A POSITIVE FEEDBACK LIKE THIS MATTERS TO US MOST

"Dear all,
Let me share something that I have learned out of this training. One year back our organization was in bud stage but now it is blooming. We at last learned to be very professional.Though Grant/ funding is very important for an organisation but its sustainability depends on regular flow of income as funds are seasonal. We have now our own products that is providing us good revenue.I am thankful to BNHS and Shubha Madam for giving us space to open our mind horizon. One more thing i want to share I had sent a project concept CEE, Guwahati for SGP, UNDP. They have very much liked our concept and asked me to come and discuss with them and prepare a project. I don't know whether this project will be accepted or not but i am happy atleast now I am one step ahead.
Thank you,
Regards,
Jinu pathak (Participant from Eastern Zone (Guwahati)"

Capacity Development of Environmental NGOs of India: Assignment Submission Competition: Vision v/s Real...

Capacity Development of Environmental NGOs of India: Assignment Submission Competition: Vision v/s Real...: When I won the AEIF in 2012, I thought it was a greatest achievement for me, however it took me 9 months of project implementation to real...

Assignment Submission Competition: Vision v/s Reality

When I won the AEIF in 2012, I thought it was a greatest achievement for me, however it took me 9 months

of project implementation to realize that my big moment is yet to come. I never thought getting assignments submitted by the participants post workshop will be such a daunting task. I expected some discipline among the participants and hoped that with a single reminder every month, the assignments will start flowing in.....well that was an ideal situation and vision about this project.

The real situation is that less than 25% of 153 participants are actually submitting their assignments. Of which some of them started with great vigor but lost their enthusiasm as months went by. It was very easy for participants to sideline the project activities and give precedence to their own organizational tasks. I witnessed this happening in my own organization. In order to assist participants with their submission, I divided my ambitious assignment plan for 32 assignments into 15 compulsory assignments and 17 optional assignments. I thought this will do the magic but in vain. I even modified the criteria for participation in the Follow Up workshop in Mumbai in August 2013. I remember 'threatening' the participants during the workshops that only those who complete the compulsory assignments will be able to make it to the Follow Up workshop. I thought the Follow Up workshop would be great incentive but my myth got shattered when I saw not many were completing their assignments. I thus reduced the assignment count to 5 which were must for attending the Follow Up workshop. Again this arm-twisting technique didn't work when I hardly got response for the Follow-up Workshop circular sent a month ago. 

Now as a desperate project co-ordinator, I am willing to accommodate all those who wish to participate in the workshop because my worst fear is that, we may not get participants for the Follow-Up workshop. But getting assignments from the participants is still crucial to our project and that's when I decided to drop all non-popular motivation techniques and decided to launch Assignment Submission Competition. I am of an opinion people love to achieve individual goals, so I may get more takers of this idea. My only hope now is that our participants understand how important it is for us to have their assignments as the success of our project depends on their assignment submission and participation in  Follow-up workshop. Is this behaivour something to do with nonprofit sector? or it is sheer qualities of  adult learners who resist learning after their study years????? I am waiting for my big moment to come in.....

Dr.V.Shubhalaxmi

AEIF Project Co-ordinator

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.

Workshop on NGO Management in Mumbai

Capacity Development of Environmental NGOs of India: NGO Management Workshop in Imphal

Capacity Development of Environmental NGOs of India: NGO Management Workshop in Imphal: REPORT ON IMPHAL  WORKSHOP 25th - 27th  SEPTEMBER 2012 Introduction A three day workshop on capacity development and management...

NGO Management Workshop in Imphal

REPORT ON IMPHAL  WORKSHOP

25th - 27th  SEPTEMBER 2012

Introduction

A three day workshop on capacity development and management  for environmental NGOs was organized by BNHS-India along with State Level Nodal Agency, Planning Department, Government of Manipur in The Classic Hotel Imphal, Manipur for Eastern Zone comprising of 8 NE states, Jharkhand, Odissa and West Bengal from 25th to 27th September, 2012.  It was  the second workshop of the series to be held during the AEIF project.

Workshop Announcement

The workshop was announced through press releases, Engosindia website, e-groups and Facebook. The call for applications were sent to 120 NGO across the Eastern zone of India. 25 NGOs from nine district of  Manipur  and Assam responded with 33 participants.  

Workshop Registration

Due to bandh call on the 23rd of September in hill district of Manipur, altogether 19 NGOs with 23 participants attended the workshop. Due to some misunderstanding in registration fees, only 19 participants paid the fees. Some of the participants assumed that the fees of Rs. 500 was for two participants of the same NGO.

Workshop Proceedings

Day 1: 25th September 2012

The workshop was inaugurated by the Governor of Manipur as part of a parallel workshop scheduled on the same day.   The first day of the workshop covered three modules; Know Your Organization, Project Management and Grant writing.   This was followed by session on ice breaker, where the participants were divided into groups. 

The participants were introduced to the workshop and explained the usage of “the Training Manual” by Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi, Deputy Director, BNHS- India. Dr. Shubhalaxmi also covered the sessions on “Know you organization”.  The participants, through the brainstorming sessions  learnt about internal and external challenges of NGOs. They then learned about SWOT and PEST d Analysis. 

  The post lunch session on Grant Writing, conducted by Dr. Shubhalaxmi, pointed out the fact that Grant Writing is the ability to tell a good story. The session highlighted need for good communication skills and transparency in budget for a successful grant. She also gave sample project proposals and discussed them as case studies. 

            Later in the afternoon session, “Project Management” module was conducted by Rajkumari Sunita Devi, GIS Expert, SLNA, Manipur and Regional Co-ordinator of the eastern zone. She addressed about the iron triangle of project management - scope, cost and time.  Case studies about why a project succeeds and why it fails was also studied during the session.

Day 2: 26th September 2012

            The second day covered   Public Relations and Networking, Panel discussion with media persons, Leadership, Team Building and Volunteer Management. The day began with a presentation from Dr. Isaac Kehimkar, General Manager (Programmes), BNHS on Public Relation and Networking. Mr Isaac on his  session on “Public Relation (PR)”   emphasized the idea of importance of PR for NGOs. The session also gave importance  upon the alternate mode of publicity like Social Networking sites, blogs, websites and Youtube as mode of PR.  This session  was followed by panel discussion with media panel consisting of Mr. Rupachandra Yumnam, News Editor, ISTV Network, Ms. Valley Rose, Editor, AZA Daily, Mr. Shobhabati Samom, Journalist at Hindustan Times and Assam Tribune,  and Mr. Aribam Chaoba Sharma, Senior Journalist at Imphal Free Press.

            During the panel discussion media persons whole hearted discussed and gave their opinion why an environmental issues could never make a headlines in a state like Manipur and what are the drawback of the NGO in releasing a news article.  They highlighted the fact that in a conflict situation, stories about shoot outs and encounters will always make headlines and environment issues are often neglected. They also addressed that the NGOs working in the field of environment needs to come up with ideas and innovative which will benefit the whole and which is for a cause.

              The post lunch session on “Leadership Skills” conducted by Mr. Raju Arumughum explored the various leadership styles as well as the various types of individuals in an Organisation. The exercise on difference between Managers and Leaders helped participants understand their role in the organisation. The“Team Building” began with game on “Making Tower using drinking straws” The competition for tallest towers brought out the leaders and their leadership qualities. The participants commented that this kind of exercise is being taught for the first time and they were really benefitted by it. They  also learnt about the elements of team.

Later session of the day was “Volunteer Management” by Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi. The session emphasized the need of Volunteers for sustaining organisation. The brainstorming brought forward the various help available from volunteers and the problems which could arise due to volunteers. The session also covered on the ways of retaining the volunteers through small actions like appreciation. Dr Shubhalaxmi session was highly appreciated by the participant and they gave their opinion that it has help them realised where they were doing wrong in the past.

Day 3: 27th  September 2012

 The session on “Marketing of Products and Services” by  Dr. Shubhalaxmi      was conducted on the third and last day of the workshop. In her session, Dr. Shubhalaxmi  emphasized on the importance of marketing and  the process of Marketing through demand-supply chain and management. The  need for innovation and scaling up for marketing of product and services was also covered during this session. As part of the activity work, the participants were made to develop their own marketing plan and strategies.

In the last session of the workshop which was again taken up by Dr. Shubhalaxmi, she talked about  “Art of Fund Raising” . Some of the activities during the  brainstorming session was on ideas of Fund raising. It also helped the participants understand the need for financial planning by planning a Fundraising calendar. The participants   came up with  various  fund raising   event to be organized by their organisation .

The final session was of the same pattern as the First workshop where it  involved participants networking by making their services available for the other organizations. A matrix of the same was drawn. The participants were briefed about mentoring phase and the deliverables during the same. The participants were informed that they will be enrolled on eNGOs Google group which be the platform for future communication. among the members.

Feedback and Conclusion

The workshop ended with feedback and acknowledgement to AEIF and U.S. State Department for funding the project. The team from BNHS felt that the issues and problems face in this part of the region is quite unique and different from the rest of the country. They thanked the participants and also the RC of eastern zone. The participants also appreciated the training imparted by the project team as they felt this was a unique training which they have attended for the first time in their life.  All mentioned that they have developed a new attitude towards their profession and they promised themselves that they will use the knowledge learnt and skill developed during the training as soon as they reach their organisation.  The participants also thanked the Regional Co-ordinator for conducting such a training programme for the first time in Manipur or NE region in specific. The workshop ended with a song from one of the participants and some poems. Overall, the workshop was highly a  successful one.

Documentation

The photography and video shooting of the entire workshop was carried out Mr. Deepak Shijagurumayum, a free lancer from Manipur . He is paid a nominal fee for his work  to develop the workshop videos. The movie will be put up in Youtube, engosindia website etc.

By

Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi & Rajkumari Sunita Devi