The Peer Learning Programme (PLP) was facilitated by INTRAC between 2010 and 2013 as part of Comic Relief’s Common Ground Initiative (CGI).
The programme was designed to strengthen the capacity of small and diaspora-led organisations based in the UK to enhance the effectiveness of their projects targeting marginalised and vulnerable people in their countries of operation in Africa. Its key goals were to enable organisations to have sufficient capacity to support effective programmes in Africa, access funding and organisational support from a range of sources, and influence development debates in the UK.
INTRAC provided capacity building activities designed to enhance organisational capacity at several levels – individual, organisational and peer-to-peer learning and networking. It engaged over 44 CSO partners via: thematic skills-based workshops; coordinated action learning sets; one-to-one support/mentoring; and benchmarking clubs to enhance the application of best practices. INTRAC also delivered an M&E workshop and developed an M&E toolkit as part of the programme. Several organisations used the available INTRAC technical assistance support facility of the programme to help develop their M&E systems and address M&E issues.
As part of the programme, INTRAC produced eleven toolkits to share information, tools and tips that might help small and diaspora NGOs in the UK strengthen their organisational capacity:
- Thematic toolkits on advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, theory of change, leadership, partnerships and capacity building, strategic planning, governance, fundraising
- A short guide to getting the most out of a VSO toolkit on participatory advocacy
- Two toolkits explaining how to run action learning sets and benchmarking clubs.