How Country Offices Work

We keep the core structure of Social Income country offices the same everywhere we operate. This consistency ensures our work is transparent, reliable, and trustworthy.

Scaling for us means doing the basics well, again and again. We learn from every program and every country, apply what works best consistently, and stay focused on our mission: reaching as many people living in poverty as possible.

See where we aim to scale next and which countries are already on our roadmap:

Where Do We Expand Next?

von Sandino Scheidegger (Journal Article)

How Social Income is Organized

Social Income follows a simple structure. A global team of volunteers, organized as a non-profit association registered in Switzerland. This structure keeps tools and workflows aligned across countries. Country offices run programs locally as independent, registered legal entities and are supported by the global team. 

This setup allows us to operate with low overhead costs, allowing us to direct as much funding as possible to people in need.

What a Country Office Does

The person/s running the country office lead the local setup and daily operations, supported by additional staff as the program grows. Key responsibilities include:

• Managing local partnerships: Assess and maintain relationships with program partners

• Managing recipients: Handle onboarding and offboarding, surveys, workshops, payment confirmations, and special support cases

• Coordinating financial operations: Work with local banks and mobile money providers, serving as the link to the global team

• Communicating and collaborating: Maintain regular exchanges with other country offices and the global team

The global team develops and maintains the digital platform, finances and fundraises for local programs, while handling core administration tasks such as payments and reporting. The support from the global team keeps bureaucracy light so country teams can focus on running programs well.

Legal Framework of a Country Office

Each country office is established as a legal entity in line with local laws and regulations. Where appropriate, we seek official non-profit or NGO status, while keeping the setup lean with low overhead costs to ensure legitimacy, transparency, and local alignment.

Financial Framework of a Country Office

The country office budget has two main components: staff costs and operational costs. Staff costs scale with the number of active recipients, while operational costs primarily scale with the number of local program partners.

1. Staff costs

The number of recipients determines both the size of the local team and the monthly compensation per staff member. Based on our experience in Sierra Leone, up to 100 recipients typically require a part time role of 1 to 2 days per week. Workload peaks usually occur before and after payment dates.

Staff salaries are adjusted to local living costs, using the same calculations we apply to transfer amounts for recipients. Operational costs move with the same logic as recipient support.

We use a scaling factor approach: Sierra Leone serves as the baseline (factor = 1), and other countries are scaled relative to this baseline. The current monthly salary per staff member in Sierra Leone starts at USD 110 for a part time role. Country offices asked for a way to reward staff who stay with us, so the salary grows by USD 5 a month for every year worked. USD 110 is a starting salary, not a fixed one.

Example: If the transfer value in a country is 1.3 × Sierra Leone, staff salaries are multiplied by 1.3 to reflect local living costs.

This ensures fair compensation for staff while keeping budgets proportional to local conditions and program size.

2. Operational budget

The operational budget consists of two parts: a core operational budget and an additional operational budget.

Core operational budget

The core operational budget is determined by the number of local program partners. For each local program partner with at least one active recipient, the country office may allocate up to USD 100 for operational expenses per year.

This budget is intended to cover local partner management, including visits to local program partners and recipients, as well as representational and relationship-building activities. 

Country offices have full discretion in how this budget is used, without prior approval, provided that all expenses are properly documented and publicly reported, and any carry-overs are justified.

You can find the ongoing list of operational budget spending for Sierra Leone here:

Operation Budgets of Country Offices

von Social Income (Financial Transparency)

Additional operational budget

Country offices may request additional funds for recipient workshops, up to USD 10 per recipient. A short concept and proposal must be submitted first for approval.

Collaboration Framework of a Country Office

Country offices are expected to participate in several regular meetings to ensure coordination and knowledge sharing:

• Weekly check-in meeting (15min)

• Monthly cross-country exchange

• Monthly big circle meeting (townhall) with all volunteers (1h)

• Quarterly finance meeting (optional but recommended)

• Annually local program partner meeting in each country (organized by country office)

If you’re interested in opening a country office, we’d love to hear from you. Please also take a moment to read our article on where we plan to expand in the future.