Institutional development assessments of SFPS West and Central African partner organizations

An institutional development assessment (IDA) was conducted at 10 SFPS Regional African Partner Institutions (RAPI) in six countries throughout West and Central Africa to document existing capacity and identify potential areas of collaboration and capacity building in overall dimensions of management, financial management and technical capacity. The IDA employed a case study approach during a one-week in-depth assessment at each institution. Multiple data collection methods were used to determine the institution"s current status of capacity: self-administered questionnaires, interviews, and document review. Although many of the organizations provide services in multiple technical areas, three of the organizations focus primarily on information, education and communication programs, four in operations research, one organization specializes in service delivery and two in training. As a result of the IDAs, individual action plans were developed for each RAPI with proposed activities to enhance the organization"s management, financial management and/or technical capacity. SFPS has identified four priority areas for institutional capacity building where the project intends to focus its collaborative efforts. These common needs constitute four capacity areas: strategic management; marketing research and planning; financial planning; and grant-/proposal-writing. For management capacity, a strategic planning seminar which will introduce these organizations to the concept and benefits of institutionalizing a strategic planning process is recommended. Lastly, an introductory workshop on market research and planning is proposed for the nine organizations. (POPLINE abstract)