Francis Happy Muhindo is a Program Officer with Rwenzori Forum for Peace and Justice, one of the 13 organizations that were recently awarded a Skills Development Fund (SDF) grant amounting to 2.9 billion shillings (660,000 Euros).

SDF is a pilot basket of funds which supports joint ventures that train youth especially women and girls and help them build skills on demand in the labor market. A joint venture is a partnership between two or three organizations, in this case an NGO, training institution or Business Member Organization (BMO) and or private sector actor or business development service provider.

Muhindo has been participating in a four-day workshop on operational and financial reporting organized by Enabel and attended by all grant recipients (grantees).

The workshop is the result of an assessment that identified gaps among partner organizations during the initial implementation of the SDF grant.

”The workshop made me better understand what it takes to write good reports. I was also introduced to new concepts such as most significant change stories that enables an outsider better appreciate the impact of an intervention,” he said.
Muhindo adds that the training also addressed the integration of cross-cutting issues such as environment, something that he has struggled with previously. Apart from report writing, he says the issue of possible litigation in case photographs are taken without consent was tackled.

He now acknowledges the importance of getting consent before taking photographs or carrying out interviews with people participating in the project.

Molly Kanyiginya, an Accountant with Ashley Holdings also participated in the workshop. She says many people in the field of finance think report writing is the sole responsibility of program officers.

The training, she says, has empowered her to work with program officers in developing outstanding project reports that are in line with the SDF reporting template.

“Poor reports have an impact on funding. Given the training we have gone through, I am confident that we will be able to produce good reports,” Kanyinginya said.

Improving the skills of grantees (capacity building) is essential if the SDF is to achieve its objectives.

The Skills Development Fund is implemented in Albertine/Rwenzori, Karamoja and Northern Uganda and funded by Belgium, Ireland and the European Union Emergency Trust Fund respectively.