Participatory Integrated Community Development (PICD) Process

This is a process that seeks to empower and enable communities’ plan and implement their development plans and install monitoring and evaluation systems for the same. FIDIPA trains in the PICD Process skill development and assists in the enhancement of organizational structures to embrace participatory development at the community, organizational and partner’s levels. PRA , PIM , PID , PLA , PTD and LCP

b). Training of Facilitators & Training of Trainers
The TOF and TOT training seeks to instill relevant skills in trainers on how to smoothly moderate meetings and deal with different types of groups. The TOT training on the other hand seeks to instill community development facilitation skills for effective delivery of services by development workers at the grassroots level.

c). Community Leadership and Group Organization
The major goal of this course is to impart skills on community organization and leadership. The course emphasizes on the practice ideal leadership by the leaders understanding their community well, the dividers and connectors and being able to influence holistic development change in their community.

The course addresses participatory leadership with emphasis to community participation. At the end of the course the participants are expected to manage available time appropriately.  Grasp the dynamics of group/community and effects to their group activities. The leaders are expected to influence effective human relations within themselves, to group members and other people in the community. Identify the composition of the publics and develop strategies of how to deal with them in order to safeguard the image of the group/community.  Form teams and develop them into operations of community work, able to effectively delegate duties to responsible people and exercise accountability. The leaders are expected to make decisions on project activity, solve problems and conflicts affecting the project activities and prepare action plans on their projects.  

The course also emphasizes on good leadership, types of leaders, duties of a leader, styles of leadership, qualities of a leader. It also touches on elements of leadership and dynamics, power and authority, understanding community leadership, self-awareness, and election among others.

d). Gender and Development
In our gender and development training, emphasis is put on sensitization on the concept of gender, skill development on gender analysis for purposes of gender mainstreaming and eventual development of gender sensitive programmes in organizations. Specific issues addressed include:

• Gender awareness - understanding the concept of gender

• Historical development of gender

• Social construction of gender

• Gender and key societal issues such as: Gender and education, Gender and Rape, Gender and property, Gender and female genital mutilation, Gender and early marriages/education, Gender and domestic violence.

• Gender analysis

•  Analysis of gender capacities at community and programme levels

• Gender mainstreaming in programme activities

• Men Empowerment

e).  Project Participatory Monitoring and Evaluations
Impact assessment of various programs is done with an aim of determining the extent to which the organization has achieved its set objectives over a given period and its relevance to the needs of the target group. FIDIPA uses learning process approach as an alternative approach to program planning and implementation, which has generally been found to be both more appropriate and effective in development programmes.

The learning approach highlights project objectives and activities, which are defined at the outset, and an initial implementation calendar is developed.  The monitoring activities are concern not only with extends to which the planned activities are carried out but also with how they are being carried out.

With the learning approach the mechanisms are developed together to help learn both success and problems encountered during implementation of activities for improvement. It also helps in collection of impact qualitative information and quantitative results.

f). Participatory Needs Assessment
This is normally conducted for projects conceived and implemented using participatory approaches. Issues related to processes and strategies employed, functional analysis of project staff and committees, stakeholder analysis, structures established for project implementation and management, monitoring and evaluation systems adopted, programme integration level, beneficiary benefit analysis and any other project specific issue is addressed. Reviews and Assessments of project activities including:

• Gender Assessments

• Social Assessments

• Impact Assessments

The main focus is on assessing/determining the impacts of projects in terms of appropriateness and relevance of the strategies adopted and used. The stakeholder analysis, identification of problems experienced in the implementation of the program, identification of successes achieved and lessons learnt in the implementation of the project and the capacity of a projects continuance and sustainability based on the structures established for its management amongst other issues are assessed. All this is measured against the particular project’s goal and objectives and indicators developed.
 
Gender and social assessments conducted by FIDIPA addresses specific gender and social concerns in projects. The assessments go a step further and address social and or gender impacts of a project giving an analytical perspective of the project. Ways of building on empowerment, inclusion and security of target community members are sought while at the same time addressing pertinent gender issues and eliciting gender desegregated data indicating who in the community accesses and controls resources for capacity enhancement and eventual sustainability of development activities undertaken.

g) Project Design and Proposal Writing
This involves designing suitable intervention methods that are appropriate in addressing the set objectives. FIDIPA has assisted several organizations to design economic empowerment programs and develop organizations proposals.

h) Strategic planning
 FIDIPA assist organizations to develop strategic plans using logical framework analysis approach and other methods depending with the nature of the organization.
 
i) Management information systems (Project cycle management)
The organization assist firms develop management information systems that are effective for their operations both in the rural and urban set up.

Participatory Rural Appraisal

Participatory Impact Monitoring

Participatory Integrated Development

Participatory Learning and Action

Participatory Technological Development

Local Capacities for Peace