ECSS Communities of Practice Leads Local Schools and CSOs to Success

ECSS CoP trainer empowers local community to achieve progress

Since joining the trainer certification program under the ECSS communities of practice (CoP) initiative in April 2012, Gehan Zaafan has trained more than 80 participants from approximately 15 civil society organizations (CSOs) in her community, as well as 60 staff members from El Shaheed Mahmoud Taha, a local school.

In 2007, Zaafan established the Egyptian Association for Human Development. Since then Zaafan has been working in the field of community development in addition to her fulltime job at the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Department at the Ministry of Education in Kafr El Sheikh. Zaafran noted that joining the ECSS CoP trainer certification program in results-based planning and management was a turning point in her development career, as well as a great opportunity for her organization.

As part of the training-of-trainers (ToT) process, Zaafran trained 15staff members from her organization and 65 participants from 15 other local CSOs. Putting her new skills and knowledge into practice, she redesigned her organization’s strategic plan and used a results-based approach to develop two project proposals, one of which was accepted by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) for a grant that will be awarded in the coming months.

Based on her success with her own organization, Zaafan decided to share her knowledge with staff members from a local school, which was known for its low performance and has been unable to receive accreditation from the Ministry of Education for the past three years. Zaafran conducted six training workshops on results-based management with more than 60 staff members from the El Shaheed Mahmoud Taha school, and followed up with a series of technical assistance sessions, during which she assisted staff members in developing a comprehensive plan to enhance the school’s performance.

The school implemented the plan in the past year (2012-2013), which resulted in the improved performance of students and teachers. After a visit from the Ministry of Education, officials deemed the school’s progress and current scores to have met qualifications for accreditation. The school staff cited Zaafan as the reason for their accreditation and overall advancement. Pleased with the school’s achievement, Zaafran plans to repeat the results-based planning and management training for other schools in her governorate.

“Real development occurs when people use their knowledge and skills to serve their community and this is what I learned through the CoP process. I am grateful to the ECSS program because it gave me this
opportunity and I am planning to continue in my efforts.” Gehan Zaafran