WASH Methodology
WASH Methodology
WASH Methodology
Executive Summary
This is a start-up childcare service business plan in selected 9 districts found in the
Amhara, South Nations and Nationalities, and Tigray National Regional States. It is a
center-based community child care centre serving children from six months to five
years of age, hereby expected to provide safe and secure services which is an excellent
place for parents to take care of their children. The childcare center [CCC] will give a
full-day service though parents can opt for even a half-day service as deemed necessary.
These pilot woredas are assumed to be prototypes for in-scale implementation of the
child care centers in 27 woredas covered by the project. Thus, it is envisaged that the
CCC will be open from 8:00 A.M to 5:30 P.M for every consecutive five days each
week except on formally recognized local holidays.
1. Business Mission, Goal, Objectives and Expectations
1.1. Mission
The CCC aims to offer safe and secure child care services with close personal attention
to each child\toddler.
1.2. Overall Goal
The overall goal of the business plan is to strengthen women’s participation in the work
force
1.3. Specific objectives
Akin to the overall goal, the project has the following specific objectives:
1. Provide affordable, safe, and accessible community managed CCCs for children of
ages between six months to five years.
2. Enhance the women’s work participation so as to reduce poverty at household level.
1.4. Expected social outcomes
1.4.1. Mothers get respite from home drudgery and able to participate the workforce, be
economically self‐sufficient and balance their work and family needs.
1.4.2. Kids and infants achieve optimal development and readiness for success in school
2. Marketing Management
2.1. CCC Locations
The CCCs will be located within/to the proximity of the compound of ward administration,
or health centers for strategic issues like availability of water tankers, health posts\centers,
and ease of supervision. Considerations will also be made to ensure the CCC locations at
points/locus of equidistant radius of kilometers which services communities of different
kebeles.
2.2. Services Offered
The CCCs will primarily provide care services for infants and toddlers of ages between
six months to five years for five consecutive days each week, and hours of operation are
from 8:00 A.M to 5:30 P.M.
Besides, as an adjunct income generation, they can operate kids related activities in the
compound like sales shop, gardening and tea or coffee services.
2.3. Process and Approach
The survey team deployed by Aha Psychological Services has confirmed that the
process should follow a two-phased approach indeed. CARE-Ethiopia will assign or
hire a short-term period (3-4 months) project facilitator stationed at CARE’s field office
or Implementing Partner (IP)’s field office will be fully assigned to coordinate the
relevant district and ward level government offices, facilitate selection of steering
committee, fix locations, create venue for community-government-NGO-CBO
discussions and deliberations and partnering for support, undertake Joint Community
Action Plans. This is the story at phase one.
As part of phase I implementation, CARE-Ethiopia hosted a restitution workshop at
Saro Maria Hotel and the implementing partners attended the meeting. Post-the
workshop, they returned to their field offices and consulted with the beneficiaries,
government, local vendors/contractors and other stakeholders. Accordingly, they
developed costed items for a start-up. Based upon the submitted items price, the
consulting firm developed the projections of financial viability/forecast for three years.
Phase two will be preoccupied with Joint Community Action plan implementation like
resources mobilization, licensing the center, partners’ commitment, community
mobilization, value clarification, hiring caregivers, registration of infants and toddlers,
fulfilling chores, utensils, equipment and furniture including kids materials, preparation
of financial vouchers and registers, create CCC’s bank account, and job description for
steering committee, ward manager/chairman, and employees.
2.4. Market Demand and Supply
As a whole, the childcare service is a Cinderella and almost non-existent in rural areas.
Thus, there is no competition on the services from different providers. Of course,
community demand is very high. There are an increasing amount of families who have
become dependent on two incomes Thus, women are increasingly getting involved in
outdoor activities. However, the support from kith and kin care providers [extended,
joint families] is becoming very scant forcing working women becoming mothers with
no one else to take care of the babies if they continue with outside jobs. In absence of
alternatives, such as childcare centers for babies, many others are reluctantly opting for
staying home with the babies. Therefore, childcare business is lucrative to start in the
areas.
2.5. Value Proposition
The project will implant a community co-designed and managed, affordable, accessible,
and entice childcare centers to the low income mothers.
2.6. Customer Segments
The project is mainly focused to target productive Safety Net [PSNP] women engaged
in public works, and these community groups are the primary market niche.
The project also serves middle income women and other non-PSNP mothers with both
full-day and half-day care services.
2.7. Pricing and Service Quality Strategy
The project is construed for local social benefit optimization so as not to
compromise\trade-off between price and care quality. It is designed in a way that the
cost chart may not discourage many poor women to stay away from child care centers
and depend on other options such as family elders or maids. And equally it may not
discourage many middle class women to stay away because of poor service. Adoption
of differential price setting across customer segments through appropriate customer
profiling and recording customers’ socio-demographic and economic logs is essential to
help the CCC set prices from a near freemium to premium levels.
Similarly, the beneficiary community will make regular supervisions in the quality of
services both child-caregiver interaction and collaborative efforts, trained and
experienced caregivers, child–staff ratios, child–caregiver social relations, and physical
structures like potable water, adequate rooms, spaces for play and toys, cleanliness
since most of the CCC may not operate in the rooms originally designed\constructed for
this purpose.
2.8. Key to Success
Factors that can be counted as key to success for this initiative will include:
Maintain untarnished reputation within the community,
Provide quality care,
Charge affordable and profile-based differential pricing,
Flexibility with regard to hours, community mores and values, and so forth
2.9. Risk Factors
The CCCs may be vulnerable to acute diarrhea in case the area is not kept in a sanitized
and hygienic condition.
There might be demand overflow beyond the carrying capacity of these limited CCC
centers.
2.10. Promotion Strategy
The project primarily considered PSNP mothers as the main segment, and other non-
PSNP and middle women as a secondary market. Maintaining and further enhancing its
reputation in the community is crucial for gaining additional market share of this target
market. Moreover, customer relations are extremely important, as it is imperative to
keep the parents pleased in order to keep their children in the childcare center for full
day. Thus, it is necessary to establish regular client base in order to establish a healthy,
consistent revenue base to ensure stability of the business. With the same scenario, it is
essential to manage flexibly secondary market [half-day drop-ins] to producing
supplemental revenues.
To surface its position within the community, it pursues referral marketing as the key
type of marketing strategy. With its affordable differential price setting, the project uses
word-of-mouth advertising technique for outreach and market creation.
3. Operation and Management
3.1. CCC Management
The CCC will be managed by a steering committee represented by community leaders,
local based organizations, and concerned district level government sector offices. As
enshrined in the national CCC recommendation, the district health office is expected to
take a lead in supervising, coordinating, and control of operations including daily
follow-up.
3.2. Legal Issues
The steering committee is fully responsible for licensing of the CCC centers from the
relevant government agency.
3.3. CCC Operation
Locally educated females with childhood tenure and good respect within the community
will be recruited and hired to give care services at the centers. The steering committee
will be responsible for recruiting and hiring of these staff members.
The CCCs will be linked to relevant nearby training centers for capacity building
trainings and advisory services.
The size of cohort based occupancy rate for a given room will be in conformity to the
national CCC guideline, and same applies to child–staff ratios. For this specific
initiative, it has been proposed to assign each center for 20 infants/toddlers.
3.4. Record management
The CCCs are expected to handle periodic physical and financial reports authenticated
with appropriate receipt and expenditure vouchers in local language.
3.5. Supplies and Technology
The CCCs will apply formally accepted procurement\purchase modalities from locally
available shops or vendors. Knowledge of basic computer and IT is essential for
facilitation of work.
3.6. Admission and Payment Issues
The fee charges for registration and care service, the decisions on registration time [one-
time vs. recurring], flexibility for late pick-up, penalty for late registration and
misconduct will be set by the steering committee.
3.7. Insurance Service
CCC centers are very sensitive to both on-set and fleeting adverse conditions like
contagious diseases, flea infestation, food contamination, etc. which might cost clubs of
lives at a spot. Thus, it is not questioning whether to insure these kids or infants.
Therefore, the community, government and the steering committee should take
consideration of this.
4. Business Models
Variants of business models have been adopted to better respond and interact with the
specific local situations. In line with this, we developed societal business model,
economic business canvas, and Social Lean Canvas business models. Accordingly,
these business models are the road map for this specific business plan. Details and
portrayals of the models have been treated in the main feasibility report and is not the
main discussion of this business plan.
5. Financial Plan
The financial plan for this CCC is treated as an attachment. It has been forged at local
level by the implementing partners in discussion with the beneficiaries, partners,
government sectors, and other stakeholders. We expect that costed-items were informed
by the local vendors/contractors. Based on the information made avail from them, three-
year projected sales/revenues, and profit/loss has been developed.
Some of the cost lists proposed from the IPS has been dropped/rejected due to lack of
justifications but significant cost implications.
It has been justified in the feasibility assessment report that the list of cost items (except
legalizing, renewal, admin costs, maintenance, promotion, utilities, and salaries for
caregivers) are to be provided by the community, community based institutions, and
donors/partners, government sectors. Thus, only the listed exceptions are included for
financial calculation exercises.
Furthermore, costs of some items like registration, care-tariff, and salary of nannies, and
for the exception lists are envisaged to progressively rise due to the overall real
inflation.