NZAID

PMC Update | May 2008

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The Programme Management Committee (PMC) is responsible for the running of the KOHA-PICD and HAF (Humanitarian Action Fund) funding schemes for New Zealand 's international development NGOs. It holds six meetings a year; each is followed by an Update. The Updates include information on decisions taken by the PMC and issues of general interest to the New Zealand NGO community regarding the two schemes. The PMC would appreciate your feedback on the Updates and any suggestions for their improvement.

As well as being posted on the NZAID Website, this Update also goes directly to some people within KOHA-registered NGOs. This list is rather limited at present, so we would be pleased to add other names from your NGO to the distribution list. Just send the names and email addresses of people you would like to receive Updates directly to claire-louise@koha-picd.org.nz  and we will oblige, starting with the next Update.

KOHA Update | May 2008

Introduction

The PMC's meeting during 9-10 April 2008 dealt with both KOHA-PICD and Humanitarian Action Fund (HAF) items of business. Trish Murray joined us by phone from Christchurch to represent the NGO Disaster Relief Forum (NDRF) for the HAF session of business. The PMC met with David Culverhouse, Executive Director, Council for International Development (CID) to discuss training matters for 2008/09. Chris Fabling of NZAID also met with the PMC to discuss audit processes since the KOHA scheme is one of the programmes to be audited this year as part of NZAID's annual audit. The PMC discussed the ‘power hui' held in March and its relevance to the work of the PMC, particularly with regard to the PMC's relationship with NGOs.

The main outcomes of the April meeting are as follows along with other items of interest to the New Zealand NGO development community.

Organisation Profiles

Provisional registration with KOHA-PICD was approved for the New Zealand Children's Health & Education Trust (NZCHET). This NGO has been working in remote areas of Vanuatu through a number of health and education programmes to address poverty issues.

Organisational Reviews

The independent reviewers have been busy with both domestic and field visits in the next phase of the review process. During the current year, four NGOs are being reviewed: Fred Hollows Foundation, UNICEF New Zealand, International Needs Network New Zealand and Family Planning International. World Vision NZ and Rotary NZ World Community Service have advised the PMC how they have responded to their organisational reviews, which took place in 2006/07.

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KOHA-PICD Reports Considered

Several more annual notifications and in-depth reports from Block Grant Organisations (BGOs) were received and accepted as ‘satisfactory'. In addition, the following ‘satisfactory' reports were received: ChildFund NZ (Emali design phase and Loipi design phase monitoring visit, Kenya); HETA Trust (Aileu primary school development partnership, Timor Leste); International Needs Network NZ (Organisational review of INN, Papua New Guinea); Richmond New Zealand (Monitoring and evaluation of the Sri Lankan NGO capacity building for strengthening families and community project, Sri Lanka); Salvation Army NZ (Water and nutrition for life, Tanzania); SurfAid International (Mentawai community based health program; Malaria control programme in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia); UNICEF (Capacity building for appraisal, monitoring and evaluation).

KOHA-PICD Applications Approved | April 2008

  • Mahitahi | Aruligo Deaf and Disabilities Centre development partnership
  • SurfAid International | Mentawai community based health program

Further Update on the GFBO paper

The PMC has now contracted Ellie Sanderson for targeted follow-up with selected NGOs to obtain their responses on its paper “ GFBOs and the KOHA-PICD: Discussion paper on our sector's negotiation with development best practice and its intersection with faith, spirituality and religion ” which was circulated before the NGO/NZAID annual meeting in 2007. The PMC is still aiming to have updated guidelines available for consideration at the NGO/NZAID Annual Meeting in October.

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Guidance Notes

In the last PMC Update we reported on the PMC's intention to develop a number of Guidance Notes that could be added to the KOHA-PICD Handbook as appendices. The purpose of these Guidance Notes will be to guide and assist KOHA-registered NGOs, their overseas partners and the PMC on specific topics relevant to the KOHA scheme. At the April meeting the PMC approved the Guidance Note titled ‘Sending Volunteers'. It is now available for use by NGOs and will be added as an appendix to the KOHA Handbook. Organisations with suggestions for other topics that would useful as Guidance Notes are invited to contact the KOHA Administrator.

Update on the Disability Working Group

This working group is making excellent progress. It met in late March and drafted a paper for discussion at the regional CID/NZAID meetings in early May. The paper discusses the extent of the global challenge of mainstreaming disability into development practices. It outlines why disability should be more explicitly considered within the KOHA-PICD scheme, following the entry into force of the ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities' on 3 May 2008. The working group proposes some specific changes to the KOHA Handbook and KOHA forms that will be presented to the Annual Meeting, following feedback to the working group from the regional meetings.

Change to terminology used by PMC

The PMC approved a proposal to change the terms it uses when replying to NGOs who have submitted project reports to the PMC. Gone is the term “Satisfactory”, which has been replaced by “Accepted”. Similarly, the term “Unsatisfactory” has been replaced by “Not Accepted”. The final related change was the decision to drop the term “Deferred” and retain “Tabled” which will cover all reports that are referred back to an NGO for further information or clarification. The Handbook currently lists two options for sending reports back to an NGO – “Tabled” or “Deferred”. There was a degree of overlap in the definition of these two terms that created interpretation problems while not providing a clear separation from reports that needed major revision.

The new terminology will be applied to both KOHA-PICD and HAF reports from now on. Appropriate changes to the definitions in the Handbooks will also be made.

KOHA Training and Advice

The PMC received reports on the two KOHA-funded courses that were held in the previous two months. There was also a report from Lee Sentes, CID's Capacity Building Officer, on his activities with respect to the KOHA Helpline. New organisations are encouraged to use this service for KOHA or HAF advice, especially with respect to developing applications or reports for submission to the PMC. (Contact details are given in the previous PMC Update, available online from the NZAID website.) It was pleasing to see the large numbers enrolled in the two training courses being run in late April on financial planning. This is a topic central to the effective running of any organisation. Improved financial skills will reduce the number of reports the PMC has to ‘table' pending resubmitted budgets or other financial information. The PMC provided feedback on four very useful handouts that Lee has drafted. These are now available on the CID website and were discussed at the recent BGO and Individual Grant Organisation (IGO) meetings in Auckland and Wellington respectively. The documents cover: KOHA-PICD/HAF funds; roles and relations between NZAID/CID/PMC; engagement with KOHA-PICD; engagement with HAF.

Nominations for the PMC elections

Although the Annual Meeting is still several months away, the PMC urges all KOHA-registered NGOs to start thinking about possible nominations for the elected PMC positions. Two current members, Robert Choy (Christian Blind Mission NZ) and Alan Fletcher (ADRA), will be finishing their terms in October and are not eligible for re-election. Esther Ducai (TEAR Fund) and Sally Russell (NZ China Friendship Society) will provide continuity on the PMC following their election last year. PMC membership involves five 2-day and one 3-day meetings per year, plus a ‘policy' day as the main time commitments. There is also some time required for meeting preparation and possible attendance at the regional or BGO/IGO meetings. PMC members also act as liaison contacts for a specific number of NGOs in the KOHA scheme. It is worth noting that the time spent on PMC-related work is remunerated at State Service Commission rates.

HAF Reports Considered

The PMC received a tsunami report from Caritas. The following ‘satisfactory' reports were received from Block Grant Organisations and also for EMDR activities: Caritas (Thai-Burma Consortium Appeal, Thailand and Burma; Internally Displaced People, Emergency response, Sri Lanka; Assistance to spontaneous returnees, Sudan); Christian World Service (Emergency assistance to people affected by conflict in north and east Sri Lanka); TEAR Fund (Pakistan Earthquake rehabilitation and recovery programme – Phase Two); World Vision (Africa humanitarian emergency affairs rapid response team); NZ Tamil Medical Association (NZTMA) (Rural health and hygiene in Maddu, Mannar, Sri Lanka).

HAF Applications | April 2008

No new applications were approved at the meeting.

Stockpiling for disaster preparedness

Some NGOs have sought to use HAF funds to stockpile contingency material and equipment either in New Zealand or overseas. The HAF Handbook requires money to be sent overseas in the same financial year that the application is approved, but it also allows for purchase of contingency stocks as part of disaster preparedness. The issue was put on the agenda for discussion at the NGO/NZAID meetings in May and further advice will be forthcoming after these meetings. In the meantime, the PMC's view is that an important consideration in such projects is that holding contingency supplies only makes sense if they are part of a wider package of preparedness which would necessarily mean having distribution networks and delivery processes in place.

‘Lessons Learned’ document finished

The HAF Administrator, Amanda Holdaway, has finished compiling a useful document called “Lessons learned from the Asian Tsunami”. This document was presented at the last meeting of the NDRF . It is now over to the NDRF to decide how best to use this information.

HAF project funding rules for IGOs

The PMC has clarified the rules around the use of HAF grants for IGOs. Unlike BGOs, which receive block grants for HAF activities, the IGOs apply on a project-by-project basis. The Handbook states that at least 50% of grants must be spent on emergency response activities, but by the time IGOs receive information on the PMC's decisions on their applications, the emergency response stage may well be over, and HAF funding cannot be used retrospectively. In recognition of the contradictions between these two rules, NZAID has agreed that IGOs do not have to adhere to the stipulation that 50% of HAF grants must be spent on emergency response activities.

Chair's Comments

Our April meeting immediately followed the Block Grant meeting in Auckland and the Individual Grant meeting in Wellington . These meetings are important annual opportunities for KOHA members to raise topics with the PMC, as well as an opportunity for the PMC to get feedback on various initiatives it has underway. Last year, the Block Grant meeting led to an additional meeting with the PMC to further explore issues around moving to a programmatic approach and some of the financial and reporting questions this raised for NGOs. This year's meetings covered a long list of items including: accessing funds, improving monitoring and evaluation practice, Guidance Notes, financial reporting initiatives, IGO reporting and a range of policy issues such as mentoring and risk management. On reflection, there was a strong theme linking most of the agenda items – building capability within organisations. With more effective systems and up-skilling of staff, NGOs are better placed to improve their development practice and more successfully access funds. As one person put it: “It's all about staying passionate while getting more professional”. That seemed like an accurate description of the people in the development community I have the pleasure of working with – passionate professionals.

Kia kaha

Wren Green

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