Mid-Term Review “Capacity-Building of Trauma Counselors in East-Jerusalem YMCA”

Background

The "Capacity-Building for Trauma Counselors of EJY Rehabilitation Programme" initiated in 2005 with the support of Y Global and Norad, was a continuation of previous efforts in YMCA to build the capacity and knowledge among YMCA's staff dealing with trauma. The MTR has been jointly planned by Y Global and EJY; the drafting of the TOR and selection of consultants have been done in a participatory process. The review has been carried out by a team of external consultants; one Norwegian and one Palestinian supported by a volunteer from Y Global.

Purpose/objective

According to the Terms of Reference, the main purpose of the review is to assess to which extent the project is on the track of achieving its stated goal: "Increased capacity level of the psycho-social counseling organizations in Palestine and transfer of knowledge to other conflict countries." On a secondary level, the goal is to promote learning among the cooperating partners EJY and Y Global in addition to other relevant parties like local authorities, NGOs, and Norad.

Methodology

The team was asked to map and document the different activities, results, and achievements of the project and make an assessment of the project according to the following review criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, risks and sustainability, in addition to an assessment of the project's management and work on anti-corruption measures, gender sensitivity and partnership between EJY and Y Global. The MTR process has been divided in three phases; preparatory, field survey, and analysis-writing up report. In the preparatory phase project, documents were collected and reviewed, and in dialogue with Y Global and YMCA, TOR was developed. During the field survey, all key stakeholders participated in a brainstorming for developing indicators for the assessment. The field survey included visiting the YMCA field offices in Hebron, Ramallah, and Beit Sahour, a questionnaire distributed to 53 trainees and around 40 in-depth interviews with key staff in EJY, external partners and governmental agencies.

Key findings

The project is on the right track of achieving its objectives and is currently contributing greatly to building the psychosocial capacity of social workers, counselors, and psychologists in Palestine. The commitment and dedication found among the YMCA supervisors and counselors is high.
Relevance:
The trauma treatment techniques have generally been adapted to the local cultural and religious setting. Internationally, YMCA is becoming a reference and focal point for EMDR competence in the Palestinian areas. There are highly qualified supervisors working at YMCA, their capacity is however on the verge of being over-stretched.
Impact:
YMCA has a high credibility and legitimacy in the West Bank, but lacks links and/or professional exchange with trauma counselors in Gaza.
International training:
YMCA's supervisors training for psychologists in Kosovo was perceived as highly successful and relevant for the trainees, needs more follow up.
Project and financial management:
The project management seems to be the weakest part of the project is; there is no systematic collecting and analyzing information of training courses, participants, and achievements. There is a lack of integrated financial and activity planning. The financial management was found to be of good quality and the Y Global/Norad fund is kept in a separate account in the computerized accounting system.
Transparency and accountability:
The transparency and accountability from YMCA towards Y Global is high, but it was found to be weaker towards stakeholders and the project's end-users. Low profile of Y Global, but contributes also only 4% of the total revenues.
Sustainability:
Highly dependent on external funding, needs to generate income, has a high awareness of this. Some tensions locally have been felt due to YMCA's Christian profile.
Gender:
YMCA's focus on survivors of political violence is highly relevant and the core of the organization's competence and capacity, but there are diverging views inside the organization as to what constitutes 'political gender-based violence' and how the conflict is directly affecting women and girls.

Recommendations

The project needs to be continued and further developed, and the team recommends future funding. It will be important to ensure that staff is not overloaded to avoid "burnt-out helpers" syndrome, could consider bringing in external supervisors to relieve some of the pressure. There is a need for documentation of the effect of EMDR, and to consider making educational training films and written material. Systematized quality control of the EMDR trainees is recommended. It is recommended to conduct a follow-up impact study towards the end of the project in early 2009. YMCA should follow-up the existing contacts in Kosovo and do a second round of training with them, rather than expanding to new countries. Further, YMCA needs to pay more attention to keeping proper records and a proper filing and archive system. YMCA and Y Global should agree upon a more detailed budget breakdown. Planning sessions should be held with accountant present. Income generated by the project should be recorded in the narrative reports. YMCA could make a bidding round for external auditing services. Improve the transparency and accountability towards the end-users of the project, and could consider using so-called 'public audits'. End-users should also be made aware of where the financial support originates from. They could consider income-generating opportunities of their specialized training. To work on the sustainability of the project we recommend that YMCA develops quality-assurance system for EMDR-trainees in Palestine, and might consider setting up Palestinian EMDR-branch for keeping up quality, secure their positions, licensing, etc. The situation necessitates stepped-up efforts to prevent possible manipulated image of YMCA as a missionary organization. YMCA should consider exploring what constitutes 'political violence' for women through internal seminars and gender training in YMCA. YMCA is encouraged to reinforce measures to promote women's access to encourage participation in the program.