WINFA launches civil society capacity building workshops

The Windward Islands Farmers Association (WINFA) has launched a series of capacity building workshops for Civil Society Organizations throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

The training was designed to build the capacity at a programmatic level of civil society organizations which work on a diversity of developmental concerns.

Conceptualized on the basis of a series of consultations held with civil society organizations throughout CARICOM over the period June 2010 to Aug 2011, the training was designed to address capacity constraints, which were identified as one of the major threats facing the CSO movement in the region. These constraints were also recognized as having a negative impact on the ability of CSOs to participate in the national and regional development arena, as well as to effectively manage their organizations.

This specific initiative, done in collaboration with the CPDC and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation, is also jointly being executed in Barbados and will focus on improving the technical knowledge of civil society as it relates to good project management techniques, as well as building capacity to increase public and donor confidence in the functioning of NGOs.

The project will be delivered in three modules (1) Project Management and Proposal Writing (2) Managing Development Projects and (3) Project Reporting and Evaluation. Under these components there will be a series of interventions designed to build capacity at the programmatic level of CSOs which work on a diversity of development concerns.

At the official launching, which took place on Tuesday, April 10, at the Fisheries Conference Room, WINFA’s Coordinator Kozel Peters-Fraser encouraged participants to take full advantage of the opportunity for training, stating that, within the context of the ongoing economic crisis, donors are increasingly calling for higher standards of accountability and transparency in the institutional management of organizations, as well as in the management and delivery of projects. She further emphasized that within this new dispensation where development funds are limited, sectorial constrains must be sufficiently addressed in a collaborative manner, to prevent loss of confidence of the public, critical partners and stakeholders.

The training sessions will run from April to June 2012, and will be delivered by expert facilitators within the fields. The sessions are also being done through collaborative efforts with the Ministry of Agriculture and other development partners.

Interested Civil Society groups can register for training by calling the WINFA Secretariat at 456-2704 or by emailing winfa@winfacaribbean.org.