Salesian NGO’s for the missions/development: Seminar 2010

Evaluation

1. The Seminar was for me together with the NGO members an experience of:

• Positive, enriching, encouraging and inspiring sharing of concrete experience, good practices; great sharing (12)

• New mutual personal encounter and NGO leadership contacts (7)

• Enriching and good sense of community, Salesian Family spirit, fraternity (6)

• Very useful learning, listening experience (3)

• Inspiring to see good work being done, working lines of actions (2)

• To fix some commitments and concrete steps for next journey

• We have many diamonds in our hands, we have to polish

• One opportunity to get know the situation of the NGOs and the Congregation

• Very important as a new start of a long process for the strengthening and coordination of the NGOs

• Sharing experiences & lessons learned, taking stock of where we are in relation to 2005

• Interesting, but with some repetitions, no evaluation of progress done since 2005

• Tiresome but enriching

• Networking

• The need to clarification on different elements

• Too short?

2. I see the following urgency within the Salesian missionary NGO’s

• To join forces to be more efficient in their struggle to keep the spirit of Don Bosco alive, improve collaborative network and communication among all related NGOs in all sectors, for the sake of the Salesian Mission, for the sake of better advocacy (8)

• Clarifying the (public, juridical) relationship of NGO to SDB: Province, Missions Department and identify shared criteria, shared strategies (6)

• Clarify and Strengthen Salesian identity of NGO as we all are seen as collaborators (2)

• Clarify the meaning of ‘Evangelization’ related to the ‘Development’ and Salesian identity in the field of International cooperation (2)

• Clarify the key criteria: technical, linguistic and Salesians (3)

• Clarify the situation of the ‘Non Salesian NGOs’ who are at the service of DB works, Define the relationship of non-province fond NGOs’ to the Province in terms of ownership and responsibility (2)

• Clarify the place of the NGOs within the Congregation in each Province and its SEPP

• Help all Salesian Provincials to create and develop well their PDOs

• Help the Congregation to accept the NGOs and other civil organization as a new sector of the Youth Ministry

• Integrate all at least at the virtual platform of the DBN (www.donbosconetwork.org) for information sharing

• Greater capacity building and institutional building

• Becoming protagonists in Advocacy at local, national, international level (1)

• Asking the NGOs’ of developing countries who will share us their vision

• Internal coherence and public image of our NGOs (evaluation)

3. My impression of the present situation of the missionary/development NGOs?

• We have extraordinary, very interesting richness in diversity of structures, variety of working models, missionary vision and strength. But we need also a wider reflection on their identity and positioning (8)

• Satisfaction to see how much we can do together, we are on the right track (3)

• We need to unite all, not only the bigger NGOs in the DBN, we need to prepare the conditions also for the smaller NGOs’ (2)

• I think, that the SDB have to delegate more to the lay people, who think and feel the Don Bosco’s spirit, give more importance to the lay mission partners within NGO (2)

• We feel at the gate, ready to move forward, the meeting did serve to know each other better, we need to know each other and share more (2)

• Breaking down of competition, greater collaboration is beginning

• Its suitable to strengthen the relations with Missions Offices (Procura Missionaria), these realities are different, it’s important to take advantage of the possible synergy

• NGOs are considered as a tool of getting access to funds for the missions in a systematic and planned way

• We feel a need of stronger networking

• It’s useful to keep the same methodology of communication also with our partners

• Some NGOs are still very independent, there is a need of collaborative effort

• Many NGOs are still geared toward fundraising and projects, we need to promote the model n.5 “towards the solidarity culture” building

• Need for closer coordination with ‘Youth Ministry’

• All the present NGOs: very committed; I missed the other NGOs especially from EU

• Annoying process,but OK

4. Our NGO is ready to contribute (needs to be helped) with the following services:

We need

• To be accepted also as a small NGO to the DBN. Now are not able to pay 10.000 Euros of annual fee. But we can offer our collaboration on different common projects, our richness are the volunteers, not only for the social, education work, but also for the evangelization!

• Use as much as possible the SDB (www.sdb.org) and DBN (www.donbosconetwork.org) virtual platforms in the Internet

• Share the present sharing experience with some Provinces who are out of the journey

• Need of assistance in technical terms, formation especially in our starting stage of new Missions Office (PER)

• Need of experience of working in the International cooperation with private/public funds

• Need of help to develop the marketing processes

• Need of electronic data on the various countries where we serve

• Systems of Fundraising with enterprises, factories

We would like to contribute

• Serve as working group(WG), after the organized model of the WG of the DBN (3)

• We are ready to help, assist our experiences, information (3)

• Our experience of the Volunteer service (3)

• Experience in the field of Education to the Development with innovative practices (3)

• Help with the NGO in the pastoral space of the Salesians

• Sharing: capacity building, training on advocacy, VIS has also gained experience and is ready to contribute on human right based approach to strategic planning and PCM

• Capacity, institutional building (overall management), gender equity, HIV-AIDS education as part of Don Bosco’s preventive system

• Working in the DBN as outsider because we are little and we haven’t developed structures

• Formation of the PDO and capacity building of the PDO

• We are able to help, if someone pays for this service (training,search of financing, PDO)

5. I suggest, ask the DB Network (or SDB Missions Department) to take seriously the following issue(s) regarding the Missions-Development NGOs.

• Strengthen the (thematic) Working Groups in their effective work (4)

• Information, sharing, networking including also non DBN members (4)

• Working with more NGOs from the Salesian System of solidarity

• Communicate and inform towards the whole world the path we are walking

• Inclusion of non DB Network members on DBN platform

• Writing clarifying documents: relationship of NGO & Salesians

• The challenging areas where the Congregation is facing in different parts of the world

• Some priority intervention sectors for a specific concrete period of time.

• Some basic documents describing the Salesian vision about the dimension of cooperation to the development of the most vulnerable youth

• Stress more on the evangelizing - education aspect Salesian Mission!

• Help to the youngest NGOs, in terms of technical and formative assistance.

• Wish this will become the first step of including NGOs’ as a sector of the Youth Ministry

• Annual report about each country (provinces with more countries will combine their national reports together)

• Monthly published document about one of the main themes of our actions (Policy papers – street children commitment, just commerce, investing ethical funds, vocational training centers, Universities..)

• How the NGOs are included in Salesian priorities – including Europe Project

• Guiding the reflection indicated in point 3 and describe the respective roles of each part involve in the PDO (ONG, Youth Ministry and Economy)

• Advocacy (2), Human right based approach to strategic planning for the PDOs’

• Make a meetings of more Salesian NGOs’(not only the big and western based)

• Lobbying and advocacy, Formation facilities of the PDO: helping

• Common policy building

• Better networking and synergy on the provincial field/level

 ¿Qué tal terminó vuestro encuentro? Espero que muy bien. Siento no haber podido quedarme hasta el final, pues muchas de las cosas que escuche en las distintas presentaciones me resultaban muy cercanas y me parecieron muy sugerentes para nosotros. Muchas gracias por haberme invitado a compartir. Espero de verdad que este sea el primer paso de una colaboración más estrecha y constante. Ahora nos corresponde a nosotros el siguiente paso.  Quedo a tu disposición para cualquier otra cosa. Un abrazo Luis (Entreculturas)