The members have started private savings, and the group has instituted a health insurance programme. The collective invests some capital into tools and machinery. The group is increasingly able to cover the running costs and expenses of the MO Garment Sector and understands financial aspects of running a business.
Maya Organic’s sector role with the collective is generally limited to conducting formal assessments/group facilitation and to marketing. When it comes to resolving conflicts, profit distribution and vision building, MO’s involvement will increase temporarily. MO also continues to help the group prepare for independent establishment of the company outside of MO’s training premises.
Readiness to Run Own Company Phase
In this phase, the collective has not only developed professional competencies in production and business management, but members clearly envisage themselves running a viable, independent enterprise. By this time, the group has developed a business plan and has approached financial institutions and/or the government for financial or infrastructural support. Groups must to decide whether they will
occupy facilities as individual collectives, or share facilities, overheads, and responsibilities with other collectives to minimise running costs. By this time, the rules and terms of engagement between collectives must be clearly defined, transparent, and functional.
At this stage, the relationship between the collective and MAYA is that of a client-producer partnership. The collective pays for any additional support it requires. Upon request, as a part of the long term MoU, sector teams assist with assessments and skills audits, identify resource persons for further training, and serve in group facilitation. The collective, as a part of the MO network, also continues to benefit from easier access to large material sourcing and capital and welfare support.
3.2 Milestones
Milestones indicate developmental levels and are utilised as tools for reflection for facilitators and groups. Again, specific achievements that serve as milestones have evolved out of team discussions between sectors and with the collectives over the last two years. While phases indicate broader processes of change, milestones serve as clear-cut indicators that collectives are progressing. As collectives develop, they can continuously strive to reach new milestones, and to reach new levels with respect to each milestone.
Milestones form an important part of assessments for maturity levels. Maturity levels range from 1-5 in Garments (1-4 in Lacware), with level 1 indicating full dependence on MAYA ORGANIC, and level 5 (or 4) indicating readiness to funtion independently. Milestones, like phases, need to be further refined and evaluated across sectors in order to serve as general guidelines for collective development. As the Garments sector has already worked out milestones, the discussion below will be limited to that sector. However, Lacware has also developed relevant milestones which serve as reflection tools for collective growth and performance. (Please see Appendix 3 for detailed milestones charts for the Garments sector, and for the methods used in evaluating achievement of milestones in the collectives).
