New activities

IDIQs and IQCs in health, capacity building, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E):

• Panagora is delighted to announce that we have been awarded our first USAID prime contract, one of the small business set-asides under the Technical Assistance Services Contract Four–Africa IDIQ – known as “TASC4 Africa.” This IDIQ was one of Panagora’s first bids. Our partners are D-Tree International, Education Development Center (EDC), Health Strategies International, ICF-Macro International, The Kaizen Company, Medic Mobile, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC), Torre Lazur McCann, and Zaloni. We have not let any grass grow in initiating the NICRA process, now possible with a prime USAID award.
• Panagora is similarly delighted to be a subcontractor on Chemonics International’s TASC4—Africa full and open award.
• Panagora congratulates The Kaizen Company on their IDIQ win, Human and Institutional Capacity Development for non-Critical Priority Countries (HICDpro for non CPCs) and is thrilled to be a part of its consortium.
• Panagora is an active member of AMEX International’s Evaluation Services IQC and appreciate the opportunities for very interesting evaluation work that this IQC affords.

Recent subcontracts for country specific activity implementation

• FHI360: Integrated Health Project in Burundi (IHPB) — Panagora leads public-private partnerships and private sector initiatives to leverage additional resources and efficiencies for community health.
• Chemonics International: Afghanistan Regional Agriculture Development Project – South (RADP-South) — Panagora is helping strengthen key Afghan implementing partners. This builds on Panagora’s work as a subcontractor to Chemonics under the Bangladesh Smiling Sun Franchise Program (SSFP) where Panagora led efforts to build the capacity of 26 local NGOs to receive direct USAID awards.  Panagora is also adapting it’s existing capacity building materials into an Organizational Development Toolkit for ongoing Afghan NGOs capacity building.

Recent evaluation work

With Betsy Bassan as team leader, Dr. Stella Neema as HIV/AIDS and health evaluation specialist, and  Brenda Sinclair as literacy and education evaluation specialist, Panagora is carrying out a mid-term performance evaluation of RTI’s School Health and Reading Program (SHRP) under Pangora’s five-year subcontract to NORC on the Uganda Performance & Impact Evaluation (P&IE). Karin Brown supports this activity in the home office.

Technology Partnership

Panagora is proud to partner with small business Newdea Inc. in promoting their cloud-based “Project Center” software which provides unique program support as a best-in-class platform for design, management, and M&E of international development activities. Our partnership aligns superbly with Panagora’s goal to help articulate and spread best practices – and reduce reinvention. Panagora embraces the space where M&E, knowledge stewardship, and information and communication technology meet to heighten impact. Newdea has painstakingly developed its unique Project Center software over a period of twelve years and offers a robust platform for automating all project management functions – allowing development entities the opportunity to be on top of their work in real-time on a collaborative platform for better teamwork, learning, and knowledge exchange.

Industry leadership

Panagora President and CEO Betsy Bassan serves as the chair of the Small Business Association of International Companies (SBAIC) where she leads an Executive Committee of outstanding small business leaders. SBAIC has made great strides in efforts aimed at helping USAID achieve its small business goals and is especially pleased that USAID adopted a small business indicator at the mission level starting in 2014. We applaud OSDBU for their continued support and success in promoting meaningful small business utilization.

Some staffing comings and goings

• Dr. Pamela Pine, a health communications and gender rights specialist, serves as our TASC4 IDIQ Director.
• Our new Program Associate, Rachel Brown, brings a background in Africa, global health, and economic development. She speaks fluent French.
• Our long-time associate, Stacyann Forrester, recently concluded 3.5 years of dedicated work helping build the company before deciding to relocate to San Francisco. We wish her the best in settling in and finding a new job.
• Sylvie Knigi, Strategic Partnerships Advisor, and Eraste Nzeyimana, Strategic Partnerships Specialist, are our two long-term professionals working on health public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector initiatives on the Integrated Health Project-Burundi (IHPB).