Local Capacity Development Project
CLIENT: USAID
LOCATION: Africa
EXPERTISE: Agriculture, Economic Growth, Education, Gender, Governance, Health, Training, Water
SERVICE: Communities of Practice, Organizational Development
As the prime implementer of the USAID-funded Local Capacity Development (LCD) project in Ethiopia, The Kaizen Company (Kaizen) has built and is continuing to strengthen organizational capacity for USAID/Ethiopia’s local implementing partners (LIPs) in financial management, project management, monitoring & evaluation, and sustainability. Kaizen is also managing a local subcontractor, Target Business Consultants, that is providing technical support in the financial management aspects of the LCD project.
The primary goal of LCD is to strengthen the management capacity of LIPs so that they adopt strong systems which are fully compliant with USAID’s grant requirements. This is to ultimately create a pool of qualified, USAID-ready local organizations that are eligible to receive, and capable of managing, future USAID program funds as well as funding from other donors and sources. This is in line with USAID/Ethiopia’s goal and USAID’s Local Solutions initiative to provide 30% of its program funds directly to local organizations over the next few years.
Working closely with the local partners, Kaizen conducts Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCAs), creates actionable Capacity Development Plans (CDPs), and provides training, technical assistance, and mentoring to over 100 LIPs, a number that is growing as LCD scales up its services. LCD is now in its fourth year of implementation, and to-date, Kaizen has conducted 200+ trainings and 1000+ technical assistance sessions with participating LIPs.