Good day Steemians! Following up on the previous post, I was inclined to keep discussing about the different practical applications that we get from cannabis for medical and industry, but I drifted towards preparing a research plan first so that we can get moving as soon as possible. Other posts will be part of the progress the blueprint process.

The basic assumption is that the cannabis plant has practical and proven benefits for use in medicine and in various industrial sectors. These benefits should not be exclusive to patent holders, big corporates and government but should be utilised and localised by communities to turn their local economies around. There are barriers that prevent such accessibility such as licencing fees, knowledge, expertise, organisation and collaboration.

Intro

This guide aims to make the case for community-led economic development in the Zimbabwean economy, identifying opportunities for the cultivation, processing of medical (CBD) cannabis hemp and its industrial applications, estimating what they might be worth in terms of revenue, livelihoods (jobs), and well being. Just as important, this process also aims to include key people in the local community from the very beginning, including members of local government institutions, non-profit organisations, schools, large employers, and community groups.The guide will culminate into a hemp/cannabis body of knowledge tailored to be adaptable by different communities in Zimbabwe.

The core of the Zimbabwe Hemp Economic Blueprint process is formed by these two things:

• Making the case for community led economic development.
• Including key members of the community
  The process will support wider aims by providing credibility and evidence, creating opportunities to develop contractual business relations for the community.

The Zimbabwe Hemp Economic Blueprint process can be orgarnised into 5 stages:

Stage 1 – The Economic Blueprint team:This stage is about us – us, as in the people who are driving this work in Zimbabwe. Using this guide, we will work through several core activities to help us assess and develop our readiness to take this work forward.

Stage 2 – Stakeholders and economic analysis: forming a stakeholder group and planning the
economic analysis​. This stage launches two aspects of this process: working with stakeholders in the community and beginning the economic research.

Stage 3 - Stakeholders and economic analysis: creating a shared vision and working the
research plan.​ This stage continues the parallel streams of work that include leading the
stakeholder group on developing a shared vision of a new hemp economy and continuing the
research into important economic sectors.

Stage 4 - ZHEB Summary and Plan, turning economic insights and stakeholder inputs into an
actionable plan.​ Here we will be bringing together the work, so far, into an easily digestible
and shareable synthesis.

Stage 5 – Implementing our Economic Blueprint​ – This marks the end of the guide, but not
the end of this process.

Stage 1 – The Economic Blueprint team

The beginning of any adventurous journey includes planning, assessments, and a clear idea of the goal or destination. “Begin with the end in mind” wise people counsel. Do you know where we are going? Do we have everything we will need?

Team Formation and Project Plan.

ZHEB team formation: the important objective here is to gain understanding of the skills and resources required to undertake ZHEB process, including funding, skills, roles, etc. and assess the team’s capacities.

• why are we doing this process – aims and objectives? Who is our audience?
• how can we best make use of this guide?
• what’s required to undertake this blueprint process
• do we understand the roles required and are we ready to fill them, such as project
  manager, group meeting facilitator, communications, researcher, data analyst, writer,
  graphic designer?
• do we have the skills within our team or can we acquire them, such as project
  management, facilitation, research, data analysis, industry specific experience,
  spreadsheets?
• do we have the funding and resources needed to complete this project?

If any of us possess many or all of the skills required and can fulfil multiple roles - that’s great. We should take care to ensure that responsibilities are voluntary and not overbearing on one or two people.

Drafting and developing our our project plan

Here we look at needs to happen during the course of the project, who is going to do what, when, what resources will be required, etc. We will research costs and resources and come up with a sample work plan & budget. However we choose to organise our plan, it should consider the following:

• aims and objectives
• team roles and responsibilities
• resources required
• ZHEB team recruitment plan, if required
• stakeholder formation
• shared vision process
• economic research and analysis
• summary and action plan
• communications plan
• implementation
• timetable/schedule
• budget

Stage 2 – Stakeholders and research plan

This phase marks acceleration and deepening of the process as we launch two streams of work. One involves putting together our group of stakeholders, or ‘stakeholder forum’, which will help provide support for this work as it progresses. The nature and character of this group will differ for every community but ideally, this group will be collaborator and co-creator, as well as an important target audience.

The second stream of work involves developing the economic analysis, where we will make the case for a hemp/cannabis local economy as a regeneration/development strategy for Zimbabwe. In doing the research, we will provide the evidence base for action. And in the course of this work, we will also identify tangible projects our team, allies, and/or coalition partners can take forward to begin transforming our economy.

Stage 2 is just about the beginning of these two streams and breaks it down into
manageable steps. The first two parts include identifying our community and economic leaders, and recruiting our stakeholders. The third part is planning the research reports. Stage 2 will takes two to four weeks.

Identifying community and economic leaders:

The objective here is to gain from the experiences of other ‘blueprinters’ and to collectively understand the benefits and tricky bits of putting together a stakeholder forum. What are the goals and objectives of our stakeholder forum? How will we establish legitimacy and credibility? What resources and commitments are we looking for from our stakeholder
forum members? How often will they meet? How will we recruit them?

First we brainstorm and map the economic stakeholders in Zimbabwe. We mind map the answers to these questions: who makes our economic policy? Who is involved in economic regeneration or sustainable development projects? What groups represent the interests of farmers? Who are the major employers? Who are the secondary and further education institutions? Who are the potential allies in this work?

After listing and mapping these organisations, we can take a step further and relate them to one another. Create a system diagram that describes how these groups interact and influence one another.

Next, can we identify key individuals in these organisations? Whom do we know and have
relationships with? Who ​ should ​we have relationships with? Prioritise the individuals we would have identified whom we would like to involve in this work. Profile each, in other words, identify
to what extent we know their values and worldviews. Do they support the assumptions of
the ‘industrial growth paradigm’? Are they proponents of ‘new economic’ thinking?

We then discuss the implications of this scenario. Who are the potential members of our stakeholder forum? Most likely? Most desired? How can they support the work with resources, data, expertise, influence, etc.? How will these prospective members contribute to the goals and objectives of the stakeholder forum and the long-term aims of the project, generally? How many should there be?

Planning the research: Here the objective is to create alignment and agreement in the team about the economic research and analysis approach, and assess learnings from other countries. Why are we doing the research and analysis? Who among our ZHEB team will be involved? Are we prepared for the challenging and perhaps tedious work ahead? Do we
have the resources in place to sustain this work?

The objective here is to understand what’s required to successfully complete the research and analysis, agree approach then create a research plan to manage this part of the project.

The two main points of discussion: a) which economic sectors to study, and b)
the elements of our plan.

a) We are interested in the cultivation of hemp for medical purposes(CBD), fiber for textile, fibre for bioplastics/composites(plastics sector), pulp for paper and hemp/lime for building sectors. Are these sectors relevant to the Zimbabwe economy? Are they strategically important for creating long-term resilience, transitioning to a low-carbon/carbon negative energy regime, supporting sustainable economic development and employment? What are the benefits and pitfalls of looking at these same sectors? Are there other sectors more relevant to our communities and the Zimbabwean economy? Given our resources, how many sectors should we look at?

We do not have funding yet and in the process of developing our funding bids, we need to consider these questions and make some assumptions about the sectors we will focus on. Having this discussion at this time will contribute to understanding and goal alignment within our team.

We follow the lead of work already completed elsewhere and limit the scope of our research and analyses to the CBD, fibre(textile,bioplastics), pulp (paper) and hurds (building). This will allow us to leverage prior work and we hope, significantly reduce our costs and time to completion.

b) On discussing and agreeing on key elements of our research plan, we can be led by the following questions: Can this work be divided into multiple sub-projects with multiple contributors? Can it be ‘crowd-sourced’? Will we undertake primary research as well as secondary research? Who is going to do what? Do we have the resources necessary? Will we use paid sub-contractors/consultants, if so, who? What if there’s a problem – a contributor drops out, a computer crashes, potential funding doesn’t materialise – what are our contingencies?

The key elements of the plan should include:

• roles/responsibilities
• consultants and other third parties, if used
• funding
• timetable/schedule

The ​ Local Multiplier Effect​ will likely be a key concept we will want to highlight. Economic localization is another important concept.

Stage 3 – Creating a shared vision and completing the analysis

In this phase of the ZHEB process we will be making some significant progress. Our team would have already assembled a ‘stakeholder forum’ which is ready to support this work. Now, we will lead them on an exercise to develop a ‘shared vision’ for our hemp economy. We would have developed a plan for undertaking the economic analyses and may have already begun the research. Now, we are going to complete the research, synthesise the data, and write the reports, highlighting opportunities for ‘localisation’ in terms of wealth creation and retention, employment, health, social and environmental benefits.

This stage can be challenging, but our good preparation thus far will help! For creating the shared vision, the steps are Vision Planning Workshop and Visioning Follow Up Session.
This work should take about 6-8 weeks, depending on people, resource and data availability.

Planning the stakeholder visioning workshop:

The key objective here is to lead the stakeholders toward an agreed vision statement for the hemp economy in a localised context. This will likely be the first time we assemble this important group, and we want it to go well. To run a successful visioning event, many details of the visioning workshop must be planned, preparations made, and resources assembled. As always, starting with the end in mind and creating a plan will help us succeed – and reduce stress!

We should make sure key participants have prepared for this planning session by requiring participation or short briefs about their preparation. This activity is in two parts. The first part is about discussing important factors that will contribute to the success of our visioning session. The second part is planning the details.

• What is the goal of the visioning session, and objectives for the event? What are the
  expected or hoped-for outcomes?
• Shall we agree a ‘terms of reference’ sheet or a project charter for the stakeholder forum? Should this be something we discuss as part of this event?
• How can we introduce useful background on key local economic and “transition” issues in
  balanced, useful, and effective ways for this group?
• How can we ensure balance, diversity, and inclusion during the meeting?
• How will we talk about sectors of the local economy that are important for long-term
  sustainability and resilience? Well being?
• How will we talk about sectors that are most vulnerable in terms of long-term sustainability
  and resilience, including wellbeing?
• Are there any other important issues to anticipate?

We then discuss the detail of the session and outline into a plan format.

• What are the roles and responsibilities of team members? Who will facilitate? If an
  outside facilitator, who will brief her or him? Are they/should they be part of this meeting?
  -Where and when will the meeting take place? When must invitations go out? Who will
  manage that?
• What will be the agenda for the day? Review and modify, if necessary, the sample agenda
  and/or template linked above.
• Will there be a need for presentation or briefing materials? Who will produce those?

Visioning follow up session:

The key objective here is to craft a vision document for stakeholder forum approval and capture any other issues requiring follow up. This activity is mostly self-explanatory and unstructured. We will already have conducted our stakeholder visioning workshop – if necessary, meet with members of our team who were present during visioning session and prepare the draft of our ‘visioning statement’, a document that captures what was said and agreed in during our workshop. We then circulate proposed final document for approval by the stakeholder forum.

Scoping and formatting our economic analyses:

The key objective here is to create appropriately local and well-scoped research questions and report outlines (i.e. the report structures / sections to be completed). This task is about making sure that those who are going to do the research, perform the analyses, and write the reports have a clear understanding about their focus and scope. We have chosen to examine the same economic sectors that have been studied elsewhere. We will use recommended adaptable research questions and report formats used in those other reports. Reviewing these reports will offer models from which to create our own outline.

For this activity, the appropriate members of our team should discuss these questions:
what can be borrowed from economic blueprint reports done elsewhere? Outlines,research questions, data sources, graphics, other content? Are the research questions and outlines appropriately defined? Are they congruent with our goals and objectives? How can spreadsheets be organised such that there is a clean audit trail of data used,
assumptions, calculations, etc.?

Next, we draft our research questions and report outlines appropriate to the economic sectors we are studying in Zimbabwe and the area specific conditions. Again, we shall recommend adopting research questions and outlines used in other locations, and adapting them.

The primary research key objectives here are to acquire unique local data and qualitative information, engage others in the economic blueprint process, identify and engage local experts. We will consider the local organisations and individuals who might contribute expertise to our economic analyses, and review notes from earlier mapping activities, if necessary.

We have to build relationships with local ‘domain’ experts e.g. agriculture, business, Environmental Management Agency etc., and have them contribute and/or review and evaluate our economic analyses.

We can conduct this like a mapping exercise. Given the sectors we wish to study, who are the local experts/authorities we can approach to review and comment on your work? Can local schools and/or universities provide expertise and/or resources? We then map individuals and organisations we might approach and develop a plan for engaging them. Whether we choose to work informally with local expert or choose to assemble focus groups for each sector is up to us and our budget. Probably 2-3 experts in each sector would be sufficient. Keep in mind, these relationships may be important for the long-term success of our economic blueprint work.

​We will geographically create map(s) of local existing businesses in the sectors we are studying, and provide a platform to engage additional transition activists. Mapping is an activity that can not only yield interesting insights about Zimbabwe, but can be a fun activity that brings more people into the process. We can develop a research plan and following a model such as this:

• recruit researchers from our transition theme groups and from local schools
• have researchers identify and characterise businesses operating in relevant economic
  sectors. We may develop a characterisation criteria as necessary according to our needs.
• researchers can go into the field, such as visiting the local industrial estate(s), and they can utilise the internet to identify local businesses.
• researchers can use online mapping tool
• we may also wish to develop a survey for a subset of businesses to gain qualitative
  information on challenges, outlook, etc.
• results can be used in communications, such as a press release
• we throw a party after the work is complete

We evaluate the work. Does the mapping provide interesting conclusions? Are there clusters
of similar businesses? Are there opportunities for co-location or industrial symbiosis?

Map existing localisation projects by sector, if any. Review other community-based projects highlighted in other economic blueprint reports from other locations then we identify projects already underway, planned, and that could/should be initiated that relate to the economic sectors we are studying. We run this as a mapping exercise as we have done in previous tasks..

• What projects are already existing or planned that pertain to each sector? Include ZHEB as well as those run by other organisations, including those by the local authority.
• What new projects could we initiate? What will create the conditions for change?
• What might we want these projects to accomplish?
• What could other organisations initiate?
• What are the opportunities for partnership and collaboration?
• What projects should be initiated but require stronger foundations or more resources?
• What are some intermediate projects to get us there?
• Are any of the organisations listed included in our previous mapping exercises?
  Review our map and feed results into our economic sector reports as appropriate.

Secondary research and writing the reports:

The key objective here is to review published qualitative, quantitative information and complete our economic sector reports.

• We will conduct secondary research (i.e. we pick up research that others have already done) to gain the data and information required to support our analyses. Use the footnotes and endnotes from the reports done in referenced reports to identify possible data sources for our research.

• We will need to use spreadsheets to develop the data we find into more relevant information, including making calculations, estimates, extrapolations, and organising it into tables, charts and graphs where necessary. We will be best served by clearly organising and commenting our spreadsheets, and identifying key assumptions where applicable.

• We will also synthesise the information gained through the reports we’ve surveyed, and any primary research and other activities undertaken. We will have identified opportunities for taking advantage of local multipliers and for localising producing and processing of cannabis hemp. Here we can indicate relevant projects in our community that are already in process – ones we identified, above – that can directly or indirectly create the conditions for adoption.

• Finally, we need to assemble all this into a clear narrative in each of our detailed economic sector reports.

Stage 4 – Economic blueprint summary and plan

Well done, we have reached the final stretch! We’ve engaged key stakeholders in our community, brought them together into a forum to support this work, and led them to agree a shared vision of what our hemp economy could be. We’ve completed our detailed economic sector reports and have developed a body of knowledge that will provide an evidence base for further action. But our work is not quite done.

This stage is about bringing the process we and our stakeholders embarked upon weeks or months ago to an important milestone. During this phase, we may meet with our stakeholder forum twice, depending on our needs. First, we may want to meet to present the findings from our economic sector work, seeking to maintain their engagement with the process, collect their feedback and begin discussing the commitments we will ask from them.

We will also create a summary document for wider distribution and create an action plan for taking the work forward. The summary and action plan set the stage for work we hope to embark on together with our stakeholders and with a wider coalition of organisations in Zimbabwe and abroad.

Once our first draft is ready, we may want to assemble our stakeholders for a second working session in this stage. During this working session we would seek feedback on the summary and action plan. We will also secure commitments of resources, whether time, in-kind, funds, policy or something else to support the projects we’ve identified. During this entire process, and especially with what we are delivering in this stage, we are hopefully earning much deserved credibility for our team and our cannabis hemp transition initiative. This will create new opportunities to build collaborations, launch projects, and develop sources of funding. This also brings responsibility to act quickly and effectively while we have momentum. So this stage is all about helping us prepare to build the platform for long-term success.

There are four main activities to this stage. The first is the Presentation of Findings, where we will share what we’ve learned in our economic sector research and analysis. Then, there’s Summing It All Up, Strategic Planning, and Final Summary and Review.

Presentation of findings:

The key objective here is to keep stakeholders apprised, engaged, supportive. We will prepare a summary storyboard identifying the key points from the economic sector reports to share, including conclusions, recommendations, etc, and identify best medium for sharing, such as Powerpoint, video, posters, doodles, etc.

This activity will take intense focus and ideally would include those involved in producing the original reports, as well as individuals with fresh perspective. Participants will have read through the reports and made notes. We will carefully review the key points to be drawn from the detailed reports and shared with the stakeholders. Keeping in mind our audience, appropriate level of detail, important messages to be delivered, agreements to be sought etc.

We then create a storyboard that describes the content and flow from one key point to the next, noting bullet points, data, charts and graphs, illustrations, photos, videos etc. that convey our key summary points. We will surely have to borrow heavily from summaries already done elsewhere.

We will create a meeting plan and agenda for ‘presentation of findings’ meeting. What we are planning here is the meeting of our stakeholder forum where we will present our research findings.

• what much detail should we share?
• how much time should we spend discussing findings?
• should we include a brainstorming session on our proposed solutions and projects?
• should we gain feedback and conduct a prioritisation exercise for our recommendations at
  this meeting?
• should we circulate economic sector reports before or after this meeting?
• what kinds of commitments might we seek from these stakeholders and how can we
  foreshadow them?
• should we invite additional representatives from the stakeholder organisations?
• what additional information do we want to share, points we want to make, messages we
  want to make sure come through clearly?
• shall we use presentation software like Powerpoint and/or develop other materials, such
  as posters, briefing papers, etc.?

When we are ready, we develop our agenda and meeting plan, including, roles/responsibilities of team members, timings, equipment and materials needed, invitations and venue, etc. We will assign the task of developing our presentations materials to one or more people who can produce professional-quality materials. Note: we may need to budget for this.

##Summing it up:
The key objective here is to create our main communications tool - the summary document. How will the summary be used, who it’s for, etc. We will review all relevant work we have produced previously, including early mapping exercises and communications groundwork, as well as results from our presentation of findings.

We will then develop the ‘creative brief’ for the summary author(s). The summary document will become the iconic representation of the ZHEB process. It will be the main tool we use to communicate with others about what us, our stakeholders, and community have accomplished. Therefore, it will ideally need to be of a highly professional standard. Whether we have chosen to have a single author of this document, a main author with contributors, or an edited work with several contributors, this activity will help get us started off on the right foot.

• what is the purpose of this document?
• how will it be used?
• who is/are the intended audience/audiences?
• what’s the overall message and tone? Supporting messages?
• are results of our early mapping exercises still relevant? If not, what has changed?
• how can we or should we integrate feedback from our ‘presentation of findings’?
• how can we leverage, repurpose, reuse the work of others?
• shall we follow a similar format and medium?
• which graphs and images shall we use or produce?

Once we are satisfied that we have arrived at a clear creative brief for our author or author team, whether the brief is an outline of notes or a more robust document, we hand off the task with a clear understanding of schedule and reviews.

Strategic planning:

Our objective at this point is to create 2-3 year plan taking this work forward. We will review all previous work and figure out how will we make realistic progress for the next few years i.e. Stage 5 of this process. We will Invite members of economic blueprint team, as well as close associates within the ZHEB initiative. Review the work that we’ve produced so far, including mapping exercises, economic sector reports, and stakeholder feedback. (Note: it may be that this exercise depends upon the progress made on the summary, and vice versa).

• review projects identified in the economic sector reports, as well as those mapped in
  earlier exercises
• are there other projects to include? building a wider and deeper coalition? spawning
  clusters and networks? community engagement? catalysing and incubating ‘transition
  enterprises’?
• how were these prioritised by stakeholders, if we have that information?
• what is the proper planning horizon – 1 year, 2, 3?
• review resources available and those required
• what can stakeholder partners do?
• review stakeholder roles, commitments, contributions
• which new coalition partners might be recruited?
• review earlier mapping exercises listing potential allies and partners
• what is possible without additional funding?
• review and revise funding plan
• how much funding do we need and when?
• what structures are required for long term continuity?
• once agreed, how will we publicise the summary document and this strategic plan?
• shall we host a launch event or press conference?
• review or develop communications plan

When we are satisfied that key points have been adequately captured and there is clarity
about our key goals and activities for this plan, we then condense these into a document(s) that
includes roles/responsibilities, schedules, finance, communications, etc.

Our key objectives is to keep stakeholders appraised, secure endorsements and commitments

Plan summary and action plan review meeting
Review summary, action plan, and think about goals and objectives of the meeting plan and agenda.

• should we circulate draft summary and plan before the meeting?
• should we ask for specific feedback via email prior to meeting?
• should we conduct a prioritisation exercise for projects, roles, and activities we’ve
  identified in plan?
• what commitments should we ask from our stakeholders?
• should we invite additional representatives from the stakeholder organisations?
• what additional information do we want to share, points we want to make, messages we
  want to make sure come through clearly?
• shall we use presentation software like Powerpoint and/or develop other materials, such
  as posters, briefing papers, etc.?
• shall we discuss next steps such as a launch event, PR and/or other ways to publicise this
  work?

We then develop our agenda and meeting plan, including, roles/responsibilities
of team members, timings, equipment and materials needed, invitations and venue, etc.
After the meeting, we should make sure to incorporate feedback as necessary into the final version of our summary document.

Stage 5 – Implementing ZHEB

The process of creating the Zimbabwe Hemp Economic Blueprint is complete. We will also have outlined a strategy for moving our recommendations forward, based on the economic analyses we undertook and the input from the many stakeholders and allies we have gathered.
ZHEB is researched by sector at a nationwide level but meant to be adaptable and implemented in a localised way by different districts, growth points or provinces in Zimbabwe.

How do we build up the capacity to undertake this project which can be done in 3 months?

Would you like to be involved or to contribute to this project, please reply below and lets get it moving..

This project has the ppotential to be a unique one in Africa and likely to set a trend for African communities to adopt similar blueprints. We already have two districts to with different climates in Zimbabwe that we can apply ZHEB on from research to implementation. Look forward to upcoming posts for details about the two locations.