Capacity Building

World Education aims to build the capacity of all our implementing partners across projects. Within the realm of AGSP, World Education is currently partnering with 39 local NGOs, and is helping them build their organizational capacities in a variety of ways. Three ways in which our partners' capacities are being built are highlighted below.

Working on USAID-Funded Projects

For many of our partners, the AGSP is the first USAID project with which they have worked. For these partners, the AGSP has provided them with an opportunity to strengthen their management and operations by learning USAID financial, reporting, and branding requirements. To assist partners in following these guidelines, World Education has facilitated workshops where partners learn about USAID policies and procedures that they will be able to apply to future work. These workshops took place in West Africa and generally brought together partners from various countries, giving NGO staff from different organizations the opportunity to learn from, and alongside, each other.

Data Collection and Entry

A key component of the AGSP is tracking who the beneficiaries are, where they are going to school, and the components of the scholarship packages. In order to do this, World Education has partnered with the International Evaluation and Training Corporation (IETC), a small business concern from Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. IETC has developed an on-line interactive database, FieldLink, where NGO data administrators can enter all relevant data. IETC has trained all of our implementing partners in data entry and offers continued technical assistance to World Education's partners.

For most the implementing partners, this is the first time they are working with a live on-line database. Though the training has focused on FieldLink, the skills developed surrounding data entry and management are transferable for use on future projects as well. Learn more about IETC and FieldLink at www.ietchome.com.

Proposal Development and Writing

Each year, implementing partners must submit a proposal for continued work with the AGSP. Proposals include a narrative piece on their approach to scholar selection and scholarship procurement, the budget, and the work plan for the school year. World Education staff and consultants work with implementing partners to flesh out their ideas, help make them strategic, develop an appropriate budget and ensure that the three aspects of the proposal are consistent and coherent. During our regional workshops with implementing groups, we have dedicated particular sections to discussing and improving upon proposal writing techniques. These newly learned skills will enable partners to now solicit funding from other donors when the need arises.