UNV’s Experience in Strengthening Volunteer Infrastructure (Togo)

UNV’s Experience in Strengthening Volunteer Infrastructure in TOGO

COUNTRY REPORT

In 2013, UNV commissioned a global evaluation on “UNV Contribution to Volunteer Infrastructures”. The evaluation covered national and regional projects aimed at strengthening volunteer infrastructure, partnered and supported by UNV financially and technically.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organisation that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide.

Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilising volunteers.

“UNV’s Experience in Strengthening Volunteer Infrastructure” is a series of knowledge products based on the findings of the evaluation, included in one global and eight country reports (Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru, Togo and Viet Nam).

UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This knowledge product shares UNV’s experience in supporting the establishment of a National Volunteer Programme in Togo. It is based on an evaluation study on PROVONAT (Programme de Promotion du Volontariat National au Togo), which included literature and project document review, interviews and a field visit.

UNV, 2014 www.unv.org

PROVONAT (Programme de Promotion du Volontariat National au Togo) aims to provide an opportunity to young graduates looking for their first job to participate in solutions to development problems in their country.

The programme also makes a motivated human resources available to organisations working for the common good, while contributing to the strengthening of human and social capital.

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OVERVIEW improving youth employability

reinforcing social capital

promoting social cohesion

PROVONAT has three key objectives: i) Improving the employability of young people through the development of professional experience and skills; ii) reinforcement of social capital through development of self-confidence, attitudes of cooperation and participation; iii) promotion of social cohesion through the promotion of integration, intercultural dialogue, and connections between youth and their communities.

2004-2008

2011

UNV funded project “Capacity strengthening for volunteer involving organisations for the implementation of the MDGs�.

Togo established a national volunteer programme known as PROVONAT.

KEY ACTIVITIES

Recruitment of youth volunteers

Selection of placements

Training of new volunteers

Support and supervision of volunteers in the field

Communication and awarenessraising

The recruitment of youth volunteers has been done in waves, and has reached almost 5,000 since the establishment of the programme. Candidates fill in application forms and undergo interviews, in what constitutes a transparent centralized process. The selection of placements follows a similar process which benefits from support from national UN PROVONAT volunteers. Volunteers receive initial training before their assignment and are supported and supervised while in the field.

The project has an important communication component to enhance awareness and outreach.

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IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT STRUCTURES

The National Council of National Volunteering in Togo

The National Coordination Committee

Regional Volunteerism Centres

National UNV Focal Points

The National Council of National Volunteering in Togo provides the strategic orientation for the programme and is comprised of 13 members from different government ministries, civil society organisations (CSOs) and partners. The National Coordination Committee is responsible for the daily management, coordination and implementation of the programme. Regional Volunteerism Centres were set up in all five regions in the country, under CSO management to assist with youth mobilisation, volunteer placement identification, and volunteer monitoring and support, in collaboration with National UNV Focal Points.

KEY PARTNERS Civil Society Organisations

United Nations (including UNV) The Government of the Republic of Togo

Communities International Volunteer Organisations

Decentralised Government Services

Other donors

UNV’S ROLE ADVOCACY, PROMOTION, AWARENESS OF VOLUNTEERING

BROKERING POLITICAL, TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT

CAPACITY BUILDING

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UNV has played three key roles in relation to this project: advocacy, awareness-raising and promotion of national volunteering; brokering partnerships for political, technical and financial support, and; capacity building for volunteers.

RELEVANCE Volunteerism is explicitly included in national plans, with strong ownership and championship by the Government. PROVONAT generated a lot of interest with both youth and host organisations. Over 50% of the volunteers who had completed their placements found full time employment and their testimony indicated the development of self-confidence, attitudes of co-operation and participation, and the sense of having made a valuable contribution to society.

RELEVANCE TO THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

RELEVANCE TO LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS

RELEVANCE TO THE OBJECTIVES SET

IN LINE WITH NATIONAL PRIORITIES

NATIONAL OWNERSHIP

• maternal and infant health; • preventable diseases; • safe drinking water and sanitation; • rural development; • social protection; • employment for youth and women; • gender equality; • strengthening of civil society and • capacity building in state entities.

• strong governmental ownership of PROVONAT; • volunteerism is integrated into national plans.

HIGH DEMAND

HIGH INTEREST

PLACEMENTS

• from civil society organisations and state entities.

• more than 20,000 young people interested.

• 3,500 youth volunteers placed by end 2013, the target is 5,000 volunteers by end 2014.

YOUTH EMPLOYABILITY

SOCIAL/HUMAN CAPITAL

SOCIAL COHESION

• 50% of the volunteers who have completed their placements have already found paid employment.

The 1,000 volunteers recruited in 2011 ended their service in 2013 and of these 506 are in full, paid employment.

• volunteers developed self-confidence, social capital, attitudes of co-operation and participation; they carried out responsible, interesting and challenging roles.

• the volunteers felt they had contributed to changes in people’s lives, articulating the value of this by their intervention.

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EFFECTIVENESS The effectiveness of the project was helped by the fact that groundwork had been done by the UNV-funded project beforehand, with many of the hindering factors already having been addressed. It was also helped by Government ownership and political will from the top-down.

The effectiveness of the project was hindered by the small number of UN volunteers/focal points in the field supporting the volunteers in the five regions. The growing number of volunteers will exacerbate this problem.

HINDERING FACTORS • Small number of and limited resources for UN Volunteers supporting PROVONAT, • Host organisations need more volunteer management preparation

ENABLING FACTORS • Groundwork done by the UNV-funded project, • Ownership and political will

EFFICIENCY GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY

The project seems to have yielded very reasonable results in relation to a minimal UNV expenditure, in comparison with the overall cost of PROVONAT. The deployment of volunteers seems very productive when considered against the number of support personnel allocated.

EFFECTIVE RESULTS MANAGEMENT

QUALITATIVE EVALUATION

Resource efficiency is coupled with effective results measurement done quantitatively and systematically.

Qualitative evaluation has consisted mainly of collecting witness statements from individual volunteers, and these seem to have been put to effective use in awarenessraising activities and in reports.

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MONITORING DONE BY NATIONAL UN VOLUNTEERS

Monitoring of placements and volunteers is carried out by the 10 national UN Volunteers in each region.

IMPACT AND RESULTS PROVONAT has led to the deployment of an impressive number of volunteers and is on track to achieve the targeted 5,000 by the end of 2014. The benefits to those volunteers are significant and far-reaching. The scheme had a clear mandate and vision. The Government championing of the scheme and the development of a favourable policy and regulatory framework are marks of success.

INDIVIDUAL

ORGANISATIONAL

• Benefits to volunteers significant and far-reaching,

• Clear mandate and vision.

NATIONAL/ POLICY

• Government championing of the scheme,

• Beneficiaries/areas of work impacted positively,

• Development of favourable policy and regulatory framework,

• Volunteers’ work led to improved services in their respective areas of intervention.

• The assessment of impact in relation to national development goals needs to be introduced.

PROVONAT volunteers 2011-2013 Volunteers deployed 4000 3530

6% Governance

3000

9% Other

22% Health

8% ITC 2000

7% Rights of vulnerable people

1500 1000

0

1000

1030

19% Development, planning, gender 2011

2012

2013

Total

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11% Agriculture 18% Environment, WASH

SUSTAINABILITY vision volunteer roles could replace paid employment

commitment

resourcing

volunteering could become a choice for graduates for lack of employment

Risks to the long-term sustainability of the project’s impact exist. Some of the most important are that volunteer roles could replace posts of paid employment in decentralised state entities or that permanent volunteering could become a career choice for graduates for lack of employment.

technical capacity

In spite of the limited capacity for supervision and deployment, PROVONAT has shown that, with vision, commitment, resourcing and sufficient technical capacity, it is possible to deploy large numbers of national volunteers. This programme is already being replicated in Togo with the different target group of out-of-school youths/school dropouts.

GOOD PRACTICE 1

2

3

Sound foundation

Volunteer management and awareness

Government ownership

Important lessons were learned from the UNV-funded project preceding PROVONAT (2004-2008). These helped to build a sound foundation for PROVONAT in relation to government commitment, legislation, management planning, decentralisation and resource mobilisation.

The robust and transparent selection processes for both volunteers and placements were notable and could be be replicated in other country programmes.

Awareness was raised as strong volunteer success stories were disseminated.

Only with and through Government ownership of national volunteering can national development goals be met. All stakeholders recognized and agreed on the need for volunteering programmes to be politically independent. The establishment of an autonomous agency is the recommended model to aim for in this regard.

UNV is extremely grateful for the outstanding support received from UN Online Volunteers in designing some of the infographics for this knowledge product.

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