Enhancing Capacities of NGOs to Implement USAID Supported Activities in Kosovo

Fostering positive and constructive inter-ethnic cooperation between the majority and minority communities in addressing common problems in Kosovo, such as unemployment and access to municipal services, is of crucial importance for the citizens of Kosovo.

Chemonics International, under the USAID Advancing Kosovo Together (AKT) program contracted PMCG to facilitate an organizational capacity assessment process at the Community Development Fund (CDF) in Kosovo and to develop a set of recommendations and a capacity building action plan to address the identified performance gaps.

The USAID Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT) was used as a framework instrument to assess the capacities of CDF to implement USAID-funded activities. The self-assessment sessions facilitated by PMCG’s consultant helped to identify and prioritize major performance gaps as well as relevant solutions that CDF could implement to ensure that its organizational performance is befitting of a reliable local partner of major international donors.

The initial Performance Solutions Package (PSP) developed in 2016 elaborated nine recommendations that were identified by CDF as priority interventions and were included in the Capacity Building Action Plan (CBAP). The CBAP focused on grants management, operations, budgeting, financial management, human resource policy development, strategic planning and communications.

The organizational capacity assessment facilitated in 2017 helped to measure the organizational improvements over the past 12 months, to track the progress CDF had made in implementing the performance improvement recommendations, and to identify further gaps that should be addressed in the coming years to further enhance organizational performance.

The USAID Advancing Kosovo Together (AKT) program envisions two organizations (one U.S. and the other local to Kosovo) to jointly implement one program that is designed to increase constructive inter-ethnic cooperation between Kosovo non-majority and Kosovo majority communities thereby improving Kosovo’s social, economic, political stability and prosperity. The U.S. prime (AKT-US), implemented by Chemonics International Inc., is expected to strengthen host-country organizations’ capacity to implement USAID Kosovo-funded activities directly, which includes facilitating an OCA and capacity development plan with AKT-LS, implemented by the CDF, and assessing results annually.