Objective:
To screen the proposed microproject proposals according to a set of criteria and ensure that only microprojects which are feasible will be considered during the next day.
Method:
1. At the end of the first workshop day, the CAP workshop facilitation team organises a team meeting with copies of the PAPP matrices available. Proposed microprojects are then checked against the following criteria:
i. The microproject has been proposed by community members, not outsiders.
ii. The microproject is within the scope of the project, e.g. not roads and schools.
iii. The microproject will improve some aspect of food security, nutrition or natural resource management.
iv. The microproject is technically feasible in the proposed location.
v. The microproject is capable of being implemented by a community group.
vi. The relevant sector office has the capacity to support the group with further planning and implementation.
vii. The microproject would qualify for a CDF grant if required.
Microprojects which are rejected because they do not fit the above criteria may be very important for a particular community and the team should refer the issue to the relevant woreda office for them to follow up.
2. The team then select up to 8 microproject proposals which they consider it is feasible to plan the next day. In general it is better to select straight- forward projects that will not require technical expertise which is not available within the team. It will be necessary to explain to the workshop participants the next day that the planning exercise is only a preliminary one. There will be follow-up meetings of interest groups at which the plans can be changed or improved and at which other microproject ideas can be developed.
3. Having selected microprojects for the next day’s planning exercise, the team should consider the type of interest groups that should be organised. For example:
Community microprojects require “interest groups” which include people who are prepared to help each other and good leaders who are able to organise and mobilise others to take part and make their contribution. Such groups are likely to be short term, coming together just for the purpose of creating the community asset proposed and any subsequent maintenance.
Some community microproject groups might be long term, such as one wishing to develop a savings and credit group or a new cooperative shop.
Type A household projects, which include the possibility of helping very poor households to improve their living conditions and health status by supplying them with latrines or stoves on a grant basis, require an “interest group” that includes respected individuals who can gain agreement from the wider community that the selected households should receive such support. This type of group may also be short term in nature.
Type B household microprojects require “interest groups” willing to learn about enterprise planning and budgeting, as well as technical production methods. They will need to understand that this group is not about free inputs but how to run a business activity, how to market things properly, how to buy inputs and how to decide if they should borrow money. It is a “learning” group and may be short or long term in nature.
If a joint enterprise activity has been proposed, this should be quite a small group - not more than six - who are comfortable working together, who trust each other and who are interested in building a business in the long term.
Another factor which facilitators should remember is that not everyone is at the workshop and although interest groups may be formed during the workshop, these may not be permanent in terms of the specific microproject. Workshop participants may wish to go away and organise more local, relevant interest groups to follow up microproject ideas. See CAP Tool 13 for more information on this.
4. Prepare a list of the selected microprojects to display the next day and plan the strategy for interest group organisation.
5. Next day, with all CAP workshop participants present, remind them of the results of the first day, i.e. the brainstorming, ranking and PAPP matrix.
6. Present the results of the quick feasibility check on proposed microprojects and explain which microprojects are recommended for follow-up that day and why. Emphasise that other microprojects can be planned whenever they wish - they do not have to wait for another workshop.
7. Explain the different types of interest groups needed for the selected microprojects and invite people to join the facilitator for the microproject most relevant to them. Also explain that these groups are not fixed and new groups may be arranged when participants go home, if that makes more sense.
