CARE Egypt Foundation for Development commissioned Common Ground Solutions to deliver financial management and business plan training for local NGOs in Assiut, under the Roots of Sustainability project funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The project strengthens civil society organisations working on solid waste management, the circular economy and environmental awareness in Upper Egypt.
The terms of reference asked CGS to strengthen the partner NGOs' financial governance, so that they can plan, manage and report on project funds in line with donor requirements and Egyptian NGO Law 149/2019, and to introduce business planning as a route to financial sustainability.
CGS prepared two training manuals, Excel templates for budget tracking and bookkeeping, and internal control checklists. Over three days in April 2026, it trained 28 finance officers, project managers and executive directors from ten local NGOs. Two days covered budgeting, accounting principles, internal controls, bookkeeping, financial reporting and tax compliance, including VAT and withholding tax. The third covered business plan development, from SMART objectives and SWOT analysis to operational and marketing plans.
Delivery followed an action-learning approach in non-technical language, combining peer learning, case studies, audit and approval-workflow simulations, and group work in which each NGO built its own budget, internal control tools and a draft business plan for an environmental initiative.
CGS measured knowledge change through pre- and post-training assessments and an end-of-training satisfaction survey, and delivered a final report documenting remaining capacity gaps and recommendations for follow-up support.
