NGO Capacity Assessment and Institutional Strengthening

Life Makers Foundation commissioned Common Ground Solutions to assess and strengthen the institutional capacity of five partner associations under its Sponsorship Project, which advances the rights of children and girls in Egypt through policy dialogue and national advocacy, with support from Plan International Egypt.

CGS applied its three-phase model, Assess, Co-Design and Apply, in which the diagnostic steers everything that follows: each association's training package is set by its own profile rather than a common curriculum.

The assessment uses an NGO Performance Index rubric covering nine institutional domains: governance and administration, strategic planning, project management and resource mobilisation, human resources, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, safeguarding and integrity, partnership and communication, and gender and protection policies. Every subdomain is scored on a 0 to 3 maturity scale against triangulated evidence from documentary review, key informant interviews and field observation.

Each association receives its own scorecard, a narrative diagnostic written for it alone, a tier classification that sets the intensity of what follows, and a tailored roadmap. Every gap is also classified as immediate, short-term or strategic, so that needs falling outside this assignment are recorded as a future intervention pipeline rather than lost.

Umbrella NGO capability, sustainability and youth participation are treated as cross-cutting and delivered through the nine domains, not scored separately.

Fieldwork ran in parallel across Greater Cairo, Qalyubia, Assiut and Sohag, with a single scoring workbook and calibration sessions beforehand to keep the five assessments comparable. Delivery comprises 40 training days and 90 hours of coaching.