Cindi PMER Workshop 12 March 2007

1. Cindi PMER Workshop 12 March 2007 (Please note photographs have been removed for emailing purposes)

2. Situational Analysis • The scale of the epidemic: • By mid-2007 the number of maternal orphans is estimated to haveincreased to over 1.7 million • As a result of the ongoing increase in the number of deaths, maternal orphan numbers are forecasted to reach 2.1 million by 2010 • Approximately 450 children are orphaned each day Our required response: • Remain flexible in order to adapt to the changing environment for example e.g. take training in-house or develop materials • To work with organisations that are struggling and where the need is prominent e.g. work in Xariep area (grant-maker with geographic scope and depth of services) • Strong focus on money management and accountability • Starfish needs to raise vast quantitiesof funding to reach the vast quantities of children – raised from individuals, Corporates, Agencies and Trusts

3. Our Value Proposition • Starfish is a premier grant-maker who acts • as a vital link between funders and grassroots projects, enabling donors throughout the world and communities across South Africa to achieve far more • than they ever could by themselves.   • The reputable and emotive Starfish brand is building a global community of individuals and institutions sensitised to the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa. 

4. Project Strategy • Key Programmes • Mentoring and Training Programme: • Building capacity of emerging community-based organisations • Grant-Making Programme (Holistic Care): • Funding CBOs and NGOs directly to care for orphaned and vulnerable children

5. MER Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting • The Child is at the core of Starfish’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategy: • Starfish will be reporting on the number of children that are serviced by our M&T Programme as well as our grant-making partners • We encourage our partners to make available a minimum of three services to the children that they care for and are on their registers • Service package or the combination of services typically include nutrition, education and psycho-social support. • NGOs/CBOs contracted under grant-making programme reports six monthly: financial, data and narrative.

6. Mentoring and Training: Selection of CBOs Starfish involvement Mentor involvement CBO timeline  24mths  18mths • We will confirm that these CBOs satisfy some additional criteria e.g. • Have demonstrated a commitment to working with children; • Are not already recipients of other substantial funding; • Are not operating in communities already funded by Starfish (or its donors)

7. Starfish CBO CBO CBO OVC OVC OVC Mentoring and Training Programme R R R Service Provider: Orphan Care Training Service Provider: Organisational Capacity Building Training Mentoring Services More Community Based Organisations (CBOs) are enabled to serve more children, more effectively, by Starfish providing:- direct funding;- mentoring to build organisational capacity;- training on how to care for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

8. Service Providers: Org. Cap. Dev. • Selection of Organisational Capacity Developer: • A critical success factor of our Mentoring and Training Programme is effective mentoring – we therefore look to partner with local organisations that understand and have relationships in the communities e.g. • EC: Barnabas Trust • NW: Ragoga, Seboka • LIM: Choice • FS: T&P • Gauteng: Unsung Heroes Etc. • Services: Usually 2 year programme of mentoring including the following: • Vision, Mission, Planning; • Organisational Structures – management, trustees; • Basic Bookkeeping; • Teamwork, conflict management; • Proposal writing • MER Capacity building • Etc.

9. CBOs: Expected Outcomes • CBOs retain their identity – not “Starfish projects”, but “projects supported by Starfish”; • CBOs expected to absorb OVC in their community – not expected to become national NGOs! • CBOs are “semi-sustainable” after 18 mth programme – will require ongoing “trickle” funding, but Starfish should not be the sole funder!

10. Focus on Basic Safety Net of Services • In the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in SA, Starfish’s focus is on providing a “basic safety net of care” i.e. addressing holistic needs, in a basic, rather than comprehensive way. • CBOs are capacitated to deliver a range of basic services to OVCs which are: • Selected by the community based on priority needs, and • Do not require significant ongoing funding - so the community can sustain delivery of the selected services.

11. Starfish CBO 2 CBO 1 CBO Reporting Monthly Reports: 10th: Financial Report (Budget vs Actuals) 10th: Statistics Report Quarterly Reports: 10th Mar, 10th Jun, 10th Sep, 10th Dec: Narrative Report Mentoring Organisation Monthly Reports: 15th: All CBO Financial Reports 15th: All CBOStatistics Reports Quarterly Reports: 15th Sep, 15th Dec, 15th Mar, 15th Jun : All CBO Narrative Reports

12. Essence of the Reporting Households Services and Caregivers OVC

13. MER Monitoring, evaluation and reporting • Deepening our understanding of the services that are offered by our partners, and where Starfish funding is utilised or leveraged, via. • Contracting with partners • Monthly data and quarterly narrative project reporting • Detailed Financial reporting • The Monitoring and Evaluation strategy will extend to the care workers and mentoring service providers in the Mentoring and Training Programme: • Care worker - ratio to children, training participation • Service providers – monitoring of service delivery

14. Salient points on M&E for Programmes • Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is integral to the project and part of the process (starts in planning phase already) – not an add-on • M&E should be driven by the project and not the donor. Donor may guide requirements but project should be aware of their information needs • Beneficiary participation in M&E is very important – some processes should allow for beneficiary input • Relationship between Donor and NGO or CBO is very important to continuously align expectations • Capacity Building within CBO to be able to perform M&E is very important • Budget and Plan for learning activities – example after pilot ensure there is enough time to re-plan activities if necessary.

15. What does it mean for Starfish? • Education and raising awareness in terms of the information that can be useful for the CBO – Mentor workshops • Programme managers to spend time on their own information requirements and the CBO information requirements • Keep error/issue logs on the reports received from projects. Document the learning and SHARE • Make sure that reporting cycles are documented on the implementation plans • Creating learning forums – especially with mentors quarterly meetings to allow for the recognition and definition of what was learned. • Investigate what resources we can use to analyse our information against?

16. A New World View “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.” -- Einstein

17. Discussion Session