Jayne's Capacity-Building Work

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Jayne Cravens:
Capacity-Building Work with and in Developing Countries
and with Various Constituencies in "the West"

Much of my professional work has been focused on building the capacities of others. Through onsite and online workshops, mentoring, training materials and written guidelines, I have tried to help people in a diversity of regions and countries and from a range of backgrounds to develop a variety of skills to help them do their work and serve their constituencies more effectively.

My capacity-building activities are focused on communications, community/volunteer involvement, partner/donor relationships and management basics for nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations/civil society, and government-based programs.

My goal in any training, mentoring or other capacity-building activity is to give participants tools that they can use immediately and that give them a base on which to further build and improve long after our interactions are over.

Below is a list of capacity-building activities in which I have engaged, however, please note I am capable of engaging in capacity-building activities regarding any of my core professional competencies:

Drafting a revised country strategy for the United Nations per drastic, sudden changes in circumstances in the country. (Ukraine)
Rapidly editing and rewriting funding proposals, presentations, press releases, web pages, meeting reports and field reports. (Afghanistan & Ukraine)
Drafting a marketing plan for a UNDP project focused on getting people to care about and take action regarding climate change. (Ukraine)
Drafted a strategy to leverage most of the UN days in some way via social media and, in some cases, traditional means (onsite events, press tours, etc.). (Ukraine)
Mapping all of the online activities of all UN agencies and programs in one country, live-tweeting an international event as an example to local staff, strategizing regarding how future online events might be more interactive, creating strategies and delivering workshops to help staff to leverage social media more effectively, including how agencies could use social media to promote respect, tolerance and perhaps even reconciliation in areas of Ukraine currently in conflict. (Afghanistan & Ukraine)
Advising federal ministry staff on media and online outreach strategies (Afghanistan)
Training federal ministry staff on how to gather and present written information for government, donor and UN reports, proposals and presentations (Afghanistan)
Training federal ministry staff on how to monitor news wires and the web (Afghanistan and Ukraine)
Training federal ministry staff on how to take photos in a culturally-sensitive manner and to meet various needs, e.g. to show female participation (Afghanistan)
Training federal ministry staff in how to be pro-active and reactive in distributing information and photos to various offices (Afghanistan)
Creating and delivering a presentation for Afghan women on public speaking (Afghanistan)
Training federal ministry staff in posting information to appropriate online fora, such as developmentgateway.org (Afghanistan)
Advising on how to prevent folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts
Creating and presenting all-day intensive onsite workshops and engaging in one-on-one consulting re: business planning, monetizing services, and donor/client relations, as well as strategic planning and demonstrating program credibility and transparency, for education advising centers throughout Eastern and Western Europe (some are local NGOs, some are based in local government offices, some are based in local university offices) affiliated with EducationUSA, a global network supported by the U.S. Department of State (Budapest, Hungary and Belgrade, Serbia)
Advising a volunteer center regarding its online interface for potential volunteers (Cairo, Egypt)
Training local UN agency staff working in mid-Eastern countries and regions (Lebanon, Jordan, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Egypt) in the basics regarding involving online volunteers (Cairo, Egypt)
Authoring, frequently updating and distributing "Basic Fund-Raising for Small NGOs in the Developing World" (online, with requesting NGOs based primarily in Africa and Asia)
Creating a web page offering advice for hotels, hostels & campgrounds in transitional & developing countries
Mentoring an Afghan entrepreneur on how to create a small cleaning business, by researching and writing a detailed Afghan-specific guide that walked the entrepreneur through each cleaning business development step (including how to ensure the safety of female employees) and by recruiting the owner and manager of a successful cleaning business in the USA to edit the guide and answer the entrepreneur's specific questions.
Researching and promoting the elements necessary to ensure success in using "Theater as a Tool for Development", with examples from Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA.
Advising aspiring women bloggers, as well as female students of a variety of ages, from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and various locations in "the West."
Creating online materials to build the capacities of organizations working in and for the developing world to involve and support volunteers using the Internet (online, via onlinevolunteering.org
Training UN staff regarding volunteer management and online communications (Germany)
Advising international and national organizations based in the USA regarding using their web to better promote their involvement of volunteers, to better support current volunteers, and to better recruit new volunteers (online).
Advising on volunteer-involvement relating to Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) and online volunteering for the Southern Africa Capacity Initiative (SACI), a UNDP/UNV effort to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS in nine countries
Advising regarding volunteer management and online community development for various UNV and UNDP-affiliated projects in the developing world, such as development of a volunteer center in Sri Lanka
Researching and preparing pioneering articles on working with volunteers via Instant Messaging, and volunteers using PDAs and other handheld network technology
Creating a module regarding effectively involving volunteers for UNESCO's Multimedia Training Kit
Working directly with organizations throughout the world in setting up and expanding online volunteering programs (onsite in the USA, Germany, Switzerland and Egypt; online throughout the world)
Training in communications activities, such as how to create a community newsletter, and how to approach local media in-person, by phone and by fax, for the American Indian community of the Southern San Francisco Bay Area
Training nonprofits regarding web site accessibility, through Knowbility
Advising a Youth Resource Center of Guria, Georgia (formerly part of the Soviet Union) regarding promoting volunteerism to youth

Countries I've visited or lived in:
Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain (England and Scotland), Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (Catalunya and Castilla), Sweden, Switzerland, USA, United Arab Emirates, Vatican City

Also see: Civil Society Capacity Building: Why?
My favorite kind of professional work is building the capacities of civil society organizations, especially in transitional and developing countries, to communicate, to change minds and to engage a variety of people and communities, through communications, dialogue and volunteering. But the term civil society isn't used in USA as commonly as it is elsewhere, and many don’t understand exactly what I mean when I talk about my favorite type of work. This new resource explores exactly what is meant by the phrase civil society capacity building.

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