Experience in Capacity Building: AID-COMILLA always gives emphasis on capacity building of it self’s as well as other organizations. For AID-COMILLA, partnerships are defined as mutually beneficial alliances between organizations, where roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities are clearly defined; they are based on a shared understanding of the objectives and purposes of the work to be undertaken together and involve joint contributions of resources, shared risks, and shared control of program and financial information. AID-COMILLA focus on the following area on capacity building:

Household Livelihood Security: Application of a “livelihoods” approach enables the programs within project area to identify the inter-relationships between one another, and break down the artificial, sectoral boundaries between the different interventions. In this data-driven approach, monitoring and evaluation systems pay particular attention to programme results at the household level, as well as to unintended impact and the dimension of changes happening over time.

Rights Based Approaches:  AID-COMILLA’s  work focuses deliberately and explicitly on people’s efforts to achieve the minimum conditions for living with dignity. We work for building internal capacity to empower people to claim and exercise their rights and fulfill their responsibilities. We recognize the poor, the displaced and victims of violence as having inherent rights essential to livelihood security – rights that are validated by international law.

Advocacy: AID-COMILLA is working to develop competency and build the capacity of others in the deliberate process of influencing those who make policy decisions. Our advocacy efforts will focus on policy makers and policy implementers at levels above that of the household, with the aims of addressing the root causes of poverty and discrimination and of improving the livelihoods of significant numbers of people.

Partnership : AID-COMILLA  believe that true partnerships are based on a shared vision regarding the objectives and purpose of the work undertaken together, along with shared contributions of resources, shared risks and shared control of program and financial information.

Capacity Building Capacity building – the process whereby a person’s, an organization’s or a society’s ability to achieve its purposes is enhanced – will go hand-in-hand with partnership in much of AID-COMILLA’s work. Although AID-COMILLA often plays the role of capacity-builder, it can also be the beneficiary of capacity building provided by partners and other organizations.

Gender Equity: We are working through advocacy, partnership and direct project implementation to increase awareness of gender inequities, and to change the conditions that create and maintain them in the communities we serve. Gender analysis integrated with all phases of the project cycle, ensuring women’s participation in identifying and prioritizing problems, in project design and in project implementation.

Partnership with NGOs and CBOs

AID-COMILLA implements some of its program with the partnership of other NGOs and CBOs. For example:

ASIRP Project: This is a project of DFID/ World Bank with DAE. AID-COMILLA act as a lead organization and partners were Holodia Mohila Unnayan Shanghta (Comilla Based NGO), SHRISTY Mohila Shanghta (Comilla based NGO) & Department of Women Affairs (Comilla Office). AID-COMILLA was responsible for Coordination, supervision, technical report and financial report.

Livelihood Improvement Through Ecology (LITE) Project: This is a project of DFID/PETRRA/IRRI. AID-COMILLA act as a lead organization and partners were from around Comilla District. Total 19 NGO were the partner of this project. AID-COMILLA was responsible for Coordination, supervision, technical report and financial report.

Rodent Management Project: This is a project of DFID/CPP. AID-COMILLA act as a lead organization and partners were from around Comilla District. Total 04 NGO were the partner of this project. AID-COMILLA was responsible for Coordination, supervision, technical report and financial report.

Credit Support Project: This is a project of BASIC Bank Limited. AID-COMILLA act as a lead organization and partners were from around Comilla District. Total 01 NGO were the partner of this project. AID-COMILLA was responsible for Coordination, supervision, technical report and financial report.

Formation of CBOs: From the starting of AID-COMILLA; it has been working on the establishment of local CBOs. Under the project till to-date 90 small CBOs (membership around 65) and 20 large  CBOs (membership around 350) has been established. AID-COMILLA provides leadership training, accounts training, management training, awareness training related to every day life to the  CBOs leaders. The project supported by Rabo Bank Foundation of Netherlands.

Project Monitoring and Evaluation:
AID-COMILLA has 3 levels of project monitoring.  First level involves Project Coordinators/Project Managers conducting periodic monitoring of Project activities based on plan.  Second level monitoring involves the M&E Cell composed of management/senior level staff doing monitoring at the field level.  The M&E Cell is composed of 7 people who come from the management level of AID-COMILLA.  Project monitoring is done on a scheduled basis.  Project evaluation is also done by the M&E Cell wherein various methodologies are used.  All reports done by the members of the M&E Cell goes to the Management Adviser who does the checking and provides technical input on report writing.  After checking the draft copy, the report goes to the Executive Director for review and comments.  All final reports are forwarded to the Project offices for immediate action. The reporting system of AID-COMILLA to funding sources is based on the requirement of each donor.  Report submission could be on a quarterly, bi-annual, and annual basis. The 3^rd level monitoring is conducted by the Executive Director on a need basis.

Financial and Technical Report:
AID-COMILLA prepare financial and technical reports for its donor as per requirement. It may be quarterly / half yearly and yearly.

A sample copy of such report has been enclosed herewith.

 Coordination and supervision of partner NGOs/CBOs activities:
AID-COMILLA’s new initiative, Assistance to other organization aims at building partnership with local NGOs, Civil Society Organizations and educational institutions to achieve the greater goal of establishing a poverty-free, environmentally sound and a gender-just society.

Neither poverty eradication nor the fight against the forces of under-development is possible by a single organization or authority alone. There are many local NGOs, CSOs, etc. experienced enough and working in the field of development with a strong commitment, but cannot accomplish their objectives due to required support. AID-COMILLA helps these local NGOs, CBOs and educational institutions build their capacity by providing them with technical expertise and financial assistance.

The innovativeness of this programme is in building networks of these organizations throughout the country to address crucial issues affecting the development of the concerned areas. Issues such as oppression on women and trafficking, deforestation, environmental protection, and the problem of NGO overlapping and duplication of activities feature prominently in this respect. The activities of the programme are: building networks among local NGOs to collectively address the local development issues; holding workshops on different development issues for sharing experience; providing financial support in implementing different programmes; providing training for group members and the staff of partner organizations; capacity-building for financial management as well as proper record-keeping; providing financial and technical support for running non-formal primary schools; providing support for running adult literacy centres;  capacity-building of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to enable them to meaningfully participate  in and contribute to the development process;  capacity-building for financial management and record-keeping; providing support  in organizing training and cultural fairs; providing support in organizing regional cultural workshops; providing support in strengthening local cultural activities such as people’s theatre, popular songs, etc.

Working with partner organizations is a major feature of the many projects implemented by AID-COMILLA. Such an approach necessitates not only training PNGO extension workers in dissemination of agricultural practices through farmers to farmers and other extension methods, but building organizational capacity to manage staff, handle budgets, train other organizations and ensure that relevant M&E systems are used.

AID-COMILLA’s vision of a successful partnership is a relationship where each side is prepared to give up some self objectives in order to achieve communal/joint objectives; where there is a division of roles and responsibilities, a sharing of risks and a pursuit of joint objectives. Whereas donors work directly with organisations which already have the capacity for project delivery, working in partnership involves the transfer of skills which will build the capacity of one of the partners to eventually implement project activities.

THE PROJECT PARTNERSHIPS ALSO:

• build the capacity of a wide range of organizations (NGOs to village needs-based groups) to effectively deliver extension of the methods after withdrawal of support from AID-COMILLA
• build the capacity of NGOs/CBOs to use participatory approaches in agricultural extension
• build and strengthen NGOs/CBOs capacity to identify and address social and gender issues in field activities
• build the capacity of some NGOs/CBOs to advocate for poor farmers (project beneficiaries)
• work with NGOs/CBOs to establish a gender balanced staff from management to field level
• build the capacity of NGOs/CBOs to accurately monitor and evaluate their work
• facilitate networking and skills/information sharing between NGOs/CBOs, the GOB and other stakeholders
• strengthen NGOs/CBOs ability to work with local structures of GOB and apply for funding from donors to implement projects in their own right
• identify partners with whom AID-COMILLA can work in the future
• identify partnership strategies and principles of best practice which can be used by AID-COMILLA and other development agencies in the future
• work with academic institutions and research bodies to investigate topics that farmers identify as being important
  
  

STATEMENT OF COMPETENCY

Working Approach:

AID-Comilla follows the following strategies/methodologies for its entire project. Special attention given to adopt some of the useful PRA techniques to identify ultra poor potential women to be selected, to understand power structure, their problems and possible solution options identified by them.

Flexibility and adaptability is the important attributes of the entire project. The steps suggested below are largely derived from WSR systems methodology which maintains that development projects always require three things:  an investigation of the facts, sufficient theoretical knowledge to allow informed choices to be made about which methods to be followed, and the ability to deal with human relations. Part of the reason that will attempt the project through participatory means is to improve the rate of uptake as new development strategy is developed.

Understanding Desire:  Meet the poor men/ women and other stakeholder in targeted area to clearly understand their needs, values and desires. Equally important, the women members must be informed of the motives and values of the parties involved in the specific project. This will help to establish a level of trust.

Investigating Conditions: This stage ensure that sustainable development approach will be developed in the context of existing development practices. Document existing development practice, investigate women meta-decision making regarding self reliance. Explore potential resources and restrictions of each area, questionnaires, the Delphi methods, focus group, specific issue, village mapping exercise used at this stage.

Formulate Specific Objectives: Through brain-storming, problem structuring or other methods , project staff and the rural men/women members come to agreement on a set of objectives, desire scenarios and indicator of impact of the project. At this stage, participants should agree on the most important problems to solve.

Coordinate relations: Discuss what to do, how to do, whom to do with, what criteria to use to measure impact through interactive planning, focus group or other methods. 

Establish a basis for practising environmental monitoring through quality investigation

• initiate to develop a participatory monitoring tool to investigate training quality at a regular basis
• produce case studies on different environmental aspects of human development
• will incorporate learning in the training module

1. Seed Preservation
2. Rice Cultivation
3. Sweet Potato Cultivation
4. Food and Nutrition