ODA was developed by the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society program (MPSCS)1. This tool has a participatory approach and focuses on a facilitated discussion within your team.
The evaluation file consists of a series of statements under seven main capacity areas:
- Good Governance
- Management Practices (planning, monitoring/evaluation, reporting)
- Human Resource Management
- Financial Management & Sustainability
- Constituency Centered Services
- Networking and Advocacy
- Media and External Relations
These domains are shown in the upper half of the screen.
For every capacity area, a series of directing questions are developed, for guided discussion within the team (or for an interview, in case you decide to invite an external evaluator/moderator), to do an in-depth evaluation of organizational capacity.
After a guided discussion about each of the domains mentioned above, with the help of an evaluation score, the evaluator (the person designated by the team or by the external evaluator) assigns a value for each ability domain. These numerical scores indicate the relative necessity of improvement in each of the domains. In addition, they correspond to a more qualitative description of the organization’s stage of development.
The assessment of the organizational development level will have between 1 and 6 points. The points correspond with various capacity levels described in each domain.
We encourage you to be as honest and serious during this self-evaluation as possible. What counts most is not the final score, but the discussions within the team, and the ideas and the motivation that are generated during this process. The quantitative evaluation cannot be perfect; therefore, the numerical value should not be the main goal. The results of this exercise/of the reached score, including the graphic presentation of it, can be saved and sent to the email address that you have indicated!
The transition to the next stage can be made only after the previous stage is completed. This online self-evaluation can be interrupted. The information provided will be saved, so you can go back to filling in the form where you left off whenever you are available.
The report generated by this online self-evaluation is strictly confidential and inaccessible to third parties.
The self-evaluation process can be organized once a year or more often. The repeated application of the ODA allows organizations to ascertain their starting point, but also to monitor their progress in institutional development.
For any questions concerning the application of this tool, including assistance with this process, please contact Angela Vacaru, Senior Capacity Building and Gender Manager, at avacaru[at]fhi360.org
1MPSCS is a five-year project (2013-2018), implemented by the FHI 360 and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project strengthens the capacity of Moldovan civil society to represent citizen’s interests, influence policymaking, and sustain the sector’s democratic role for the future. For more details, access www.fhi360.md
WE WISH YOU GOOD LUCK!