What we plan to achieve
This shura is intended to illustrate how the ShuraForAll tool might be used to bring people together to figure out how to use a cash waqf to address key issues in their local community. It is not based on a real community.
The problem
Our community continues to suffer from the unusally high number of youth who don't go to school. They are joining gangs and causing trouble.
We also have way too many adults who are unemployed. Many of our families don't have access to the means to make life better for ourselves.
The cause
Although we have not gotten the government support we need, in many cases we fail to work together to make better use of what we have. We lack confidence in our ability to work toward changing our condition.
The solution approach
Fortunately, there are people inside and outside of our community who have the resources and skills to help us collectively improve our situation. We have to build trust among ourselves through working on teams that tackle specific issues. And we have to hold each other accountable to follow through on doing what we say we will do.
We have learned that setting up a cash waqf can help us solve many of the financial problems we are facing, and we want to try to set one up. Our intent is to use this shura to develop and implement a plan for using a cash waqf.
All stakeholders (founders, donors, beneficiaries, business owners, volunteer workers, advisors, etc.) are encouraged to actively participate in the shura as we carry out our work.
Context
From the first centries of Islam, the institution of waqf has widely played a vital role in the betterment of society. A waqf is generally considered to function like an endowment, which is an income or form of property given to someone or organization for a well-defined purpose.
Unlike the endowments that we might already know about, the income or property put in a waqf fund belongs to Allah. This means it is our responsibility to ensure that our waqf fund is designed, implemented and managed in a sustainable way.
We want to establish a cash waqf because of its natural flexibility and its ease of operation. Anyone can contribute any amount of money to a cash waqf fund.
Although we certainly would like to receive contributions from those who can give larger amounts of money, it is much more important to earn the trust of a growing number of donors without regard to the size of the individual gift.
Please review the attached article on the basic operation of the waqf system to get a historical perspective of its use.
Our objectives
The following list represents work habits and personal characteristics we hope to develop during our journey on this shura:
The core work in every shura
Crafting a good strategy and executing it is part of the core work in every shura.
When we use the word strategy we are referring to active problem solving.
So, for example, when a person starts a shura, she tries to provide an insightful context that helps participants understand the challenge being introduced.
This includes uploading as many relevant documents as needed to deepen everyone’s understanding.
Accurate and concise problem statement
Strategy begins here, with an accurate and concise problem statement description.
Once suitably informed, participants actively engage in dialogue to determine the best course of action to take. The focus is on trying to determine what is the most important part of the problem that needs the most attention.
Emphasis is on “most important.” The selected course of action guides all subsequent actions, ensuring that they reinforce each other. This is what adds strength to strategy.
Keep everyone informed
Then the work of the shura shifts to the Deliver phase. This is where all participants are expected to commit to entering and carrying out action steps that help accomplish objectives.
Only the important action steps should be entered. Even though some participants may think that every action step is important, they must be prioritized. The top priority steps are the most important.
As part of the strategy execution process, they must be entered before the task is performed.
This allows other participants to see what action steps are intended to be carried out. It helps inform them of the thinking that is behind the planned actions before actually using the time and resources to perform them.
Now comes the hardest part. We have to follow through on what we say we are going to do. And we need to hold everyone accountable.
All of this is what helps make a shura successful.
The person who starts the shura is called the shura initiator and is responsible for explaining the shura context and providing a timeline for completing its phases of activities. This information is displayed in the Overview section. All text in this section is indexed to optimize search results to make it easy for users to find your shura. So, be sure to include all the important keywords in this text.
Following this, the shura moves to the Discuss phase where all participants share their points of view on the issue as they recommend various courses of action to take. They are expected to provide evidence in the form of linked references or uploaded files to support their viewpoints.
After the discussion time period has ended, the shura moves to the Decide phase. Here is where each person selects their preferred course of action based on their best judgment. The ShuraForAll tool will compile selections and present the results to everyone. Once the course of action is agreed on, the shura effort moves to the Deliver phase.
This is where participants try to put the selected course of action into motion by setting objectives and carrying out action steps. Each person either joins an existing team or starts a new team and then performs the work. ShuraForAll charts the progress along the way, letting everyone know how things are going.
Each shura displays a set of metrics that inform all participants how things are going. Below each shura phase (Discuss, Decide, Deliver) icon is a score that indicates overall performance.
For the Discuss phase this metric is the ratio of the number of unique participants who have submitted at least one comment to the total number of participants in the shura.
For the Decide phase this metric is the ratio of the number of unique participants who have selected a preferred course of action to the total number of participants in the shura.
For the Deliver phase this metric is the ratio of the number of unique participants who have self-assigned at least one action step to the total number of participants in the shura.
As work is performed in the Deliver phase, the tool automatically calculates the Achieve Rate metric for each participant. This is a measure of completing the action steps that are given a higher weight or greater priority. A higher Achieve Rate indicates that the person is completing the more important action steps.
Since a participant can work on more than one team, the Achieve Rate is calculated in the context of work performed for each team, as shown below.
The Achieve Rate is also calculated as a composite score for all the participants who are working on a given team. This score is a measure of team performance.
Additionally, the Achieve Rate is calculated as a composite score for all the participants who are working on a given objective. This score is a measure of objective performance.
An example of objective level and team level performance Achieve Rate measures is displayed in the Shura Profile Report. This report is generated for each shura and is updated in real time as work is performed.
Both the Shura Profile and the My Profile Report can be produced by selecting each from the user menu.
An example of My Profile Report is shown below.
All reports represent progress made up to the point the report is produced.
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