By Sr. Henriette Anne, FSSA
“Through the Strengthening the Capacity of Religious Women in Early Childhood
Development (SCORE-ECD) program, the sisters have been trained not only in
Early Childhood Development, but also in areas such as facilitation, parenting,
disability inclusion, climate change, financial literacy, savings and livelihoods, and
monitoring and documentation,” says Sr. Rose Nancy Ghati, a Master Trainer in
Early Childhood Development with the SCORE-ECD Project.
According to Sr. Ghati, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Anne, this
transformation is taking place as Sisters receive training that goes beyond Early
Childhood Development and gives them skills they can apply in their daily lives,
ministries, and community work.
“The program has therefore moved the sisters from simply providing services to
becoming more skilled facilitators, mentors, advocates, and community mobilizers.
Most importantly, the sisters are now more confident in applying these skills in their
daily ministry and in sharing them with others,” Ghati explained.
During the interview, Sr. Ghati noted that the story of SCORE-ECD is therefore not
only about what Sisters are doing for children and families. It is also about what is
happening within the sisters themselves.
“These skills are transferable because they can be applied not only in ECD activities
but also in congregational projects, community development initiatives, livelihoods
and other social ministries”, Ghati said, and added that the skills are helping Sisters
approach their work differently; “they are learning how to facilitate rather than teach, how to collect and use information, how to document their work and how to engage
communities and other stakeholders.”
Before SCORE-ECD, Sisters were already working in their communities. However,
Sr. Ghati has observed that the programme has helped them become more
structured, participatory and evidence-based.
“The programme has helped sisters become more structured, participatory and
evidence-based in their approach. For example, sisters are able to engage
caregivers in participatory learning rather than simply giving information. They can
facilitate sessions, collect and use data, document their work, identify community
needs and develop appropriate responses,” Sr. Ghati said.
She further expressed that the SCORE-ECD project has “strengthened the sisters’
confidence and ability to identify opportunities, communicate their needs, mobilize
resources, and build meaningful partnerships.”
Giving examples of the Holistic Organization Capacity Assessment Instrument
(HOCAI), one of the programs under SCORE-ECD, Sr. Ghati stressed that the
program has helped sisters to learn that “resource mobilization is not only about
requesting funds, but also about building relationships, identifying existing
community resources, using evidence, and creating partnerships around shared
goals”. She added, “HOCAI has further strengthened sisters’ capacity to reflect on
their work, document results, use data and learning to demonstrate impact, and
identify areas where additional support is needed”.
According to Sr. Ghati, “sisters are now better able to present their work and
achievements professionally, engage government departments, community
structures, NGOs, development partners, and other stakeholders, and develop partnerships that contribute to sustainable programme implementation”, she
continued, “One of the most significant changes is increased confidence,” she says.
“I have seen Sisters become more willing to speak, facilitate groups, engage
stakeholders and take leadership in community activities.”
Sr. Ghati has also observed that through the program there is a growing culture of
reflection. “Sisters are becoming more reflective, more accountable and more willing
to learn from their experiences,” Sr. Ghati says.
For Sr. Ghati, the real value of SCORE-ECD is seen in how Sisters are putting it into
practice, supporting savings groups, strengthening projects, engaging communities,
building partnerships and improving the way their ministries are managed.
“For me, this is one of the most important outcomes of SCORE-ECD: the sisters are
not only gaining knowledge, but are using that knowledge to strengthen systems,
livelihoods and the communities they serve,” Sr. Ghati concludes.