Tag: Capacity Building
Capacity Building Consultancy Openings for African Feminists
Capacity Building Consultancy Openings for African Feminists
For the last decade AWDF has complemented its grant making support with capacity building activities to ensure that women’s rights organisations who receive grants from AWDF have the right skills sets, support and capacity to sustain their women’s rights work and organisations in Africa. AWDF applies different methodologies including feminist coaching and skills training in its capacity building activities and these have produced effective results over the years.
We are currently planning our Capacity Building training events for the year, and we are looking for high calibre professionals to support in the design and delivery of the following:
- Financial Management: Download TOR here
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning: Download TOR here
- Resource Mobilisation Strategies: Download TOR here
- Communications and Effective Advocacy: Download TOR here
- Rapporteurs: (On Hold)
While bilingual (English & French) professionals are preferred for these consultancies, candidates who can deliver the training in either English OR French are encouraged to apply. Fluency in Arabic would be an advantage.
For more details and mode of application, please click on any of the links above and download the Terms of Reference.
CLOSING DATE: 31st MARCH 2023
Call for Consultant: E-Learning for Capacity Building
Call for Consultant: E-Learning for Capacity Building
We’re looking for an African Feminist Consultant to support our virtual training.
The AWDF Capacity Building Unit is seeking an expert consultant to work under the supervision of the Director of Programmes and Capacity Building team to advise on the design, structuring and delivering of online trainings. As part of this we will be taking into account both the need to review training approaches in the online environment, consider implications for participants with disabilities, security and privacy, and also ease of access to virtual platforms given that many participants have difficulties with internet connectivity.
If you have a track record of work supporting activist NGOs to build online learning platforms and approaches and are committed to Feminist values, please contact us today! Click here for the Terms of Reference
Closing Date: 27th July 2020
Annual Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Development Bootcamp Report: 2015
Annual Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Development Bootcamp Report: 2015
Since 2013, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has been organising an Annual Resource Mobilisation Strategy Development Boot camp. During the boot camp, AWDF’s grantees are supported onsite to develop their Resource Mobilisation Strategies. The event which is now one of AWDF’s flagship capacity building activities has become popular with fundraisers within AWDF’s grantees as a critical step in developing their organisational financial sustainability. In September 2015, 15 fundraisers from 15 organisations from South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda participated in this year’s 4-day boot camp in Johannesburg, South Africa. This brings the total number of AWDF grantees who have participated in the annual boot camp to 56. All the 56 organisations now have Resource Mobilisation Strategies which they developed during the respective annual bootcamps.
You can find the full report below.
Tweets and Images from AWDF’s 3rd Resource Mobilisation Bootcamp in Johannesburg
Tweets and Images from AWDF’s 3rd Resource Mobilisation Bootcamp in Johannesburg
AWDF’s 4th CEO FORUM IN TWEETS AND PICTURES
AWDF’s 4th CEO FORUM IN TWEETS AND PICTURES
‘Results based programming: beyond the jargon’ by Dr. Awino Okech
‘Results based programming: beyond the jargon’ by Dr. Awino Okech
In 2013, I was leading a gender and peace building workshop in which the organisers intuitively built in institutional work as an essential part of creating peaceful and holistic societies. Organisations present were asked to look inward at their personal and institutional practices and values on gender. As part of institutional reflection, we invited three organisations in the host country to speak about the meaning of building gender equitable organisations. Two of the presenters highlighted their activities and achievements. The final presenter focused on the sweat, blood and tears that her organisation had gone through in its close to fifteen year journey of working to end gender based violence. She did this through illustrations[i] that highlighted six major moments in her organisation’s growth cycle.
It was a presentation that was cited repeatedly during the workshop because it did two things. First, it told the story behind the story. This is the story behind activities, staff qualifications, experience and strategic plans which could be found on the website but which do not tell us what it means to do the work and live the values. Second, it challenged the workshop participants who had hitherto declared that their organisations were very gender sensitive, to re-examine the true state of their institutions beyond the value statements on banners and websites.
What does the above have to do with results based programming (RBP)? RBP contains sometimes confusing terminology – outputs, outcomes, results, indicators and targets, which are accompanied by multiple ways of thinking, writing up and collecting evidence to support each. It is a received framework – World Bank derived – which makes institutions and individuals that want to build organic processes that speak to their contexts reluctant to use it.
However, in my view, RBP is simply a process that enables us to tell a compelling story about why we do the work we do. This is a story that does not start with the strategic plan, priority areas and activities, however critical they are in the later stages of an organisation’s planning process. It starts withcontinuous reflection on the vision for change we desire in our communities and why we are best positioned to deliver it. Second, RBP as a framework asks us to take a step back to assess whether the change we desire is supported by a sound analysis of the root causes of the problem and its current manifestations. Third, can aspects of the change we desire be achieved through the set of priorities we have identified and the constituencies we have targeted? Fourth are we realistic about our ability to deliver what we plan for with our communities. Fifth, how do we know when change is happening and our role in it?
In May 2014, at a workshop on RBP with twenty small to medium sized organisations that are AWDF grantees, 10 lessons emerged about the meaning of creating and articulating innovative programmes within our communities:
- Clarity: RBP terms can be confusing but it is a process that begins with clarity of purpose. We may all want “happy, healthy societies for women” – but each organisation wants it for a different reason. The need to be clear about what you believe “happy, health societies” will achieve and how you realistically propose to get there is an essential part of the programming journey. Clarity about who you are working with, where and why you are doing a specific activity/project/programme will make the process of planning for reporting and tracking much simpler especially when you are a small organisation
- Identifying our strengths: Most of our work is driven by compassion, personal experience and the failure of the state to deliver services amongst others factors. As a result, we do not create time to reflect on our capacity to drive the change we seek. It is important to identify where our strengths lie and build on those as well as identify our weaknesses and plan to improve on them. This process facilitates effective and efficient programmes and allows us to identify where additional resources need to go to in order to strengthen our organisations as vehicles for movement building.
- Root cause analysis: The absence of “happy, healthy societies” is caused by a number of factors, some of them decades in the making. Do we have a sense of what the causes are and the factors that prevent these causes from being resolved? Mapping our understanding of the state of affairs, why we believe it persists and how to transform it offers a good foundation for reviewing our journey towards changing the status quo. Sometimes, our analysis of root causes, are found in broad statements such as “poverty”, “lack of policies”, “culture”. While valid, it makes it difficult to make a case for how training 6,000 rural women in business skills in a remote village in Namibia will resolve poverty and the lack of enabling government policies in that village. Making a clear (even though life is complex) link between the activities you propose, your target groups and how the changes you envisage contribute to resolving what you have identified as the problem is a useful element of RBP.
- Responding to causes and consequences: How much of our work is geared towards dealing with the causes of the problem? How much work deals with the factors that sustain the problem? How much of our work responds to other things that are remotely related to the problem? Continuously developing clarity about how your work contributes to resolving the factors that cause as well as enable the problems you are responding to, facilitates a more thoughtful mapping of who else is working on the issue, why you need to work with them (and sometimes against them), at what level and how – as allies, influencers, power brokers, gate keepers and direct constituencies who sustain movements for change.
- The value of numbers: The pressure associated with raising funds to sustain organisations means that we articulate our work as sets of activities and the immediate results. We focus less on how those activities contribute to the broader change the organisations were set up to achieve. For example, a report that begins and ends with 6,000 women were trained in business skills, effectively shows how 5000USD was spent. However, when we think beyond shillings and cents, speaking about what why that training was useful in the first place is a more useful story about impact. Articulating the value of training 6,000 women and gathering evidence to show what the training has facilitated in real terms, is the next layer – medium term – of thinking about results within the RBP framework. How many of the women who were trained are using those skills, in what areas, with what effect on their livelihoods and that of their communities. RBP pushes us to think about the transformative intention of the numbers.
- Plan and write for you: when we are accountable to ourselves and not to the next reporting cycle that releases funds, then our commitment to planning for and reflecting on the work becomes part of movement building and creating institutional memory. The identification of sign posts of change – indicators, developing simple mechanisms to collect information regularly and building memory through reports, discussions, debates, videos, becomes part of a learning journey for the organization and not a process initiated for funders.
- Proof: There is immense anxiety around proving to donors that work is being done. When focus is placed on proving to donors, the last minute collection of proof to show impact follows. This proof is often in the form of quotations from beneficiaries – “we are very grateful for the training X gave us”, case studies and pictures. While all of this is important, this proof is often used for “show and tell” purposes. It is evidence that we were here and a workshop was done. It is proof that we met the Y ministers we said we would meet. The pictures and videos should not be seen as proof of work done but as the illustration of how the change (impact) process is unfolding.
- Honour the experiences: Always remember that one size does not fit all. Interventions and subsequent reporting mechanisms need to suit the constituencies you work with and honour their agency. While stories about an individual in a community are powerful, stories about communities and their journey with you are equally compelling. It enables us see the connections in peoples lives and the process of change. In the era of social media, we should not always be pressured to find the perfect quote that can be re-tweeted or blogged about. We must remain authentic to the essence of the message/story/testimonyshared with us. We are entrusted with stories by virtue of our work, honour them as part of us but also as part of the lives they speak about.
- Reflect and review: The process of implementing programmes and writing about failures and successes is ultimately a process about studying our environment and how it is adapting to and/or resisting change. Challenges and obstacles are an essential part of understanding the environments we operate in, the new dynamics that shape our work and the lives of our constituents. Do not lose the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of those challenges in order to emphasize how successful you are. Challenges enable us review our approach to the change (impact) journey and keep us alert to mapping the state of affairs, our responses and the new barriers that block change.
- The soul: Always remember the passion and purpose that drove the work when it all begun. Organisations must grow, however, it is important to focus on what you know best and strengthen how you deliver it in response to new challenges and innovations. The pressure to take on new areas of work because of funding opportunities should not drive how our movements grow. Always remember the story behind the story. The spirit that started the journey.
[i]Start and launch; grow and deliver; delegate and evaluate; specialize and control; renew and rebuild; envision and commit
Dr. Awino Okech is a programme development and management specialist with 10 years experience in the delivery of social justice programming in Eastern Africa and the Great Lakes region.
Idilmat workshop: Foundations of Public Finance Management (PFM) – September 2-6, 2013.
Idilmat workshop: Foundations of Public Finance Management (PFM) – September 2-6, 2013.
[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]Idilmat workshop: Foundations of Public Finance Management (PFM) – September 2-6, 2013.
This 5-day professional development workshop is for people with little or no background in PFM and provides a useful basis to think, analyse and meaningfully discuss PFM issues. Workshop participants will learn to:
Understand PFM through basic analytical frameworks – based on the objectives of sound PFM: fiscal discipline, allocation efficiency and technical efficiency.
Understand the complex nature of PFM reform – the political dimension, the macro-economic context, the legal and regulatory framework, the institutional framework, etc
Appreciate the rationale for the different aid modalities adopted by Development Partners
Understand elements of revenue management and debt management
Be able to question the relevance of some popularly promoted PFM reforms such as performance budgeting, activity based budgeting, IFMIS and public private partnerships
A detailed course description can be found here
The workshop fee is $2,300 including VAT/NHIL. A discount/flexible payment options are available to anyone who is interested in attending.
For more detail please email client.services@idilmat.com or call 0266 173 403.[/tp]
[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]L’atelier Idilmat: Foundations of Public Finance Management (PFM) – 2-6 Septembre 2013.
Cet atelier d’entrainement professionnel de 5 jours est fait pour les personnes ayant peu ou pas de bagage en GFP et leur fournit une base utile de réflexion, d’analyse et permet de parler efficacement de problèmes rencontrés.
Les participants à l’atelier apprendront à:
Apprendre la GFP à travers un cadre analytique basique – sur la base des objectifs de la GFP sonore: la discipline budgétaire, l’efficacité de l’allocation et l’efficacité technique.
Comprendre la nature complexe de la réforme de la GFP – la dimension politique, le contexte macro-économique, le cadre juridique et réglementaire, le cadre institutionnel, etc.
Appréciez la justification des différentes modalités d’aide adoptées par les partenaires au développement
Comprendre les éléments de la gestion des recettes et la gestion de la dette
Être en mesure de remettre en question la pertinence de certaines réformes de la GFP populairement promus tels que la budgétisation de la performance, la budgétisation axée sur l’activité, SIGEFI et des partenariats public-privé
Un programme dédaillé des cours peut-être trouvé: ici
Les frais de l’atelier sont $ 2,300 TTC / NHIL. Un rabais / des options flexibles de paiement sont disponibles pour quiconque est intéressé à participer.
Pour plus de détails veuillez envoyer un mail à client.services@idilmat.com ou appelez le 0266 173 403.[/tp]
Remarks by Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin during the ACBF/AWDF grant renewal ceremony
Remarks by Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin during the ACBF/AWDF grant renewal ceremony
It is always a joy to come to the house of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) This is because whenever we come, it is about something to do with women, particularly in terms of advancing our commitment to improving our own well-being and that of several generations of girls and women to come. Today is no exception: from 2006, AWDF obtained a grant from the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) to strengthen the institutional capacities of AWDF and many of our organizations that are grantees of AWDF. If we are here today to sign another contract under Phase II, which is about extending the facility once again over a four year period, then we can celebrate our success and affirm that AWDF has been able to do what it set out to do when it requested for the grant. And indeed that, it has been impactful, hence the decision to upscale.
We do not have to go far to speak about what the grant has meant for our organisations. A week ago today, I was with a number of community groups in Liberia organising a workshop. One of the participants from one of the counties came to me during one of the breaks and asked earnestly: “Do you know this organization called AWDF? It is based in Accra, you know”. I said “Yes, I know AWDF”. She continued, “Well my organization has benefitted from them. Infact they are the only organization that we have had funds from for two consecutive years. The funds have really helped us to reach out and build the capacity of women in our community”
Statements like this are reassuring in the context we find ourselves in as women’s organizations operating in a harsh neo-liberal economic policy framework and in the wake of a global economic and financial crisis. Growing inequalities and unregulated finances are affecting poor women and men everywhere from securing their fair share in the benefits of global prosperity. If this trend continues, our children in Africa will inherit the burden of the devastation we have created in this world. As such, the promise of universal dignity brought by human rights and women’s rights has to be enforced, and the rights of future generations need to be recognized and properly defended. That is where AWDF comes in through recognizing and supporting the creativity and energies of different classes of women in all countries of Africa. Women located in the remotest corners of our various countries in Africa, and who would never have had a chance to contribute to the well-being of other women, are now able to do so with the support of AWDF.
An essential element in ensuring the substantive implementation of any international agreement is adequate financial and political support. Despite globally agreed commitments, gender equality and women’s empowerment are rarely high priorities on national development plans. In these times of global economic crisis, state actors are steadily stepping back from international commitments to women’s rights and gender equality by citing the cost of meeting those commitments. In the face of such arguments that justice and equality are too expensive, it is important that women’s oganisations are able to hold governments accountable to their mandate and demand justice and equality even when those goals are seen by them as antagonistic to so-called market growth and productivity. This clearly underscores the importance of ACBF funds for credible institutions like the AWDF.
Recent research by AWID (2006) has provided in-depth insights into the experiences of local women’s organizations. Responses from over a thousand respondents worldwide show that, many women’s organizations are struggling to secure funds to sustain their core activities. Among the key findings of the research are the following:
- Most women’s organizations are small: two thirds of organizations sampled had an annual budget of less than 50,000 US dollars
- In 2005 a total of 729 women’s organizations had a total income of 79 million US dollars worldwide
- More than half the respondents surveyed are receiving less funding than in 2000: 67% of the respondents said they find it more difficult to raise funds than five years ago, with only 16% finding it easier, and over half of the organizations having to use more staff and resources for fundraising efforts
- On average many organizations also said they would need twice their budgets to be able to do all they wanted to in 2006. Unfortunately, many funders and organizations are usually locked in a vicious circle, as women’s groups are seen as not having the capacity to absorb additional finds, and are therefore not funded, even though additional funds could actually enhance their capacity to expand.
It is in this respect that we need to ensure the availability of funds for civil society and women’s organizations to continue to thrive. Advocating on behalf of women, the poor and excluded groups must continue and this requires a continued building of the capacity of our various institutions to engage effectively in policy dialogue, implementation and monitoring, as well as an understanding of the changing aid and policy making environment. We need to also seek opportunities for regional and international collaboration and obtain funds from a wide range of sources to support our activities so we can remain active, accountable and responsive to the constituents we have committed ourselves to representing.
Our effectiveness as women’s organizations is premised on how we are able to deliver on critical issues of concern to our constituents, women; and to have thriving independent funding institutions such as the AWDF which can support such initiatives that can hold our governments accountable to their mandates.
Support from the ACBF to the AWDF is therefore invaluable and we are looking forward to Phase III, four years on, when we will return here to celebrate our success and sign another contract for more funds to strengthen our capacities further! We know the ACBF recognizes that women’s rights and gender equality work is long term, and that they are committed to being with us for as long as it takes to achieve justice, fairness and equality in Africa.
Thank you.
African Capacity Building Foundation signs second phase grant with the African Women’s Development Fund
African Capacity Building Foundation signs second phase grant with the African Women’s Development Fund
Please find PDF of press release AWDF PRESS RELEASE_FINAL (23-02-12)
African Capacity Building Foundation signs second phase grant with the African Women’s Development Fund to upscale women’s participation in policy development and implementation on the continent
African Capacity Building Foundation signs second phase grant with the African Women’s Development Fund to upscale women’s participation in policy development and implementation on the continent
Press Release
Immediate
Website: http://www.acbf-pact.org
African Capacity Building Foundation signs second phase grant with the African Women’s Development Fund to upscale women’s participation in policy development and implementation on the continent
Accra, 23 February 2012 (ACBF) – The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) today signed a US$ 2.73 million grant with the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) in Accra. The second phase funding will promote the economic empowerment and political participation of women in Africa, by strengthening AWDF’s institutional and human capacity and increasing the institutional capacity of African Women Organizations to engage effectively on issues of women’s human rights and development in Africa. This follows a successful first phase of US$1 million, which ended in December 2011.
Women and girls constitute over 51% of Africa’s 850 million people. In Sub-Saharan Africa over 70% of the poor are women currently living below the World Bank’s poverty headcount ratio of US$2 per day. According to the 2010 UN progress report on the achievement of the MDGs, although, gender parity has been achieved or is close to being achieved at primary school level in over two-thirds of African countries, Africa has the lowest female literacy rate in the world. Much remains to be done at secondary and tertiary levels. Maternal mortality also remains higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to affect more women than men in most African countries, with women accounting for 60% of new infections. Women also have a harder time finding jobs in environments where there are few opportunities due to job rationing with preference going to men.
Against this challenging background some progress has been made regarding the development of women’s organizations working to promote gender equality and women’s rights in various parts of Africa. These organizations are considered as key drivers in efforts to attain gender equality and end discriminatory and exclusionary practices against women.
Capacity for women’s organisations to deliver on all fronts remains thin and further investment is needed in order to realize women’s human rights and development. Several constraints remain for these organisations, including poor ability to build their own dynamic capacity and ensure they are sustainable in the long term. Other challenges include unstable financing, the constant need to build strategic movement, and the need for conceptual clarity, as well as addressing ideological differences and poor employment opportunities.
Speaking at the Grant signing ceremony, ACBF Executive Secretary, Dr. Frannie Léautier highlighted that ACBF recognizes the importance of equal participation of both women and men in the development and implementation of policies, and the continuous need for capacity development in this area. She said: “It has become evident over time that where women have access to education, economic assets or live free of conflict there is a reduction in poverty levels. At ACBF, we have embarked on our third strategic medium term plan. The strength of this plan lies in the Foundation’s ability to strengthen partnerships with institutions such as the AWDF, where work on gender and women is continentally focussed. This allows the Foundation to have a wider reach, and to also make a larger contribution to the capacity strengthening of women’s organizations”.
She added that through such partnerships there is a shared responsibility to achieve results and develop a critical mass of skilled women to deal with gender issues at national levels, while also focussing on policy and implementation at regional and global levels.
This second phase funding will enable AWDF to innovate through their various platforms and fora to engage fully in the development discourse of women on the continent.”
In her address, AWDF’s Interim Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Theo Sowa said: “We welcome the grant from ACBF to AWDF of 2.7 million dollars over a four-year period but what we appreciate more is the way in which that grant is framed. ACBF is giving AWDF the opportunity to both strengthen our core capacity and to reach out to the various women’s organisations we partner with to strengthen their capacities. This is a wonderful opportunity and one for which ACBF should be praised. Only too often, donors focus on projects, wanting organisations to deliver results on the ground without taking into consideration the need for organisations to be strong and sustainable themselves, if they are to deliver on results. ACBF recognises this and makes its funding available in such a way as to strengthen organisational capacity, sustainability and therefore strengthen the impact of programmes on the ground.”
The implementation of the second phase of this project, which runs from 2011-2015 holds significance, as this period coincides with international and sub-regional benchmarks, such as the African Union Decade for Women, the 15 year review of the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, including those covering gender, and the review of progress under the SADC Gender and Development Protocol by 2015.
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About the African Capacity Building Foundation
ACBF was established in February 1991. It is the outcome of collaboration between African governments and the international donor community. Its mission is to build sustainable human and institutional capacity for sustainable growth and poverty reduction in Africa. ACBF’s vision is for Africa to be recognized for its socio-political and economic capabilities and endowments – a continent with effective institutions and policies acquired through sustained investment in people and institutions. The Foundation is a leader, major partner and centre of excellence for capacity building in Africa.
The African Union currently serves as an Observer on the ACBF Board of Governors.
For further information on ACBF, please contact:
c.noumon@acbf-pact.org
African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
PO Box 1562, Harare
ZIMBABWE
Tel: + 263 4 700208/210
About the African Women’s Development Fund
Since the start of operations in 2001, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has blazed a trail for women’s rights and philanthropy across the African continent. AWDF has provided US$19 million in grants to 800 women’s organizations in 42 African countries. AWDF’s grant making processes are uniquely designed to meet the needs of African women and include the provision of small grants ($1000-$5000) to community-based organizations, main grants (up to $50,000), capacity building support and a strong focus on movement building.
For further information on AWDF, please contact:
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah (Programme Officer for Communications)
Tel: +233 302 521 257
Email: nana@africlub.net/awdf
Website: www.africlub.net/awdf