Community Capacity Building Programme 2010
Final Evaluation Report

(September 2010)

 

Introduction

It is with pleasure that we are able to release the Final Evaluation Report for our Community Capacity Building Programme 2010, a programme year which represents the fourth in our partnership with Planet Wheeler and the third for our Community Capacity Building Programme, this year also in association with GDG.

We at EntreMundos would like to take this opportunity to once again express our sincere and profound gratitude to Planet Wheeler for their continued support on behalf of our beneficiaries here in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Their generosity has already benefited many local, grassroots organisations, communities and families in the poorest and most underdeveloped region of the country and this year we were able to reach a record number of local NGOs, cooperatives and community groups with our high-impact technical assistance training.

This final report has been split into three main sections in accordance to the three main programme components of our Community Capacity Building Programme; our IT Skills Training Programme, Rural Workshop Programme and Capacity Building Workshop Programme.

IT Skills Training Programme

Programme Objectives

Our IT Skills Training Programme puts technology within the reach of all local NGO staff. For many of the participants in our programme, this is the first opportunity they have been given to learn vital IT skills.   Our IT Skills Training courses, specifically tailored towards NGO managers and staff, are designed to provide organisations with greatly enhanced internal and external communication, greater visibility for their organisation and improved capacity for fundraising. 

At the time of submission of our last progress report, we were just beginning the third and fourth IT Skills Training courses which ran parallel to each other. These were the second beginners and intermediates course of the programme year and were originally anticipated to mark the end of our IT Skills Training Programme with the four courses completed by mid May. However, due to the increasing demand for these classes, as well as several requests from organisations to timetable courses at the weekends we decided to run an additional six-week Saturday course for beginners to meet this demand.

Successes and Challenges

The first notable success of our IT Skills Training Programme this year has been the increasing interest that the courses are receiving within the local NGO community.  Word-of-mouth about the quality and professionalism of the courses that continued to grow throughout the year helped to make this our most successful year of programming to date. To meet the increased level of demand, and through cost savings on other parts of the programme, we were able to schedule an additional course and are very pleased to report that the final three courses we ran, including this additional one, were all fully subscribed. The feedback we received both informally and through participant evaluation forms at the end of each course has also been overwhelmingly positive. 

Another success of this year’s programme was the increase in female participants for our IT Skills Training courses. Although the participation of women in NGOs is increasing, IT is one area that is still commonly regarded as more appropriate for men than women, and during the first year of our IT Skills Training Programme nearly all of the participants were men. This was something we identified in previous programme evaluations as needing to be addressed and for this year’s programme we actively promoted the importance of women members from our partner organisations participating in our courses. We were delighted by the positive response we received and during the course of the programme year we have trained 23 women (59% of the total number of participants) in vital computing skills.   

Identified Risks

Offering programmes such as ours in this region of Guatemala does however come with inherent risks. One such risk beyond our control that was identified in advance of the programme is severe weather conditions which can prevent participants attending classes and cause extended and/or frequent power outages. Throughout the course of the year Guatemala has been seriously affected by tropical storms and flooding. As this report is being written, the Western Highlands region in which we work is unfortunately once again making international news for the tragic deaths of dozens of people from landslides caused by the heaviest rainfall that Guatemala has witnessed in the past 50 years.

For the last course that took place in the lead up to and aftermath of Tropical Storm Agatha, which crossed Guatemala at the end of May, a prolonged period of heavy rains disrupted the timetabling of our classes for several weeks. Classes needed to be rescheduled due to power outages caused by the severe weather conditions we were experiencing during the season and one class rescheduled when Tropical Storm Agatha passed over Quetzaltenango as it would have been too dangerous for the participants to travel.

Arriving on time for the beginning of the lessons during these weeks also became a problem as landslides caused by the rains blocked the roads causing long delays.   On two Saturdays in a row several participants were arriving more than half way through the three hour class. This was having a disruptive effect on the classes and making it very difficult for the IT Skills Trainer to cover the course material adequately in the time allowed.

Despite these difficulties, we were particularly impressed by the dedication of the participants for this final course, who accepted these disruptions to the programming and left their communities earlier and travelled for longer periods, in sometimes unpredictable conditions, to attend these classes.

 Overall Conclusions

This enthusiasm is perhaps one of the greatest testimonials to our IT Skills Training Programme for this year. Aside from the positive feedback received from the evaluation forms and the work carried out to achieve such high exit exams results (an average of 93.5% over the five courses), an attendance figure of 80% for each class in this final course during a very difficult and disruptive time to travel shows the importance that the participants are placing in our courses and the need for us to continue to provide the opportunity of IT training courses such as these in the future.

IT Skills Training Programme Outputs

A total of 39 NGO workers, community group and cooperative members participated in our IT Skills Training Courses for the programme year 2009 – 2010. Of these 39 participants, 23 were women (59%) and 16 were men (41%), representing the following 20 organisations:  

AEMG, Amigas del Sol, ASCHAC, ASECSA, Asociación Pro Desarrollo Social, AVAH, Bejeleb B´atz, Bomberos Voluntarios, Casa Xelajú, CEIPA. COMAGAUTI, FCPNYA, Gente Joven, Hogar Temporal, ILV, SIEA, Trama Textiles, UTQ, Utz Kol´bal, Voces de Cambio.

Rural Workshop Programme

Programme Objectives

The goal of this year’s series of rural workshops was to work alongside local partner organisation Y’abal Handicrafts to form functioning and effective women’s weaving cooperatives in three rural communities and then to bring them to a uniform standard of product quality so as to enable them to sell their products internationally. Y’abal, a non-profit organisation with close links to EntreMundos and with their established market contacts in North America and Europe, would then take responsibility for generating orders and thus creating a vital, long-term, sustainable source of income for the families of these poor, rural communities.

The Communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama

At the time of submission of our first progress report for this programme year the Rural Workshop Series on the Management of Weaving Cooperatives was already underway in two of the three rural communities participating in this years programme – Pacutama and Chuicutama.   These two communities, comprising of 48 families, were forced to relocate after Hurricane Stan destroyed their homes and livelihoods in 2005.  EntreMundos has been working closely with the survivors of this tragedy for several years now and a previous grant awarded by Planet Wheeler helped to finance the very first set of workshops for these villages in July 2008.

This year’s Rural Workshop Programme in Pacutama and Chuicutama consisted of eight full-day workshops and in March when our last progress report was compiled, the first three had already been conducted on the themes of leadership, production administration and a full-day dedicated to working purely with the board of directors. Timetabling of the five subsequent workshops is shown below.

Workshop Four: 16th March – Product Costing
Workshop Five: 6th April – Pricing
Workshop Six: 20th April – Merchandising
Workshop Seven: 4th May – Conclusions and Evaluation Session
Workshop Eight: 18th May – Visit to Market in Quetzaltenango

Each full-day workshop was split into a morning and afternoon session. The morning session consisted of a group activity and Board of Director Training (including a mathematics workshop). In the afternoon session, the women who had been allocated an order to produce were given assistance whilst those without an order and others from the community that could read and write had the opportunity to take part in IT Skills Workshops.

For the workshops with the themes of Product Costing, Pricing and Merchandising, the main goal was to give the cooperative members a better idea about markets and competition. This was achieved through group exercises. For example, as part of the merchandising workshop, the participants were split into groups and given the task of making envelopes. They were asked to buy the materials, make the envelopes, set a price and then try to sell them to the facilitators. The groups competed with each other not knowing the prices the other groups had set.

During the seventh workshop, the effectiveness of these group activities were evaluated more thoroughly as were the other components of the workshops, the training sessions for the Board of Directors, the IT Skills Classes and the Mathematics Classes.

The series concluded with a final day in May involving a visit to Quetzaltenango so the cooperative members could get to know one of the markets where their products are being sold. For all of the 21 women that participated on this excursion, it represented the first time they had left their community since their relocation and therefore was a very exiting event for them. The emphasis for this day was more to provide a cultural experience and offered them something different and enjoyable. At the same time the women got to see other stores where handicrafts are sold and therefore ended the day with a better understanding of what happens to their weavings on leaving the community.

Successes and Challenges

One challenge identified prior to the beginning of the programme was the lack of formal education and the low level of Spanish and literacy levels amongst the cooperative members. For this reason exercises such as the practical envelope-making group task described previously have been recognised as the most effective way for the participants to retain the information discussed during the workshops and as such is a vital learning tool for the group. Creating the appropriate environment to facilitate learning for these cooperative members is something that requires constant monitoring and attention but with the experience of the project workers and facilitator, a challenge that has been tackled with great success.

In addition to teaching techniques there were also several other challenges that needed to be addressed during the programme year. In particular this related to the mathematics classes and it was unfortunate that more interest was not shown for this part of the programme. With poor attendance in the first two classes it was deemed best to incorporate this into the Board of Director Training. This was seen as the most appropriate step as it is these members who have the responsibility of counting the money for the payments and calculating the material needed for each order, etc.).   

The computer classes also attracted less interest than we had originally anticipated although two positive results did emerged from the classes. The first was that it allowed some of the men and youngsters from the community to participate and therefore made them feel more involved in the overall programme and more linked to its success.

Another success of the classes was the advances that one particular member of the Board of Directors made during the course. This individual has now been given the responsibility of the administration for the cooperative and with the laptop that was donated to the community at the start of the programme year by another partner organisation of EntreMundos, we are confident that she will work very effectively in this new role.

We are also extremely positive about the results of the Board of Directors Training. With each workshop more responsibility was devolved to the Board and by the final workshops the product orders were entirely their responsibility.

In addition to more effective leadership by the Board of Directors, other significant successes that were achieved by the workshops relate to increased self-esteem and confidence being displayed by the cooperative members, improved communication and group working, excellent attendance levels and great advances in the quality of product orders.

The Community of Chuacruz

As well as the workshops in Pacutama and Chuicutama, the Rural Workshop Programme also included a shorter workshop series in the community of Chuacruz, a weaving cooperative in the department of Sololá made up of 21 women who were victims of the civil conflict. This is the second time that EntreMundos has worked in this community as during our 2008 – 2009 Capacity Building Programme run in partnership with Planet Wheeler, we organised a series of four workshops on the setting-up of cooperatives between October and November of 2008.

In the needs assessment conducted for the cooperative at the beginning of the programme year, it was evident that the group was much more advanced than the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama. This was due to assistance from another funding body that the community had received in between the original planning of our programme and its implementation. Due to this more advanced level within the cooperative and because of the assistance that this cooperative was also receiving from another organisation, it was considered best to concentrate more on the other two communities. For this reason, the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama received a more extensive series of workshops and the community of Chuacruz a shorter two-day series. These two workshops held in Chuacruz took place on 12th March and 7th May.

The two workshops covered the themes of organisation and administration and a product order was also placed with them to test the quality of the work they are currently producing. It was extremely rewarding to see the progress that the community has made over the last two years.

Themes that were also covered during the series included, how the cooperative can most effectively work together with Y’abal in the future after the end of the programme year and how the two groups can maintain good working relations.

Successes and Challenges

Once again the participant evaluation of the two-day workshop series was very positive. The commitment demonstrated by the community, evident in attendance levels and mood within the group during the training sessions was extremely encouraging. The now smooth running of the cooperative is testament to the successes of previous training and both cooperative members and Y’abal staff left with a renewed confidence and commitment to working together.

Overall Conclusions

We are delighted to report that the Rural Workshop Programme in the three communities of Pacutama, Chuicutama and Chuacruz has achieved its main goal of bringing these cooperatives up to a level of production quality at which they can sell their products in international markets. Y’abal is planning one or two more workshops independently with Pacutama and Chuicutama but are already beginning to generate and export orders for the three communities.

The income streams that this represents for these rural, indigenous communities is something of great value to these new cooperatives and vital for the long-term sustainable development of these villages who have suffered so much in the past. We at EntreMundos are extremely proud of the advances that have been made over the past couple of years with the participants of this programme, and whilst the end of this programme will mark the end of our active involvement with these communities, we look forward to monitoring the development of the cooperatives of Pacutama, Chuicutama and Chuacruz long into the future.

Rural Workshops Programme Outputs

43 members of the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama participated in our Rural Workshop Programme along with 19 members of the community of Chuacruz representing a total of 62 between the three communities.

Capacity Building Workshop Programme

Programme Objectives

The community organisations we work with here in the Western Highlands of Guatemala are rich in culture, unity and solidarity which are their main assets to confront and resolve problems.  Because of this sense of community, there are many associations, NGOs and collectives working to improve the lives of disadvantaged, local populations.  They have a great deal of will and passion to make their organisations work but often not enough experience or resources to make them successful.

Our continually adapting and evolving Capacity Building Programme has been specifically designed to meet this need for high-quality technical assistance training to NGO managers and staff in the region and aims to offer the best possible chances of success for the vital grassroots development initiatives that these organisations are implementing within their communities.

At the time of submission of our progress report we had already conducted the first two in our series of ten Capacity Building Workshops, a two-day workshop on Project Formulation, and were making final preparations for our workshop on Volunteer Management. The schedule for the workshops that have taken place since March is shown below. 

23rd March – Volunteer Management

13th May – Introduction to Project Planning

27th May – Diploma in Formulation and Evaluation of Projects (Day One)

1st July - Diploma in Formulation and Evaluation of Projects (Day Two)

22nd July - Diploma in Formulation and Evaluation of Projects (Day Three)

19th August – Fundraising (Day One)

20th August - Fundraising (Day Two)

26th August - Diploma in Formulation and Evaluation of Projects (Day Four)

For our first workshop in 2010 on Volunteer Management, the importance of best practice in volunteer management was discussed.  Other themes covered were realistic expectations for the impact of volunteers, methods of recruitment of volunteers, the need to create specific job profiles, screening/interviewing of volunteers, training procedures and codes of conduct for volunteers as well as identifying rewarding roles within each organisation so as to be of benefit to both the volunteer and host organisation.

An important part of this workshop discussed child protection policies. A guest speaker from CEIPA, a partner organisation of ours that works for children’s rights here in Quetzaltenango, spoke in depth on child protection policies and practices and how this specifically relates to NGO staff members and volunteers working with children.

Our next workshop was an Introduction to Project Planning designed as a one day training course for organisations wishing to take part in our Diploma in Formulation and Evaluation of Projects but who had not had previous knowledge of some of the key project tools that would form the core of the programme.

From this workshop we then began our Diploma in Formulation and Evaluation of Projects, a course which took place over three months and involved each organisation producing a project document relating to the planning, monitoring and evaluation of a specific project or programme of theirs. Our facilitator for this diploma was also available to provide online tutorials to participants throughout the course. This was the first time we have offered a course in such depth and are delighted with the positive feedback that we have received and the effort that each of the participants put in to create high-quality new project documentation for their organisations.

A two-day Fundraising Workshop completed the Capacity Building Workshop Programme and covered themes including financial sustainability, individual donors, membership programmes, fundraising events, international cooperation and free sources of information available to assist NGOs.

Identified Risks

One of the risks identified that could have jeopardised the success of our programme related to the recruitment of high calibre facilitators to conduct the workshops.  This is particularly a problem for the theme of Fundraising as there are few people qualified to give a high-quality workshop on this topic and therefore facilitators charge significantly higher fees for their services for this workshop than for other themes. Whilst a higher price for these workshops is factored into our total budget for capacity building facilitators, the quotes we were receiving this year were between three and six times over our anticipated budget.

We are pleased to report that despite these difficulties we were finally able to recruit a team of three facilitators with considerable experience in this field for a reasonable price, however the delay in contracting these facilitators caused the postponement of these two workshops from April (as originally planned) to August.  

Successes and Challenges

Again we were delighted with the interest that our Capacity Building Workshop Programme received. In our initial proposal we had been anticipating the participation of an average of 15 NGO workers and community group members per workshop and 150 over the programme year. By the end of our programme we had trained a cumulative total of 237 at an average of 23.7 per workshop and a record of 42 participants signed up for the inaugural year of our diploma. Whilst this represents a great success for the programme, it did create some issues with the subsequent rising in costs of training materials and the extra costs of hosting a higher number of participants, however due to cost savings in other areas of the programme we were able to absorb this significantly increased line item cost.  
 
We were also extremely encouraged by the changes made as a result of our Volunteer Management workshop. Several organisations have now started to recruit volunteers using different means such as poster publicity and the use of other Internet sites. Several organisations have now started drawing up volunteer policies and the importance organisations are now giving to child protection issues is indeed a considerable success. 

Another success of the programme relates to the participation of women in our workshop series. Of the 237 participants over the course of the year, 138 were women, representing 58% of the total number of participants.

Overall Conclusions

The success of the Capacity Building Workshop Programme can be attributed to several influential factors. Firstly it is due to the work undertaken in the second half of last year and the beginning of this year to actively seek out new organisational contacts, which has expanded our sphere of influence in the region. Our objective of targeting smaller, newly established organisations that would most benefit from each training, bore fruit not just in attendance figures, but also impact.

The continually growing reputation of EntreMundos as a leading provider of high-quality technical assistance training is also generating much greater interest in our programme, and through word-of-mouth we are beginning to work with more and more local NGOs and community groups through recommendations given to them by other workshop participants. This is something we at EntreMundos are particularly proud of this year and something we strive to further build on in future programmes.

Capacity Building Workshop Outputs

A cumulative total of 237 NGO staff, cooperative and community group members participated in our Capacity Building Workshop Programme 2009 – 2010 from the following 61 development organisations:

ADAFIS, ADAM, ADCI, ADICLA, AFDIGUA, AIDG, ALAS, Amigas del Sol, APS, ASECSA, Asociación Ajb'atz Enlace Quiché, Asociación Brazos Unidos Para Viviencia Ixpiyacoc, Asociación de Comunidades Rurales Integradas para el Desarrollo, Asociación IXKOQ´A´, Asociacion Nuevos Horizontes, Asociación Pop Wuj, Asociación Utz N´oj, ASPAS, Casa Xelajú, Centro Infantil Bellota, Centro Maya, CODECOT, Colegio el Pedegral, Comité Evangelica de Servicio y Socorro Maya Quiché, Comunidad La Florida, Comunidad Nueva Alianza, DESGUA, Dirección General de Deporte Adaptivo, EDELAC, El Buen Samaritano, El Nahual, Escuela Educacional Especial Xelajú, FECCEG, Fraternidad de Presbiteriales Mayas, Fuente la Vida, Fundación Futuro de los Niños, Fundación Luna de Xelajú, FUNDAP, Habitat para la Humanidad Guatemala, Hogar Comunitario, Hogar Temporal, Kaj Ulew, Kamalbe School, , Long Way Home, Mayalan, NPH, Primeros Pasos, Pro Agua del Pueblo, Pro Peten, Proyecto Miriam, Red Kuchub'al, Red Nacional de Grupos Gestores, Seguras Perspectivas, SEIBA, Serjus, Servicios para el Desarrollo, Sociedad al Adelanto, Trama Textiles, Unidad Ejecutura,  Utz Kol´bal, Xelateco.