Scaling up the BasicNeeds Model through a social franchise approach

There are two innovations in this programme – the BasicNeeds Model for Mental Health and Development, and the social franchise.

By working in partnership with local partners and people with mental illness, the BasicNeeds Model uses meaningful work and community support, as well as treatment to help improve lives.

As the largest international NGO working in this space, our evidence based model of intervention is effective, locally owned, can be replicated and is transferable.

Built into the BasicNeeds Model for Mental Health and Development is the ability to make change on an individual and systems level, where service delivery is linked to policy change and sustainable outcomes.  Through the innovation of the BasicNeeds Model, men, women, boys and girls with PWMIE and their carers benefit from improved quality of life⁴ (This includes improved health outcomes, increased confidence, increased knowledge and skills enabling access to livelihoods opportunities, ability to self-advocate and reduction in stigma.  BasicNeeds has demonstrated through the implementation of the BasicNeeds Model, that policy and practice systems change is achievable at every level,⁵ from traditional healers to Ministries of Health and national government.  It has enabled the conditions for national policy reform in Kenya, Laos PDR, India, Uganda, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.  Moreover, the implementation of the BasicNeeds Model successfully leverages resources from governments (health workers, clinics, medication, government staff time) and from beneficiaries (increased income increasing ability to purchase medicines) contributing to sustainability and affordability.  This Model, with its unique and competitive features, is already making a significant contribution to the effort to close the treatment gap for PWMIE.

Supplementing the BasicNeeds Model with a Social Franchise Approach

BasicNeeds is the first to use an innovative social franchise approach to scale the BasicNeeds Model in an effort to improve and save the lives of many thousands more PWMIE globally.  We believe the social franchise is an effective and efficient method to scaling the BasicNeeds Model. With support from the International Centre for Social Franchising and the Social Franchise Company, we have developed a franchise financial model, researched and benchmarked against other franchise systems.  We have also developed a franchise package which BasicNeeds, the franchisor provides to franchisees.  This package includes:

• comprehensive training on the BasicNeeds Model and its implementation via a new online training resource built for franchisees (developed in conjunction with Maudsley Learning)
• access to an international Quality Assurance and Impact Assessment (QA-IA) system
• access to international peer practitioner, research and policy networks via the ‘BasicNeeds family’ networks
• association with the BasicNeeds brand and profile

In exchange for support from BasicNeeds, the franchisor, the franchisee provides:

• local expertise, contacts and resources
• leadership and interest in mental health and development
• access to potential beneficiaries, organizational capacity and capability to deliver effectively and efficiently and with a degree of independence

The competitive unique features of the system are:

• it encourages local leadership in community based mental health by partnering with local organizations as franchisees and building on their in-country capacity and resources to deliver the BasicNeeds Model
• the roll out of the franchise package means the costs to BasicNeeds of replication and increased impact remain relatively low
• both franchisee, BasicNeeds, local government and other global stakeholders all benefit from the generation of further field evidence and increasing the prominence and influence of mental illness and epilepsy on national and global health development priorities