Po- fim-2- '=f&& 
NCNW fj 3888 
Egypt PVO Development Project 
53 Mania1 Street, 6" Floor, Cairo, Egypt 11451 
Telephone (20 2) 363 4709, 363-8706, Facs~m~le (20 2) 363-0072 
E-Mad ncnw6egyptonl1ne com Web Page www ncnw ~dc-egypt org 
January 27,2000 
Reference UM1\044\2000 
Mrs Mervat Shoukry 
USAlD Egypt 
Zahraa El Maadr 
Maadi, Carro, Egypt 
Su bject Egypt PVO Development Project Final Evaluation 
Agreement Number 263-A-00-92-0001 7-00 
Dear Ms Shoukry 
NCNW acknowledges receipt of the final evaluatron report for the Egypt PVO 
Development Project We wrsh to commend the evaluatron team for the effort they 
provrded to summarrze the accomplrshments under the project In the evaluation report 
They had the very drfficult task of assessmg, analyzing, and summarlzlng activities that 
span an erght-year perrod, 92 subgrants, and 63 Egyptian Prlvate Voluntary 
Organrzation The evaluators attempted to provide a balanced prospective on project 
accompl IS hments 
The evaluation report explrcitly states that the Project met its purpose of developing a 
stronger civil socrety base, and improvrng the qualrty of life of disadvantaged groups 
The Project achieved expected end of project status (EOPS), and a "growing number of 
Egyptran PVOs (EPVOs) were seen to be developmg organizatronal and managerial 
capac~ty to contmue carryrng out development-advocacy actrvitres " In addrtron to these 
accomplrshments, there are other accomplishments that NCNW would like to note, also 
NCNW would like to note several polnts of clarrficatron (see Attachment 1) The tlmlng 
of the evaluation drd not allow for NCNW senror project management staff to prov~de 
substantwe comments to Issues that they rarsed durrng the fieldwork 
Egypt PVO Developnient Project Funded By USAID 
The Project period was January 1, 1992 through January 31,2000 Phase II covered 
the per~od October I, 1996 through January 31, 2000 with a total fundmg allocat~on of 
$27,264,506 39 Phase II (b) was ~n~t~ated October I, 1997 to overlap w~th what was 
subsequently referred to as Phase II (a) The later extensron was to end September 
30, 1999 and was later extended to January 2000 Durmg Phase II (b) the Project's 
focus was on USAID1s Strateg~c Objectwe 3 "Increase C~t~zen Part~c~pat~on In Dec~s~on 
Makmg" and on IR 3 1 1 lncrease CSO advocacy sk~lls, and IR 3 1 2 Strengthenmg 
CSO base Accord~ngly, there was no spec~f~c requrrement for act~v~t~es to have a 
sector~al focus 
In fact, NCNWiUMI had less than e~ghteen months to work on SO3 act~v~t~es from the 
pomt that we received the s~gned amendment Th~s included recelvlng grant 
applicatron, obta~nmg the ~nrt~al envronmental assessment (IEA) from USAID, 
completrng contract negotratrons, and fmally projects ~mplementat~on, mon~tormg and 
evaluat~on 
Naturally, th~s was a dauntrng task for a seasoned, exper~enced grant management 
team As w~tnessed from the f~eld v~s~ts conducted by the evaluat~on team, the 
organ~zat~ons have ach~eved major success In such a short per~od 
The Egypt PVO Development Project was not des~gned to be an advocacy project In 
that the or~gmal statement of purpose and goal d~d not change from ~ts rnceptron 
However, ~ts focus in Phase II (b) was to Increase the advocacy skrlls for the CSOs, 
and also to strengthen the CSO base The entrre project contr~buted to IR 3 1 2 
through its efforts to graduate EPVOs USAlD prov~ded the project w~th consultat~on on 
the result package of SO3 and approved the measurement tools for achrevmg the 
results 
It IS our expectatron that USAlD w~ll drstr~bute a copy of NCNW's comments along w~th 
the evaluat~on report to all mterested partres 
~cGrath Jean 
Director 
Attachment 1 
CAPABILITIES & OUTREACH 
Evaluators' comment 
"Some of the constraints in the PVO Development Project model have been answered 
by the design of a new USAlD Project to support NGOs Nevertheless, there are 
lessons from the Project that may bear on the fine tunrng and progressrve unfolding of 
that and any future USAlD activities in support of local development and crvil society 
First IS the definition of the target group selected for Project support We feel that given 
the number of smaller grantees with TIES that needed support and nurturing required a 
different organrzational structure The UMI, given rts limited scale, was not fully 
prepared to deal with the srze of the demand " 
"Thus, had the Project worked mainly with, say, a few more, larger EPVOs, rn creating 
these smaller UMl-like organizations, it might have been able to get greater economies 
of scale than that achieved by its direct, labor intensive interactions wrth a large number 
of small EPVOs Furthermore, the labor rntensrve character of some of the technical 
assistance rnteractions with so many organizatrons meant that some mrssed out on the 
attention they required simply because UMI was becomrng spread too thrn " 
NCN W response 
One of the actlvlty grant select~on cr~ter~a was that each USPVO should have an EPVO 
counterpart and work toward developing the capaclty of EPVO Therefore, an actlvlty 
grant awarded to a USPVO has one or more EPVO counterpart Examples of th~s 
~nclude grants awarded to the lnst~tute of Cultural Affalrs, Plan Internat~onal, Neareast 
Foundation, CARE, Save the Chlldren Federation USA, and others The grants 
awarded to USPVOs prov~ded support and servlces to more than 130 EPVOs 
More ~mportantly, we must note many Egypt~an NGOs assumed the role of 
mtermedlar~es to develop capac~ty and channel resources to smaller fledglmg NGOs 
and partnersh~p commun~t~es even though this was not a grant speclf~c cr~terla for 
EPVOs Organlzatlons that contr~buted s~gn~flcantly Inth~s area are presented In the 
following table wlth the number of organ~zat~ons/counterparts they supported through 
project grants 
EPVOs that Serve Counterparts 
Coptrc Evangelrcal Organrzatron for Soclal Servlces 
CARITAS Egypt 
Egyptlan General Medrcal Doctors Assoclatron I 15 hosp~tals I
36 
13 
Assult Chrldhood and Development Assoclatron 15 
Moslem Young Women Assocratlon I 9 I 
Egyptlan Junror Med~cal Doctors Assocratlon 16 I 
Assrut Fam~ly Plannrng Assocratlon 
Alllance for Arab Women 
9 
6 
Assoclatlon for the Advancement of Educatron 
Mother Day Assoclatron 
3 
4 
Fam~ly and Env~ronment Development Assoclatlon -Qena 
Socral Fund Assoc~atron rn Ben1 Mazar 
2 
1 
Egyptlan Youth Assoclatron for Community Development 
lslamrc Chanty Assocrat~on, Be~r El Abd 
Central Egyptran Socrety for Consumer Protect~on I 15 1 
4 
9 
Fr~ends of Environment Assoclatlon - Ca~ro 
Basslsa CDA 
1 
This table shows how strong Egyptian NGOs are assuming leadership roles and 
serving as change agents In the Egyptian society These17 EPVOs performed their 
capacity development functions very well The development of mtermediary level 
organization was outside the scope of the PVO Development Project However, at 
least 17 of the 64 EPVOs that received support under the Project served In an 
intermediary role The success achieved in this area is quite remarkable in that 26 5% 
of the part~c~patmg EPVO work with one or more counterparts 
Replicating these models In other geographical areas and sectors is possible for 
properly equ~pped NGOs Organ~zations serving as lead or intermedrary organizat~ons 
will continue to need funding to cover basic operatmg cost Partner organization 
should also contribute a portion of operatmg cost and/or pay fees for servrce if such 
activities are to be sustained Secondly, for consistency purposes there should be 
some tools for trainmg needs' assessment, ava~lable training curricula for various 
stakeholders, and a continuous tra~ning of tramers programs 
CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT SERVICES 
It IS our oplnron that the evaluators d~d not have a clear understandmg of UMl's process 
In selectmg EPVOs, plannmg tra~nmg, and prov~dmg technical ass~stance Th~s may be 
due to the fact that the team d~d not mterwew key staff ~nvolved In these act~v~t~es 
ldent~fymg and Selectmg EPVOs 
Evaluators' comments 
"In this early effort m PVO suppod, the manner of EPVOs and CDAs learnrng about 
availabilrty of support services, trainrng and grants was not always systematic" 
NCN W response 
It was env~s~oned that EPVOs were to be ~dent~f~ed froma survey of the NGOs 
reg~stered w~th the M~n~stry of lnsurance and Soc~al Affa~rs under Law 32 of 1964 Due 
to security constra~nts that existed In 1992 followmg the Gulf War, and other soc~al 
d~sturbances w~th~n Egypt, NCNW was not able to conduct such a survey Therefore, 
we developed an alternat~ve strategy to ~dent~fy promlslng EPVOs that were on the 
threshold of meetmg the project graduat~on cr~ter~a Thls strategy mcluded a 
combrnat~on of meetmgs and referrals from USAID, Governorates level focus group 
meetmgs organized by the Mrn~stry of lnsurance and Socral Affairs, and drrect 
apphcatlon by EPVOs In addit~on, NCNW selected EPVOs that came as referrals 
through other organ~zat~ons and ~nd~viduals Although we Issued no countryw~de 
sol~citat~on, the select~on process was drected by and carr~ed out under the overs~ght 
of the b~lateral a~d partners to th~s agreement, namely the M~n~stry of lnsurance and 
Soc~al Affa~rs and USAlD Egypt 
MISA's role was to prov~de concurrence for selected EPVOs to join the capac~ty 
burldmg program Th~s prrmary concurrence or approval of EPVO part~c~pat~on in the 
act~vrt~es of UMI allowed the organ~zat~on to take advantage of capac~ty burldmg 
servrces lncludmg tra~nrng, techn~cal ass~stance, and techn~cal and mst~tut~onal 
enhancement (TIE) grants Th~s approval fulf~lled the requirement of the EPVO to seek 
approval from MlSA for receiving grants from a forergn donor 
Evaluators' comment 
"What was needed, we feel, was a concepf that fostered the creation of a central UMI 
organization, that supports a series of smaller UMI-lrke organizations These smaller 
organizations would in turn assume the role of nurturrng and supporting organrzations 
w~th growth potentral An example of thrs IS the concepf being applred by SCF m its 
Living Unlversrty activity That approach, simply put, provides the trarnrng and 
necessary handholding of those EPVOs or CDAs who are in a "learnrng" srtuation 
NCN W response 
Developing a stronger Civil Society Organization base was the original target of the 
Egypt PVO Development Project In the initial phase of the Project, it was stated that at 
least 10 EPVO would complete the USAlD registration process As stated in the 
Project document, "Registrat~on with AID is therefore a good measure of a PVO's 
maturity, and therefore is used in this Project as a proxy for the level of institut~onal and 
financial capab~l~ty which a PVO needs for long-term sustainability and development 
Impact " USAlD changed this with amendment number 6 that was effective December 
31, 1994 to read "at least 10 EPVO meet Project graduation criteria" and later amended 
to "30 EPVOs meet Project graduation criteria " 
In 1998, USAlD had reg~stered only one Egyptian NGO Through the assistance and 
support of the Financial Analysis Support Team of USAID, USAID Egypt had reg~stered 
seven EPVO We achieved this significant accomplishment through the collaborative 
efforts of the EPVOs, NCNW, and USAlD 
Graduation was the term used to indicate that the NGOs have managerial and financial 
systems in place and functioning It was a preparatory step for NGOs to reg~ster with 
USAlD and it was a prerequis~te to apply for a grant under the UMI grant fund 
The purpose of the capacity building program was to provide NGOs with the knowledge 
and skills to be able to design, implement, monitor and evaluate development activities, 
and to be able to advocate for special concerns The Capacity Building Program served 
as the mechanism of achieving the intermediate results of SO3 and contributes to 
achievmg SO3 Project graduation criteria were a measure to assess the capacity of 
the NGOs and the impact of the capacity building program on the NGOs 
Results achieved in this area are as follows 
63 EPVOs benefitted from the capacity building program, of which . 30 EPVOs met project graduation cntena, and . 7 EPVOs completed the USAlD registration process 
NCNW provided capacity building services to EPVOs on the threshold of meeting 
project graduation criteria The goal of these services was to develop more capable 
and sustamable organizations with strong management and financial systems, 
responsive and effective activities/programs and greater community part~cipation The 
emphas~s was on moving EPVOs from a charity focus by which they provide for the 
needs of the d~sadvantaged to a development focus where they mob~lize and organize 
their cl~ents to develop solutions to meet their own needs Capac~ty building services 
included training, technical assistance and technical and institutional enhancement 
(TIE) grants 
The capacity building program was successful and had a substantral impact on the 
EPVOs that actively participated These results are based on a great deal of effort 
exerted by NCNW to strengthen the base of EPVOs Between August 1993 and 
November 1999, the UMI held a total of 66 trainrng events includmg 39 workshops, 24 
roundtable sesslons, 2 symposia and 1 PVO experience sharing session A total of 
1,579 EPVO partic~pants attended the 66 traming events, approximately 114 of whom 
were female 
Evaluators' comment 
"Topics selected and dellvery to participants was geared more to the inexperienced end 
of the EPVO continuum" 
NCN W response 
Training activities were based on the organ~zat~onal and fmanc~al needs assessments 
In Phase II (b) the trainmg focused mainly on advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, 
sustainability, management for results and financ~al management A trainrng plan was 
prepared at the beginning of phase II and was approved by the director of NCNW 
Selection of candidates for training was based on the type of training and the needs of 
the organizat~ons, the staff of the capacity buildmg unit completely carried out this 
selection 
Evaluators' comment 
" It was nof always clear that the parficipants in all sesslons were the most relevant in 
ferms of coverage and hands-on appl~catron of specific training to their organizatrons 
Furthermore, tralning locations should reflect the spirit of work~ng with the poor JJ 
NCN W response 
Organizational learning was a primary aim of this program Recognizmg that some 
EPVOs have limited human resources, NCNWIUMI made a conscience decisions to 
accept indrviduals to attend tra~ning sessions to ensure that informat~on, knowledge 
and skills were bemg transferred into the organizations Trainmg events were not only 
knowledge transfer mechanism, but also provided opportunit~es for networking and 
experience sharing Group dwersrty allowed for greater cross-fertilization and 
interaction among organrzations 
Evaluators' comment 
"A Core of EPVO Trarners While the UMI approach to capacity burlding was generally 
effective, economres of scale could have been achieved through more systematic 
training of larger EPVOs that could then have transmrtted the learnrng to smaller PVOs 
and CDAs 
A core of major EPVOs committed to take leadershrp rn promoting capacrty rn advovacy 
development wrth smaller EPVOs 1s a possrble approach The experrence of the SCF 
Lrvrng University approach is appropriate to such an approach " 
NCN W response 
Under th~s project several training of trainers (TOT) were conducted by NCNW and 
John Hopkms University, and also by Support Center International under the Video 
project It is our experience that these TOT programs have limited success in that 
many tramers returned to ther organizations and did not use the newly acquired skills 
Trainmg tramers should be based on specifically ~dent~fied need of organ~zation to 
ensure that it will benefit the organization 
PVOs ach~eved more success In the techn~cal training that they conducted under 
specif~c project grants such as that provided by Project Hope under the Home Health 
Care Project, the clinical waste management prov~ded by the Egyptian General Medical 
Doctors Associat~on under the Clrnrcal Waste Management Project 
Advocacy Tra~nmg 
Evaluators' comment 
"While the following 1s by no means new, we feel rt /s worth repeating Based on our 
numerous meefings and obsen/ations, it was repeated again and again by 
organizatrons suppotted by UMI that rt w crrtical that advocacy should be rooted rn the 
practice of development Advocacy had earlrer been centered among those 
organizafions whose sole objective was advocacy These organizations did not provrde 
a palatable model for either development practicroners or the government Accordmgly, 
EPVOs avoided being categorrzed as advocacy organrzatrons " 
"This 1s where the rntroductron of advocacy under the Project had an rmpact on fhe civil 
society If rooted advocacy rn development actrvities, definmg it rn a logrcal, legal 
context " 
NCN W response 
The NGOs were uncomfortable w~th the use of the word advocacy because of its 
various relrgrous and polrt~cal connotations Therefore, cons~derable efforts were 
exerted to develop a defrn~tron of the word advocacy In a development context to be 
acceptable In the Egyptran polltrcal envrronment The tralnrng actrvlt~es Implemented 
under the Project provrded the EPVOs w~th tools to use to present therr advocacy 
messages 
A group of 15 EPVOs that had broad outreach to other communrty based groups were 
selected to partlc~pate In three of the advocacy trarnrng programs w~th the expectatron 
that they would repeat the tralnrng for ther const~tuency At least 113 of the 
organlzatrons repeated the trarnrng In a formal way, and the remalnlng 213 appl~ed the 
tralnlng In therr programs F~ve organ~zatrons that partrc~pated In the Arab Women 
Speak out trarnlng repeated thrs tralnlng for thew constrtuency 
SIX advocacy trarnlng sesslons were conducted under Phase II (b) The t~tles of these 
sessrons are as follows 
. Advocacy ~n Health 
Advocacy A Framework for C~t~zen Partrc~pat~on 
Advocacy lntroduct~on to Advocacy 
Advocacy Sharrng your Message wrth the Publlc 
Chrld Advocacy 
. Arab Women Speak Out 
Evaluators' comment 
"Some of the techn~cal ass~stance offered to EPVOs was not always approprrately 
tarlored to the level of capacrty of EPVOs Larger EPVOs felt that the technlcal tralnlng 
drd not always meet therr specrfic needs, whrle smaller EPVOs were almost rnvarrably 
satrshed wdh any and all trarnrng they received " 
NCN W response 
The larger EPVOs served by the Project requlred extenswe technlcal ass~stance In 
areas such as grants management and advocacy Organrzat~onal srze alone was not 
determrnmg factor of personnel knowledge In the areas covered by thrs Project 
Techn~cal assrstance was successful In strengthenmg and enhancrng the EPVO 
mst~tut~onal capabrl~t~es In that more that 30 organlzat~on were able to meet project 
graduat~on crrtena, of whrch seven were registered by USAlD Forty EPVO desrgned 
and successfully Implemented actrvrty grants and technrcal and mstltut~onal 
enhancement grants 
In add~tlon, NCNW staff provrded hundreds of hours workmg wlth both EPVOs and 
USPVOs on project des~gn Issues as it relates to the~respond~ng to project select~on 
cr~ter~a, results reportmg, fmanclal reportmg, and other systems development Issues 
An example of thls techn~cal ass~stance prov~ded by KPMG Hazem Hassan for 
organ~zatrons to establish md~rect cost rates such as ICA, CEOSS, AOYE, Cantas, 
Assoclatlon of Upper Egypt for Education and Development, ACDA, MYWA, and 
others Other examples ~nclude the techn~cal ass~stance provlded by the Center for 
Development Serv~ces on strateg~c plann~ng A thlrd example IS the support prov~ded 
by NCNW staff for ACDA In developmg an accountmg pol~c~es and procedures manual 
Furthermore, techn~cal ass~stance was prov~ded to ACDA and AUEED on select~on and 
evaluation of ther subgrants to other NGOs as relates to relatron of these subgrants to 
SO3 and ~ts lntermed~ate results 
GRANT ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT 
Evaluators' comment 
"The evaluators found contradrctory percepfrons of the actual degree of restrucfuring 
that was supposed to increase delegatron of authority The Project Director has 
maintarned that real changes rn the delegatron of authorrty did occur Interviews with 
several former staff suggested that the management organrzatron of the Project did not 
improve in Phase I1 
Other perceptions concern management of field program activrtres with US and EPVOs 
by program staff Former staff who were rnterviewed found follow-up rn the fled to be 
complrcated by therr Irmrted authorrfy to do so These same staff rndrcated that they 
were not fully consulted in shaprng the trarning curriculum or m selecting the 
organrzations to be trained " 
NCN W response 
The evaluators d~d not dlscuss th~s wlth current Project staff As the Chlef of Party of 
the Project, the D~rector IS respons~ble for clearmg all contractual and f~scal matter of 
the project The Deputy D~rector that was employed durmg Phase II supervised the 
grant fund act~v~t~es In 1996, four unlts were establ~shed that ~ncluded the grants, 
adm~n~strat~on, capac~ty bulldlng, and flnanclal un~ts The Senlor Program Manager 
was respons~ble for coordmatmg the grant review process In collaborat~on wlth the four 
program offlcers and the Deputy D~rector The Program Off~cers, In consultation w~th 
the Senlor Program Manager and the Deputy D~rector, made program decls~ons The 
Human Resource Development Manager was respons~ble for the capac~ty bu~ldmg un~t 
whlch lncluded a Human Resource Development coordlnator and Adm~n~stratlve 
Ass~stant The manager of the adm~nistrat~on un~t coordinated the EPVO select~on 
process F~nanc~al un~t act~vit~es was headed by Fmancial Manager and supported 
through three staff members There was a complete delegat~on of author~ty for un~t 
managers and other program staff, as demonstrated by the grants clearance and 
approval sheets 
The unit managers superv~sed day-to-day operatrons and appropriate act~ons were 
taken Un~t managers coordmated issues requiring the approval of the Ch~ef of 
PartyJDlrector or Deputy Director However crlt~cal dec~sions as those that carry 
l~ab~lity to the project the director approved Un~t staff had the full author~ty to make 
decis~ons regarding managmg the~r grant portfoho on the program as well as the 
flnanc~al Issues This IS well demonstrated through the correspondence with 
subgrantees The grant off~cers and fmanclal off~cer worked In teams 
Tralnmg actlvlties were based on the organ~zational and f~nancial needs assessment 
In Phase II (b) the tranng focused malnly on advocacy, mon~toring and evaluat~on, 
sustamab~l~ty, management for results and f~nanc~al management A traln~ng plan was 
prepared at the beg~nnmg of phase II and was approved by the D~rector Trainmg in 
Phase II (b) was des~gned and dehvered using UMI staff with some input from outs~de 
consultants Select~on of cand~dates for tra~ning was based on the type of trainmg and 
the needs of the organ~zat~ons to that part~cular training, this select~on was completely 
done by the staff of the capachy bulldmg un~t 
All rnvitat~on letters to tralnmg events listed the qual~f~cat~ons in terms of pos~t~ons 
with~n the organ~zat~on that should participate In the tra~nmg It IS our practice to 
encourage actwe part~crpation of all EPVOs Recogn~zmg that some of the EPVOs 
have hm~ted human resources, NCNWfUMI made conscience decwons to accept 
cand~dates serving In specific pos~t~ons and indlwduals to attend some of the tralnmg 
sessions, even though ~t may seem to be out s~de of the~r work respons~bil~ties based 
upon the~r t~tle 
Cons~stency of Cr~ter~a used In Proposal Rev~ew 
Evaluators' comment 
" Under the Project, sectors were not represented for purposes of measurement of 
Impact lJ 
"Wh~le this was acceptable for the PVO Project, glven ~ts flrst go at the actwity, for any 
new or future such program, act~v~t~es should be organized by sector to fac~l~tate the~r 
management as well as the measurement of Impact on each sector " 
NCNW response 
Act~v~ty grants in Phase I1 (b) focused on clt~zen part~c~pat~on, andthere was no 
emphas~s on sectors Basically the project was encouragmg advocacy efforts across 
the board Actlv~ty grants covered c~tizen part~clpation In sectors such as educat~on, 
health, env~ronment and economlc development w~th cross cuttmg themes such as 
ch~ldren at r~sk, women and unemployment A constramt ~ncluded the d~vers~ty of 
activ~t~es, byth~s we mean projects were not evaluated and rated as a group because 
each project IS d~fferent This is a very d~fferent process than that used by USAlD when 
all apphcants to a sol~citat~on are focusmg on a spec~f~c type of act~v~ty Also the 
proposals in phase I1 were evaluated agamst the criter~a In the RFA ~ssued 
The Role of the Management lnformat~on System 
Evaluators' comment 
"Whrle these subsystems seem adequate for a basrc MIS, rts organrzatron IS more lrke 
that of an archrve rather than a tool for makrng analyses or management decrsrons 
Nevertheless, srnce rt seemed to surf the needs of UMI, then 1n that sense rt 1s 
adequate Whether someone from the outsrde requestrng certarn analyses of data 
would be satrsfred 1s another matter " 
NCN W response 
The MIS system was designed to cover the varlous components of the project and the 
software used allows for more flex~b~lity In generatmg reports The reporting system of 
the MIS was set to sat~sfy the project needs, and to allow for performmg analyt~cal 
procedures and lor specla1 reports Th~s was ev~denced In producmg reports for USAlD 
on project s~tes geograph~c location to the v~llage level gender analysis and servlces by 
sector 
MIS of the project IS not Intended to be a databank or a decision support system for the 
ent~re NGO sector The scope of th~s Project and the resources ava~lable do not allow 
for such soph~st~cated system However, the MIS mcluded fields hke progress reports, 
fmanc~al reports, evaluat~on reports, lessons learned wh~ch helped In the management 
of the project and allowed for experience and ~nformat~on sharmg 
The web site for the Project demonstrated a w~de range of mformat~on on grant 
select~on cr~ter~a, NGOs mformation and projects funded wh~ch allowed a lot of 
experience sharmg and network~ng A formal ~nvitat~on to use the resource center and 
databases of the Project was furnished to NGOs Several NGOs benef~tted from this 
service 
Retrof~ttmg a Clwl Soclety Model 
Evaluators' comment 
"There IS also the questron of the opportunrty cost of the transition from Phase I to 
Phase I/, part~cularly to the advocacy actrvrfies under Phase Il(b) This question 
concerns whether or not the Project should have contrnued to support development 
activities alone It mrght have been contrnued on the premise that people erther don't 
have the opportunity, rnterest or wrll to particrpate in advocacy-type projects We 
belreve that the trmrng of the rntroductron of advocacy m Phase 11(b) was approprrate 
grven what was going on m the larger society There was a growing unexpressed 
awareness in the mrnds of Egyptrans about the need for advocacy At that trme the 
government was also begrnnrng to discuss crvrl socrety matters, matters that needed the 
collaboration of the government and the people to be able to achreve a workable 
relatronshrp Because of a mutual need regardrng such complex rssues as the 
envrronment, for example, thrs resulted m a convergence of thrnkrng that provided an 
openrng for the advocacy actrvrfy " 
NCN W response 
Smce mid-1997, NCNW has concentrated ~ts efforts on facilitating the mteract~on 
between c~t~zens and ther leaders to bring the project In line with USAID'S Strateg~c 
Objectwe 3 Fundmg provided in Phase II was made contmgent on subgrant activ~t~es 
contr~buting to increasing cit~zen partlapation In public dec~sion making NCNW 
nt~ated techn~cal assistance, tra~ning, networkmg ass~stance was ta~lored to support 
these programs Two symposiums were organized to brmg together many partners 
NGOs to address the Issue of Increased c~tizen participat~on In publ~c decis~on makmg 
During the 1998 symposium, a draft of the NGO law was d~stributed and hotly debated 
In strategy sesslons This symposium brought together government off~cials, NGO 
representatwes, and researchers to d~scuss lssues related to development problems in 
Egypt, and the role of NGOs In helping to solve these problems through encouraging 
commun~ty participat~on and strengthening c~wl soc~ety organ~zations 
The symposium prov~ded a forum for NGOs to share, interact, learn, and develop 
ideas, skills, and programs that increase their own successes and those of the~r 
community at large The symposium focused on developmental lssues in the areas of 
health, educat~on, environment, and economlc growth w~th crosscuttmg themes of 
gender, women, children and youth lssues 
The symposium resulted in the follow~ng 
An agenda for collaboration possibilit~es among NGOs to ~rnplement 
development activities 
An act~on plan for NGOs, governmental bodles, and the commun~ty to part~c~pate 
In solvmg development related problems 
lnst~tut~onal mechan~sms were developed for expandmg avenues of partlc~pat~on, 
and promote accountab~l~ty wlth the aim of ach~evmg sustamable development 
The lnformat~on Management Cl~n~c mformed part~clpants about software and hardware 
solut~ons, and explained the concept of a Management lnformat~on System (MIS) 
Other management appl~cat~ons were mtroduced The objectwe of the lnformat~on 
Technology sesslons was to suggest venues through wh~ch partlc~patmg NGO's can 
Improve the level of thelr performance, especially In the areas of management and data 
gathermg 
Another actlv~ty was the CIVIC Forum that was a meetmg between grass-roots 
organ~zatlons, blgger NGO's and government off~c~als Free d~scuss~ons were held on a 
w~de range of top~cs whlch ~ncluded the level of governmental mvolvement In and 
control of cw~l soc~ety actlvlt~es, the proposed law to replace law 32, fundmg for CSO's, 
etc 
In 1999, The symposlum ent~tled "The Cradle of C~v~hzat~on and the New M~llennlum 
C~t~zen Part~c~patlon In Pubhc Dec~s~on Makmg" was held on October 2 - 5 1999 A 
d~verse group of over 400 NGO representat~ves that had recewed support from the 
Egypt PVO Development Project, admnstered by NCNW attended the symposwm 
NCNW works to Increase the public's abhty to make respons~ble decls~ons by 
developmg awareness and knowledge about Issues, promot~ng crkal thmk~ng and 
enhancmg sk~lls necessary to affect the decwon makmg process The symposlum 
reflected th~s philosophy and engaged part~c~pants In a process that would enable them 
to tackle therr evolvmg roles as NGO's In the 2Ist century 
The four day event prov~ded part~c~pants wlth a structure and process to develop thelr 
own common destmy Day one prov~ded an opportun~ty to reflect on the past, best 
pract~ces and establ~shmg a chmate for learning and partlc~pation Day two, partlc~pants 
vls~ted projects and ~dent~f~ed strengths, weaknesses, opportun~tles and threats Days 
three and four engaged part~clpants In processes for ~dent~fyrng best pract~ces, 
developing a vlslon, strateg~c pr~orrt~es and future actlon plans 
The des~gn of the symposlum susta~ns the bel~ef that NGO's have bulk a capac~ty to 
dec~de ther future By creatmg an event that emphas~zes self-actuahzat~on and 
autonomy, NGOJs w~ll have the opportun~ty to reframe the~r sources of strength based 
on ald to one of sustamable development Their abdlty to tackle the future IS based on 
recognlzlng ther strengths as lndlv~dual organ~zat~ons and thelr strength In workmg 
together In networks toward common goals 
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
Grant Fund Actlvltles 
The total amount of funds granted to NCNWIUMI under the Cooperatwe Agreement IS 
$27,264,506 39, of whlch $1 8, 500,000 was allocated for the Grant Fund, and 
$1,500,00 for the Techn~cal and lnstltutlonal Enhancement Grant Fund A total of 55 
actlvlty grants and 37 TIE grants were awarded durmg the project per~od to 40 EPVOs 
and 14 USPVOs 
A review of act~v~ty and grant counterparts ~llustrates the Project's collaborat~ve efforts 
More that 50% of TIE grants had counterparts, whlch IS s~gn~f~cant In hght of the fact 
that these grants are relat~vely small and are meant to Improve the management 
capaclty and mstltutlonal base of prornlsmg EPVOs Examples of collaborat~ve efforts 
lnclude 
rn Sohag CDA for Chddren wlth Specral Needs sol~clted support for its "Women's 
CIVII R~ghts In Sohag" project by workmg w~th local CDAs, the General Author~ty 
for Adult Literacy, the Sohag Governorate, the Local Counc~l and the local 
Pol~ce These collaborat~ve efforts allowed Sohag CDA to take a hol~st~c 
approach to empowering women by prov~d~ng l~teracy programs, health 
awareness, legal documents (ID and votlng cards) and Income generatmg 
opportunlt~es 
The Egyptlan General Jun~or Med~cal Doctor's Assoc~at~on ra~sed the level of 
awareness surroundmg clln~cal waste and Improved the management of them by 
workmg In 4 Governorates wlth the Health Un~ts, Local Counc~ls, hosp~tals, 
NGOs In the hospltal d~strlcts, youth leaders, journal~sts and members of the 
Nat~onal Democrat~c Party At least 16 hosp~tals are applymg a cl~n~cal waste 
management system 
Moslem Young Women used a network of CDAs across the North Sma~ 
Governorate as well as Drectorates (Health, Utll~t~es, Youth and Sports, and 
Traffic), d~str~ct munlc~pal~tles and pol~ce, and the Al Ar~sh C~ty Counc~l to 
Improve the health, envrronment, educat~on and soc~al services of the area 
The HIVIAIDS ln~t~at~ve Among Students Project rmplemented by CARITAS, 
Egypt advocacy efforts targeted un~vers~ty and hlgh school students, socral 
workers and school health doctors The expressed purpose was to raise the 
awareness In the commun~ty about HIVIAIDS One successful mtervent~on 
mcluded the addltlon of a help serwce line to prov~de lnformat~on and adv~ce 
regarding HIVIAIDS Project actlv~t~es were carr~ed out by a group of school 
students through the "Ant1 HIVIAIDS Club" In secondary schools, and ~t also 
extended ~ts outreach to the whole commun~ty 
A second Project, the lncreas~ng CIVII Partlc~pat~on In Publ~c Decwon Makrng In 
the New Rural Commun~t~es In Nubar~ya Project carr~ed out by CARITAS, Egypt 
provlded advocacy tra~n~ng for10 CDAs In the New Lands commun~ty of 
Nubar~ya A focus of the project was developmg a cadre of female leader that 
were able to advocate for servlces and other spec~al concerns 
These examples are a small subset of the vast collaboratwe efforts that took place as a 
result of the Project Clearly, the actwlty grants funded durmg Phase II demonstrate 
that CSOs are usmg appropriate sk~lls to advocate for the concerns of the~r 
const~tuents These sk~lls were also frequently demonstrated In the Phase II TIE 
grants A br~ef note about some of these projects 
. The Asslut Fam~ly Plannmg Assoc~at~on workmg w~th 9 EPVO counterparts 
advocated for women's legal r~ghts In Asslut 
. The "Enhancmg Commun~ty Awareness and Advocacy for the Egypt~an Street 
Ch~ldren Problem" program was Implemented by Hope V~llage Soc~ety The 
major goal of the program was to develop commun~ty support to address the 
Issues surroundmg the problem of street ch~ldren 
Docurnentat~on of Best Pract~ces 
NCNW sponsored a best pract~ces compet~t~on for NGOs that rece~ved support from 
the Egypt PVO Development Project Th~s effort prov~ded NGOs an opportunrty to 
document the~r experiences, and best practices The results w~ll be d~str~buted to all 
organ~zat~ons that part~c~pated In the PVO Development Project to help others rephcate 
successful act~v~t~es 
Sustalnab~hty of Development Efforts 
Several factors were mcorporated mto the Project to ensure the sustamab~l~ty of its 
development efforts, though ther Impact w~ll not be fully reallzed unt~l after Project 
complet~on These factors ~nclude 
Developmg human resources through tranng and hands on experience . Establ~sh~ng systems and otherw~se strengthenmg organ~zat~ons . ln~t~at~ng and bu~ldlng relat~onsh~ps among organ~zat~ons, sectors and enthes . Ralsmg publ~c awareness on a var~ety of Issues, poss~ble solut~ons and formal 
procedures necessary to effect change 
Developmg and testmg successful models for change that can be replicated 
elsewhere and ta~lored to meet spec~f~c geograph~c, economlc and soc~al needs . lmplementmg programs that are f~nanc~ally self-sustammg such as revolvmg 
cred~t programs and Income generat~ng ventures through such ~n~t~at~ves as fee 
col lect~on 
Documentmg efforts through the development of tramrig modules, case stud~es, 
reports presentmg data collected, etc 
Fortunately, the ~mpact of these factors can already be observed Programs that were 
establ~shed earher In the Project contmue to prov~de servlces andlor have contr~ buted 
to stronger EPVOs that are able to more effect~vely contr~bute to development 
SI~I Gabr rece~ved a TIE grant to establ~sh a revolvrng cred~t program that has 
been expanded, has a repayment rate of 98% and IS st111 In ex~stence almost 5 
years after NCNW fundmg ended 
In 1994, the Moslem Young Women's Assoc~at~on ~mplemented the "Expans~on 
and lmprovmg of Assoc~at~on's Med~cal Serv~ces" project w~th aTIE grant A 
dental cl~n~c was establ~shed as part of th~s project and has become a v~able 
enterpr~se serving the needs of the commun~ty 
The "Sohag M~cro-Enterprise Development In~t~at~ve" act~v~ty grant was 
~mplemented by Cathol~c Rel~ef Serv~ces between 1993 and 1996 and worked 
w~th the Sohag Bus~nessmen's Assoc~at~on At that t~me, Sohag Busmessmen's 
Assoc~at~on was mehg~ble to part~c~pate d~rectly In the Project Through the 
efforts of th~s project, the Assoc~at~on's v~ab~l~ty ~mproved to the pomt that ~t 
d~rectly part~c~pated In NCNW capachy bu~ldmg support servlces 
What began In 1997 as a small TIE project for the Sohag CDA for Ch~ldren w~th 
Specla1 Needs was expanded a year later mto a full-fledged act~v~ty grant that 
recewed lst prize In NCNW's best pract~ces compet~t~on "The Women's CIWI 
R~ghts In Maragha D~str~ct - Sohag" ~ncreased women's awareness of ther 
r~ghts and prov~ded opportun~t~es for educat~on, health awareness and Income 
generat~on 
Vocat~onal Rehab~l~tat~on Assoc~at~on estabhshed a database of commun~ty 
mformat~on for use by the~r const~tuents as a contmuat~on of the "Documentat~on 
and Commun~cat~on Improvement" TIE grant project that was or~gmally 
~mplemented between 1 994 and 1995 
Copt~c Evangel~cal Organ~zat~on for Soc~al Serv~ces "Enterpr~se Based Trammg" 
program from Phase I of the Project was so successful at lmprovlng the 
economlc status of the poor In rural vrllages of M~ddle and Upper Egypt and 
ne~ghborhoods In Ca~ro that ~t was extended mto a second phase 
Car~tas Egypt, "Promotmg Tra~nmg Capac~t~es In Mental Retardat~on -Mult~ple 
D~sabled" was a successful Project that developed and extended the 
combmat~on of mst~tut~onal and commun~ty based programs In prov~dmg servlces 
to mentally handcapped ch~ldren and those w~th mult~ple handcaps to f~ll the 
ex~stmg gap In spec~ahzed d~sab~l~ty servlces 
NGOs have used trainmg in project des~gn and proposal wr~ting to develop 
projects that have been funded by other donors such as Social Fund for 
Development and the Egypt~an SWISS Development Fund 
PROJECT MANAGEMENT 
Grant Organizat~onal Management 
The 1995 evaluat~on recommendation was to increase the level of funding going to 
EPVO to over 60% of the value of the grants In Phase I UMI awarded 20 grants 8 of 
which were to EPVOs wh~ch represent 32% In Phase II UMI awarded 35 grants 20 of 
which were for act~v~t~es ~mplemented by EPVOs which represents 49% of the grant 
funds 
Even though the funding level increased sign~f~cantly, the amount of fundmg directed to 
EPVOs was hm~ted due to constraints that were mternal to the organizat~ons 
themselves Many of the EPVOs did not have experience in project design and 
proposal writ~ng Many had difficulties developing the init~al concept that fit withm the 
Project's focus of citizen participation even after receiving tra~ning and extensive work 
w~th the grant un~t staff Another constraint EPVOs faced when submittmg grant 
applicat~on was meetmg the 25% matchmg contr~butions Therefore, fund~ng request 
from EPVOs was usually less because of the difficult~es the organ~zations had 
obtaining the 25% matching contribut~on 
Thirty-SIX EPVOs successfully Identified initiated and designed projects for wh~ch they 
rece~ved TIE grants In conjunction with the training and techn~cal assistance provided 
by NCNW, the TIE grants aided the EPVOs in acquirmg meaningful development 
experience and applying their sk~lls to resolve relevant development problems EPVOs 
were the lead organ~zations for 29 act~v~ty grants which made them responsible for 
project ~dentrf~cat~on, des~gn, implementat~on and monitoring 
Reportmg Requirements 
The reporting and evaluation requirements are stated in each grant agreement It must 
be noted that NCNW staff addressed spec~fic reportmg issues during s~te mon~toring 
v~sits, and face-to-face meeting in the UMI office NCNW organized several tra~ning 
events and one-on-one meetings to review the results reporting, and fmancial reportmg 
requirements We are confident that all organizat~ons participated in at least one of 
these events However, it IS ent~rely poss~ble that the person ~nterviewed by the 
evaluation team was not the representatwe that was designated to interface w~th 
NCNW, and/or th~s person had not attended the training sesslon provided by NCNW 
Finally, the Operat~ons Manual was d~stributed to designate representative for all 
organizat~ons that receive support under the Project Th~s document ~ncludes the bas~c 
operatmg guidelines during the grant applicat~on and management process 
Add~t~onal Lessons Learned 
Thls sectlons Includes addltronal lessons learned during project rmplementatlon They 
are provided here for consrderatlon for future project rmplementatlon 
Multlple short extenstons rn Phase I1 did not allow for fundrng and lmplementatlon of 
long-term project, and also rt did not allow the project to demonstrate full fledge Impact 
on communltres they served Phase I1 (a) covered two years whlle Phase I1 (b) was 
also for two years overlapping with Phase I1 (a) This requrred multlple grant 
sol~cltat~on, documentatron preparatron, amendments, evaluatrons, etc Thls severely 
restricted the type of actlvrtles that could be desrgned and successfully Implemented to 
achieve sustarnable development 
The PVOs that partlcrpated In the Project are working to Increase both thelr 
partlcrpatlon and the partrcrpat~on of thelr constltuencles In publlc declslon making 
They are using the technrques and tools they have learned and/or lrnproved via Project 
lnterventlon to plan and Implement actlvltres that Increase therr Influence on publlc 
pollcy, practice and attrtudes Local authorrtles are hearrng more of what the crtrzenry 
has to say and PVOs, the medla, and donors are documentlng the fact that crtrzens told 
them thelr concerns People In the remotest of vrllages and those lrvrng In extreme 
poverty are recelvrng rnformatlon and usmg that lnformatlon to more effectrvely express 
thelr needs and Ideas for change Many grant actlvltres demonstrate these new 
realltles 
Properly equrpped, strong Egyptian NGOs are assumlng leadership roles and serving 
as change agents In the Egyptran soclety Organrzatrons servrng as lead or 
rntermedrary organlzatlons wrll contrnue to need fundlng to cover basrc operating cost 
Partner organlzatlon should also contribute a portlon of operatlng cost and\or pay fees 
for servrce rf such actlvrtles are to be sustained 
Tralnrng-of-tralners programs have lrmlted success unless they are lrnked dlrectly to 
speclfrcally rdentlfled needs In the organrzatron 
A plan for moblllzrng communrty resources should be rncluded In every project When 
community members contrrbute to an actlvlty, they regard ~t more highly and take a 
more actrve role In ensurlng rts success 
NGOs should contrrbute toward the cost of trarnlng and technrcal assrstance efforts 
When they rnvest a portlon of the cost of the tralnlng, they tend to take ownership of 
the actlvrty, and partlcrpants are requlred to show results