At the start of a project, provide insight into the expected investment and the intended return of each stakeholder. When this is investigated and shared in a timely and thorough manner, pitfalls can be detected in time and plans can be adjusted to achieve the greatest possible impact.

Intention

The initiative Live concerns a project of several consultants and expert carers with a lot of experience. For a while, the group jointly searched for an alternative way to support people with disabilities. The premise of Live was to reverse the concept of service: not reasoning from the system world and its institutional offer, but from the needs and possibilities of people. The potential support opportunities from their immediate environment and the neighborhood in which they live were also important. ‘Reciprocity’ was central to this project, because those in need also have something to offer themselves. Within this concept of self- and collaborative care would be given their place in support of innovative technologies.

The initiators of Live had the goal to let people live at home longer and to reduce loneliness. They wanted to achieve this by guiding them in making new contacts. This would relieve the caregivers' burden, the districts or regions concerned become more liveable and the costs within the ZVW, WLZ and WMO reduced.

Halfway through, the organization called VitaValley. This is an open and independent platform with a focus on scaling up and accelerating innovations. Improving health and well-being in the Netherlands is especially important. Implementation of digital applications should lead to breakthroughs in self-management and independence.

VitaValley was initially involved in Live with a view to potential financing, but later turned out to be mainly able to contribute to the strategy formation of the initiative.

Approach

The initiators have set up a cooperative to realize a good organizational structure for Live. In pilots, the cooperative would Live-try out concept. Subsequently, the model would become available to local franchisees. To investigate the possibilities of scaling up and implementation, a business plan was first developed. After this, a so-called Social Return On Investment (SROI)-analysis performed with a positive ratio. This business plan was followed by a Social Return on Investement (SROI) analysis with a positive ratio. This means that research has been carried out into the costs and benefits of Live, and that the initiative ultimately proved profitable. Important elements in the SROI method used are that all stakeholders are involved and that all significant matters are examined. It was crucial for the pilots to find a local initiative, where parties (Probing discussions took place here about how we should interpret developments, Township, healthcare provider and health insurer) were jointly prepared to form a consortium and to realize the necessary investments. The largest part of this investment would be intended for the so-called Lééfhuizen. These are locations where people in need can receive temporary support.


Result

The cooperative has not been able to test the concept in practice with pilots, because there were the following problems during the realization process.

Firstly, within the group of initiators there appeared to be disagreement about the course and unequal effort. Since there was no guarantee of success, some of those involved initially took a wait-and-see attitude. This led to a lot of energy loss and ultimately to the downsizing of the cooperative. Subsequently, the remaining three members have done everything in their power to realize one or two possible projects in a year and a half. If no promising pilot could be put into practice before the deadline, would we stop the initiative. Unfortunately, the team ultimately failed. Despite the enthusiasm about the concept, turned out to be the financing of the real estate (Lééfhuis), every time the in which the healthcare organization participated as a development partner. Alternative financing methods were sought (Health Impact Bonds, crowdfunding, health care bonds and social funds), but unfortunately there was always -despite substantive commitment- no budget free. Sometimes it seemed as if the financing barrier was going to be overcome, but then the initiative was rejected at the last minute. Rode: it didn't fully fit in with local council policy. In the relevant municipality, the focus was on a citizens' initiative and not on a multi-stakeholder model.

Lessons

Despite the fact that Live has never been able to obtain the necessary financial support, A number of valuable lessons have been learned during the process.

  1. This experience has allowed VitaValley to sharpen the use of the SROI method. The organization now does not start any project without first performing an SROI analysis. The importance of an early execution of the analysis appears to be great! In case of Live the analysis was not carried out until VitaValley joined the initiative. The original initiators had been working on the concept for a year and a half at the time. Ultimately, the analysis showed that the business case for the municipality (net) was not positive. An essential stakeholder therefore did not want to commit. If such a thing is detected early, the plan can be adjusted, to obtain the commitment of essential parties after all.
  2. If a thorough analysis is carried out early, even then, breaking through the system world with a radically different concept turns out to be unruly. An appealing vision and a clear business case still cannot always outweigh (local) political agendas.
  3. The real estate component in particular required a risky investment that turned out to be too large in this period and with the available team knowledge. It is advisable to identify early which knowledge is lacking in a team.

Name: Dick Hermans
Organization: VitaValley

OTHER BRILLIANT FAILURES

Sick but not pregnant

Never assume that everyone is fully informed, especially when there is new information informatie. Provide a knowledge environment in which everyone can make his or her decisions. check what [...]

Success formula but insufficient support yet

Anyone who wants to scale up successful pilots in a complex administrative environment, must continuously learn and adjust to involve all relevant parties and create a willingness to take action. Intention One [...]

Why failure is an option…

Contact us for a workshop or lecture

Or call Paul Iske +31 6 54 62 61 60 / Bas Ruyssenaars +31 6 14 21 33 47