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FUNDRAISING AND MONITORING AND EVALUATION
TRAINING REPORT
MANHATTAN SUITES HOTEL, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
1-3 September, 2009
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Opening Remarks
1.3 Expected Outcomes
1.4 Methodology
2.0 Training content
3.0 Conclusion and Way Forward
Programme Agenda
List of Participants
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
The West Africa Civil Society Institute in collaboration with the Coalition de la Société
Civile pour la Paix et le Développement Démocratique en Cote d’Ivoire (COSOPCI) and La
Convention de la Société Civile Ivoirienne (CSCI) supported by the Open Society
Initiative for West Africa organised a specialised training workshop on “Fundraising and
Monitoring and Evaluation” for civil society organisations in Cote d’Ivoire. The overall
objective of the workshop was to strengthen the capacity of civilian actors to raise funds
on a sustainable basis and proffer skills that will enable them professionally assess the
efficiency, effectiveness and impact of their projects/interventions and organisational
performance. The meeting attracted 26 participants drawn from two civil society
coalitions.
1.1 Objectives
The specific objectives of the workshop were:
To deliver contextual knowledge and skills to trainees concerning the planning, strategising and implementation of their fundraising objectives;
To identify funding sources and the appropriate techniques to secure funds from donors and philanthropists;
To help trainees understand the fundamentals of designing and implementing a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system for a project or an organisation; and
To provide a comprehensive overview of a sample of M&E tools, methods, and approaches, including their purpose.
1.2 Opening Remarks (Ms. Thelma Ekiyor, Executive Director, WACSI) The Executive Director introduced WACSI as the institution that conceptualised the
project and an implementing partner. Ms.Thelma Ekiyor remarked that the programme
had been possible because of support from OSIWA. Ms. Ekiyor emphasized the
importance of actors building their fundraising skills to strengthen the resource
mobilisation capacities of their various organisations. The Executive Director concluded
by stating that the course will help civil society actors to raise resources for their
organisations and encouraged participants to commit to replicating the training within
the civil society sector in Cote d’Ivoire.
1.3 Expected Outcomes
Increased understanding of major trends in fundraising; Enhanced knowledge of project proposal techniques and skills; Improvement of CSO capacity to design a Monitoring and Evaluation system for a
project or an institution; and Improved capacity to act on information that emanates out of the analysis of data
collected.
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1.4 Methodology The training workshop was delivered using interactive, learner-centered methods, audio visual tools, experiential learning, and practical exercises. Participants were encouraged to use real life experiences to address fundraising and proposal writing challenges.
1.5 Target Audience
Executive Directors of NGOs, Faith Based Organisations, CBOs and Coalitions in Cote
d’Ivoire
2.0 TRAINING CONTENT
Essentials of Project Management and Development
This session introduces the trainees to the concept of project management and helps users develop understanding and skills in project cycle management concepts and practices. The project cycle is very important concept for civil society actors. All the steps of the project should be considered in order to reach the objectives of the organisation. A project should be conceptualised from its identification to its implementation phase. A good project management requires funds. It is the reason why having a fundraising strategy is essential for the effective management of a project. Management concepts and practices were discussed in this section of the workshop for the trainee to learn the basic tools needed to help manage their organisations and reach their expected objectives. GROUP EXERCISE 1: Who are your stakeholders? List your internal and external stakeholders?
Stakeholders are defined as the parties who affect or are affected by the CSO project. They can be individuals, groups, a community or an institution, all those with an interest in the organisation and its activities. Internal stakeholders include employees, managers, and owners/shareholders while external stakeholders include people or organisations that willingly support the organisation. For an organisation to grow, it should know the different stakeholders that directly or indirectly influence the organisation. The participation of the stakeholders is very important in the running of an organisation. It brings about effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, transparency and accountability. The involvement of the stakeholders in the management of the organisation improves the quality of the work in the organisation.
Feedback from Trainees Initially, the majority of the participants were not able to distinguish between their internal and external stakeholders. The exercise helped the participants have a better understanding of their internal and external stakeholders. As a result, the topic was a new point of learning.
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Conceptualising Fundraising
The objective of this session was to introduce users to the concept and definition of
fundraising and to help them explore the types of fundraising, ethical issues and the
fundraising process. Fundraising is the process of soliciting and gathering money or
other gifts in kind, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable
foundations, or governmental agencies. Fundraising is a significant way that CSOs may
obtain funds for their operations.
These operations can involve a very broad array of concerns such as religious or
philanthropic groups such as policy and research organisations, public broadcasters, and
political campaigns. Some examples of charitable organisations include student
scholarship merit awards for academic achievement, humanitarian concerns, disaster
relief, human rights, research, and other. Fundraising is necessary for any organisation
to develop. Thus, there is a need to understand the process and strategy of fundraising.
A nonprofit approach helps people to show integrity in fundraising for the development
of the organisations.
GROUP EXERCISE 2: What do you need funds for?
Community Based Organisations (CBOs) often use fundraising revenue to support the recruitment and training of volunteers, office maintenance and activity buildings, keep membership and participation fees low, and provide services to the community.
Feedback from Trainees Participants could not explain the reason why they were sourcing for funding. Their answers were vague, undefined, and unconvincing. Also the trainees couldn’t adequately articulate their thoughts in a coherent and purposeful manner. Examples of phrases used in their proposals included: “We need funds to implement the project activities, to reinforce women’s capacities, to
get women involved in the socioeconomic development of the country”. “Need money for training of local communities on specific topics related to their
domain of intervention”. “Sensitization of the local communities”. After the training, participants had a clearer understanding of project proposal writing techniques.
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GROUP EXERCISE 3: Donor and funders that give you money, have rights as it relates to
your organisation. What are those rights?
Feedback from Group Exercise Most of the trainees were not able to list the rights of the funders related to their organisations. In addition, they were surprised to know that donors have rights on the management of their organisation. After the training, the participants were able to state the rights of partners related to their organisations. For example, - the donors should have access to the organisation’s most recent financial statements. - They should be assured that the given funds will be used for the stated purposes; make sure that information about their donation is handled with respect. Developing a Fundraising Strategy
The purpose of this session was to guide participants in formulating a written fundraising strategy document and be able to design an action, increase their chances of success and remember their goals and be able to spot potential links. GROUP EXERCISE 4: Classification of the group projects into the failed one and the
succeeded projects
This exercise was done by classifying accepted and rejected proposals written by
participants. It revealed that, these proposals were not clear and convincing. The
outcome of the exercise was to analyse the characteristics of successfully funded project
proposals.
Current position
Future plans
Retaining existing income
Options appraisal
Actions
Resources
Targets
Feedback From The Group Work
The participants were pleased to learn of the different processes of fund raising
strategies. They recognised the weaknesses that prevented them from obtaining funding.
For example their primary objectives of sourcing for funds were not well specified. A
group of participants remarked that through this training, they have now come to realize
the reason why their proposals have often been rejected because their fundraising
strategies have been weak.
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Media and Fundraising
The objective of this session was to provide participants with an insight into using media
for fundraising purposes and help actors understand how media fundraising works. The
media helps to increase the organisation’s chances of success. An organisation can build
its own branded fundraising page linked to their website. This will help the donors to
know better the organisation and fund the project if they find it relevant.
GROUP EXERCISE 5: Knowledge through media
According to the resource person, the best way to make online fundraising available to
their organizations’ fundraising team is to “Create a fundraising page” link on an
organisation’s web site’s “How to help” section. An organisation can build its own
branded fundraising page linked to the website.
Feedback from Trainees
The participants had not understood prior to this workshop the importance of media in
the process of fundraising. They appreciated the resource persons’ determination to
provide them all the necessary media tools to help them strengthen their fundraising
strategies.
Effective Fundraising in the CSO Sector
This session offered contextual knowledge on fundraising in the CSO sector and also teaches trainees the steps for effective donor/philanthropic fundraising. Fundraising is a difficult work but important and rewarding for an organisation. Therefore it requires the participation of all in the civil society sector. Effective fundraising requires discipline and hard work. Successful fundraising programmes will have a calendar of planned activities, clearly laid out areas of responsibility and preparation of necessary resources and materials.
Understanding Funding Environment, Donors And Philanthropists
The overall objective of the session is to proffer knowledge to trainees on the various sources of funding and to teach trainees how to engage donors/philanthropists.
Practical Session: Project Proposal Writing
The objective of this session was to define the structure of a project proposal and its main elements. It provided guidance on the process of developing project proposals and teaches trainees how to structure a good project proposal.
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GROUP EXERCISE 6: Formulate a project proposal
From the proposals formulated by trainees, it appeared that most trainees had difficulties with formulating good project proposals. It was noticed that:
Due to the numerous objectives, the funders doubt the objectivity of the organisations;
The titles of the projects were vague; and
Intervention areas were too broad.
Feedback from Trainees
The participants were amazed to discover new techniques of writing project proposals through a rigorous methodology. For most of the participants, this exercise strengthened their writing skills. A group of participants remarked that a new learning point was realising that even the formulation of the project name must be precise to avoid confusion.
3.0 MONITORING AND EVALUATION The Role and the Importance of Monitoring and Evaluation
The participants must be able to integrate monitoring and evaluation as an essential
working tool in the daily management of their organisations, their projects and
programme for development.
Monitoring is the regular, systematic, collection and analysis of information related to a
planned and agreed programme of action. This provides evidence of the extent to which
the programme is being delivered as intended, meeting its targets and making progress
towards the achievement of its objectives. As far as evaluation is concerned, it is the
process of undertaking a systematic and objective examination of monitoring
information in order to answer agreed questions and make judgments on the basis of
agreed criteria. Concerns may relate to the efficiency, effectiveness, impact and
sustainability of an organisation or programme. The intention is not simply to assess
what impacts have occurred, but what lessons can be learnt and how the programme
might be improved.
GROUP EXERCISE 7: How to address the weakness and the threat and to strengthen the
forces and the identified opportunities?
This exercise enlightened participants on how to address the challenges that their
organisations faced in monitoring their projects. It also helped to improve the
monitoring and evaluation of their organisations.
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Feedback from Trainees
The participants learnt that to address institutional weaknesses, they should be able to
state the short, middle and long term objectives of their organisations. This would help:
Obtain requisite information for effective management of projects; and
Determine the different stages of designing and implementing monitoring and
evaluation systems.
The Conceptual Framework of Monitoring and Evaluation
Through the workshop, the participants should be able to determine the short term,
middle term and long term objectives of the projects/programme as well as the criteria
to gauge these objectives. The participants will also be able to state the necessary
information for effective and efficient of project or a programme management. The
session also highlights the main process of designing and implementing an M&E system.
Designing and Implementing a Monitoring and Evaluation System
The main objective of this section is to strengthen the participants’ ability to design and
implement an M&E system.
Writing and Presentation of an M&E Report
The M&E report must be explicit and make the important points clear and obvious. An
M&E presentation utilizes visual tools like graphs and diagrams and verbal strategies if
necessary when communicating to beneficiary constituents. This session and a
subsequent exercise revealed some weakness in the organisations of the trainees.
Inadequate knowledge of the methods of monitoring and evaluation; Lack of qualified human resource in trainee organisations to conduct project
monitoring; Lack of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; Insufficient documentation of project effects and impacts; and Difficulties in the designing organisational strategic plans.
Feedback from Trainees
The participants remarked that they have learnt new ways of writing M&E reports. This
exercise helped them to know the weaknesses of their different organisations in writing
and presenting monitoring and evaluation reports. A participant stated that, “Our
organisations are not effective and efficient. This specialised training will help us
professionalise our structures”.
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CONCLUSION AND RECCOMENDATIONS
The Executive Director of WACSI thanked the participants for participating in the
training and for hosting WACSI and OSIWA. At the end of the workshop certificates were
given to the trainees acknowledging their active participation in the training course. In
addition, the trainees were given a bilingual toolkit for utilisation as a reference
document and a training tool. The workshop was jointly facilitated by WACSI and OSIWA
resource persons.
The following key recommendations emanated from the workshop:
Civil society institutions should have monitoring and evaluation systems to strengthen the impact of their interventions;
Civil society should explore avenues of self-financing a greater percentage of their activities to prevent excessive influence from donors;
More targeted trainings should be organised for CSOs in these areas as the challenges addressed in the course are common to most civil society organisations;
CSOs should build their fundraising skills in order to attract substantial funding from donors;
Institutional building training interventions such as corporate governance should be organised for civil society actors in Cote d’Ivoire; and
The fundraising and monitoring and evaluation course should be extended to other francophone countries.
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PROGRAMME AGENDA
DAY 1
TIME
ACTIVITY
OFFICER RESPONSIBLE
8:30-9:30 Arrival & Introduction of Resource Persons and
Participants
WACSI
COSOPCI
CSCI
9:30-10:30
Essentials of Project Management and
Development
WACSI
10:30-11:00
TEA BREAK
WACSI
11:00-11:20
Conceptualising Fundraising
WACSI
11:20-1:00
Developing a Fundraising Strategy
WACSI
1:00-2:00
LUNCH BREAK
WACSI
2:00-2:20
Practical Exercise
WACSI
2:20-3:00
Media and Fundraising
WACSI
3: 00-3:45
Effective Fundraising In the CSO Sector
WACSI
3:45-4:15
TEA BREAK
WACSI
4:15 – 4:30
Practical Exercise
WACSI
4:30-5:00
Understanding funding environment, donors and
philanthropists
WACSI
End of day 1
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DAY 2
TIME
ACTIVITY
OFFICER RESPONSIBLE
8:30-10:00
Project Proposal Writing
WACSI
10:00-10:30
TEA BREAK
WACSI
10:30-11:00
Monitoring And Evaluation Theories And
Processes
OSIWA
11:00-12:30
Techniques For Planning For Monitoring And
Evaluation
OSIWA
12:30-1:00
Practical Exercise
OSIWA
1:00-2:00
LUNCH BREAK
WACSI
2:00-3:00
Tools, Methods And Approaches For Monitoring
And Evaluation
OSIWA
3:00-3:30
Practical Exercise
OSIWA
3:30-3:50
TEA BREAK
WACSI
3:50-4:30
Designing A Monitoring And/Or Evaluation
Process
OSIWA
4:30-5:00
Practical Exercise
OSIWA
END OF DAY 2
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DAY 3
TIME
ACTIVITY
OFFICER RESPONSIBLE
8:30 – 10:00
Collecting, analysing and reporting Information
OSIWA
10:00-10:30
TEA BREAK
WACSI
10:30-10:50
Practical Exercise
OSIWA
10:50-11:50
Case Studies on monitoring and evaluation
OSIWA
11:50-1:00
Monitoring and Evaluation Challenges
OSIWA
1:00-2:00
LUNCH BREAK
WACSI
2:00-3:00
Closing Ceremony
WACSI, COSOPCI
CSCI
END OF DAY 3
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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
No. Name Position Organisation Address
1. TRAORE Wodjo Fini Coordonnateur Général Coalition de la Société Civile pour la Paix et le Développement Démocratique en Cote d’Ivoire (COSOPCI)
2. BAMBA Sindou Coordonnateur Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains (RAIDH)
3. Mme TRAORE née KONE Ktiengyo Nathalie
Coordinatrice Nationale Forum de la Société Civile de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (FOSCAO CI) II Plateaux Cité 246 logements Villa N° 21 14 BP 1928 Abidjan 14
4. Ali OUATTARA Président
Coalition Ivoirienne pour la Cour Pénale Internationale (CICPI) BP 1305 CIDEX 1 Abidjan 06
[email protected] [email protected]
5. Mme BITTY KOUYATE Christiane
Présidente Women In Law and Development in Africa Femme, Droit et Development en Afrique (WILDAF/FeDDAF) Avenue, 3 rue 17 01 BP 3793 Abidjan 01
6. Mme PORQUET Salimata
Présidente Forum International des Femmes pour la Paix l’Egalité et le Développent (FIFEM)
7. M. NETH WILLY Alexandre
Secrétaire Général Ligue Ivoirienne des Droits de l’Homme (LIDHO) Coordonnateur Project Team de la CICPI Secrétaire a la communication et porte parole de la COSOPCI Spécialiste en Observation électorale 08 BP 2056 Abidjan 08
8. Victor NACLAN TOURE Secrétaire Général Club Union Africaine Cote d’Ivoire (UACI) 14 BP 1928 Abidjan 14
9. TRAORE Flavien Secrétaire Général Coordination Nationale des Enseignants du Supérieur et des Chercheurs (CNEC) 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22
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10. SOMBO Atse Franck Arthur Président Association Chrétienne des Elèves et Etudiants Protestants de Cote d'Ivoire (ACEEPCI) 08 BP 5 Abidjan 08
11. Vahama KAMAGATE 2eme Vice Amir Association des Elèves et Etudiants Musulmans de Cote d'Ivoire (AEEMCI) 08 BP 2462 Abidjan 08
[email protected]; [email protected]
12. YEO Adama
Secrétaire Général Adjoint COSOPCI (Coalition de la Société Civile pour la Paix et le Dévelop. démocratique en Côte d’Ivoire) 14 BP 1928 Abidjan 14
13. GAGUY Tablet Oscar Responsable National Jeunesse Etudiante Catholique de Cote d’Ivoire (JEC-CI)
14. YAO KAKOU Albert Président
Association des Etudiants Juristes de Cote d'Ivoire BPV 179 Abidjan
15. Mme TANOH Danielle Présidente ONG “BOKAYE” [email protected]
16. Mme SÉRIBA Christiane epse Aboua
Secrétaire générale Réseau de Développement et de Communication des Femmes Africaines (FEMNET _ Cote D’Ivoire) BP 585 Cidex3
17. Doukoua Gode Président Fédération des Associations de Consommateurs de Cote d'Ivoire (FAC-CI) 01 BP 3399 Abidjan 01
[email protected]; [email protected]
18. Mme Yapi Epse Gogoua N’Sou Dorothée
Présidente Exécutive ONG Femme-Action-Développement (FEMAD) 03 BP 2035 Abidjan 03
19. TEHE Michel Secrétaire Général ONG- ODAHROM -Organisation pour le Développement et l'Action Humanitaire de l'Ouest Montagne Siege: Cocody II Plateaux, Perles2 – Rue L84, Résidence Gply - 06 BP 6767 Abidjan 06
20. Kouma MAHAMADOU Secrétaire Général Conseil National Islamique (CNI): [email protected]
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Fédération d’Associations d’ONG Musulman
21. NGUESSAN Ndri Claude Président Fédération Ivoirienne des Associations, Centres et Clubs UNESCO (FIACU) Immeuble Noguès, Avenue Noguès, 2eme Etage, 09 BP
22. M. Ahui Sasson Cammille Secrétaire Général ONG Rues d’Afrique 08 BP 2056 Abidjan
[email protected] ; [email protected]
23. M. OUATTARA Diakalia Secrétaire Général Forum National sur la Dette et la Pauvreté (FNDP / CSCI)
24. YAO Konan Alexandre
Secrétaire Général Centre de Formation et de Recherche en Animation Rurale (CFRAR) 01 BP : V 291 Abidjan 01
[email protected] [email protected]
25. ZADI Massa Alice
Secrétaire Générale Adjointe, Chargée des questions électorales
Association des Femmes Juristes de Côte d’Ivoire (AFJCI) 1, rue du chemin de Fer, à l’Ouest du Siège de la S.I.P.F, 01 B.P 1758 ABIDJAN 01,
[email protected]; [email protected]
26. DOUMBIA Soumaïla
Président
Section SOS EXCLUSION Bouaké Plate Forme de la Société Civile pour la Paix et Démocratie (PSDPD) Délégué du Centre de la Coordination National des Gares Routier de Côte d'Ivoire
