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Data Godfrey (right), IntraHealth's Senior Finance and Compliance Advisor, provides on-site mentoring to staff of the Community Initiative Development Organization (CIDO), a local organization in South Sudan. Photo by Gladys Achan for IntraHealth International.
Data Godfrey’s personal touch helps local orgs get closer to priming USAID and PEPFAR awards.
Many local organizations in South Sudan are working hard to apply for funding from international donors such as USAID and PEPFAR. However, the majority of these organizations remain small and nascent and do not yet have the capacity to lead and implement US government (USG)-funded projects. A recent survey of 48 civil society organizations in South Sudan conducted by the USAID Accelerating Support to Advanced Local Partners (ASAP II) project found that 44% had annual expenditures of under $100,000; 27% had less than four paid staff; and 42% had between four and nine paid staff.
In collaboration with the USAID Advancing HIV & AIDS Epidemic Control (AHEC) Activity, ASAP II supported local capacity-strengthening in South Sudan, providing intensive operational support to four AHEC local partner organizations while AHEC focused on their technical capabilities. Both ASAP II and AHEC are led by IntraHealth International.
When ASAP II received funding in December 2022 to accelerate capacity-strengthening of the AHEC partners, the project initially used expert consultants to provide training and direct feedback to the organizations. However, it was soon apparent that while the consultants were helpful, they were only able to work with the local partners for a limited time and often from remote locations. The ASAP II team decided to hire a full-time staff member, Data Godfrey, as the project’s Senior Finance and Compliance Advisor working side-by-side with the AHEC staff to benefit the AHEC partners as well as three other key local organizations.
Data Godfrey (standing, third from right) poses with staff from IntraHealth and the South Sudan Network of People Living with HIV (SSNeP). Photo by Gladys Achan for IntraHealth International.
An expert in financial management and compliance, Godfrey has over 18 years of experience working in South Sudan, specifically in humanitarian work. During his time with ASAP II, he developed a unique process for supporting local organizations, utilizing his own expertise in working with USG donors. Providing on-site mentoring and one-on-one coaching with a personal touch, Godfrey was able to build trusting relationships with each local partner so that he could tailor and customize his support to the individual needs of each organization, according to its capacity-development plan. These close working relationships allowed the organizations to better respond to areas in need of improvement and build on their strengths.
Data Godfrey reflects on this approach. “We are not auditors, and we have to sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements),” he notes, so that partners know he will keep their discussions and his findings confidential. He says it’s more about doing a “deep dive into their processes” and understanding where their weaknesses and strengths are so he can better customize his coaching and improve their capacity. He wants to help these organizations work “with the resources they have been given” so they are more likely to sustain the changes and improvements that he is helping them to implement.
His process included introducing tools to explain complex procedures to partner staff so that they better understand the underlying purpose of certain donor requirements. The tools he helped develop and tailor for the local partners include accrual trackers, a matrix to reflect shared common costs occurring in the office that could be correctly allocated across different funding streams, a human resources checklist, a procurement tracker, and an asset management system so that staff could better track a project or office inventory and assets.
Godfrey established positive working relationships with organizations like the Community Initiative Development Organization (CIDO), which is providing HIV services in AHEC facilities. Since receiving his assistance, CIDO has succeeded in setting up its DUNS business identification number and receiving a grant from USAID South Sudan and the World Health Organization. CIDO’s Finance Officer, Adiru Josline, noted that the in-person approach made ASAP II feel “always present, [and] more proactive.”
STAR Support Group’s Program Director, James Francis Kumbaye, said, “I give thanks for the support received from ASAP II, with a special kudos to Data Godfrey whose coaching has helped us to acquire the skills which made a major impact on us… we appreciated the extra time that Data Godfrey took to push us to improve our organizational processes and policies.” And the South Sudan Network of People Living with HIV (SSNeP)’s Finance Administrator, Samuel Bullen, shared, “we have been empowered by the support we received from ASAP II.”
ASAP II in South Sudan took a unique approach with full-time on-site mentoring offered to key partners. This method allowed for trusting relationships to be built and organizational tools, procedures, and management practices to become institutionalized, helping these local organizations get closer to becoming prime partners for USG-funded projects. Along with the rigorous Non-US Organization Pre-Award Survey (NUPAS) Plus assessment process used by ASAP II to determine next steps for organizations working toward USAID funding, the personal touch and skill represented by Data Godfrey through his on-site support represented a winning combination that has demonstrated results for each of ASAP II’s clients.