May 17, 2020, Recovery and Support Services or RASS was a program by the Nation Action Group, a multicontinental nonprofit organization with Headquarters in The Netherlands and offices in Sydney, Australia, Monrovia, Liberia, and Pennsylvania, USA. RASS' goal was to set up an Integrated Service Center where the following services are provided::
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Screening, Counseling & Case Management
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Vocational Center - Job skills and career development, & Job Placement
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Respite housing and Recreation
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Medical/Physician services
Target Population:
Direct:
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15,000 Former fighters of the Liberian Mandingo Community.
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Children and Families of former fighters of the Liberian Mandingo Community
Indirect:
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The general Liberian Mandingo Community
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General Liberian society
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Other stakeholders
NAG’s Recovery and Support Services (RASS) program aims to promote and provide well-being and psychosocial support and services for the recovery and reintegration of former combatants to assist them to become more functional and productive members of Liberian society.
We guided the RASS team and provided a schematic representation that describes how the RASS program is intended to work by linking activities with outputs, intermediate impacts, and longer-term outcomes. We provided logical tools that engaged stakeholders in program planning and evaluation and clearly communicate with stakeholder audiences about program concepts. The agreement with key stakeholders facilitates common language about the program and builds a shared understanding of how it will work
Amaka Consulting worked with the NAG leadership and guided them on the sustainability of the RASS project. The firm provided a roadmap for achieving long-term goals and documents strategies to continue the program, activities, and partnerships. We highlighted the ways to sustain the values that the project promotes, the sustainability of relationships between organizations, and the sustainability of services.
NAG teamed up with Amaka Consulting under the assumptions that were based on trends, local, and cultural factors specific to Liberia. Based on our research, we found that the core assumptions which would make the RASS project possible were that:
1. Increasing the skills and knowledge of staff members will result in more culturally responsive intervention and interaction.
2. Stable political situation, sustained political commitment, and adequate financing
3. Given the right tools and support, victims, families, and the community will take
control and mastery over their own lives and influence others that affect their lives.
4. Confidential residential respites provide healing environments for victims and their families by providing a safe place to work through the harmful effects of domestic violence
5. Access to supportive community resources can be a balancing factor in stabilizing crisis situations
TACKLING LOCAL SOCIAL CHALLENGES THROUGH AMAKA CONSULTING-OWNED NONPROFITS
GIVING BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY:
SUPPORTING LOCAL NONPROFITS IN THE US AND WEST AFRICA
Teaming up with ACENY to help hundreds of children learn to read and write
With the goal of helping individuals, schools, and communities, to educate, empower and lift economically disadvantaged children, Amaka has provided volunteer recruitment, management training, and capacity development services to Achievement Center for the Youth (ACENY). We provided technical guidance on building a more strategic, positive volunteer experience to build support for ACENY's mission of educating hundreds of children in Liberia's hinterlands.
Funding and Foundation
Alignment Research & Analysis
There are no shortcuts to finding the right funding source and nothing can replace thorough research. Here's where Amaka Consulting supported the Women Aid, Inc, a woman-owned nonprofit based in Nairobi, Kenya. We looked beyond the obvious funders to find a wider group of prospects and created a campaign for strong community support before seeking funding outside the community to support the agency's mission to serve women and children victims of domestic violence.
Working with clients to address societal challenges
Most of our clients that share similarly corporate social responsibility goals as ours work together with us in addressing various community issues in settings. There are a number of community challenges, often involving complex human-environment systems, that are not fully understood and for which solutions are urgently required.
FEATURED INITIATIVE
First Generation Concierge
by Amaka Consulting Inc.
Amaka Consulting's First Generation Concierge (FGC) is an ongoing enduring efforts at assisiting first-generation immigrants navigate the nested process of settling in ther new home in the United States. From assistance with job readiness, resume preparation to job interview coaching as well as application of State and Federal assistance, and free week of consultation and guidance for potential enterprenuers, Amaka Consulting proivded over 8,500 hours of free services during the peak of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and helped over a thousand family heads.