AEIF Project: Mid-term Programme Evaluation

BACKGROUND

The AEIF project which started in July 2012 is now 8 months old. During this span, the AEIF team traveled to eight locations around the country and trained 153 NGO professionals from 98 NGOs. Under the project, the team had aimed to train 250 professionals from 125 NGOs in four workshops, however the ground realities were different, therefore the scope of project was revised. The workshops were held each in Imphal, Delhi, Bangalore, Kottayam, Ahmedabad, Pune and two in Mumbai. The eighth and last workshop was completed in February 2013 and now the mentoring phase activities are underway. 

CHALLENGES AND SUPPORTERS

The team had faced several challenges in organizing the above workshops across the country. Inspite of the best efforts put in by the team, the turn out of participants for these workshops were lower than speculated. There were many reasons which cannot be generalize for any one region. However overall it was felt that such type of capacity development programme was new concept in the NGO sector and we therefore received mixed responses. The best part of these workshops were the local synergies which the AEIF team was able to establish with local institutional partners. Except in Bangalore, all local partners provided free venue and helped in saving some funds. Following institutions helped us with free venue:

1. Bharatiya Vidyapeeth, Pune

2. Serenity Library, Ahmedabad

3. Kerala Social Service Forum

4. American Centre, New Delhi

5. State Level Nodal Agency for Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Manipur

POST WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

After completion of each workshop, the participants were given monthly assignments to complete. It was observed very few individuals were able to submit their assignments on regular basis. Most of the professionals being actively involved in their jobs were unable to dedicate time to the assignments. However, all those who did submit their assignments saw great benefits for themselves and their organizations. The assignments were reviewed by the team and sent back to the participants with comments. Some of the best assignments were shared as templates for others.

The team shared funding opportunities and other important study materials and links with the participants on regular basis through the Google group. Chat sessions were planned several times which witness 1-2 participants only. 

The group exchanged few success stories wherein participants acknowledged the programme support in seeking a funding opportunity, setting up organization website and social media accounts, solicited in individual donors and getting a vehicle as donation. Some of the participants developed networking bonds with other participants. Two of Bangalore participants helped in co-ordinating the workshop in Kottayam.

PROJECT EVALUATION

An online survey was carried out to understand how the project fared in terms of its goals and objectives. Unfortunately not many could take this survey, we got 26 respondents. Here is what the participants shared with us.

1.   Workshop Participation: Regarding the reasons for joining the programme, 70% of respondents mentioned that they enrolled for the programme to enhance organizational developmental while 17% opted for professional development. It was found 48% of respondents were first timers for such management training programmes. Post workshop  43% of respondents experienced enhancement in their skill and knowledgebase while remaining expressed that the workshop made some impact on them

2.   Mentoring Phase: 57% of respondents agreed that the assignments were in line with the programme objectives. It was seen that 43% of respondents were able to complete 25% of their assignments whereas 17% submitted 50% of the assignments and only 4% were able to complete all assignments.

For the virtual interactions on social media and gmail, 57% respondents rated their performance to be poor and 43% felt it was average. Regarding the extent of reading and writing assignments 96% respondents felt the reading was appropriate and 83% respondents felt that the writing was appropriate.

In terms of satisfaction with the mentoring phase, 41%  respondents rated it as very good,  27% rated good and 18% rated as excellent. As a student of this programme, 70% respondents rated themselves as average and 30% as excellent students.

3.   Assessment of the Overall Programme: The 48%-55% respondents rated the online assignments and workshop experience and as very effective, 60% respondents rated the guidance from faculty, interactivity with faculty and workshop manual as effective and 75% found chat sessions neutral or least effective.

For the strengths the programme,  45% respondents found the programme content in line with NGO sector needs,  20% felt it was a good opportunity for professional development of NGO professionals, 20% found the faculty very effective and 15% believed that the programme provided networking platform.

For weakness of the programme, 58% respondents felt that the time duration of the workshop was short and that they do not have sufficient time to submit their assignments. 26% respondents found the learning to be of advance level which they were unable to cope up. A small percentage felt that the assignments needs customization and that more efforts should be made by the faculty to increase networking among the participants.

4.   Benefits from the Programme: Regarding the benefits derived from the programme, 39% of respondents agreed that the programme had a small yet overall impact on them as well as on their organization, 31% agreed to take up grant writing seriously,  16% agreed to develop their teams, fundraising plans and improved their programme management, lastly 14% respondents did not apply the programme lessons to their works and thus found no impact on their work.

FUTURE PLANS

      The last phase of the project will be the Follow Up workshop which has been planned in Mumbai on 9-10 August 2013. The project budget has been revised to provide a modest travel allowance to all the participants and free lodging boarding in Mumbai. The venue of the workshop is BNHS's Conservation Education Centre. The call for registration for this workshop has been sent to the group.