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  Collaboration: Based on a Tradition of Success
  The Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It was founded and supported by Robert H. Schaffer & Associates to apply to international development the decades of successful results the company has helped bring about in corporations and public organizations around the world.
  RHS&A management consultants have written seven books and almost 200 articles on Rapid Results and kindred approaches (including the General Electric "Work-Out" process which RHS&A consultants helped create).
  It began with RHS&A's collaboration with the World Bank on a project to accelerate agricultural output in Nicaragua, using the Rapid-Results Approach. It expanded to similar kinds of efforts in a number of African and Asian countries. And gradually an increasing number of leaders in the developing world expressed their desire to exploit this method to achieve their own countries' goals.
  RHS&A decided to volunteer some of its resources, on an ongoing basis, to support the establishment of the Institute. RHS&A is also making its change management tools available to the Institute for token fees.
  The Institute has a small, growing staff of its own and can obtain complementary resources from RHS&A and other consultants who are willing to contribute their services at significantly reduced fees. Moreover, the Institute develops local consulting support for Rapid Results work on every project in every country-thus creating a growing global network of on-the-scene implementation support.
Building Capacity through Results
Progress in international development has been limited not by any shortage of resources but by the difficulty of developing local managerial and implementation capability to create and sustain change. The mission of the Rapid Results Institute is to transform the way development work is carried out through a sharper focus on producing early results that strengthen local capacity for sustained progress.
We do this by working at two levels:
  • We work with public sector leaders in developing countries and with development professionals to foster an environment where innovators can use their energy and creativity to bring about early results and performance breakthroughs-which can then be scaled to tackle the long-term social and economic challenges that face their communities and nations.
  • We help these innovators and leaders create and leverage these performance breakthroughs by bringing to them cutting edge management tools that have been used in leading organizations around the world to foster results-oriented experimentation, achievement, and learning.
At the heart of our strategy are these fundamental beliefs:
  1. The latent capacity for creating and sustaining change exists in developing countries. The central challenge for local and national leaders is to mobilize this latent capacity and put it to work.
  2. The most durable solutions to economic and social challenges emerge through local innovation and experimentation-not from master blueprints and grandiose plans.
  3. Achieving real results fast is critical for building momentum, enthusiasm, and the capacity for managing large-scale change. Rapid results motivate groups to press forward on their journey-and also to illuminate the path toward long-term, sustainable progress.
  4. The way results are achieved is as important as the results themselves. By fostering an environment of ownership, accountability, and grass roots learning, the pursuit of rapid results can be leveraged as a transformative experience for the people involved.