ETHIOPIA: “Writing Skills, Accountability and Proper Management are Key Success Factors in the administration of Projects”, Pastoral Agents Urged
AMECEA Secretariat has urged regional Pastoral and Communication Coordinators to be good agents of Proper Management, Accountability and Transparency in the implementation of Donor Funded Grants to support different Church activities.
The Deputy Secretary General of AMECEA, Rev. Fr Chrisantus Ndaga said this during a workshop on resource mobilization for key Pastoral Agents from AMECEA member countries held in Addis ababa from 9-12 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The participants of the workshop included:- Conference’s Pastoral and Communication Coordinators, some members from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) and some media practitioners from AMECEA members countries.
Fr Ndaga asked the participants to be proactive and innovative in order to support their offices.
According to Fr Ndaga, the workshop intended to impart skills to Pastoral agents (Pastoral and Communication Coordinators) on resource (financial) mobilization and establish good relationship with partners in order to offer better services for the Church.
In an exclusive interview, with the facilitator of the workshop Hillary Korir, who is the Caritas Director of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, Kenya, said the workshop is timely because it has brought together Pastoral and Communication Agents who really need to improve their skills and knowledge on project proposal development and management.
“Earlier it was easy to acquire funds, you could simply just write a letter to the donor hence get funding, however, this is no longer the case. These days-things have changed the requirements are many, competition is higher and resources are no longer easy to find,” he said.
In his presentation, the facilitator noted that projects are rejected by the donor due to several reasons including none compliance to given requirements, lack of acknowledgement of funds received, untimely reports, lack of accountability and lacking skills to prepare projects.
The participants were challenged to learn and have the art of developing proposals, involve consultants if need be, develop proposals that address specific community needs and at the same time, strive to integrate initiatives for the benefit of the community.
One of the participants to the workshop, said the workshop has helped him in project writing skills, improving working spirit, create cooperation amongst stakeholders within Conference Secretariat or Dioceses
The workshop was funded by Missio Munich
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By Prince Henderson & Bernard James in Addis Ababa
