Story summary: 

Mahdi, 33 years of age, started his professional career in January 2018 at MCDO (Mother, Children Development Organization), a local nongovernmental organization and one of Save the Children’s strategic partners in Somali Region, Ethiopia, as a finance and administration officer. Mahdi and his coworkers at MCDO were recipients of Save the Children’s localization project-inspired professional development trainings. The financial management training was the most influential of the bunch, as it not only improved Mahdi’s professional set of skills but also strengthened the organization’s financial system.

Founded in 1997, MCDO is a developmental, humanitarian, and campaign agency that is dedicated to finding lasting solutions to economic as well as other problems that affect children and their families across the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Save the Children, in partnership with five local NGOs and five government sector offices, has been implementing a project entitled "Localization in Ethiopia Practice" in five hazard-prone regions of Ethiopia to this effect since early 2021.

Mahdi’s story in his own words: 

"My name is Mahdi, and I work as a finance and administration officer for the Mother and Children Development Organization (MCDO), a nongovernmental organization in the Somali Region that works with women and children. As a finance officer, I spend the majority of my time dealing with tasks such as financial reconciliations, forecasts, payment sheet preparations, accounting verification, and financial reporting, to name a few.

"Prior to the arrival of the localization project, our capacity on the job was severely hampered in many ways. If I had to name the major cases where that was true, the lack of strength in our financial system and the lack of staff would be my top two choices. Because of these factors, simple tasks were frequently complicated.

"MCDO gave me a four-year hands-on experience on how to manage financial responsibilities, but apart from that, I must attribute the other trainings I took for my overall capacity increment as a financial professional as well as a leader.I recently attended trainings on financial management as well as fiscally related issues. Not to mention my attendance at other leadership courses and human resource management strategies that were provided by Save the Children’s localization project. "I am confident in admitting that these types of trainings provided me with the knowledge and skills that enabled me, albeit with the assistance of my team, to develop a strong financial system with good financial rules and a solid fiscal control mechanism."

"These localization project-implemented trainings provided me with the skill sets necessary to prepare and ensure accurate monthly financial reports that are donor-required. “This achievement is further evident in the fact that our donor fund rates have been steadily increasing since my improvement in such areas.

"These financial skills have become so valuable that donors are beginning to place more trust in us than in the past."When compared to last year, our funding has increased significantly this year, with a total funding portfolio of $500,000, indicating that donors are grateful for our efforts and are rewarding us with the necessary funds to make our efforts even more fruitful.

"Save the Children did not just provide training to me and my colleagues. It also gave us office equipment and supplies such as computers, printers, and motorcycles. They also helped develop and update various working manuals and guidelines that further honed our organizational performance.

"With the support and close follow-up we got from the localization project, we are able to improve and prepare various operational manuals and policies for our organization." For example, we recently reviewed and updated our financial management system, human resource management manuals, and adopted the "child safeguarding policy."

“Although the project has been operational for a short time, the results are encouraging despite the fact that there’s still a long way to go towards improving the capacity and effectiveness of local actors that are operational in remote communities. I am well aware that building organizational capacity is not something that can be achieved overnight, but rather is a long and arduous process that requires commitment, partnership, and hard work. "I hope our supporters further expand their assistance in the future towards similar interventional areas as well as more partners in these remote operational regions."

"Finally, I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to the Save the Children localization project and all those who supported this project, and I kindly request that your support could continue for some time in the future."

 

Background / Project information:

Save the Children has been running a pilot project called localization in Ethiopia practice since early 2021, in collaboration with five local NGOs and five government sectors, across five regions (Amhara, Oromia, Somalia, Afar, and SNNPR). The overall objective of the LIEP project is to enhance the leadership, effectiveness, and efficiency of local actors in humanitarian preparedness and response.

The capacity-strengthening areas are focused on preparedness, early warning, and early action, which are integral parts of humanitarian response. Moreover, the project has been striving to equip the target partners with knowledge of core humanitarian principles, child rights programming, leadership, accountability mechanisms, and risk management.

Save the Children's Localization Project did more than just provide training to employees of local partners and government staff. It also provided them with office equipment and supplies, such as computers, printers, and motorcycles. "We also helped develop and update various working manuals and guidelines that further improved local NGO and government office staff performance and organizational capacity."