Humanitarian Operational Engagement and Fundraising Workshop October 2010

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The Humanitarian Forum Yemen organised in partnership with Islamic Relief Yemen an operational engagement and fundraising workshop in Aden between 16th and 21st October 2010. 53 senior staff members representing 49 organisations from 18 governorates took part in the workshop. Participants were trained in strategic planning, project cycle management, gender mainstreaming, basic humanitarian principles, financial management and conflict resolution . The purpose of this workshop was to promote partnership and cooperation between different NGOs and donors in Yemen strenghten NGOs technical capacity in project design and fundraising.

The workshop

The proceedings lasted six days and on the first day, participants took the seven hour long journey from Sana'a to Aden where expectations of the group were explored. Later in the day a formal opening of the 6 day workshop was held jointly with representative from Ministry of local governments and the larger group of NGO representatives. There was TV and newspaper media coverage of the event. Later in the day a formal opening of the 6 day workshop was held jointly with representative from Ministry of local governments and the larger group of NGO representatives. There was TV and newspaper media coverage of the event.

 On the second day participants were divided into seven smaller groups. The Humanitarian Forum Yemen together with Aden Based CBOs organised a visit to underprivileged neighbourhoods, villages or communities in the area. The purpose of the visit was to better understand the real needs of communities when designing responsive projects. Teams gathered information, insights and perspectives from residents of these neighbourhoods using basic PRA tools. The field visit was introduction to formulating a problem statement and identifying a target group for the following stage of designing a community based project jointly with the host organisation in the neighbourhood.  

On the third day the 7 groups continued designing their projects by identifying goals, strategies, activities and indicators and on the fourth day participants were introduced to techniques of action planning and essentials of project budgeting. They also learned about principles of developing fundraising strategies. They continued developing the seven identified projects in Aden's poor neighbourhoods.

 On the fifth day of the workshop participants were trained on filling funding applications for Yemeni or foreign institutional donors. Participants learnt about criteria for grant making as well as essentials of fundraising through the shared experience in the room. On the sixth day participants finalised the funding application for their project with budgets and action plans. They concluded the workshop with reflection on lessons learnt and follow up plans.

Results

  • More than fifty staff members of Yemeni CBOs were trained on practical skills of programme design and fundraising.
  • 53 senior staff members from 48 NGOs in 18 governorates shared the experience of being together for one week.
  • 16 organisations identified potential partnerships with others in the workshop and the workshop evaluations revealed participants commitment to collaborate and coordinate with each other.
  • A core group of CBO staff can potentially be trained as leaders and trainers in Muslim perspectives in charity work.
  • A national network of Yemeni NGOs with diverse backgrounds and orientations emerged with higher possibility of collaboration and cooperation among them.

Recommendations

  1. Replicate the workshop in Hodeida, Taiz, Sa'ada, Hadramout, Sana'a, Imran and Hajjah over the next 12-15 months;
  2. Fine tune the projects designed and connect them with potential national and international donors.
  3. Facilitate Yemeni NGOs access to funds from national, regional and international donors
  4. Organise a (grant) matchmaking event, promote projects with donors in private and public meetings;
  5. Promote for the establishment grant-making mechanism to encourage joint ventures;
  6. Make resources available for conducting similar capacity building projects;
  7. Engage participants from the workshops as trainers,
  8. Support leadership skills development of staff from smaller NGOs through designing a mentoring and placement programmes within the larger ones focusing on finance, fundraising and project management skills.
  9. Resource The Humanitarian Forum Yemen with programme capacity to coach and mentor CBOs in designing, implementing and evaluating their projects.

Read a detailed narrative report of the workshop here.