HR&S BRANCHES AND NETWORKS’ ZOOM MEETING RECURRING EVERY 3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH – BRANCH&NET_TALKS, ON 16TH MARCH 2024
As compiled by Josephat LIGAMI
Links : Schedule and meeting notes: https://www.humanrightsandscience.se/branch-nettalks/

PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 1. Three Cornerstones
The CEO highlighted the days agenda to the members present and introduced the THREE Cornerstones Namely:
– ActionInvest. The ability of Branches generating income for sustainability as they offer Loans to RISE members, ensuring that the loans are paid back and that Action10 has proof of the impact the loan has to the program.
– 22RISE-InstitutionCollaboration. The CEO confirmed to the members that there was a need to foster collaboration with other institutions for them to offer the amount of money they can invest in us or any activities they have that HR&S can benefit from as a partner and then we score by giving it a number from 1-10 with a development average to know who is important to reach out to first. Adding that, everyone should think of major activities that should expand the HR&S Network eg attending International meetings, Invitations to online webinar events etc. Giving an example of her last weeks presentation on HR&S work , the CEO explained that people were still having AID/DONATION mindset. That, key factor was describing our work to the Public, and make it known, the Professional Solution we intend to offer and that would be achieved with Good Management Practice (GMP) The Branches should at all times actively ensure that Branch activities reflect the ROPE Parameters then most importantly report back to the partners or the institutions.
– RISECentreTraining. With an ongoing initiative by Kelvin Gitau of Kenya organizing for an online Digital Marketing training, the CEO reiterated that once it is set , half of the money raised would be given to Kelvin and the other half should be channeled to the HR&S branch account.The process should follow normal hr&s Training ie Training, presentations, Exams, Diploma Certification and possibility of maintaining them into our Network.

Mr Ramses HUTCHINS and the members applauded the initiative , he added that there was a need to consider the training content material especially in rural areas, also, devise mechanisms where it would be possible to also train face to face with people.
Mr Kevin Werunga added that institutional collaboration had access to a broader range of knowledge, potentially leading to advances in research and teaching approaches.
The CEO urged members to compile the challenges raised so as to deal with each as time goes by.

ITEM 2.- Hub-spot
The CEO shared that the hubspot has been an ongoing initiative whose progress has been low due to members not being informed since many do not attend meetings. The procedure to access the hubspot was explained, from making entries and edit to the columns, identifying the company owner, filling in the data etc . The use of ChatGPT was sought for since everything in terms of ROPE parameters for all the companies on the hub-spot was readily available upto the year 2022 and that the ChatGPT version 3.5 was free of charge. Members to ask and use the information gathered to identify door openers to strengthen the partnership, and also export the data to the hubspot, via excel sheet. That would be helpful in getting an overview of each organization and its specific industry among other data of HR&S Interest. Other members who were not on hubspot were requested to share their email addresses via WhatsApp -this was after RAMSES sought to know if their was a link to access the tool.

Josephat reminded the team that it was a good opportunity to seize however much the tool might look complicated but with time everyone would be much adaptive to it. That was seconded by Joel too.

ITEM 3. Notion
The next item as reflected on by the CEO, was the use of Trello, and the urge of trying different platforms eg Zoho which was not a good fit. The CEO introduced a platform called NOTION, that everyone knew almost nothing about it but there was a need to get the learning started by creating everything from the scratch. The CEO shared the little she had done on the platform, eg information on SwedFunds, assigning team space, and requested assistance in designing the dashboards etc as it would fit the HR&S work. Notion would assist HR&S and also as an individual user in doing scientific research, laboratory and personal life. “What do we put on Hubspot and Notion” It was a subject to discuss since not all information was to be duplicated.

Josephat requested to know if there were logins to access or it was open. The CEO thought it wise to manage it first then allow access, after which they would be invited to contribute. It was resolved that Josephat was to assist in setting up, and the rest of the members agreed to wait until it was fully operational as they focus on hubspot.

ITEM 4. Presentations Of The Status Per Branch
The members introduced themselves starting by
1. Atwine AMBROSE – Uganda. Expressed his happiness to be in the meeting. It was mentioned by the CEO that Atwine had a working Laboratory whereby a proposal was sent to Cecilia and that it would be wonderful to have a second one after Togo’s.
Joel and Atwine were advised to look into the HR&S website and break down the investment request into smaller pieces for good collaborations, some sort of guarantees. Even though small investments might not create an impact but it was something worth noting.
2. Joel Mafabi from Uganda. Had an issue with his audio but informed the members via chat that he was following the conversation
3. Ramses HUTCHINS from Liberia. Explained that they were ensuring the formalities of registering the branch but for the past week the whole country had internet interruption, hence the government was working on its restoration.
He was hopeful that by the following week they would be through with the process. It was mentioned that Morris and IDEOFOC had already identified the place for laundry project. It was requested by the CEO that he makes a joint consultation with them to see its progress.
4. Kevin WERUNGA Team Leader from Kenya. Shared that Kenya had made steps, registering the company and hopeful that it would materialize by end of the year to be legally recognized. The three quarters of Kenyan RISE members already know what HR&S was all about and the rest are adapting to its activities. He appreciated the support from the CEO and HR&S family. The CEO asked to know how many RISE Members were in Kenya, and his response was 14, whereby 12 were fully HR&S RISE members and 2 in the final stage of joining the team and that the Branch was expecting 3 more RISE presentations next Month ie APRIL 2024. As mentioned by the CEO, it was evident that Kenya had diversified its Recruitment of RISE businesses- very broad and many varieties in all areas. Giving an example of Anjelique Beauty Cosmetic, ENEO Smart Farm, Boda Boda Transport , and Warembo na Maendeleo Women Group who was given a LOAN too. After the Registration, salaried companies would be brought on board hence ability to support the seventeen SDGS.
5. Josephat Ligami Deputy Team Leader from Kenya. Echoed the presentation from Kevin WERUNGA. He thanked other Leaders for multi-tasking, ensuring that HR&S branches were active across the continent. He expounded on the efforts of diversifying the RISE initiative to ensure that when ACTION10 TEAM visits, they should explore a lot and feel the impact of their investments and for all SSA Branches too. He expressed his gratitude to ACTION10 for funding last year’s ACTIONINVEST operation and also this years Batch. That enabled the branch to offer Loans to RISE Members, of which they were already repaying as would be evidenced in the signed agreements as well as Branch’s Financial Reports. With the introduction of Action-Invest Reminders (ACTIN UPDATES) he explained that Kenya’s RISE members were always informed of their Loan statuses in advance. He mentioned that an Automated Accounting System was underway should he finish setting up to give real time updates and that if it would assist other Branches too in the near future.

ITEM 5. A. O . B
As a result, the CEO pointed out that HR&S could afford to have a 4TH Cornerstone to really think about Meeting all of us in different Countries which would depend on the good 22RISE partnerships that would fund those conferences and or if all of us could pay one branch to do the logistics and it becomes a reality. She promised to pass the gratitude to Action10 as requested for by Josephat. The evidences from the photos, videos and written articles would be helpful for action10, thereby requesting HUTCHIN and MORRIS to send theirs, only with RISE Member’s consent.