FINAL REPORT: DEMOCRACY SMALL GRANT FOR THE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 001280 SIPDIS FOR NEA/PD: MQUINN AND JDAVIES, NEA/RA, NEA/ARP: TROBERTS, NEA/PD: PAGNEW E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM KPAO AFIN KWMN PHUM YM DEMOCRATIC REFORM SUBJECT: FINAL REPORT: DEMOCRACY SMALL GRANT FOR THE SOCIETY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDERN DEVELOPMENT, SOUL REF: A) STATE 187026 B) SANAA 5295 ¶1. The Society for the Development of Women and Children SOUL has concluded its training project titled "Institutional NGOs Capacity Building" This project was performed in three phases: The first phase was the institutional assessment of local organizations to be selected for the training. The second was the implementation of the training program. The third phase was the follow up process for targeted NGOs ¶2. SOUL's team carried out institutional assessment of NGOs in seven governorates to assess the situation & training needs of Yemeni local NGOs. Outcomes of assessment were used by SOUL & PAS to select potential organization in the targeted governorates. According to a set of criteria agreed in advance, 40 NGOs in all governorates were nominated for assessment; but 10 NGOs only were selected for the training. This phase took approximately one month and half. This phase incorporated the following procedures: Development a questionnaire for assessment Identification the targeted governorates by PAS & SOUL Suggestion criteria of selecting NGOs By PAS & SOUL Identification the indicators and the weights of NGOs institutional assessment Communication offices of Ministry of Social Affairs and SOUL to get lists of NGOs in each governorates Conducting the institutional assessment for targeted NGOs Sorting the overall questionnaires using the specified indictors & weights Selection the potential NGOS SOUL & PAS representative nominated NGOs from seven governorates: Sana'a, Amran, Sada'a, Aljawof, Hadramout, Shabwa & Marib. PAS worked with the SOUL team to put emphasis on 'quality' as the foremost merit of the project; thus a number of procedures were integrated throughout the project's implementation process to ensure this value. ¶3. The training commenced on September 27,2003 and continued to October 9,2003. This 2- week training incorporated three main issues: NGO management, personnel skills & developing a project proposal. It was implemented via the following methods: ¶1. Giving theoretical background of the subjects ¶2. Holding workshops & group discussions ¶3. Conducting a role play ¶4. Arranging for field visit to SOUL ¶5. Inviting some international NGO representatives as guest speakers to talk about their experience in Yemen, from local & donor NGOs ¶6. Pre-training evaluation for participants on each subject ¶7. Post-training evaluation for participants on each completed subject at the end of each training day The training focused on the application method more than theoretical method. In addition, participants were asked to prepare project proposals and look for funding agencies with SOUL's cooperation. ¶4. The last step was the follow up or post -training evaluation of trained NGOs. This step was set up from November 20- December 15, 2003. While the training program was implemented, the participants were asked to prepare a plan of action through which the evaluator could assess the advantages that the participants got from the training as well as the improvement that took place in the organization. The Follow-up & Evolution Phase (FEP) aimed to assess the participants benefits from training course. Furthermore, it aimed to follow the implementation of the plan of actions developed by participants during the training After the process of NGOs evaluation, the evaluator came up with the inal ranking for the NGOs based on the extent of benefit, application of the plan of actions, and improvement in the NGOs' performance. HULL ¶5. Evaluation Outcomes: Through the process of evaluation for the NGOs, a number of observations appeared as follows: Only 8 NGOs out of 10 were visited and evaluated. One of the organizations "Abraad Environment Protection " did not attend the training course and "The Yemen Women Media Forum" was in the process of finding an office for their activities, therefore evaluation process was postponed. Participants got benefit from the training demonstrated in their work A number of NGOs rely on determent persons that a situation threaten the sustainability of the NGO Most NGOs perform charitable activities through the whole year Most NGOs have no filling system so that it was hard to promptly get information Most NGOs have no an accounting records for s for financial transactions as well as no financial systems Most NGOs have no stable financial resources in order to continue achieving their objectives