EntreMundos´ Capacity Building Workshop Programme provides staff members from development and human rights organisations with access to high-quality, low-cost capacity building workshops specifically focused on successfully managing non-governmental organisations and implementing effective development projects and programmes.
The Need: Strong organisational management and effective project planning and administration are essential components for anynon-governmental organisation striving to improve social, economic, political or environmental issues. There are very limited opportunities to develop such skills in Guatemala, since formal education tends to prepare students either for the business world or for a role within the government.
Due to the demonstrated and immediate need for building capacities amongst these organizations, EntreMundos has created a region-wide reputation for itself as a leading source of organizational development assistance.
The themes for our yearly series workshops are decided through a participatory planning process that allows our partner organisations to express to us their current training needs.
Based on the results of this diagnostic, we plan a series of workshops that best reflect these needs.
Previous themes have included:
- Diagnostics and Strategic Planning
- Project planning
- Project evaluation and monitoring
- Fundraising Strategies
- Strategies for Gender Justice
- Management of Economic Development Projects
- Institutional Strengthening
- Volunteer Management
- Defence and Promotion of Human Rights
- Political Participation
The workshops we organise are facilitated by Guatemalan development professionals, well-respected in their particular fields of expertise, and have covered a wide range of themes including organisational governance and management; strategic planning; project planning and management; fundraising and volunteer management.
Some of our facilitators:
Dr Walter Hillerman is a university professor and a consultant for Desarrollo Humano e Institucional (APDHI). He has more than 30 years e1perience as a business and organizations consultant and hashelped institutions foundations and local NGOs with the organizational strengthening, and project planning,evaluation and monitoring. He has worked as a facilitator for EntreMundos for 5 years, specializing in project planning subjects.
Licenciada Patricia Ardon has been working with social movements in Central America for 30 years. She is a founding member of Just Asociates (JASS) and founder/director of Sinergia N’oj, a Guatemala NGP that provides training in leadership and political participation to young people, indigenous leaders, female leaders and social movements. She has facilitated our Political Participation workshop.
Licenciado Guilllermo Cifuentes is Executive Director of Asociacion de Desarrollo Agricola y Micro-Empresarial (ADAM), and is responsible for relationships with international funders such as Oxfam and European Union. He has participated in NGO activities in many countries including El Salvador, Colombia, Germany and Japan. Guillermo has facilitated several workshops on fundraising strategy.
Licenciada Anantonia Reyes Prado is an anthropologist with several masters degrees in Human Rights. She has more than 20 years experience in the human rights field working in several different countries and with many different organizations. Currently she works for the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman and is a member of the Advisory Commitee on Human Rights for the United Nations. Anantonia has facilitated the Diploma course in Defense and Promotion of Human Rights
Dr Dennis Rodas holds a Doctorate in Economics and is a university professor with over 16 years experience. He specializes in business management themes such as productivity and entreprenuership.
In August 2007, EntreMundos received a donation of 10 computers from an Oregon-based non-profit, Partners in Solidarity. These 10 computers marked the start of the realisation of our IT Resources and Training Centre. Through this Centre, EntreMundos has been able to provide development organisations with a series of IT Skills Training Courses on various computer programmes, covering users with all levels of ability: from those who have never used a computer before to those who are already competent computer users and require more specific training.
The aim of our IT Skills Training Programme is to build the IT abilities of staff members of development organisations so that they are able to use information technology to improve the management of their organisations and programmes in order to achieve their own development objectives. In particular, we aim to further develop organisations´ communication and administrative skills, enhance their online visibility and improve their abilities to seek out and secure funding.
In 2012, thanks to the generous support of our partners the Planet Wheeler Foundation we were able to buy 10 brand new computers, marking an important next step for this vital programme. With these new computers we will be able to enhance the variety of the courses that we offer, as they have the capacity to run many more programmes than our previous computers. As a result, we aim to offer courses in areas such as website design and maintenance, online fundraising and the use of project planning and accounting software.
- Community Service Learning for Groups, which we have offered since 2010, and which is aimed at groups of volunteers (usually from universities) who want to carry out short-term volunteer work in Guatemala and at the same time learn about the culture, history, language, politics, and current events of the country. EntreMundos organizes the group’s travel and stay with host organization, requesting a donation that is shared with the local organizations with whom the international volunteers work.