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In this issue of our periodical newsletter, we will highlight an external grant opportunity, and hear from members of the PCS community in the form of original content. We will share updates on projects that the global PCS unit has been working on, and highlight new and updated resources available on the Institute for Capacity Strengthening website including:
An update on CRS’ classic capacity strengthening tools, thanks to a collaboration with the Gender Team;
A guide for PCS Approaches when working with the government a result of collaboration with Equity, Inclusion and Peacebuilding (EQUIP) Unit.
Grant Opportunity from USAID
USAID has recently announced the fourth round of its Local Works program and they are seeking applicants. Launched in 2015, Local Works is a program designed to advance locally-owned development and enhance USAID’s ability to empower local actors to take the lead in addressing their own development challenges.
Though the program is primarily focused on providing discretionary funds to USAID Missions, there are funds available to support worthy unsolicited proposals.
Interested in learning more? Here are five things you can do...
1. Visit the Local Works website.
2. Review the process of submitting an unsolicited application.
3. Attend a public webinar on March 5, 9-10 AM EST.
4. Email questions to localworks@usaid.gov.
5. Share this information with your colleagues and partners!
Regional Communities
The alumni of Perfecting Partnership desired an opportunity for more in-depth discussion of issues happening in their country programs and regions. In response to the expressed need, the Partnership unit has been helping to facilitate the development of regional Communities of Practice. In each region, the Perfecting Partnership alumni, along with other PCS focal persons have been meeting according to a schedule set by the regional group. We continue to be excited about the progress that each region is making and look forward to receiving updates.
If you have any questions about the regional communities of practice, please contact Mandi Ashford.
Voices from the Community
Hopefully, you view the ICS as your “one-stop-shop” to access tools and resources for Partnership and Capacity Strengthening. We’ve featured job aids, case studies and learning briefs, and now you can access articles! The articles on the ICS are short pieces of content generated by the Partnership and Capacity Strengthening Community. They are quick reads and a way to learn about the great work our colleagues are doing globally.
Thank you to the following colleagues who’ve submitted articles for this edition:
Mehul Salva, CRS Bangladesh Capacity Building for Youth in Bangladesh
Luis Rolando, CRS Guatemala Capacity Strengthening during Emergencies: The Volcano de Fuego in Guatemala
Pascasie Musabyemungu, CRS Rwanda How Inter-Country Capacity Building Lead to a Stronger Partner: A Lesson from CRS Togo and CRS Rwanda
if you have PCS examples from your country program of innovative work, best practices or recommendations, please consider sharing them for the next edition of our Newsletter. You can view the submission guidelines now or look out for the next call for submissions.
DID YOU KNOW...
The ICS has social sharing buttons! Are you involved in groups/conversations on social media around development? You can help amplify the voices of our colleagues by sharing one of the articles above on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. When sharing on Twitter be sure to tag @CRS_Expertise.
Compliments to Our Peers on a job well done!
Congratulations to Preparing to Excel in Emergency Response (PEER) on the successful completion of their 3-year project! Throughout September and October of 2018, the PCS unit worked with the Humanitarian Response Department (HRD) to conduct a final evaluation of the PEER Project. The purpose of the evaluation was to
· identify project strengths and weaknesses;
· assess the project sustainability and its potential for scaling and replication;
· provide generalizations about the effectiveness of PEER’s project strategy.
The evaluation illuminates lessons around emergency response capacity strengthening and partnership, showing there are many ways to successfully strengthen the institutional and technical capacity of local organizations.
We’ve updated the PEER Project page on the ICS with the executive summary and a documentary video featuring project partners from CRS Lebanon. Visit the website for more information about the project, and to learn about best practices for future capacity strengthening initiatives.
A Note of Appreciation
Speaking of evaluations! The Partnership team has just completed the data gathering stage of the After-Action review for one of our flagship initiatives, Perfecting Partnership (2017 and 2018). We’d like to thank all the Perfecting Partnership alumni, their supervisors, selected applicants, Country Representatives and Regional Directors who took the time to provide us with valuable feedback. We hope to use this information to make Perfecting Partnership and even stronger program when it re-launches in 2020. We’ll share key findings from our evaluation in the next PCS newsletter.
Now in Arabic
The level two partnership course, Partnership in Action, is now available in Arabic for CRS staff and partners.
Visit Our New Home (Page)
The Partnership and Capacity Strengthening Unit’s page is now LIVE on MyCRS. CRS staff can visit us there to: learn who is on our team, explore partnership and capacity strengthening data, and to submit or review requests for technical assistance.
3 Tools Updated with a Gender Equality Integration Lens
We are pleased to announce a fresh update on three of CRS’ foundational capacity strengthening tools. Through collaboration between PCS and the Gender Teams in the West Africa Regional Office, the Central Africa Regional Office and headquarters, the Institutional Strengthening Guide’s (ISG) Holistic Capacity Assessment Instrument (HOCAI), and the Assessment to Action (A2A) Planning Workbook, now include a tenth capacity area, Gender Equality Integration.
The ISG serves as a reference for organizations aiming to develop or improve institutional systems and processes. It presents principles, minimum standards, best practices, business processes, references and tools for effective, and sustainable organizations. One of the tools included in the ISG is CRS’ Holistic Organizational Capacity Assessment Instrument (HOCAI), which makes up the second chapter of the guide.
The HOCAI is a tool developed by CRS to assist our partner organizations to conduct a self-assessment of their strengths and challenges and to develop action plans to improve their organizational functions through capacity strengthening. The tenth capacity area assesses the extent to which CRS’ partners’ integrate gender equality into their organizational and programmatic efforts. The HOCAI’s Gender Equality Integration capacity area is divided into two sections: (1) the organizational dimensions of Gender Equality which examines an organization’s policies and their application, staffing, recruitment, promotion, retention, work environment and leadership, and (2) Gender Equality programming dimensions which focuses on program planning, design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning. The appendix of the HOCAI also includes several resources that have been developed to accompany the new capacity area and support teams in assessing and creating action plans to address this important aspect of an organization’s capacity.
Finally, the A2A Workbook, is a companion tool used when conducting the HOCAI to record HOCAI scores, capture interventions for the action plan, calculate a budget for the implementation of the action plan, and capture post-implementation actuals such as number of beneficiaries and cost.
The new Gender Equality Integration capacity area engendered a positive response during field testing in Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger and Nigeria. We look forward to more PCS practitioners throughout the agency helping our partners assess and improve their organizational capacity in Gender Equality Integration.
Engaging Government Guide & Case Studies Series
The development landscape has been changing rapidly over the last 25 years with an increased emphasis on not only strengthening but also collaborating directly with local institutions across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Many public donors now expect us to engage directly with host country government at both the national and subnational levels. Over the past decade, CRS has been doing so more intentionally, especially in our larger-scale, multi-sectorial programs. However, what has been missing is a strategic framework, grounded in sound theory and empirical evidence, that could be adapted and used across multiple, diverse settings.
The Engaging Government Guide, or EGG, provides such a framework, along with a step-by-step processes for developing empirically sound approaches. The guide includes additional tools and resources that can be utilized to increase CRS’ and our partners’ program influence and impact. The EGG was developed by the EQUIP and PCS teams along with 40 colleagues from all seven of CRS' regions. The accompanying, Engaging Government Case Studies Series, helps CRS and partner staff draw from some of the emerging practices and lessons learned in government capacity strengthening and good governance generated in CRS programs worldwide. You can also find the engaging government capacity statement on MyCRS, which we will continue to update with our Institutional Donor Engagement and Advancement (IDEA) colleagues.
Looking for previous editions of the PCS Newsletter? You can find our newsletter archive on the ICS website.
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