SNV Quarterly Report-YAWWA-Year 3 Quarter 1

YAWWA's goal is to support the development of social entrepreneurs and people-to-people resilience. Project activities are designed to meet the following objectives: Objective 1, Support and Scale-Up Indigenous Knowledge Innovation, and Objective 2, Create a Platform of Social Innovators/Entrepreneurs. Within the first objective, YAWWA seeks to build the leadership capacity of local entrepreneurs and "change agents" and to establish networks to help innovators improve the quality of life and shared sense of belonging in the five target regions. The Project builds the capacity of current entrepreneurs and leaders and identifies and develops those with emerging potential through focused leadership trainings and mentorship networks. In collaboration with five local partners, the YAWWA team aims to build the leadership capacity of 4,000 change makers, with special focus on women, including both active and potential social innovators and social entrepreneurs in five targeted regions of Niger. Within the second objective, YAWWA seeks to develop a culture of social enterprise initiatives within the Nigerien business community through the creation of an accessible social enterprise exchange network to allow for sharing of knowledge and best practices in social entrepreneurship, in addition to a focused media campaign highlighting project success stories and societal benefits of local social enterprises and innovators to address and solve societal problems in Niger. This quarterly report covers the period between October 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016, and details major accomplishments, progress to date, challenges encountered, and lessons learned. Key milestones achieved during this quarter include the completion of the 2nd annual social innovations fair, the conclusion of all women leadership trainings, the finalization of the selection process for Year 3 social innovation and in-kind grants, exchange visits conducted in Zinder, Agadez, and Diffa, completion of the midterm evaluation and sharing of results with project stakeholders, and organization of regional annual planning meetings in Agadez and Niamey. The YAWWA team, in conjunction with an external evaluation firm, organized a presentation to share the results of the midterm evaluation on October 10, 2016, with the project's local regional partners. The midterm evaluation presented the project's progress to date and made some recommendations to improve implementation, primarily on the grants program and the impact of trainings. The team has taken actions to incorporate the recommendations into project planning. SNV proposed revisions to some of its project indicators and targets, including those related to employment, in response to the midterm evaluation's recommendation and in consultation with USAID's Regional M&E Officer. A revised PMP has been submitted to USAID's review and approval. YAWWA held an annual planning meeting for Year 3 activities on October 11-12, 2016, in Niamey with all the local partners. The USAID-approved annual plan was shared with partners, who were tasked with creating an annual regional activity schedule for the year. In November, SNV supported the annual regional strategic planning meetings with the local partners in Niamey and Agadez. The strategic planning with local partners in Maradi, Zinder, and Diffa is scheduled for completion in Q1/Y3. Objective 1: Support and Scale-Up Indigenous Knowledge Innovation, Task 2, Scale up social enterprises or launch social innovations by providing targeted capacity building to social innovators/entrepreneurs, was implemented during this quarter. AJPIL organized a Leadership for Change training in Niamey on October 21-23, 2016, to reinforce the training module to 34 TOTs, 18 of them women. AGIR Plus organized a LEAP+ training for 40 TOTs, including 20 women, in Diffa in December 2016. Two strategic planning meetings were organized with TOTs, youth leaders, and some grant recipients in Agadez and Niamey. A total of 35 participants (16 of them women) attended in Agadez a one-day planning meeting on November 26th, 2016, while a total of 30 participants (14 of them women) attended the planning session on November 1st in Niamey. The objective of the meeting was to present the midterm evaluation results, review the new training strategy, emphasizing their roles in submitting feedback, writing success stories, and identifying the technical support needs of trainees, and identify technical support needs of TOTs and youth leaders. YAWWA continued regular monitoring of training replications by TOTs at the regional level. Partners monitored training replications in social innovation, leadership, and organizational strengthening. Following the monthly monitoring and reporting of the project's local partners, 4,501 were trained, including 2,182 women.