About HR&S and our Team

About HR&S

HR&S offer practical strategies and coaching on research management and social enterprising for researchers, innovators and social entrepreneurs in Sub-Sahara African countries.

Social enterprising
Evaluations demonstrate that public resources spent on provision of goods and services by social enterprises represent a more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable way of using resources than alternative methods. Consequently, governments and donors can benefit from fostering a strong social enterprising sector integrated in the service delivery system.

HR&S is a social enterprise. Due to our strong presence and understanding of local communities, HR&S is able to reach under-served populations through flexible and innovative business models.

HR&S offers employment, both in Africa and in Sweden, profit for the local partners in Africa and its owner, services requested for by everyone, products requested for by everyone and tax to the government. We focus on maximizing the social impact for our target beneficiaries while covering our costs and possibly generating short-term profits for our shareholders and private owners. We are a for-profit and non-profit hybrid Social Enterprise. Our RISE invest and our RISE Centres are non-profit, where as our consultancy services are for-profit. Our model has proven successful. We claim to be part of a shift of paradigm that shall end aid dependency. HR&S is non-political and non-religious.

Business model
We are a for-profit and non-profit hybrid social enterprise. Our RISE invest and our RISE Centres are non-profit, whereas our consultancy services and shop are for-profit.
HR&S asks for donations for the generation of the RISE invest fund and the RISE centres. Twenty per-cent of the funds collected will remain with HR&S for administration. The rest, minus tax, transfer costs and crowd-funding site fees are transferred to our accounts in Africa. We aim to earn profit on our our shop and our consultancy services; selling seminars, workshops and coaching benefiting from our six practical strategies. We are also looking for opportunities to set up own profitable businesses in Africa.

Scaling-up
We are still small and are operating with minimal resources, but we have already achieve a lot. We are, together with our sister organisation Action10, operating in twelve Sub-Saharan African countries and have had a positively effect on the lives of 10,000 people. We are eager to scale up.

Business Partners
We also partner with companies, institutions and individuals world wide that are interested in investing in Sub-Sahara Africa. The HR&S headquarters is located in Stockholm, and our country offices are located in our target countries.

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Ethics
HR&S has an honest and transparent win-win agenda that targets social good and financial sustainability for all partners. We value transparency and accountability in ethics and in governance. We are flexible and act fast on direct needs. We face challenges and learn our lessons. We have love and we have care, we do not judge and we are resilient in case of mistakes.

Equal partnership

We work in close partnership with local stakeholders in Sub-Saharan African countries.  We share input, responsability and benefits equally with our partners. We build our ties based on truth, trust and accountability. We collaborate with hard-working and ambitious social entrepreneurs and aim to be on our tip-toes for them, as they are doing their best for us. All team-members honour and respect each other.

Company data
Full name:  Human Rights & Science
Short name:  HR&S
Registration name: Human Rights and Science by Cecilia Öman
Type of institution:  Social enterprise
Legal status: Private limited company registered under the Swedish law (“privat aktiebolag”).
Registration number: 559014-6568
Registration date: 22 May 2015
Registration Country: Sweden
CEO: Assoc. Prof. Cecilia ÖMAN
Address: c/o Impact Hub, Jakobsbergsgatan 22, 111 44 Stockholm, Sweden
E-mail: info@humanrightsandscience.se, Phone No: +46 707 148 150
Website: www.humanrightsandscience.se
Facebook: humanrightsandscience 
Twitter CEO: ceciliaoman
LinkedIn: Human Rights & Science
LinkedIn CEO: in/cecilia-oman
Instagram Shop: african.shop.in.sweden
Moms nummer / VAT. No: SE559014656801
Bank: SEB, Bank address: SEB 5273, 10640 Stockholm, Sweden
SWIFT/BIC: ESSESESS, IBAN: SE9350000000052731032863
“Bankgiro” No: 896-6608, Bank account No: 5273-1032863

How HR&S works

HR&S build its activities on its own six practical startegies and five Action areas. With RISE Support Centres in six Sub Sahara African (SSA) countries and operations in twelve, HR&S  significantly contributes to the strengthening of research, innovation and social enterprising in SSA. While still small in its operations, we have potential to scale and affect even more peoples lives.

The heart of HR&S’ work is in the field. Each RISE Centre country office carries out the HR&S’ mission through a unique programme of cooperation developed together with local stakeholders. Each project is initiated and managed by local social entrepreneurs and captures user driven social good, a busines model and accountability management programme. Coaches from the RISE Centres supports and controls the project development and the RISE Centre management oversees the operations. Impact is measured using scientific methods. The situation before initiating the programme, togther with achievements, challenges and lessons learned are compiled in a programme journal. We benefit from the “Strategy for Change” and stakeholder analysis tools.

Overall management and administration takes place at the HR&S headquarters in Stockholm, where overall policies are shaped. HR&S also operates Action10 in Stockholm that manages the ActionInvest programme. Action10 is registered as an independent Association, is run by volunteer staff only and with support from HR&S.

HR&S is a social enterprise, and we have developed six Praactical strategies and five Action areas. Our business offer is : i) Seminars and workshops – We share knowledge about our Practical strategies. ii) Coaching – We offer coaching to other stakeholders who are interested in implementing their activities with our support. iii) Partnership around our Action areas – Partners may want to join our on-going programmes or Action areas.

We seek financial support donations for our RISE Invest fund and the funds is transferred to our RISE Centres in SSA and remains there. As we focus on social enterprising the funds are used a loans and is repaid, why it can help the start of new social enterprises over and over again. We seek partners and financial givers to run our five activities. ActionInvest is also supported entirely by voluntary funds. Monthly donors and Crowdfunding campaign donors contribute to the fund.

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Offices: lists by office type

HR&S Headquarters in Stockholm.
Action10 Headquaters In Stockholm.
RISE Support Centres per country.
Project offices of our social entrepreneur Partners.

Our team

HR&S engages staff, consultants and volunteer staff. Our team is composed of dedicated and professional experts, with deep understanding and unyielding ethics.

Our team cover the wide range of expertise required for our ambitions mission; the local context, development, scientific research, scientific finding, innovation, enterprising, accounting, cross-cultural understanding and more.

Our Team is large and composed of sub-groups.

  • Management & Operations.
  • Advisory Board of Trustees.
  • Expert advisers.
  • Afro-Swedish network.
  • Action10.
  • RISE Support Centre management & coaches.
  • RISE Centre members.

Management & Operations

Management

Assoc. Prof. Cecilia ÖMAN, CEO and Founder,
Head of Research.

Operations

Website developer
M.Sc. Johanna ÖMAN,  UX UI designer & branding
M.Sc. Romina CARRASCO
M.Sc. Petra JÄÄSKELÄINEN

Application developer
M.Sc. Johanna ÖMAN, UX UI designer
M.Sc. Aran SESHITA, Fullstack engineer

International relations
M.Sc. Kwame Osei BAIDU
Ph.D. Mtakai NGARA

Events & Afro-Swedish network manager
Ms. Rada DJUROVICK

Photographer in Sweden
Ms. Jennifer ERIKSSON.

External Financial Auditing

Ms. Anna-Kari ARMANDT, Armandt Ekonomi & Data AB, Sweden.

Terms of reference

Our operations team is composed of empoyed staff and volunteer staff.

The HR&S volunteer staff agree to operate with unyielding ethics, to offering advice on topics influencing the direction of the HR&S programmes and act as ambassadors. Our Volunteer staff offer to address their different HR&S assignments as much as possible, in relation to their other work assignement.

Advisory board of trustees

Our Advisory Board members are senior experts offering advice on topics influencing the direction of HR&S, acts as ambassadors and seek opportunities.

Mr. Anders KINDING coordinates the bi-annual Board meetings.

Board members

Prof. Charles O. AWORH, Nigeria.
Prof. Gnon BABA, Togo.
Prof. Akiça BAHRI, Tunisia.
Prof. Berit BALFORS, Sweden.
Pastor Wilberforce BEZUDDE, Sweden & Uganda.
Priest Anita ELWESKIÖLD, Sweden.
CEO. Anders KINDING, Sweden.
Prof. Paul SAWADOGO, Burkina Faso.
Leg. doc. Åsa SCHLYTER, Sweden.

Assignment period

Board members hold their position for two years.
Thereafter the assignment can be renewed. 
The next rotation is 1 Jan 2001.

Terms of reference

The Board members agree to operate with unyielding ethics and to offer advice on topics influencing the direction of HR&S, act as ambassadors and seek opportunities. All our Board members have passion for driving the programme forward, they are very active and take their own initiatives for the success of HR&S. Specifically our Board member support and help ensure:
User driven social good. That we capture the expectations of the users of our interventions and adapt to their experiences, so that we serve our users in the very best manner.
Identify agency. Board members support by finding the right stakeholders who support social good, sustainable economy, equal partnership and accountability. They look for social entrepreneurs and supporters with passion for change and who will ensure our strategy for change in actual practice. They propose RISE Centre staff. They also seek opportunities for capacity strengthening of individuals and institutions.
Strategy for change. That we honour our Strategy for Change.       
Social enterprise. The Board members actively contribute to the sustainable economy of the programme. They help develop business models, and then to develop and implement our business plan and set up our ventures. The Board members open doors to new opportunities, they link us with their own network of potential customers, supporters and partners as well as seek and nurture new ones. They actively seek sources of funding and ways to financially sustain our RISE Centres and our RISE invest fund.
Accountability management The Board members support with awareness raising and capacity strengthening on financial administration and accounting, so that we can ensure accountability and transparency in ethics and governance for all our interventions.
Evidence impact assessment. To measure whether we have achieved impact, based on scientific evidence.
The assignment is on a volunteer basis and is not rewarded financially.

Expert advisers

We turn to our team of independent  Expert Advisers for advice when advanced knowledge has potential to improve our interventions. Our HR&S Expert Advisers operate with unyielding ethics and offer expert advice  on topics influencing the direction of the HR&S programmes.

HR&S’ mission is user driven social good and we work in close partnership with local stakeholders in Sub-Sahara African countries. Whatever advice we take on, it is always guided by our partners. We are causious with imposing ideas that dose not rhime well with the context and the people we are partnering with. At the same time, we facilitate international sharing of clean knowledge and scientific facts.

Our team of Expert Advisers also act as ambassadors for HR&S and shares about HR&S and about our activites in their network.

Team of Expert Advisers

Mr. Anders KINDING, Sweden. Leadership.
Leg. Dr., Assoc. Prof. Anna ÅGREN, Sweden. Medical health.
M.Sc. Courage BOYONNOH SUNDBERG, Liberia and Sweden. Health and equality.
MSc. Erik GUSTAVSSON, Sweden. Waste management.
M.Sc. Malin VESTIN, Sweden. Evaluation planning and quantitative statistics.
M.Sc. Marina VISINTINI, Sweden. Global Business Development
Dr. Martin BRITS, South Africa. Application chemistry.
M.Sc. Naimul ABD Sweden. Business Growth and UX.
MSc. Nathalie PERSSON, Madagascar and Sweden. Food and nutrition.
Mr. Niclas  NILSSON, Sweden. IT and social entrepreneurship.
Mr. Peter ROBERT, Liberia. Arts and international relations.
Ms. Purity AWINO, Kenya and Sweden. Administration and international relations.
Dr.  Sune ERIKSSON, Sweden. Application chemistry.
M.Sc. Tatenda GWAAMBUKA, Zimbabwe. Law, journalism, African socio-economic development.
Prof. Yvonne BONZI, Burkina Faso. Research and women empowerment.
Leg. Dr. Åsa SCHLYTER, Sweden. Psychiatry and counselling.

Terms of reference

The HR&S Expert Advisers agree to offer expert advice in areas of their expertice. The HR&S management turn to the HR&S Expert Advisers when situations arise. Our HR&S Expert Advisers agree to operate with unyielding ethics.

The assignment is on a volunteer basis and is not rewarded financially.

Assignment period

Expert advisers hold their position for four years.
Thereafter the assignment can be renewed. 
The next rotation is 1 Jan 2001.

Afro-Swedish Network

HR&S manages an Afro-Swedish network.

The potential with our network is obviously huge, and we grab the potentials as they unfold. But at least to start with:

1. HR&S do have cross-cultural understanding from ten years of operations on site in Africa, and we want to learn more. So cross-cultural knowledge sharing is obvious.

2. Our RISE Support Centres in Africa needs support and control management. We are always looking for people in Africa that appreciates our mission, who we can depend on and trust.

3. As an instituion with cross-cultural understanding we can imagine that there are situations in which we can support, maybe through advice, network or action.

4. It is very NICE, and we will arrange a lot of nice social and cross-cultural gatherings.

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We welcome Swedish citizens with African origin to join our HR&S family in Sweden.

Action10

Action10 is a volunteer organisation registered in Sweden (www.action10.se). Action10 operates under the umbrella of Human Rights and Science (HR&S) and HR&S is providing back-up support to Action10.

Working Board
President and Founder: Cecilia ÖMAN
Head of Finance: Anders KINDING
Head of Quality Values: Caroline BRUNDIN

Operations
The operations are managed by a group of volunteers organised into five workgroups.

  1. Evaluation planning (EP)
  2. Institutioal capacity (IC)
  3. Knowledge sharing (KS)
  4. Sustainable economy (SE)
  5. Quality values (QV)

Action10 manages the Action Invest fund which is used by pilot project social entrepreneurs, at the start-up phase. Action10 also manages an Afro-Swedish network through which stakeholders in Sub-Sahara African countries can be identified and kept in contact with. These stakeholders may be part of our local support team and may include, auditors, monitoring survey managers and coaches.

RISE Support centre management, coaches & members

We have established RISE Centre in six Sub-Saharan Africa countries, and we are always seeking new opportunties to increse the number of Centres and the number of countries.

While the Centres provide support to local social entrepreneurs, researchers and innovatores to offer their producs and services to the local community they also represents HR&S locally.

Each Centre is always on a programme of capacity strengthening through weekly interactions with HR&S Sweden.

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Burkina Faso

 RISE Support Centre in Burkina Faso is under development.
Members
  • Chemical laboratories

Kenya

RISE Support Centre in Kenya

Management and Coaches
Millicent SIFUNA, Collins OWOUR, Ann CHEBET.
Members
  • Dolas Creation
    Frederick ATING’A, CEO and Founder
  • Amani Women Group
    Mama SHIRU, CEO and Founder
    Nancy GITHAIGAH, communication

Liberia

RISE Support Centre in Liberia
Management and Coaches
Ramses HUTCHINS, George LIONEL, Robertson FREEMAN, Jestina SAAH, Isaac Chea DAVIS.
 
Members
  • Initiative for the Development of Former Child Soldiers (IDEFOCS)
    Morris MATADI, CEO and Founder

Nigeria

 RISE Support Centre in Nigeria
Management and Coaches
Elvis AUSTINS, Sunday OTAIGBE, Charles BALOGUN, Clifford CHIEMEZIE
 
Members
  • SpellAfrica
    Erezi EDOREH, CEO
    Elvis AUSTINS, Chairperson and Founder
    https://www.facebook.com/spellafri
  • NoveleQ
    Karniyus GAMANIEL, CEO and Founder
    Ado DAN-ISSA

Togo

RISE Support Centre in Togo
Management and Coaches
Alexis AKOTCHAYE, Elisabeth DAFOR, Komi ABAVE

Members

  • Association Solidarité Enfance et Vie (S.E.VIE)
    Francois KLUTSÉ, CEO and Founder
    Délali ADEDJE, CEO Assistant and programme manager.
    https://www.facebook.com/association solidarité enfance et vie – sevie
  • Leaders & Development (L&D)
    Milohum DZAGLI, CEO and Founder.
    Yawo AHIAKPONOU, programme manager.

Uganda

RISE Support Centre in Uganda
Management and Coaches
Moses MURUNGI, George OCEN, Doreen NALUGYA
 
Members:
  • 256 Creative Arts
    Edward BUTIMBA, CEO and Founder
    https://www.facebook.com/creativeARTSUganda/
  • Ubuntu Art House
    Bernard OMONY, CEO and Founder
    https://www.facebook.com/ubuntuarthouse/

Strategic partners

Impact Hub Global Community is one of the world’s largest networks supporting innovators and entrepreneurs.

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Interview with the Founder

What HR&S is, why Cecilia started HR&S (including ”the why” of HR&S) and her own story as an entrepreneur (both successes and setbacks).
– I started HR&S because I felt the pain of vulnerable people and felt obliged to do my best to contribute to a positive change. I am a scientific researcher by training so I started a social enterprise, as I believe that locally managed scientific research, innovation and  social enterprising is driving a healthy country and a positive development.
Managing my own enterprise is crucial also because it gives me the freedom I need to think freely, try new things, to be innovative, flexible and able to act fast on findings, it allows me to invest my work-hours, in doing what  I truly believe in.
I acknowledge that I am fortunate and am grateful for being a start-up entrepreneur in Sweden. My  country is very supportive, at all levels…  adminstration, access to support. The challenge for start-up entrpreneurs in Sweden is maybe the tax level, though I do appreciate the social security the Swedish taxes enables.
Concerning HR&S, I have made it my assignment to try to understand the mindset of vulnerable people. To put my self into the shoes of someone who is poor. If it was me, if I was living in a poor village or slum area, with my three kids that I love more than anything, who would I be, how would I think, what would I do? I have tried my best to interact closely, to live in and spend time with people in vulnerable settlements, to listen carefully, reflect and learn. I have also studies the scientific findings about diffrent cultures and how people’s mindset change when societies move from from farming to industry to knowledge based societies.
My stake is that, if it was me, I would know what to do, what I want, but I would be restricted by the lack of opportunities. HR&S aims to be an entitiy that link up with social entrepreneurs, innovators and scientific researchers in environments that lack opportunities and enables them to implement their ideas in their own communities.
From this platform of understanding, have I developed a set of practical strategies and implemented a package of activites.
The strategies include i) a set of core values, ii) means to ensure trust, iii) cross-cultural understanding, iv) evaluation planning, v) coaching programmes on-ground, and iv) assess evidence of impact. 
The imlemented activites are ; i) support centres with support staff, ii) investment fund, iii) coaching programme implementation and iv) real-time collection of monitoring data and assessment of  evidence for impact or no impact.
I have started my initiative in Sub-Sahara African countries, where the number of extremely poor is increasing every year.
I claim that HR&S is in the front-line of a change of paradigm, where we leave the concept of aid behind and become independent stakeholders working truthfully and trustfully together, cross cultures and for a common good.

The ”different user layers”, a user story and the everyday problems a certain user of her chosing faces, for example a social entrepreneur in Africa. 
– With a mandate like HR&S, we have to be close to several layers of users. We have:
1. The local customers of locally developed products and services,
2. The small and medium scale business owneres, we have
3. The scientific researchers, innovators and social entrepreneurs.
We are also working with:
4. A set of supporters; the auditors, the survey managers, the evaluation planning coaches, financial accounting coaches,  as well as the village chiefs, the heads of family and religious leaders. Netx level of users is:
5. The private sector who are interested in collaboration around enterprising in Africa,
6. The instiutions who aims for development or investment and also very importantly
7. Individuals who want Sub-Sahara African countries to grow; it can be leaders, philatropists, influencers, specialists, givers and others.
– A user story can be a social entrepreneur in a ghetto area, burning for helping her people, knowing exactly how, but failing because of lack of the key resources; infrastructure, information, partners, travelling and investment capital. She comes into contact with HR&S, partner up and guides HR&S in which way we can support. Together we agree on a win-win approach where we invest and benefit equally much.

Cecilia discusses with members of HR&S.
HR&S is a zebra, we mix black and white in unique and beautiful patterns. In Sweden and in Africa.
We are hard working and goal oriented,
We talk about the realities, also when they are painful.
We face challenges and we learn, together.
We do not tolerate nonsence, lazyness or corruption, at the same time, we do not judge and we are resilient in case of miss management.
We have love and care and we do not give up.
Honest and frequent communication between all, in Sweden and in our targeted African countries, is key.
Sharing knowledge and experiences, as well as respecting differences in culture, is the cornerstone of success and cannot be emphazised enough.

We reach out to and aim to maintain a close relations with all our parntres at all our levels of users.
We work according to our six strategies, thus including i) a set of core values, ii) means to ensure trust, iii) cross-cultural understanding, iv) evaluation planning, v) coaching programmes on-ground, and iv) assess evidence of impact. 
We  implement our four activites in actual practice ; i) support centres with support people, ii) investment fund, iii) coaching programme implementation and iv) real-time collection of monitoring data and assessment of  evidence for impact or no impact.
We are running about 20 programmes in twelve Sub-Sahara African countries.

”Headlines from the future” (in ten years HR&S has been a resounding success –
draft a headline and sketch for a New York Times feature of this success).
Our take is that  instead of assuming that innovation in Africa is simple, we expect it to be as big as anywhere else.
A scientific researcher, innovator and social entrepreneur in Sub-Sahara African countries have the same opportunities as in Sweden and therefore contribute equally much to the public and private sector.
New York Times features equally many black change makers as white, because the number IS equal, and their innovations ARE equally important.
The picture shows an amazing innovation, maybe in space or with AI, with only black people, and the focus is not on that they are black, but on the innovation it-self.
HR&S has Support centres in every Sub-Saharan African country, we have the resources to provide all our scientist, innovators and entrepreneurs with the resources they need, and their ideas are developed and implemented, not only locally but internationally