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PVC-ASHA E-News Bulletin

1. Announcements

• Update on NGO Sector Strengthening Program
• PVC-ASHA Annual Conference – SAVE THE DATE
• Peace Corps – Small Projects Assistance Program Update
• Cooperative Development Awards
• Ocean Freight Awards
• CAP Innovation Grants

2. Resources/Publications

• PVC-ASHA Knowledge Inventory Database
• PVC-ASHA Updated Staff Listings
• New PVO Registrations

• PVC-ASHA to launch “Organizational Development Brownbag Series”
• Meeting Notes: Michael Edwards discussion with USAID staff - “How can donors effectively foster independent and sustainable non-governmental organizations?”
• Meeting Notes: Unprecedented Turnout at PVC-ASHA Annual Workshop
• CAP Advocacy Initiative – Update”

• A selection of items on Organizational Development on the Internet

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Update of NGO Sector Strengthening Program

PVC-ASHA’s recently awarded five-year NGO Sector Strengthening Program (NGOSSP) grants will help local NGOs, networks, community-based organizations, and intermediary service organizations become more efficient and effective in delivering services to populations in need. The NGOSSP grantees have now submitted their detailed implementation and monitoring plans, and the review process with USAID Offices and Missions will begin shortly. These plans represent the culmination of baseline data collection efforts, assessments with local NGOs to gauge organizational development needs, and participatory efforts among grant partners to develop and agree upon objectives and performance measures. Process lessons are already emerging on how to engage local organizations in the complicated subject of internal and external organizational systems reform and improvement.

1. For more information on the following grants contact Sarah Cohen, PVC-ASHA Program Analyst, at scohen@usaid.gov
• Africare (Burundi)
• Global Rights (formerly known as International Human Rights Law Group) (Burundi, Mongolia, West Africa)
• Pact (Zambia)
• Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, West Africa)
• World Relief Corporation (Burundi and D.R. Congo)
2. For more information on the following grants contact Ajit Joshi, PVC-ASHA Lead Program Analyst, at ajoshi@usaid.gov
• International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (Honduras)
• Mercy Corps International (Guatemala, Mongolia)
• Project Concern International (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras)
• World Learning (Angola)
3. For more information on the following grants contact Christopher Runyan, PVC-ASHA Program Analyst, at crunyan@usaid.gov
• International Development Enterprises (Zambia)
• Pan-American Development Foundation (Haiti/Dominican Republic border)
• Planning Assistance (East Timor)
• Save the Children (Nepal)

Grantee Profiles are available on the PVC-ASHA Web site.

PVC-ASHA Annual PVO Conference – Save the Date!

PVC-ASHA’s Annual PVO Conference has been scheduled for January 13-14, 2005 at the Renaissance Hotel at 999 9th Street NW, Washington, DC. This year our focus will be on leading edge issues facing the PVO/NGO sector including panels on; what makes a good organization, standards and certification; networking; and PVO/NGO collaboration mechanisms. We welcome your thoughts on additional topics of interest. Please send any recommendations to Dana Ott, PVC-ASHA Research, Monitoring and Outreach Specialist, at dott@usaid.gov

We anticipate that several kiosks will be set up in the conference facility to offer representatives of USAID Offices and other grant making organizations to discuss their programs and possible opportunities for collaboration with PVOs. In other kiosks, information about PVO registration, including demonstration of the PVO Registration database, and a demonstration of the newly launched (January 2005) PVC-ASHA Knowledge Inventory will be available.

Conference details and the registration form will be available at the PVC-ASHA website in October 2004 at: http://www.usaid.gov  Keyword: PVC-ASHA

Peace Corps – Small Project Assistance Program

Work has now begun to revise and extend (through FY 2005) the Inter-Agency Agreement between USAID and the Peace Corps for the Small Project Assistance Program (SPA). The program uses the human and technical resources of Peace Corps, along with the financial resources of USAID, to encourage sustainable and effective development projects in sectors ranging from health to agriculture to small enterprise development. Peace Corps volunteers bid for USAID funds through a proposal process, to receive resources for small, self-help activities such as strengthening the capacity of a local NGO, improving and maintaining a water system, gaining critical training for building latrines, or reducing the spread of waterborne diseases. PVC-ASHA manages SPA for USAID and coordinates the participation of missions and other USAID offices in this program. Activities for next year’s SPA program will soon be finalized and will involve more than 30 USAID Missions.

For more information on the SPA Program, contact Christopher Runyan, PVC-ASHA Program Analyst, at crunyan@usaid.gov

Cooperative Development Program Awards

Eight applications were approved for Cooperative Development Program awards during reviews held in February, 2004. New five-year cooperative agreements should be signed in July and August. The successful Cooperative Development Organizations (CDOs) have met collectively and individually with PVC-ASHA to receive feedback on their responses to the RFA and to focus on the work plans to set the strategy for implementation. The CDOs will work in 24 countries. Each CDO will develop an approach to one or more key issues, test the approach, integrate successful results in their own program and disseminate what they have learned to the broader cooperative development community. The issues include principles of sound cooperative law and strategies to improve the legal and regulatory environment; change strategies; addressing HIV/AIDS, its impact on cooperatives and their members; strengthening cooperative participation and governance; planning and information systems; successful replication, scale and salience; alliances in support of cooperative development objectives; avoiding dependency and accelerating progress from donor support to commercial operations; and designing cooperative development projects.

Cooperative Development Program awardees and target countries include the following:

• ACDI-VOCA (Russia, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia and Paraguay)
• Americas Association of Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Societies (Colombia, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua)
• CHF International (Bosnia, Mongolia, Philippines, South Africa and Uzbekistan)
• Land O’Lakes (South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda)
• National Cooperative Business Association (Angola, Indonesia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, WARP)
• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (Africa Regional, Bolivia, Central America Regional, Dominican Republic and the Philippines.
• National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (Albania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Ukraine)
• World Council of Credit Unions (Afghanistan, Ecuador, Kenya, Nicaragua and the Philippines)

Recipient Profiles are available on the PVC-ASHA Web site.

For more information contact Tom Carter, PVC-ASHA, at thcarter@usaid.gov

Ocean Freight Awards

After completing a very competitive application process with the Ocean Freight Reimbursement (OFR) Program, fifty-nine Private and Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) were notified that they will receive funding to ship humanitarian supplies and equipment overseas. The OFR cycle is for two years, subject to the availability of funds. OFR is the oldest ongoing PVO support program and leverages resources many times the size of USAID funding. The FY 2002 budget of $2.7 million leveraged over $136 million in private resources.

The program is especially important for small and newly registered PVOs because it allows them to participate in a USAID grant process that is highly competitive, yet not highly complex. Over 10 percent of this year’s grantees are new to the program. This year’s awards will provide humanitarian aid to more than 70 countries worldwide, including shipments to the following ten countries designated by USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance as Special Opportunity Countries: Angola; Burundi; the Democratic Republic of Congo; Ethiopia; Haiti; Nepal; Nicaragua; Sri Lanka; Sudan; and Uganda. The new OFR agreements should be signed in July/August.

The FY 2004 Ocean Freight Reimbursement Awardees include the following:

Additional information on the OFR Program is on the PVC-ASHA website.

Cap Innovation Grants

The Capable Partners Program (CAP) is seeking applications from non-U.S. local non-governmental organizations in five target countries (Tanzania, Mozambique, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Nepal) for grants to strengthen NGO networks, intermediate support organizations, and coalitions. For more information about the Innovation Grants Program and CAP, please see CAP’s web portal.

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2. RESOURCES/ PUBLICATIONS

PVC Knowledge Inventory Database
For the past several months, PVC-ASHA has been working on a knowledge inventory which summarizes our experience with organizational development from more than 30 years of grant programs. Ultimately, this searchable resource will be available to the public through our website. It provides summaries of program evaluations and other documents produced by our office and throughout AID as a resource for organizations looking for USAID’s best practices in organizational development. We hope to have a demo available at our conference in January. In the meantime, we would like to provide an opportunity for you, our partners, to have input into the design of this resource. If your organization would be interested in providing feedback as we develop the database design, please contact Dana Ott, PVC-ASHA Research, Outreach and Monitoring Specialist, at dott@usaid.gov

Updates to PVC-ASHA Staff Directory

PVC-ASHA would like to welcome three new staff members:

• Ajit Joshi, Lead Program Analyst, will be working in the PDM division as a grants manager and team leader and can be reached at ajoshi@usaid.gov

• Tamara Duggleby, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, will be working as an M&E specialist in the PDM division and can be reached at tamara.duggleby@triumph-tech.com

• Yinka Orekoya, Program Assistant, will be providing administrative support to the PDM division and can be reached at yinka.orekoya@triumph-tech.com

PVC-ASHA also bids a fond farewell to Karen Nelson, who worked in PVC for over 10 years, and congratulates her on her new position as a Team Leader in the East Africa Office in USAID.

A complete PVC-ASHA staff directory, including titles and contact information, is now available on the PVC-ASHA web site.

NEW PVO REGISTRATIONS

The following organizations were registered by PVC-ASHA from 6/1/04 to 7/20/04. For more information about these or any registered PVOs with USAID, please use the PVO Registry Online:

1. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) serves the standards development needs of poor nations throughout the world.
   Registered: 6/7/2004
   Headquarters: West Conshoshocken, PA
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Albania, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe
2. Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) serves Christian educators and schools around the world by helping them effectively prepare students.
   Registered: 7/5/2004
   Headquarters: Colorado Springs, CO
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Brazil, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine
3. Cutting Edge Foundation, Inc. (CEF) offers quality health care and plans to build a network of hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa.
   Registered: 7/6/2004
   Headquarters: Staunton, VA
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Chad, Sudan
4. Foundation Against HIV/AIDS, Inc. (FAHA) works to prevent and control HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia through testing, treatment, education, and counseling.
   Registered: 6/21/2004
   Headquarters: Columbia, MD
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Ethiopia
5. Globous Relief Fund (GRF) helps relief organizations and charities obtain the supplies and volunteer services they need to operate.
   Registered: 7/5/2004
   Headquarters: Salt Lake City, UT
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Argentina, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Ukraine, Vanuatu
6. India Gospel League Inc., North America provides child care, rural development, and medical outreach in India.
   Registered: 7/20/2004
   Headquarters: Middletown, OH
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: India
7. International Child Resource Exchange Institute (ICRI) improves the lives of children and families by developing programs adapted to the needs of local communities.
   Registered: 6/24/2004
   Headquarters: Berkeley, CA
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Chile, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Zimbabwe
8. Kindheart for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc. (KH) provides immediate disaster relief, and establishes programs to improve the quality of life and foster independence for those in need.
   Registered: 6/21/2004
   Headquarters: Toledo, OH
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and Gaza Strip
9. Partners for Christian Development, Inc. (PCD) equips Christian business people to help the poor and support local entrepreneurs in developing countries.
   Registered: 6/24/2004
   Headquarters: Grand Rapids, MI
   PVO Reported Activity Countries: Kenya
10. Rainbow Humanitarian Caretaker Foundation (RHCF) creates and enhances institutional, financial, and technical capabilities of Ethiopian communities to support children affected by HIV/AIDS.
    Registered: 7/20/2004
    Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA
    PVO Reported Activity Countries: Ethiopia
11. Terma Foundation implements public health programs in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas of the People's Republic of China.
    Registered: 6/24/2004
    Headquarters: Half Moon Bay, CA
    PVO Reported Activity Countries: China
12. Vietnamese-American Education and Culture Foundation (VACEF) promotes mutually beneficial educational, professional, humanitarian, and cultural cooperation among Hawaii, the U.S. mainland, and Vietnam.
    Registered: 7/6/2004
    Headquarters: Honolulu, HI
    PVO Reported Activity Countries: Vietnam
13. Wings of the Dawn International Institute for Children (WOD) helps Africa's poorest children obtain an education by providing books and educational materials in their respective languages.
    Registered: 7/6/2004
    Headquarters: Fort Worth, TX
    PVO Reported Activity Countries: Brazil, Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Zimbabwe

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3. EVENTS

PVC-ASHA to launch “Organizational Development Brownbag Series”

PVC-ASHA is launching a bi-monthly brownbag series on Organizational Development to share new findings, best practices, and encourage debate on hot topics in the field of organizational strengthening. A tentative list of dates and topics is provided below.

October 2004	Networks
December 2004	Partnerships
February 2005	NGO Certification/Standards

Meetings will be from 12 to 1:30pm and will be held in the USAID Information Center on the Mezzanine of the Ronald Reagan Building. Specific dates, times and locations will be forthcoming shortly. We welcome your thoughts for future topics. If you would like to receive information about these meetings by email, please contact Dana Ott at dott@usaid.gov

Meeting Notes: Michael Edwards discussion with USAID staff - “How can donors effectively foster independent and sustainable non-governmental organizations?”

On July 13, 2004, Michael Edwards met with USAID staff to discuss his recent book, Civil Society, in the context of how his work could inform donor activities in this area. Dr. Edwards is currently the Director of the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society Program. He has also been the Senior Civil Society Specialist at the World Bank and worked for several non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam-UK and Save the Children-UK. He has written a number of books, including the recently published Civil Society and articles on non-governmental organizations and their role in international development.

Dr Edwards discussed the three primary theories about the role of civil society in democratization and development; as the world of associational life that is assumed to act as a cauldron of both democratic and non-democratic ideas and values; as the public sphere which provides a space for citizens to argue, debate, and arrive at political consensus; and as the 'good society', requiring institutional compacts and collaboration across states, markets and voluntary groups. He argued that there is no historical evidence that NGOs are crucial to development. He then discussed three theories on how different patterns of associational life can impact on development. The first argues that civil society in general is the driving force behind positive change, the second that certain kinds of organizations (cross-cutting and broad based) are key to development. The third argues that there is no predictable link between the structure of associational life and development.

For donors, Edwards argues, there are some specific steps we can take to strengthen civil society despite this complexity, and without distorting its natural form. First, there should be an emphasis on strengthening the pre-conditions for civil society to develop naturally, such as the legal structure and equality of participation. He cautions us to think much more broadly about associations and what we call civil society, rather than focusing narrowly on a segment such as advocacy organizations. Second, Edwards argues that rather than imposing our view of what civil society should be, we should strive to identify innovations in associational life that permit groups on the ground to strengthen their roles and identities organically. Rather than focusing on the numbers of NGOs registered, for example, we should focus on building a strong "ecology" for all different forms of voluntary association and working with organizations that are embedded in their social and political context.

Unprecedented Turnout at PVC-ASHA Annual Workshop for ASHA Grantees

An unprecedented number of participants attended the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) annual workshop held at the Holiday Inn Select in Alexandria, Virginia, June 7-9, 2004. This year’s workshop attracted the largest number of participants since its inception approximately 11 years ago. Ninety five participants, a 26 per cent increase over last year’s attendance, represented grantees from United States Organizations (USOs) and their respective beneficiaries from overseas institutions (OSIs) at the workshop. The primary purpose of the workshop was to assist the USOs and their overseas institutions (OSIs) to improve the implementation of the grants awarded. However, this year’s workshop transcended the conventional focus on project implementation to include several broader objectives:

• Providing participants with an insight and appreciation of USAID strategies and programs in the education , agriculture and health sectors, with a focus on HIV/AIDS
• Sharing with the workshop participants USAID’s Global Development Alliance Initiative
• Reviewing and provide guidance in the preparation of Performance Management Plan (PMP), an important condition of PVC-ASHA’s grant, and
• Reviewing the process, procedures and requirements for project implementation, including financial reporting, quarterly reports, initial environmental examination, procurement, audit, annual report and, grant closeout.

The workshop was opened by Mr. Garrett Grigsby, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Affairs. PVC-ASHA Office Director, Judith Gilmore, and Division Chief, George Like, also addressed the participants.

Presentations on USAID’s sector strategies having relevancy to the ASHA program were made by representatives from the Office of Education, Office of Agriculture and Office of HIV/AIDS. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion. Participants showed keen interest in learning about the sector strategies and potential program opportunities that their organization might pursue. The Director of the Global Development Alliance made a presentation on this USAID initiative, which focuses on forging public-private partnerships to maximize development assistance to developing nations. Following the panel presentations, workshop participants discussed and provided constructive feedback on suggested elements of a PVC-ASHA Performance Management Plan (PMP). Two representatives from the Office of Procurement also addressed the workshop participants and fielded questions on procurement issues.

CAP Advocacy Training held in Turkey

PVC's Capable Partners Program held its second advocacy training June 13-18 in Istanbul, Turkey, for participating NGO networks from 15 countries. Participants reviewed and refined their advocacy skills and approaches, were trained on the use of NGOConnect.NET as a communication tool for their networks, and were introduced to social marketing and behavior change concepts to complement their advocacy work. A major emphasis of the week was on Advocacy Action Plans. All participants presented draft plans and received extensive feedback from the facilitators and peers. Final plans are to be posted on NGOConnect by July 5, and CAP will work with each organization during the next year on implementation. Some are taking on sector or issue-specific campaigns, and others are focusing on building the advocacy capacity of NGOs in their networks and countries. For more information, contact Barney Singer, AED/CAP Program, at bsinger@aed.org

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4. Online Resources in Organizational Development

In this section we present a sample of interesting online links in the area of organizational development which offer tools, news and other information that you may find useful. Please send all suggestions to be featured in this section for future issues to Dana Ott, PVC-ASHA Research, Monitoring and Outreach Specialist at dott@usaid.gov

• INTRAC’s May 2004 Newsletter - In this issue: Oliver Bakewell outlines changing approaches to humanitarian action as part of the disaster management cycle; Miguel Ángel Prieto traces the emergence of Spanish NGO responses to emergencies; Catalina Gómez reflects on the experiences of Central American NGOs after Hurricane Mitch; Vicky Brehm highlights lessons from an NGO Consortium response to the Malawi food crisis in 2002. Includes a section on Capacity Building for Humanitarian and Development NGOs.

• Baldrige National Quality Program – Organizational capacity self-assessment tools and other useful materials from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest honor for quality and performance excellence.

• Nonprofit Good Practice Guide – A large collection of online material from the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership. The Johnson Center, a component of Grand Valley State University, began in 1992 as a multidisciplinary university-wide center, developed with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

• Strategies, tools, evaluations and other resources for an NGO by the NGO Café, a project of the Global Development Research Center.

• The Council on Accreditation partners with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards. They provide an e-newsletter and back issues for Peers, Child Welfare and Behavioral Health organizations, Public agencies, Financial Management and Debt Counseling organizations, and Employee Assistance Programs.

One of the first programs of its kind in the United States, the Standards for Excellence Institute is a national initiative that promotes the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations, and facilitates adherence to those standards by all nonprofits. The Institute, an operating division of Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations (Maryland Nonprofits), uses the Standards for Excellence program, a comprehensive system of nonprofit sector self-regulation as its vehicle for effective change. The Standards for Excellence program works to strengthen the ability of nonprofit organizations to act ethically and accountably in their management and governance, while enhancing the public's trust in the nonprofit sector.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the PVC-ASHA E-News Bulletin, or for comments and questions, please send an email to dott@usaid.gov.

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