The Challenge
Prosper, a charity that empowers women in remote and disadvantaged communities of Sierra Leone to escape poverty through entrepreneurship, was founded in 2023.
Using innovative image-based training tools, the charity equips their programme participants with the skills, knowledge and tools to increase their income from their businesses, while also helping with finances and providing access to services. This means they can build prosperous lives for themselves, their families and their communities, creating a sustainable long-term positive impact.
Prosper grew out of another international non-profit organisation, Peace Child International, which had developed and initially offered this programme over several years. As a new charity standing on its own feet, Prosper was facing challenges familiar to any new charity, including raising funds and increasing awareness.
The Faur Approach
Speaking to Prosper’s senior leadership, we proposed producing their first Communications Strategy.
As a new organisation, it was key that we could provide practical steps in the short term to grow the charity’s audience with limited resources, while setting out a path towards an aspirational and achievable vision for the longer term.
To achieve this, we undertook the following:
Discovery phase: We interviewed key stakeholders, including the senior leadership, the team in Sierra Leone, and major donors. At the same time, we researched their position within the industry landscape, including the effective use of communication channels by similar organisations
Production phase: Gathering together these insights, we produced a comprehensive Communications Strategy. This provided analysis and insights, the core strategy and objectives, key messaging, an audience breakdown, proposed use of communications to reach and win over these audiences, targets to be achieved, and more.
Delivery phase: After sharing an initial draft, we worked alongside the Prosper team and conducted feedback rounds to ensure that the strategy was fully tailored to their needs and would be practically used going forward. (Our strategies are always intended to be kept updated, and to evolve with the organisation.) As part of our work, we also helped Prosper in finding and employing its first Communications Specialist, identifying someone who is part of the wider Faur network who we knew would be a great fit.
The Result
Since the Communications Strategy was delivered in Summer 2024, Prosper has successfully boosted its funding, launched its newsletter (sign up here!), and enhanced its communications across online and offline channels.
In August, the charity marked the achievements of its first year of operation. More than 1200 women in 13 communities have improved their business confidence thanks to their training programmes, with 82% of participants reporting an 84% increase in turnover (find more about their impact on Prosper’s website).
Fred said of our work:
Working with Michael on our first-ever Communications Strategy was a game-changer for Prosper. The quality of his work was of the highest standard, and as this was our first time creating such a strategy, he was incredibly helpful in guiding us through the process. He ensured we received a highly functional strategy that clearly identified key channels and provided specific actions necessary to achieve our objectives.
Michael was also highly reliable and proactive in his approach, requiring minimal oversight while engaging with key stakeholders throughout the development process. He communicated very clearly and consistently met all agreed-upon deliverables and deadlines.
Thanks to his work, we have already seen an improvement in our communications, from launching our newsletter to reaching wider audiences across various channels. I highly recommend his services and look forward to working with him again in the future."
For Further Info
For further information on Faur’s services, visit faur.site or contact Michael MacLennan at michael@faur.site.