(Formally called The Community Agency Program)
A Request from MIES (The Ministry of Social & Economic Inclusion)
When you donate to the Hearts of Gold Partner Agency Program you are helping to support the capacity building and administrative training of local organizations here in Ecuador. The work that goes on behind the scenes at Hearts of Gold is vital in sustaining these grassroots organizations.
In March of this year, Hearts of Gold was asked to facilitate a portion of our Partner Agency Program (P.A.P.) to a larger audience at the request of MIES (Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion) who had been closely following the Programmatic Services offered by P.A.P. closely over the last year.
In June 2014, The Ecuadorian government updated Executive Order N16, a document that establishes all the regulations, procedures and requirements to become a foundation and to remain as one was updated by the government. Since then several foundations have been struggling to learn the necessary procedures. These changes have been one of the major reasons why foundations weren’t reporting to their regulatory body, MIES. This lack of reporting has sadly caused the closure of some institutions and created a loss in the community when the services previously delivered are no longer provided.
Our Program Director Johanna Vaca gave a workshop to other Cuenca foundations about this most recent update and how to properly report and avoid being closed. At this workshop, Hearts of Gold had the opportunity to share our knowledge and help other organizations to better understand:
1. Why it is important to design a POA ( Yearly Operational Plan of Programs and Activities)at the beginning of the each year 2. Why it is important to construct a budget for each program in your POA 3. Why you need to measure the success of your programs 4. How to measure program successes and impact 5. Why it is important that your financial reports match your POA 6. Timelines to present your annual report and what documents need to be included 7. How you can change your board members and what personal documents you need to present 8. How to write board meeting minutes according to Ecuadorian law 9. Where you should go to notarized documentation and why is important to do so
Since Hearts of Gold has already worked in providing this service to El Arenal, Cetap Lucy, Antonio Valdivieso and NOVA through our Partner Agency Program, we were able to understand the questions the other foundations had from their perspectives and could provide solid answers to alleviate their concerns.
In talking to all the Directors at the meeting, Johanna came to the realization that all the people there wanted to be able to continue to help their communities, but really needed to learn how to do their job better, having gained a clear understanding that their work affects the lives of those they help. What Johanna witnessed was a group of people who often didn’t have anybody to turn to for help when experiencing administrative problems. She experienced first-hand how much one workshop could change the whole reality of a foundation, and what it meant for the people who receive the services provided.
After arriving back at the office Johanna was excited to share her thoughts and feelings about the whole experience and how grateful she felt to be supported by generous donors like you. When you support Hearts of Gold your donation truly goes to helping change the reality of a whole country since you’re giving the best gift you can provide to a person,– the knowledge to help themselves.
Thank you for been part of this journey and for making workshops like this possible. We couldn’t do it without you!
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