Second Training for Local Councils and NGOs on issues related to

The Maltese development NGO KOPIN, in collaboration with its partners the Local Council of Valletta (Malta’s capital city), SKOP (the National Platform of Maltese NGDOs) and TRIALOG, has offered a second capacity building training for NGOs and local councils on issues related to global poverty and migration. The three sessions, which were held in St Julian’s, Malta, between 15 and 17 February 2011, were attended by 27 representatives of 21 different Maltese civil society organisations and local authorities.

The training was opened by Dr Alexiei Dingli, Mayor of Valletta and patron of the MeDevNet project in Malta, and by William Grech, Coordinator of KOPIN. The experts Maria Pisani and Bianca Zammit held presentations on the subjects women & migration and theoretical aspects of conflict resolution, respectively, whilst Mario Gerada presented the national NGDO platform SKOP. Dominik Kalweit, whilst also presenting KOPIN, introduced the project, its aims and activities to the participants.

The training sessions on 16 and 17 February were delivered by Andra Tanase, Capacity Building Officer of TRIALOG, and focused on project cycle management (PCM). The participants were provided with an overview of the different phases of the project cycle and the elements that are needed for a sound management of this cycle (context, internal and external processes, cultural elements), with a specific focus on development cooperation. Moreover, Ms Tanase introduced the NGO and Local Council representatives to some concrete tools that are part and parcel of good project cycle management, such as management styles, cultural styles, strategic planning, context mapping and project writing. Methodologically, the sessions included a combination of frontal sessions and interactive group work with presentations from the participants. In fact, the participants were also encouraged to be ready to contribute with their project experiences and to work on concrete cases. The participants appreciated these sessions positively, noting in particular the hands-on approach, the choice of topics relevant to their context and the sense of enjoyment in learning.

The training was part of a cycle of trainings and other activities organised within the framework of the international project “Mediterranean Development Network”, MeDevNet, which is being implemented by NGOs and local authorities in Malta, Cyprus and Greece. In Malta, the project is co-financed by EuropeAid and through the Co-Financing Fund for Local Councils administered by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Public Dialogue and Information.

For more information about the training and other MeDevNet activities, visit http://www.medevnet.org/. For more details on KOPIN, visit http://www.kopin.org/ or join KOPIN Malta’s Facebook profile.

Information provided by Dominik Kalweit, KOPIN