USAID Training and Facilitation Services Quarterly Status Report: April–June 2020

The courses included Virtual New Employee Orientation (NEO), which was successfully pivoted to a fully virtual offering. The team received final client approval of micro design for a new Foreign Service National (FSN) module to be incorporated into the face-to-face Career Candidates Corps (C3) Orientation. The Instructional Area 1 team assisted HCTM in pivoting the NEO to a fully virtual offering and completed 7 successful NEO deliveries for 567 participants. They also received final client approval of micro design for a new FSN module to be incorporated into the face-to-face C3 Orientation. The team revised the original evaluation design for virtual implementation and launched the June 22 cohort (C3 Class 16) and Week 1 survey. In Instructional Area 2, the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity (OCRD), Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Counselor Refresher Training E-Learning was completed with a series of updates. Additional revisions as requested by OCRD are in progress. The Instructional Area 3 team received USAID approval of the overall approach for the Level 3 evaluation for cohorts that completed the workshop between November 2017 and December 2019. They completed survey data collection with course graduates and their supervisors/managers, began data analysis, and finalized the timeline and next steps with the client. The Instructional Area 4 team finalized development and design of the fourth learning burst focused on travel authorization for the Human Resources Essentials (HR Essentials) Course. They also finalized the learning burst focused on awards and disseminated it to course graduates through USAID University on June 22. The team received final client approval of the original Cultivating the Leader Within (formerly FSN Leadership Development) Phases 1-3 blended design and developed a work plan for design and delivery of two Virtual CLW cohorts to be held via Adobe Connect. The EnCompass team also submitted cost proposals between April and June 2020 for various courses, including the Virtual Supervisor Series, Virtual CLW, Virtual C3 Delivery (Cohorts 2-4), Pandemic Preparedness eLearning, Equal EEO Updates (T&M), EEO Updates (Fixed Price), Virtual C3 Design and Delivery, Virtual MCC, and Virtual C3 Recommendations. During the quarter, challenges persisted in relation to project planning and course deliveries due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced a shift to virtually held NEOs and the cancellation of all scheduled face-to-face SCC and MCC deliveries through August 31, 2020. The EnCompass team regularly followed up with the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) to ensure their planning and logistics were responsive to the latest guidance. The team also worked to identify ways to support USAID needs using virtual platforms, where feasible. The result of these efforts includes the delivery of new activities in the next quarter, such as bi-monthly virtual NEOs, 4 virtual C3 deliveries, 1 virtual MCC, 8 virtual Supervisor Series sessions, and 2 virtual CLW deliveries (6 sessions each). Course evaluations for the virtual NEO sessions conducted from April-June 2020 showed positive feedback from participants. They praised the detailed information provided by presenters, the efficient way to do onboarding, and the organized and streamlined delivery of the course. The team also received feedback on the adaptation to the virtual format, which was appreciated by participants.