Our Programmes and Approaches

We work to ensure vulnerable families are economically empowered so that they can prosper, make informed decisions about their livelihoods, and better care for themselves and their children.

To achieve this, we promote three core approaches that we have enhanced or adapted that have been proven to create real change.

Our approaches are focused on effective principles rather than prescriptive models which allows for our work to be guided by best practice while still meeting the local needs and context.

Learn about the programmes we run under each of these approaches that have and continue to impact tens of thousands of people.

Making Markets Work for the Last Mile Poor

The Making Markets Work for the Last Mile Approach targets excluded areas and works to transform the market, community and household level barriers that exclude the most vulnerable from profitable markets.

Graduating the Poor

The Graduation Approach is a multifaceted set of interventions designed to address the complex nature of extreme poverty. This model specifically targets those individuals who need more targeted support in order to graduate out of poverty.

Women Empowerment Collectives

The Women Empowerment Collectives (WEC) approach is made up of a collection of elements which combine to empower women socially, politically and economically.

DIGGING

DEEPER

There is a lot involved in delivering our work.

From identifying the right approach, the right partner, ensuring we deliver value for money, and so much more.

We are one of a handful of organisations, 50 in fact, that have been accredited with the Australian Government for the standard at which we work.

Below is a little more on how it works in practice

PROJECT

IDENTIFICATION AND DESIGN

Identifying Local Partners

We work with collaboratively with Lead and smaller local partners to deliver our programmes. We select partners based on an alignment of mission, values and organisational capacity which is assessed through regular due diligences that we conduct. We build effective partnerships through our mutual respect and understanding of our key strengths. Learn more about our partners here

Project-2

Identifying the Location

We focus our work in the most vulnerable locations. We identify locations where we believe we can effectively deliver our core approaches, where there is opportunity for change and where there are potential for strong multi-stakeholder partnerships to ensure long last impact.

Project-2

Identifying the Approach

Once we have identified the location, we will determine the best approach to address the identified issues based on the needs. Palmera has expertise in three broad approaches which we seek to use to ensure quality programming. We will identify the best approach and localise the programme design through a series of detailed analysis in which we engage the community, government, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders.

PROJECT

SETUP

Hiring the Right Team

The success of a programme is 100% determined by our local teams. We encourage our local partners to hire 50% of programme staff from the villages we work and ensure inclusive hiring, looking carefully at gender balance. Our local partner teams are complemented by Palmera’s team of local and international experts who collaborate with each programme. We allocate budget for the development and capacitation of our local teams, investing in leaders that will contribute to our programmes and social change into the future.

Project costs

We are committed to keeping administration low but our priority is to ensure that our programs have the best chance of success. We design the project costs carefully so we can balance these two conflicting outcomes. Luckily we are supported by some great investors that subsidise any extra admin costs so that 90% of your funds go to the field.

PROJECT

PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING

Planning

We spend a significant time planning our projects because we believe that good planning can make all the difference.

Implementation

When we implement our projects we engage widely with many stakeholders, including the village with which we are working, community leaders, research institutes, universities, buyers, market actors and among others, the government so that we have buy in and engagement to ensure the project’s success.

Proving It

We have invested significantly in digital data collection and real time data monitoring and analysis systems. We leverage data and results monitoring to ensure that we are continually adapting how we work to ensure we create the desired long lasting change. Palmera has a focused Monitoring and Impact team that supports each programme to ensure that we are making data and evidence informed decisions.

END OF PROJECT

TRANSITION

Ensuring sustainability

Although we support change, ultimately change must be driven by the families and the local stakeholders with whom we work. We build sustainability from the start of our program so that when we leave, the impact can continue to grow. Each of our programs has indicators of sustainability which we track through the program.

Evaluations and Lessons Learned

We undertake end of programme evaluations that deep dive on impacts, value for money, efficiency, and relevance of our interventions to the families we sought to serve. We undertake evaluations and a series of multistakeholder lessons learned workshops (which we also undertake regularly through the programme) so we can ensure that every programme we do reflects the learnings of the work that proceeded it. This is because we understand that we are always learning and with each programme we seek to be more impactful and sustainable in what we do.

THREE WAYS YOU CAN HELP

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