findings:

Cycle Connect needs an updated training curriculum to better meet its mission of helping its clients transform the information they gain through training sessions into sustainable economic growth. With a training curriculum that prioritizes meaningful content and included learning activities that promote a deeper understanding, Cycle Connect would have a greater impact on their clients. Furthermore, a more concise training curriculum would allow Cycle Connect’s loan and marketing officers to engage more with clients.

Deliverables

  1. Training Workbook: Our team developed a training workbook for the bicycle asset. This workbook includes content for each module, prompting questions, client engagement activities, and built-in checkpoints for feedback. The workbook will have a dual function: guiding loan officers* during training sessions and refreshing loan officers* on content.This workbook is meant for use both during and after a Cycle Connect marketing officer or credit officer administers a bicycle training session. During the training session, this workbook will guide Cycle Connect officers to engage with group members through meaningful dialogues and various engagement activities. While not in the field, officers should use this workbook to review content in order to maintain strong levels of comprehension.
    1. Download the Training Workbook
  2. Implementation Guide: Bicycle Workbook: The purpose of this document is to inform Cycle Connect’s management team on how to implement the following items: the Bicycle Training Workbook, the Bicycle Diagnostic Quiz, the Oxen and Plough Workbook, and the Oxen and Plough Diagnostic Test.
  3. Diagnostic Quiz: The Diagnostic Quiz should be used in conjunction with the Bicycle Workbook. The Diagnostic Quiz includes a variety of questions in various formats (multiple choice, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank) and should be administered to field officers to gain insights into how field officers are disseminating information in training sessions and to answer the following questions: are officers being guided by the training workbooks or essentially reading them to clients and what information is reaching clients?
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Team

2020
Social Enterprise:
CycleConnect

Fellows:
Benjamin Grundy
Environmental Science, Political Science
LinkedIn | Blog

Katie Vanbenthuysen
Marketing
LinkedIn | Blog