IMPHAL, July 21: In a global competition held by the U.S. Government through Fulbright Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF), a project titled “Capacity Development of Mid-level Professionals from Environmental NGOs into Master Trainers through Management Workshops” has been selected from 685 entries all over world. From the 50 finalists two projects were selected from India. The project is led by Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi from Bombay National History Society along with Rajkumari Sunita Devi, Regional Co-ordinator, Eastern Zone, from State Level Nodal Agency for Watershed Project, Planning Department, Manipur.
A press release states,In India, there are around 2342 eNGOs. As eNGOs work with wildlife and environment, most of the times it becomes difficult for them to provide a human face for their work which does not appeal the donors, leading to paucity of funds. Therefore, these organizations constantly grapple with sustainability issues. The financial instability spirals down to mismanagement in the organization. There are four important management factors that limit an eNGO from becoming financially sustainable; Fiscal Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing Management and Networking and Public Relations (PR). If the mid-level employees of an eNGOs are equipped with these skills, the eNGOs can aim to become sustainable and grow progressively. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop master trainers among the eNGOs who will conduct these management trainings on regular basis within as well as outside their organizations.
The yearlong programme intends to train 250 employees from 125 eNGOs across the country. The programme includes three-day management workshops followed mentoring phase and concluding with a two-day follow up workshop. All participating eNGOs will be enrolled on a network that will provide continued technical support to the participants by the regional Fulbright Alumni. The first of the series workshop will be held at Mumbai, and then scheduled in Imphal Manipur for Eastern region on 25th to 27th September, 2012 at Classic Hotel, Imphal.
The three-day workshop will cover topics such fund raising, grant writing, project management, team management, volunteer management, networking and PR, marketing management, leadership styles, developing business plans and Strategic Planning. The Workshop format will be mainly AV shows, Brainstorming, Hands on Activity for individuals and groups and home assignments.
The programme is open only to employees of eNGOs from Eastern India viz Sikkim, Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Odissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. An eNGO with good track record and in operation for more than five years can apply. The head of eNGO can nominate any two mid-level employees who can be trained into management master trainers for the organization. The participants should have experience of minimum 5 years of service in the organization. The program will be hosted by Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai and State Level Nodal Agency, Manipur for Watershed Program, the state Public Works Department will be the co-host.