SayPro SEVISSA Session 1: The Relationship between NMCF and the SeViSSA Partners

Overview:

• An exploration of the key issues or dynamics at play between partner organisations and NMCF

Intentions:

• To surface the experiences of the partner organisations in their relationship with NMCF
• To highlight aspects that are working and that could be improved
• Anchoring the relationship in the spirit of learning and reflection

Participants were asked to answer 3 questions: What is working? What is not working? What could be done differently?  Each person had to write down their responses to these questions anonymously and the responses were then aggregated on a wall. Following this, representatives nominated by the participants synthesized all the individual responses and presented them to NMCF.

Below are the key points as extracted from the synthesis:

What’s working	What’s not working	What could be done differently
Capacity building and support TrainingField visitsFinancial support and guidanceGuiding coalitions to reach their goalsLearning and sharing spaceGood communicationCoalition strategyAcknowledge Mampe’s contribution	Communication Short notice and not clearSometimes harsh and intimidatingControl how program should run   Process on how SeViSSA started had a negative impact on organization Baseline was done in the middle of implementationMEL and TOC was also communicated in middle of implementation.Lot of consultants were used and this created confusion   Relationships are based on “fear” not respect Anxiety whenever there is going to be a meeting with NMCFOne size fits all documents, i.e. questionnaires not customized for our areas/learners   Lack of field visits and not attending coalition matters immediately Lack of appreciation for effortUnplanned work activities not budgeted for make it difficult for organization, i.e. travel	Documentation tools to be introduced   Partners should be trained on these tools.   Give feedback on activity executed and reports   Clear and open communication and instructions.   Communication plans on time to afford partners to plan.   Documents should be simplified.   Coalition reports should be shared amongst others for learning purposes.

All the above issues were acknowledged by NMCF with an undertaking to follow them up with email communication.