While I work for COCAP, the COCAP focal point is actually housed in the office of the Social Awareness Concerned Forum (SAC) which is a COCAP member. SAC is a very well organized NGO that conducts a wide range of programs. A lot of the work they do involves capacity building. They offer trainings for local NGOs as well as CBOs (community based organizations.) This week SAC conducted one such NGO training program regarding Proposal and Report writing.

At least 25 NGOs (all COCAP members) sent representatives to Nepalgunj to participate in the training. SAC staff led most of the sessions with representatives from another NGO, SWEET Nepal (another COCAP member,) sometimes taking charge. In total the training lasted five days and started with basic strategies for creating programs and took participants through the process of finding a donor and implementing their programs. I attended many of the training sessions, but as they were in Nepali, I could only gather the most general themes of what was going on.

Despite my problems with language, I was excited to observe the training process and found the participants all very passionate about their issues. I think this type of capacity building trainings are an important role for established and well organized NGOs like SAC to play. It is common to find people in civil society with good ideas and a passion for helping their communities, but so many of those people lack the practical experience and skills to effectively apply their ideas and passion. These trainings offer an opportunity to bridge that gap.

I wish I could have soaked up a little more of the information being offered when I attended the training, but I had to settle for my role as a language-challenged guest. Being a guest does have its benefits though, I was given the responsibility of handing out the certificates of program participation on the last day. After a lifetime of people handing diplomas and certificates to me I finally had a chance to see the process from the other side of the transaction. I think I prefer receiving, shaking 40 hands gets a little redundant.