von Kristina Kroyer
Celebrating successes and preparing phase III of the Policy Dialogue Consortium Project
From 11th to 14th of November, partner organizations of the Consortium Project Policy Dialogue (PD) came together in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to exchange experiences, learn from each other and collectively reflect on the future and further development of the Consortium Project. It was a special honour to welcome Andrea Schmid from the Austrian Development Agency to the workshop and discuss with her the various learnings and benefits of the project on individual and organizational levels.
In order to close Phase II of the project (2017-2019), partners were invited to look back to 5 years of successful implementation by recapitulating on the many capacity development measures realized in that time and by sharing experiences gathered through policy dialogue initiatives in various fields of action. Based on learnings and experiences facilitated by the project, the collectively developed “PD Manual” was validated and its “birthday” celebrated. The workshop was also used to look to the future of the project by analysing the Logframe of phase III (2020-2022), planning learning activities that aim at consolidating and institutionalizing capacities at the organizations, and discussing the importance of gender mainstreaming in policy dialogue. For a sustainable impact of the project, participants also approached a systemic analysis of the environment the project operates in and were trained on resource mobilization for a long-term policy dialogue engagement.
Additionally, the partner network, for the first time, had the chance to interact directly with a representative from the main donor of the project, the Austrian Development Agency, on how the project has impacted their organizations. Andrea Schmid joined the workshop for the first two days.
The workshop had inputs and learning sessions provided by Cyprian Nyamwamu, a policy expert from Kenya who accompanied the project through its 5 years of implementation; Kristina Kroyer, the coordinator of the project responsible for coordinating capacity development and consortium activities as well as for monitoring overall project progresses; Janepher Taaka from CARE Uganda and Claire Laurent from CARE Austria, both gender experts who helped participants to reflect on how to analyse and integrate gender in their policy dialogue work; Sarah Nduku from Kenya Red Cross Society, who is not only a policy and advocacy expert but also an expert on resource mobilization; and Petra Herout, HORIZONT3000 focal person on the inclusive system development approach who joined us on skype.
These are some examples of what participants from partner organizations say about the workshop:
“Allow me to register appreciation for the wonderful and high quality organization during the just concluded workshop in Nairobi. Surely the standard of the workshop was of quality thus making participants active and lively throughout the sessions.”
“I got a clearer picture of PD development and the processes involved in one understandable framework. I appreciate the effort expanded by the team to reach where we are.”
“Keep up the good spirit and certainly ADA and Horizont3000 should know that they are doing something wonderful for our local CSOs. The capacity building is a great step in the right direction.”
The Consortium project is funded by the Austrian Development Agency and involves 4 Austrian NGOs: HORIZONT3000 (lead and coordination), CARE Austria, CARITAS Austria, Red Cross Austria, SOS Children’s Villages Austria; and 9 East African partner organizations in 4 countries: DESECE, GROOTS Kenya, Kenya Red Cross Society, Rwanda Red Cross Society, SOS Children’s Village Uganda, SOS Children’s Village Tanzania, MIO-Net/PACIDA, CARE Uganda and WORUDET.
More on the project, its trainings and partner initiatives can be found here:
Empowerment for Policy Dialogue – Projektpartner im Gespräch – DESECE
Empowerment for Policy Dialogue – Projektpartner im Gespräch II – Groots Kenya
