Grant recipient under LCLS project
“We had an excellent relationship with the Capacity Development Officer assigned to the project which ensured we remained accountable, allowed us to clarify any issues which arose and provided a personalized touch which is uncommon in other project, the technical expertise provided was of a very high quality.”
Shamelle Rice, Director, Jabez House (Barbados)
Jabez House has been a haven of hope and empowerment for female sex workers for nearly a decade. The organisation primarily focuses on facilitating sex workers’ transition by providing access to alternative economic empowerment activities.
One of the challenges Jabez house faced was that existing grant opportunities have always targeted beneficiary populations but have never really focused on building the internal capacity of the organisation. When the opportunity for organizational strengthening was presented through th LCLS project, Director, Shamelle Rice immediately applied for technical support. She shared “Having the opportunity to strengthen and streamline our organisation’s systems and policies through a grant meant that we could grow and strengthen the work we do. Our grant focused on such areas as creating a Monitoring and Evaluation framework, an online database as well as an on creating a Human Resource Policy”
The organization realized that funders appreciate data and not just anecdotes. While the impact of programming has been evidenced through testimonials, a major gap in its programming has been lack of proper monitor and evaluating mechanisms to effectively measure success.
The LCLS project has provided the level of technical support required to improve strategic planning and enhance the evaluation of programmes/projects. The LCLS grant allowed for the establishment of a M & E framework and a new Human Resource Policy. The M & E framework has enabled the organization to capture data, and to provide statistical evidence to show the impact of work done. Jabez house expects its service delivery to its beneficiaries to be significantly improved with the implementation of the M&E framework and the Human Resource policy.
In addition to the grant, the experience attending the Financial management and Leadership workshops was also extremely useful and contributed to building the knowledge and skills of the organisation’s leadership.
Overall Jabez House’s experience with the LCLS project was extremely rewarding as the training, technical assistance and the technical support provided by the Capacity Development Officer contributed to a successful project and a great experience.
