August News /

Building Capacity: Experiences of the YES Country Networks in Southern Africa

Young people in the Southern African region face enormous changes and challenges.  Responding to the emerging social and economic trends that these changes and challenges produce calls for an ongoing adaptability.  It also requires continual reflection and evaluation of one’s capabilities and shortcomings in order to successfully develop and deliver programs for youth.  While implementing development projects can be a daunting undertaking, the YES Campaign believes that it is a necessary and worthwhile undertaking in achieving our goals. 

In the light of this, the Youth Development Network (YDN), the partner organization of YES currently coordinating all YES activity in the Southern African Region, recently came to the unfortunate realization that not all YES Country Networks in the region were able to effectively deliver programs to the targeted youth in their respective countries.  As a result, programs were not meeting the desired outcomes.

Program implementation calls for specific skills and capacity.  The reality of implementing programs is a challenge for many YES Country Networks.  The challenges of program implementation are multi-faceted and go beyond the often bandied-around cliché of not having enough funding.  Many organizations have the necessary funds, but do not address the organizational and managerial problems caused by different levels of understanding, skills and competencies. In order to address some of these challenges, the YDN organized a Planning and Capacity Building Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa on April 18-22.  Twenty-one participants from Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mauritius, Botswana, Angola, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo attended the workshop, mainly representing the YES Country Networks in the region.  All participants were selected based on their involvement in implementing one or more of the projects that fall under the Regional Support Plan - Mentorship, Entrepreneurship Education in High Schools, or Entrepreneurship Education in Vocational Schools and Centers.

The workshop mainly focused on the practical aspects of implementing a program:  What do you want to achieve? How are you going to achieve what you set out to do? And most importantly, how do you know that you have achieved what you set out to do?

The integration of HIV/AIDS into youth employment programs was also highlighted.  Although not an entirely unfamiliar topic for the participants, this was the first time that they were engaged in thinking about HIV/AIDS within the context of youth employment.   The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS is one of the leading factors for the low rates of economic growth experienced in the region, affecting all productive sectors of the population, including youth.  The session focused mostly on the participant’s knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS and the fact that these can have a negative influence on how they deal with issues of HIV/AIDS. It was designed to separate fact from myths and to make every participant understand the difference between the two, so as not to confuse the youth with whom they are working.

A session was also held on building partnerships for sustainability.  It was designed to strengthen the capacity of the participating YES Country Networks to create effective partnerships that will facilitate access to resources to continue with their activities. The session focused on describing what partnerships are and what they mean to the YES Country Networks, the different types of partnerships possible, and what they can expect from these different types of partnerships. The workshop was critical in the YES Country Networks to clearly articulate what they expect from a partner when formulating a relationship so that each is aware of their responsibilities and what is expected of them.

The core of the workshop was based on the Youth Development Networks tool, “Measuring Programmatic Impact.” This tool is designed to integrate measurement systems into every aspect of the program, from planning to implementation to overall management. The main focus was on the changes that take place in the lives of the youth as a result of a project and how to track these changes in such a way that one can conclusively attribute them to the program. 

The participants worked through the design of their own projects that are part of the Regional Support Plan to arrive at what is expected from each as it relates to its specific goals. Most importantly, they designed the inputs and the activities needed in order to achieve the desired results.  Facilitators then used this information to come up with a reporting format and monitoring framework to be used by the participants to monitor the performance of their projects.  This proactive monitoring, as opposed to awaiting external feedback, should improve the projects’ performance and hence the quality of the services being provided to the young people.

By going through this process, participants began to understand their organizational and programmatic shortcomings and how to address them in order to successfully implement their projects. Additionally, the YES Country Networks were made aware of the support available to them and the advantages that the right partnerships can bring.

For more information, contact Hlanga Mqushulu at hlanga@ydn.org.za