This is the first step in getting your Village Phone program up and running. During the research phase you will establish whether Village Phone is suitable for your particular constraints – client requirements, demand, competition, regulation, profitability to mention just a few – and put the steps in place for a successful pilot.

During the research phase it is important to get institutional commitment and start working with external partners, assess demand and survey the environment, create a business and financial plan, select equipment and define sourcing, choose Village Phone Operators and develop an operating manual and training curriculum. The resources in this folder will help with all of these processes.

 

Once it has been established that Village Phone is a suitable product for all involved, it is time to confirm your findings with a pilot program. Undertaken on a small scale (25-50 Village Phone businesses) and highly controlled (tested at 1 to 3 locations), the pilot will determine whether a larger rollout can be a success, as well as highlight potential problems before they become unmanageable. The tools in this folder will highlight some of the key tasks that must be undertaken to develop a pilot program.

The deployment phase incorporates feedback from the research and pilot phases and extends the reach of the Village Phone program. Useful documents for full deployment are generally the same as those used for the trial run; however they will need to be updated to include any resolutions and amendments arising from the pilot. Some tools specific to this stage focus on outreach and growth.