Hermine Bokossa is president of JVS (Young Volunteers for Health) in Benin. The organization's mission is to facilitate young people's access to SRHR through new technologies and art. It promotes access to family planning (FP) services and the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV), and focuses on supporting survivors of GBV. After two years of implementing the Equipop quality approach and responding to the first call for applications for the Ampli label, her organization has just been evaluated by the label committee. Label.
Your organization hosted the first assessment mission of the Certification Committee of the Amplifier labelTell us about it...
Indeed, we have been tasked with evaluating the certification committee of the Label Ampli label, which consists of three people: two from Equipop and one member of the Alliance Droits et Santé. On our side, five people were involved: a member of the board, the president, the logistics manager, our administrative secretary, and the accountant. All of these people were involved from the outset, starting with the preparation of the documents that the certification committee had to review.
How was the evaluation conducted?
First, the evaluation team analyzed the documents we had prepared at their request. Three weeks earlier, we had received a list of the documents they wanted: project contracts, project financing, AGM minutes, strategic documents, etc. The team was thus able to assess in situ the evidence provided by the organization and assess its quality and compliance with the criteria in the analysis grid. Secondly, the mission invited us to hear their observations and jointly comment on the results of the assessment.
What criteria were used to evaluate the organization?
The Ampli Label involves meeting mandatory and additional criteria. Naturally, all mandatory criteria must be met. To assess governance, for example, the evaluation team reviewed our organization's legal registration documents, the minutes of the board member elections, the updated articles of association and internal regulations, as well as documents (meeting minutes, attendance lists, etc.) proving that our governing bodies (general meeting and board of directors) functioned properly during the 2020 financial year. The team scored each item according to its working grid. We scored 123 out of 125 points and met all the essential criteria. These scores are then discussed together. For example, for the "culture of quality" criterion, the mission shared its assessment and the score it had awarded us. We were asked if we agreed with this score.
What will this certification change for your organization?
The observations made have enabled us to identify gaps in some of our documents. They have also helped us identify the challenges we need to address in order to improve the functioning of our organization. Obtaining the Label will enable us to increase our credibility with our partners. We are now awaiting the final decision of the Labeling Committee on the award of Level 1. But already, this evaluation process has enabled us to analyze the areas we need to improve. This helps us to become a stronger organization!
