Established in 2001, Combine Resource Institution (CRI) is a non-profit civil society organization registered as a foundation. It collaborates with communities in more than 20 provinces to develop digital literacy and community media, and to use Information and Communication Technology to manage and disseminate information. In 2018, after having experimented for several years with monetizing training activities by charging fees to participants, it established a training center and hostel as a separate social enterprise. According to the Foundation Law, none of CRI’s board can be directors of this company, and the company’s registered capital must be limited to no more than 25 percent of the foundation’s revenue.

Theory of Change

Strengthening digital literacy and management of information and knowledge in local communities improves civic literacy, public participation, and freedom of information, empowering local communities to make important decisions and enhancing their bargaining position when dealing with powerful actors from outside their communities.

Activities

CRI develops systems for managing data and information for communities, develops information technology and media literacy education for communities, and conducts trainings on community media and information technology for communities, CSOs and local governments.    

Results

Funding diversification has made CRI's work more effective. An evaluation of CRI's previously free trainings revealed that less than five percent of participants applied what they had learned. Charging for trainings, according to ability to pay, increased the degree to which trainees actively applied what they learned. Further, since establishing the training center as a social enterprise, CRI’s self-generated revenue has grown from 12% of total revenues in 2014 to 18-20% in 2018. Communities served by CRI are now more actively considering how to take responsibility for meeting their own needs sustainably, and one community has begun to do its own fundraising.