Humanitarian Capacity Development for Caritas Developpement Niger Cadev Niger is one of the partners being part of the Humanitarian Capacity Development Programme in the WAGL. As for all partners involved in this program self-assessment of their humanitarian capacity was run in two phases: the first led by the partner itself without any external influence to encourage ownership and familiarity with the approach and tool proposed by CAFOD namely the Humanitarian Capacity Assessment Framework. The second is a self-assessment workshop facilitated by CAFOD’s Humanitarian Capacity Development Officer to validate the previous work. The approach promotes participatory analysis of current capacities over four levels (developing, bronze, silver and gold) with regards to 3 key areas of competency notably 1) the leadership (vision and strategy, Management, Coordination and Collaboration), 2) the programming capacity (Accountability, Preparedness, Assessment, Design & Response, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning) and 3) the way the partner manages the Support Sector and Systems in emergency operations.

After completed the self assessment process, an Action Plan was discussed and agreed between CAFOD's HCDO and the managing team in July 2014. Key findings were drawn up. As with most organizations assessed, weaknesses were found for the Cadev Niger (developing level) in the areas of vision and strategy, management, preparedness, needs assessment, Human Resources, Logistics, Security, and External Communications :

Vision & Strategy: Some staff that have received relevant training left while others have never been trained.

Management: Current induction kit incomplete and mechanism not systematized. 

Preparedness: No contingency plan; in case of crisis refers to government’s plan which doesn’t allow assert own identity. 

Assessment: No tools and methods for needs assessment during crises. Therefore, they are unable to conduct in-depth
assessments including risks analysis. 

Design and Response: Advocacy activities not based on previous research work by the leadership team is done intuitively.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning: M&E staff lacks reliable system to collect projects data can’t produce timely
analytical reports based on monitoring data.

Human Resources: Confidential documents not kept secured; focal point responsible for employees’ health has not been
trained for first aid. 

Logistics: Documents are not filed systematically (electronic and paper) making it difficult to access promptly. 

Security: Lack of security plan so staffs are not made aware of security threats they face both physical and psychological.

External Communications: Most employees don’t understand the operating mechanism of national and international media in emergencies.

The action plan will focus on the following objectives for good humanitarian responses quality in the future: 
1) Update the positioning strategy and develop its own contingency plan.
2) Develop an advocacy guide outlining key issues for future contact with donors.
3) Design a security plan and ensure all staff appropriates it.
4) Develop a communication strategy for both internal and external audiences.
5) Set up a reliable M&E mechanism to collect projects data and produce analytical reports. 

It is noted that a collaboration agreement will be signed between Cadev Niger and CAFOD to define the partnership and
document the common agenda of both organisations as well as the respective commitments.