VEGA programs use a combination of long-term program staff to insure program sustainability, on-the-ground support for volunteers and coordination with other activities and local associations. The volunteers provide the technical assistance for a week to a year to a specific industry, group of firms, association, research institution, municipality, or any other actor in the private sector. VEGA members have experience in municipality development, in industry exchange programs – including business linkages, trade show assistance and assisting firms to meet the demands of exports while many of its members continue to successfully implement the Farmer-to-Farmer program.

VEGA Role

Pursuant to Associate Cooperative Agreements with USAID missions, VEGA manages sub-agreements with its member organizations that provide project implementation services. VEGA is the both the reward recipient and a single point of contact to USAID as representative of the implementing organizations. It maintains a minimal level of involvement with project implementation and does not attempt to duplicate the services of its members. It serves to liaise with USAID and coordinates the services of the implementing organizations to ensure the overall cohesiveness and accountability of VEGA projects. Under the sub-agreement, VEGA provides the following project management and support services to mutually benefit both USAID missions and its member organizations:

• Reporting to the CTO of the VEGA Leader with Associate Award at USAID headquarters on all aspects of VEGA project management and implementation
• Ensuring the project’s compliance with USAID rules and regulations
• Monitoring project progress and deliverables
• Coordinating and reporting monitoring and evaluation data to USAID headquarters
• Acting as a liaison between implementing organizations and USAID headquarters
• Coordinating volunteer recruitment to ensure impartial selection of volunteers from among VEGA member organizations
• Tracking project budgets and negotiating modifications with USAID as necessary
• Approving and disbursing project funds to implementing organizations
• Reviewing and submitting project quarterly and semi-annual reports to USAID
• Ensures that projects are high-impact by ensuring that all projects abide by modern best practices in volunteer technical assistance

Implementing Organization Role

VEGA member organizations that implement VEGA projects include a lead organization and one or more associate organizations that share project implementation responsibilities, including the following:

• Providing the field-based Chief of Party, who is responsible for the overall management of the program. The COP establishes a working unit that includes the accounting, management information systems, volunteer coordination, logistics and administrative support for the project. The COP also acts as a liaison between VEGA and implementing organization headquarters and the USAID mission in the country in which the project is based and reports to the CTO of the project at that mission.
• Fielding short-term or long-term staff and consultants to provide technical assistance and other services, as needed
• Day-to-day management and backstopping of project field operations
• Exercising responsibility for all administrative, security and operational costs in cooperation with other implementing organizations
• Accessing databases of Volunteer Experts to find suitable candidates to fulfill various assignments
• Preparing and deploying Volunteer Experts
• Designing and coordinating the implementation of grant and training programs
• Overseeing the dissemination of grant funds
• Developing and utilizing specialized training materials for the project’s training activities
• Collaborating with VEGA headquarters to develop project-specific websites that adhere to VEGA branding standards
• Preparing quarterly and semi-annual reports for VEGA review and submittal to USAID
• Collecting and reporting monitoring and evaluation data to USAID missions and to VEGA headquarters

Each implementing organization staff is typically composed of a Senior Manager (approx. 10 - 25% time), Program Manager (full-time or 50% time), and a Program Officer (full-time).