The TY Danjuma Foundation organised its 2011 NGO capacity building programme on December 1 and 2. The training was held at the Rockview Hotel, Apapa – Lagos and brought together a cross section of organisations working on various issues related to the Foundation’s programme areas.

The focus for this year’s training was on Sustaining NGOs for Effective Service Delivery.

Though an annual event, the need to focalise the 2011 training on sustainability stems from the understanding that there are capacity gaps in organisational sustainability as reflected in the volume of proposals received by the Foundation; gaps in project implementation and reporting; financial accountability; monitoring and evaluation; and overall organisational management.

The first day of the training was dedicated to Executive Directors and Chief Executive Officers of the Foundation’s grantees, some NGOs that applied for grants but were unsuccessful as well as heads of foundations. Themes examined included development challenges in Nigeria and the role of NGOs, developing a culture of sustainability, fund raising and image building, community foundations and grassroots development, and programme related investments for NGOs.

Day two of the training attracted accountants and monitoring and evaluation officers. The training on financial management exposed participants to organisational structures, internal processes, effective financial management and internal controls, audits, reporting and accounting ethics. Meanwhile, the training for monitoring and evaluation officers examined the concepts of project management, monitoring and evaluation; and identified ways of building sustainable monitoring and evaluation systems as an integral part of project development.

The faculty for the 2011 NGO capacity building programme included development experts, practitioners from the foundation and business world as well as staff of the Foundation.