Stichting Connect International

Foundation Connect International is a Dutch NGO for development aid, working mainly in Africa. Connect International has developed an integral concept – the SMART Concept - to facilitate the alleviation of poverty in developing countries, with a main focus on rural areas, on active beneficiary participation and on effective low cost solutions (SMART Techs) that are mostly produced locally. With this concept we have reached 1 million poor rural people in Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique through our TAZAMO program in the last five years. TAZAMO has facilitated hundreds of thousands of poor households to realize good water facilities, sanitation and hygiene facilities, improved agricultural practices, small businesses, etc.

The SMART Concept consists of the following modules:

PARTNER
This module comprises a self-instructive manual describing how local NGO’s, finance institutes and companies can be capacitated for the roles and tasks they need (wish) to fulfill. The process includes such steps as initial assessments, management trainings, organization self-assessments, organization development planning, topic specific trainings and guidance (capacity building trajectories), and help SMART Devdesk functions. SMART Partner centers around the idea of learning organizations. For the capacity building trajectories separate manuals have been developed, both manuals for the trainees and manuals for the trainers (among others as part of the SMART Tech part of the SMART Concept).

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
This module includes manuals, fact sheets and training and coaching capacities for community development, realizing standard activities that assist communities and community self help groups (called Village Action Groups or VAG’s) to improve their community organizations and governance, and the organization and awareness of individual households in the communities. VAG’s are small groups usually with representatives from 15 to 20 households who meet weekly or bi-weekly to discuss matters of importance to them. They are guided by fact sheets and supportive drawings that elected leaders from each group are trained in to use. They undertake action on issues found important. These VAG’s may also fulfill an important role in the Conditional Cash Transfer part of the SMART Concept that we wish to set up and pilot in different areas.

ORGANIZATION
This module comprises manuals and software packages for the internal organization of local NGO’s, companies and finance institutes. Examples: a professional financial software package, including administration and custom made manual for local NGO's, a software package for the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) of projects, programs and the internal organization, and a manual for managers of local organizations based on: (a) Covey's '7 habits of highly effective leaders', and (b) experiences of senior managers of local organizations.

SOLUTIONS
This module includes manuals and training capacities to assist local technical companies, but also for some of the solutions individual families, to produce facilities that are affordable, can be produced with locally available knowledge and materials, and that can easily and cheaply be operated and maintained in the local context. Examples are hand drilled boreholes equipped with rope pumps, locally produced water tanks, pit latrine concrete slabs, low cost household water filters, low cost solar panels, cooking stoves, wind mills, etc.

PROJECT
This module comprises manuals explaining staff of local NGO's how to facilitate different types of projects, with references to the technical issues in SMART Tech manuals and descriptions of the process and the social and improvement issues involved at the beneficiary level.

FINANCE
This module comprises mechanisms to enable poor people to have access to affordable funding needed for their development. This is split up in affordable micro credits (with low interest rates) for low cost solutions and Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT’s). This Finance Module is still very much in its initial stages. Some pilots have started in Tanzania with low cost micro credits for low cost watsan solutions. We hope to be able to find funding for a new SMART program that will include a ‘broad range CCT’ component, stimulating individual households to realize the MDG’s at their level and reduce birth rates.