Training Needs and Beneficiaries

Nine NGOs and CDAs from Sohag Governorate and eight from Dakahleya Governorate participated in the training. They are listed below:
 

Sohag Governorate

Association for Environmental Preservation and Development Upper Egypt Association Caritas Association for Children with Special Needs Women’s Affairs and Training Association Sohag Businessmen’s Association Shandaweel CDA Tunis CDA El Boha CDA

Dakahleya Governorate

Association for Environmental Protection El-Iman village CDA Gedela village CDA El Mokataa village CDA Salamoun El-Kommesh village CDA Shoha village CDA Kolongeel village CDA Women’s Association

The diversity of NGOs and CDAs included in the training ensures that a wide range of target groups were reached. CDAs will develop actions for the communities that they represent while a number of the NGOs may cater for a broader cross section of groups.

Two governmental representatives from Dakahleya also attended because of their regular contacts with NGOs and to strengthen co-operation between NGOs, CDAs and governmental agencies. This included the Head of the Environmental Management Unit of Dakahleya Governorate and the Head of the local Shirbin Governorate Unit.

The training needs of the Sohag and Dakahleya NGOs were assessed beforehand through meetings between their representatives and SEAM project staff. These meetings helped to get a better understanding of the organisations as well as to identify the participants and their training requirements.

Training was provided by Community Development Services (CDS), part of the Near East Foundation, which has considerable experience in capacity building particularly on community participatory actions. Staff from SEAM, the Social Fund for Development and a number of donor organisations that support community based environmental activities were also involved.

Implementation of the Training

Workshop contents were developed jointly by CDS, NGOs/CDAs and SEAM. The programme was based on

The training methodology encouraged participants to exchange and build upon their own experiences and capabilities. The training techniques varied according to the topic, time and skills needed to be acquired. They ranged from lectures, brainstorming and focus group discussions to work groups and role-plays. Most participants carried out at least two presentations and participated actively in group discussions.

Each training session was evaluated by the participants. Before the start of each training day a summary of the evaluations of the previous day was presented and discussed. If possible, the training programme was adjusted according to these evaluations.

In addition to the three days training the following were undertaken:

• A one day field visit to the waste recycling and composting project of the Association for the Protection of the Environment in Moqattam, Cairo to see an example of a community-based environmental project.

A donor’s panel discussion to make the participants familiar with the criteria used by donors for funding environmental projects. Representatives from the Social Fund for Development, the Canadian International Development Assistance (CIDA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) attended the workshop, giving their input as funding donor agencies. The participants requested quicker responses from donors to their applications for funding as they said they lost enthusiasm when they did not receive any response, be it positive or negative.