Progressio works for justice, development and the eradication of poverty through a combination of two approaches: capacity building and advocacy.
We recruit and place experienced and committed professionals as development workers (DWs) with local partner organisations. DWs are recruited to specific placements that will strengthen our partner organisation’s capacity, knowledge and skills, allowing them to be more effective in tackling poverty locally. This is often done by working alongside a counterpart or a team of people within a partner organisation, and/or through the facilitation of training workshops or courses with a great variety of participants.
DWs are usually placed for a two-year period to ensure a sustainable approach and long-term impact. DWs are part of a country programme with around 5 to 15 DWs. In some cases DWs are part of a specific project with other DWs working on the same issue (eg to achieve common aims in a specific country programme on HIV or the environment).
This model of skill-sharing is a two-way process: the DW will share their skills and knowledge with a partner organisation and/or with various communities and actors, and in return s/he also acquires and develops new skills and knowledge. A DW is someone who is clearly committed to development, to fighting poverty and injustice, and has the flexibility and openness to work and live in a different socio-political, cultural and geographical setting. This in itself is a learning and enriching process.
Our overall principle is that by the end of the DW placement the skills, knowledge and experience which the staff of the partner organisation lacked originally have been successfully transferred – meaning that the DW (and Progressio’s intervention) is no longer required. This effectively means that by the end of their placement a DW should have worked themselves “out of a job”.
