Root Alliance identifies and builds capacity of local NGOs and grassroots organizations in developing countries to facilitate collaboration with social enterprises on community-based research and product testing. There are many promising social ventures but they are often physically and culturally removed from the people and communities they are trying to serve and the lack of deep understanding about local contexts and demand leads to failures. By brokering the partnership with local organizations and helping leverage the knowledge and local connections which these local organizations have, we aims to help social enterprises develop more appropriate and thus more impactful products and services for the poor in developing countries.

Problem

An increasing number of social enterprises are designing, marketing, and distributing products and services to meet the needs of low-income communities in developing countries. To help the poor abroad, social enterprises must understand the preferences, behavior, and cultural contexts unique to their beneficiaries. Unfortunately, many organizations experience difficulties in accessing, engaging, communicating with, and understanding stakeholders in developing countries due to their geographical distance from target communities, logistical challenges, resource constraints, or lack of expertise to understand cultural nuances. In understanding and better serving the poor in developing countries, local grassroots and non-governmental organizations can play a critical role by leveraging their experience and knowledge of local languages, culture, and context in addition to their trusting relationship with local communities. It is, however, often difficult to identify capable, transparent and accountable local organizations in foreign countries. For example, there are close to 1.2 million non-governmental organizations in India alone, half of which are not officially registered and most of which are small and rural. Furthermore, many of these local organizations lack sufficient capacity. Therefore, local organizations in developing countries are not currently playing active role in the field of social innovation and social entrepreneurship in spite of their huge potentials.

Solution

Root Alliance connects social ventures with local partners in developing countries. Root Alliance helps social ventures understand their customers better and develop more appropriate products through collaborative relationships with local partners in developing countries. First, Root Alliance screens and identifies local organizations with a proven track record and a deep connection to local communities. Then we provide capacity building training and technical assistance to strengthen the abilities of selected organizations and establish a network of high quality local partners. Root Alliance matches social ventures with the best possible local partners and helps build and manage that relationship in a culturally sensitive manner. Once the partnership is established, trained partner staff members conduct community-based market research and product testing in collaboration with the social entrepreneurs. This process allows social entrepreneurs to access the right communities and truly understand the needs and preferences of the markets they are trying to serve.