Capacity Building Clare Sharpen, Senior Consultant

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Capacity BuildingClare Sharpen, Senior Consultant
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• Purpose of the presentation
• To present GLEs approach to capacity building
• To give practical examples of capacity building
  in action
• To demonstrate how the impact can be measured

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• Today I will cover
• Context issues in London
• GLEs capacity building model
• GLEs capacity building projects
• Case Study examples of activity
• Benefits of capacity building
• Examples of measuring the impact

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• Issues affecting implementation in London
• Skills issues
• Low level of project management, financial
  management and other skills
• Lack of understanding of specific reporting
  requirements
• High turnover of staff in the sector

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• Issues affecting implementation in London
• Delivery issues
• Lack of focus on monitoring and/or evidencing
• Problems with planning for long-term
  sustainability
• Failure to meet output targets
• Beneficiaries are hard-to-reach

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• GLEs capacity building model
• Wide range of support offered to funded projects
• Tailored to organisations needs
• Delivered within a Funded Programme
• Partnership model drawing on specialist
  expertise
• - ICT training
• - Financial/ Audit support
• - Project Management training

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• The model

London Development Agency (LDA)
European Social Fund (ESF)

co-financing
LDA Opportunities Fund Programme 2007 - 2009




Funded project
Capacity Building project
Funded project
Funded project
Support, advice, guidance training
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• GLE provision of Capacity Building in London
• Since 2004
• Currently delivering 3 projects
• London Development Agency and London Councils
• Providing support to 156 organisations (plus a
  further 70 from July 2007)
• The 3 contracts total over 1m
• Demand for capacity building is growing

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• GLE Capacity Building projects
• 1. LDA- ESF co-financed programme
• January 2005 to September 2007
• 31 projects
• Total contract value of 562,733
• 3 full-time staff members

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• GLE Capacity Building projects
• 2. LDA Opportunities Fund programme
• April 2007 to March 2009
• 94 projects (40 ESF co-financed)
• Total contract value of 327,000
• 2.5 full-time staff members

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• GLE Capacity Building projects
• 3. London Councils ESF programme
• April 2007 to March 2008
• 31 projects
• Total contract value of 181,000
• 2 full-time staff members

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• Case study LDA Opportunities Fund Capacity
  Building Project
• 94 projects
• 50m of LDA/ ESF funding split into three themes
  
• Skills and Employment
• Regenerating Town Centres
• Green Economy
• Universities, local authorities, voluntary sector
  organisations and private businesses

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Needs Diagnostic
Action Plan
Dedicated website
ICT training e.g. MS Excel, Word, Web design
Project Management training
Tailored workshop series
11 on-site support visits
Pre-audit support visits
Contract compliance e.g. quarterly claims, ESF
regulations
Networking events
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• GLE Workshops
• Over 300 delegates have attended GLE capacity
  building workshops to date.
• Highly interactive challenging
• Demand-led topics
• Excellent feedback received

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• GLE Workshops topics
• Step by step guide to completing Claims
• Beneficiary Recruitment and Retention
• Financial Management and audit
• Project Management
• Managing Successful Partnerships
• Project Evaluation
• Accredited Quality Systems and Quality Marks
• Exit Strategies Sustainability

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• Example workshop content
• Step by step guide to completing claims
• Explaining Outputs Definitions
• How to use the quarterly claim forms
• Explaining timescales deadlines
• LDA / ESF Evidence Requirements
• Practical session City Living project,
  groupwork completing a mock project claim

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• Example workshop content
• Project Evaluation
• What is in an evaluation?
• Why evaluate?
• Ensuring an evaluation is useful, relevant and
  cost effective
• Organising an evaluation
• Structuring an evaluation report

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• Example Exercise
• Whats in an evaluation?
• Activity Split the cards into techniques for
  monitoring and techniques for evaluation.
• What are the key differences between monitoring
  and evaluation?

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• Pre-Audit support
• 11 on-site visits
• How to prepare complete financial records
• How to cross-reference financial records
• Guidance on eligible expenditure
• Expert advice provided by Chartered Accountants
  to ensure financial compliance

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• ICT training
• MS Excel
• MS Access
• MS Outlook
• MS PowerPoint
• MS Project
• MS Word
• Web design
• TOTAL Over 200 training days to date

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• Guidance
• Templates
• Case studies
• Networking
• Updates
• Training
• Workshops
• Best practice

• Project website

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• 11 support
• Technical support e.g. re-profiling of project
  expenditure, outputs, delivery plans
• Advice on administrative systems and processes
• General business support e.g. marketing,
  recruitment, sustainability, fundraising
• Handovers to new project staff

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• Benefits to the projects
• Help with understanding and meeting LDA / ESF
  requirements
• Practical support for contract compliance
• Increased skills base amongst projects which
  improves their delivery
• Creating opportunities for networking
• Building projects capacity to deliver long-term,
  maximising sustainability

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• Benefits to the funders
• Increased compliance with regulations
• Reduction in errors on claim submissions
• Time saving for funders staff
• Improved performance of programme
• Strengthening of regional skills base

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• Any Questions?

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• The results of GLE capacity building
• Outputs
• 39 workshops held
• 850 workshop attendees
• 344 days of ICT training
• 90 pre-audit support visits

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• Evaluating the impact of capacity building
• Analysis of feedback forms
• Distance Travelled methodology
• Case studies
• Steering group meetings
• Interim and final evaluations

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• Feedback forms
• Collate analyse all feedback data
• Report feedback to funders

Poor limited OK Good Excellent
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Impact Analysis by organisation
Before After Distance
Impact Analysis by training course or workshop
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• Case studies

I have learned skills that I can apply to my job
The training enabled us to manage the project in
the best way possible
We have had some good training opportunities
that have really been a benefit to the people
working on our project
It was well worth my while attending
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• Evaluations
• Interim and final evaluations of all projects
• Analysis of direct impact on project compliance
  and delivery standards
• Evaluations feed into future project design

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• Conclusions
• Taking a tailored, practical approach to capacity
  building
• Clear identification of the local issues and how
  to address them
• Offering a wide range of support and training
• Drawing on external expertise through
  partnerships
• Maximising the performance of programmes

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• Any Questions?