In February 2013 Projects-Direct designed, trained, collected and collated information, reported and made recommendations for the baseline survey for the European Commission project under the call Strengthening the Capacities of Non-State Actors; Actions in partner countries (Multi-country) entitled: "Strengthening the CSO Network on Ageing as a Development Partner in Southeast Asia".
The baseline survey consisted of two processes. The first was a self-assessment conducted by 20 network members in the targeted ASEAN countries. Network members assessed their own organisational capacity and areas where they needed support. They also assessed their own experience in the network and their ability to link with external actors (governments, international organisations, civil society and donors).
The second process was an external assessment of the capacity of a representative number of individual network members and the network as a whole. As an external consultant, Projects-Direct was commissioned to develop and train network members on self-assessment. Projects-Direct then collated the results of these assessments and made recommendations for the network. The baseline data will be used to determine the capacity-building needs of the network and assisted in identifying the training needs to be met in the project.
An additional baseline of old people's associations and their federation capacities in six countries was also conducted, following the same methodology of the self-assessment and external assessment. Data gathered in this baseline will be used to highlight areas of strength within the OPAs and federations. It will also identify capacity building needs of OPOs and federations.
For the full story of this baseline survey read: 'Leading a Baseline Survey Process for HelpAge' in this website's Evaluation Section