NewsLetter May 2008

Capacity Building of Local Government in Uganda

In 2007 MDF has been requested to build up the capacity of Arua and Soroti local governments in Uganda. The capacity building included various levels, from Councillors, Head of Department, Parish and Sub-County Chiefs, Finance and Contract committees, senior staff (Procurement Officer, Internal Auditor, and Finance Department. Topics of the capacity building were:

• Policy making, leadership and monitoring skills
• Chairing of meeting skills
• Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation skills
• Procurement and Contract Management skills
• Resource Mobilisation skills.

The various trainings all first identified the start level of the participants, using the Ugandan Local Government Act, Procurement Act, etc. as key documents of reference. All examples concerning bottlenecks in communication or policy decision making implementation came from the participants and were analysed along the existing Ugandan rules and regulations.
The result of the capacity building process has been that all stakeholders quite clearly understood their rights and duties. Participants knew where to ask what kind of questions to whom and therefore got enabled to ask the right questions to the one concerned to be responsible to give an answer, or actually to take action accordingly.

The comments of the District Administration after some of the training were that Councillors now really took up their responsibility in the Local Government process.

Experience from participant:

Financial Management in 2000

As far back as the year 2000, I attended a training course with MDF on Financial Management. Many years later I still refer to the neatly filed documentation that was given to us during the course. It has a dominant place on my bookshelf.

The part that I enjoyed a lot was the link that was made between budgeting and LogFrames. I am not sure whether the MDF free software that we were given ever really took off (must ask them...) due to its complexity, but the principles behind the approach were fascinating and are still most relevant to development interventions of any sort.

After 2000 I have had the privilege of working for different UN- and other bilateral agencies. Most of them have their own specific approach to mapping out intervention strategies. But the LogFrames methodology has stuck with me and helped me to develop a full appreciation of development jargon including results based monitoring, accountability and performance evaluation.

Arguably the best part of the MDF training course was spending time with like-minded (i.e. crazy) aspiring aid workers from all walks of life!

Keep it up, MDF!

Bastiaan Remmelzwaal, Kenya

Experience from participant (2)

Project Cycle Management Course in 2008

I have recently attended a course on Project Cycle Management, at MDF Ede. This was really a life time experience for me. I enjoyed their way of facilitating, the way of learning through experiences. I appreciate Hanneke and Bas (the trainers) for their excellent style of facilitation. I beleive this was not only the opportunity for professional growth but personal growth as well. The people at MDF were supportive and problem solving including support staff.
I learnt different techniques that I am applying in my daily work, the learning is helping me a lot to organize myself in a way to achieve my objectives in an effecient way.
I would recommend these cources for development professionals.

Best Regards, Shazia Abbas, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund

Experience from participant (3)

Management Course for Development Practitioners in 2006

I would like to express appreciation for the opportunity to study at MDF, which has enriched me in more ways than I thought possible.  Most development practitioners learn how to do their work 'on the job'.  Often it is not the best way to do things.  But you can only know the difference when you finally know why certain things have to be done in the way they are being done.  All of a sudden things make sense!  The logical framework, the manager's questions, giving feedback, coverage matrix, the adult learning cycle - these are all practical things that may seem obvious but are difficult to practice in reality. When your eyesight is bad and you have never worn corrective spectacles, you think thats how life should be.  Then you start wearing spectacles and you can even see the edge of the paper or leaf - only then do you get to realise that you really didnt see as well as you thought you did! That is how I felt after the training course.

I especially value the pool of networks that I established - people in most countries who I can associate and share knowledge with. My workmates are amazed at how enthusiastic I am about my work - I have so many ideas and things I wish to try!

Regards, Chandirekera Sarah Mutubuki, Zimbabwe