Key objectives of the support provided through this unit are as follows:

• Help ensure sustainability of SFD’s work with communities
• To increase the capabilities of SFD’s institutional partners
• To develop effective strategies for increased community participation in development  of women and the poor
• To help local government create an environment conducive to community and sustainable development
• Support community organisations that can work with local authorities for development and best use of local resources
• Support human resources development to work towards SFD’s objectives of reducing poverty

TOSU provides funds and technical assistance in the areas of 1) Training and 2) Organisational Support to a range of organisations including SFD itself.

Support in the area of Training provided through TOSU includes the development of training manuals and materials, the provision of trainers in technical, developmental and organisational subjects, support to the decentralisation process in terms of performance training, local legislation and bye-laws, training and supporting recent graduates to undertake development work, supporting a program of volunteers, and assisting other parts of SFD in their training needs and to ensure that their interventions are sustainable.

Currently, training in beekeeping, processing of bee products and organisation for beekeeping also falls under TOSU. In the future this may move to Agriculture.

TOSU supports a range of different types of organisations from the local to the national, although all organisations supported share SFD’s goals of development and poverty reduction. TOSU works with both communities and Local Authorities to enhance local development. In addition TOSU runs a number of special programs.

Communities & Community Committees

Through awareness raising and organisation of communities, SFD seeks to enhance the role of the community in local development. SFD supports communities to organise themselves into committees, identify their priorities and resources available for addressing these priorities. Committees from several communities may be supported to come together to represent sub-districts.

SFD supports community groups to develop community plans. Some of the activities in these plans, the community may be able to undertake using its own resources. Other aspects of the plans will form the basis for District plans to be implemented in partnership with the Local Authority. SFD supports communities to dialogue with the Local Authorities and to monitor progress of plans.

In broad terms, SFD support to communities steps through the following:

• Preliminary requests are submitted to SFD by communities
• Field visits are conducted to assess social and economic conditions and to identify community priorities. This is done with members of the community, both male and female.
• The results from the field visit and initial requests are screened in the Branch Office and availability of funds are checked
• A project Officer from the Branch collects information that is available. This will include statistics relating to services available in the locality, levels of poverty, information on previous SFD interventions, etc. This information together with information relating to individual communities will help in the development of realistic plans.
• The Training Officer assesses what training is needed by the community
• The Project Officer develops a budget, specifies target areas and field teams
• The ultimate aim of supporting communities to organize is community empowerment.

At the same time as working with communities, SFD through TOSU, works with Local Authorities to encourage collaborative working between the Local Authority and the local communities.

The aims of working with the Local Authorities (LA)  are to support the LA to:

• Understand the concept of community participation
• Use a participatory approach in District planning and development
• Endorse national governments’ moves towards decentralisation and a greater role for local government as detailed in the Local Authority Law
• Acquire skills in analysis of local social and economic conditions in the District as an aid to planning
• Acquire skills in planning with communities
• Understand the valuable role that communities can play in monitoring of plans and increasing local accountability

There are three main steps in supporting the Local Authority. These are:

1.       Activate and mobilize the local communities for participation in identifying their needs , as well as arranging their priorities and establishing community committees able to communicate and link between the communities and the local authority for the purpose of supporting local development by means of planning in participation with the local community.

2.       Reinforce and activate the local authority role and enabling it to manage the planning process with community participation and in conformity with the Local Authority Law which reflects the priorities of local communities . This is for the purpose of improving the management of local development in targeted districts by relying on directions , indicators , and development aims.

3.       Develop actual development plans emanating from real local communities’  needs and priorities, as well as correlating the districts’ proposed budgets with the priorities submitted by the targeted local community.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

SFD through TOSU is keen to improve the capacities of NGOs  for enabling them to provide services to  their beneficiaries effectively and efficiently . This is beside enabling these NGOs to perform their role as an effective development  partner in both urban and rural areas.

The objective of SFD support to NGOs is to improve NGO capacities enabling them to provide their services to beneficiaries effectively and perform their roles as efficient developmental partners in rural and urban areas.

SFD works with NGOs that share with SFD the same goals of poverty alleviation. There are certain conditions that NGOs have to fulfil to be eligible for SFD support, see SFD Guidelines of Operations.

Typical areas of support to NGOs include the following:

• Institutional assessments undertaken with the organisation to assess strengths & weaknesses of the organisation
• Design of awareness-raising packages
• Preparation of training manuals
• Training in a variety of subjects including the training of literacy teachers in adult literacy methods
• Information sharing and networking
• Capacity building of the organisations’ trainers
• Capacity building for advocacy
• Capacity building in promotion and marketing

Support to Local Authorities (LAs)

In addition to supporting Local Authorities as a way of empowering communities and increasing participation in District planning processes, TOSU supports Local Authorities in:

• Capacity building of LA staff

• Institutional development

1.  Capacity building of LA staff

• Interventions to build the capacity of staff include but are not limited to the following:
• Awareness raising for elected local council members on laws and regulations relevant to their work
• Training new councillors in development concepts, analysis and working with local communities
• Training for local authority employees in management, record keeping and applied computing
• Training in staff responsibilities, planning and budgeting and community participation
• Training in tendering and contracting
• Training of governorate leadership in strategic planning
• For the Ministry of Local Administration, training of trainers in planning, implementation and institutional development skills.

2.  Institutional development

A key element of support in this area is an assessment of the targeted institution to identify areas where improvements could be made. As part of the assessment, an analysis of three main areas is undertaken. These are:

• The external environment
• The internal environment
• The performance of the institution

The external environment is the total of all components taking place outside the frame of the targeted agency, which does not have the ability to control them, but it influences and is influenced by them. These are illustrated below.

The internal environment is all those components that fall within the control of the agency. There are three main components: Resources, Guiding Pillars and Regulatory Frameworks.

Resources are made up of information, human, financial and technical resources.

The performance of the organization is determined by the overall effort exerted by the organization for the purpose of achieving its goals and the interaction between the internal and external environments.

For further details of institutional assessments and support carried out, see the Guidelines of Operations or contact the Training and Organizational Support Unit.

Support to Government Institutions

On request, and after implementation of the institutional development assessment , SFD also provides training or organizational support to those central or local governmental sectors that fall under SFD’s areas of operations. Governmental sectors might include agriculture, education, health for example.

The type of support that might be made available include development of regulations, management, computer and database training or provision of equipment.

Support to the Private Sector

SFD support to the private sector is intended to develop a pool of experience in development and expand the available work force in technical fields and maximize the use of skills available locally. 

Possible beneficiaries include:

• Consulting firms
• Consultants working on SFD programs
• Small contractors
• Training centres

Training courses may be run in conjunction with other units from SFD or by the Training unit of TOSU.

An example of training courses run with other SFD units is:

Training of consultants in implementation and contracting methods

The training unit of TOSU mainly handles training in the following areas:

• Participatory methods including PRA
• Training of trainers in a variety of subject areas
• Management and Strategic planning
• Fund raising and accounting for NGOs
• Qualification of contractors in implementation and contracting methods