This volunteer sending program supports the assignment of 320 Canadian youth volunteers to work with 11 local partner organizations in Africa whose projects target youth beneficiaries. The program focuses on private sector development, health, and governance by building the organizational capacity of developing-country partner organizations and by transferring important skills and knowledge to youth mentors and youth beneficiaries. The program also includes a public engagement component that furthers the promotion of development awareness within Canada. An amount of $80,622 has been added to the total amount for each of the Volunteer Cooperation Agency programs for CIDA-led program evaluations.
Results achieved as of the end of the project (June 2015) include: (1) 80% of developing country partners (10 of 13) have strengthened capacity in organizational management through training and volunteer support in areas such as management, communication, networking, knowledge sharing and organizational tools such as manuals; (2) 67% of developing country partners (7 of 11) reported strengthened capacity to integrate gender equality into programming through the recruitment and increasing involvement of women in decision-making processes, gender sensitivity workshops, training sessions and girls’ empowerment clubs; and (3) 90% of Canadian volunteers (270 of 301 Canadian volunteers sent abroad through the project) reported medium to very high satisfaction with their volunteer placements through adequate preparation, support and pairing with relevant local partner organizations. These results have contributed to improving capacity and performance of developing country partners to deliver programming and promote gender equality, as well as increased Canadian engagement and support to international development issues and programs.
