Program Development Quickly III (PDQ III) IQC Quarterly Report

foreign policy initiatives. Under this contract, Training Resources Group, Inc. (TRG) has assisted OTI by finding new ways to improve staff education, efficiency, and effectiveness to maximize overall organizational success in country programs. TRG's role for this IQC is to provide inputs and support in the areas of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Professional Development and Training, Knowledge Management (KM), and Outreach. As prime for the program, TRG leads a team of successful partners from the QED Group, LLC (QED), with expertise in M&E, KM, and Outreach; Zaloni, with expertise in Information Technology (IT) applications for KM; and EDF Communications, with experience in high-quality strategic communications and outreach. The team's objective is to provide OTI with the necessary tools and expertise to support U.S. foreign policy initiatives. Under the PDQ III IQC, TRG has implemented and completed one activity – Task Order 1. This task order involved providing facilitation services for the Yemen Stabilization Initiative (YSI) Strategic Review Session (SRS). A member of TRG's core staff, Rachael Wilcox, worked with OTI Senior Transition Advisor, Katie Prud'homme, to prepare and facilitate the YSI SRS on December 10-12, 2012, on the Dead Sea in Jordan. The SRS involved interviewing over 35 stakeholders, which yielded a number of areas of consensus and several issues of concern that required additional clarification and attention. The key areas of agreement revealed during the interviews included a sense of pride in the program's accomplishments to date, shared understanding of the project goals and objectives, and appreciation for solid teamwork and esprit de corps among the staff. However, issues requiring additional clarification and attention centered primarily on the implementation of the program's strategy, including the integration of service delivery and civic engagement activities, and the respective roles and responsibilities of service delivery and civic engagement staff in grant development and implementation. The SRS was well received, as evidenced by the quotes from key participants. The only challenge encountered was that the original Scope of Work (SOW) called for the SRS to be held in Cairo, but due to insecurity in Egypt, the location was moved to Jordan. TRG was able to accommodate the change in venue in collaboration with the Contracting Officer (CO). The SRS outcomes included building relationships between the Civic Engagement Unit (CEU) staff and the Service Delivery Platform staff Development Advisors (DA) and Assistant Development Advisors (ADAs), while providing multiple opportunities for joint brainstorming and planning.