Article Capacity Building- The Value of Own Implementing Capacity

8/9/2019 Article Capacity Building- The Value of Own Implementing Capacity

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Capacity building the value of own implementing capacity

The ultimate aim of many agencies involved in humanitarian assistance, rehabilitationand development, is strengthening the capacity of local civil society and of governmentdepartments at different levels and local authorities.

Especially during the last few years, much attention has been paid in rehabilitation to

capacity building by means of working through partners. In practice it seems that, atleast by certain international organizations in certain areas, in line with this strategy ofcapacity building of partners all relief, rehabilitation or development activities of theINGO are being executed by one ore more local NGOs (LNGOs). Often because ofadministrative procedures the Community Based Organizations (CBOs) cannot beselected as partner while they are too small or not fulfilling the criteria of the internationalorganisations.

Working through LNGOs can be too quickly valued as the only suitable approach ofcapacity building, because working solely through partners has several risks. At thesame time, specific advantages of working through own implementing capacity aremissed.

Own implementing capacity in this article means: working directly with own staff ongrass root level with the beneficiaries and CBOs, working with local masons andcarpenters instead of contractors, using own purchasing and logistics capacity, etc.Compared to organizations working solely through LNGOs, this requires a muchdecentralized organization with some more staff using basic site offices and simple butadequate administrative and transport facilities.

This article is inspired by the practical experience of the author l iving with his family formore than three years in the North of Sri Lanka (2003 -2006) during his work for ZOARefugee Care (a Dutch INGO) and by hearing, but mostly reading about capacitybuilding as a must.

ZOA Refugee Cares current strategy for rehabilitation is geared towards strengtheninglocal civil society in order to stabilize livelihoods, raise resilience and supportdevelopment processes of those groups in society who presently suffer from and aremarginalised as a result of violent conflict. This is done through enhancement ofcapacities of communities, their organizations, local NGOs committed to the people andtrough support to local government structures. ZOA seeks partnership with local partnerswhere possible. If no suitable partner organizations are present that are committed tostrengthening the capacity of communities involved, ZOA works through ownimplementing capacity. This article focuses on the value of own implementing capacity,while later on another article will be published about experience with working throughlocal partners. Certain issues in this article might be more situation-specific, but it isbelieved that at least partly the same applies in a more general sense, albeit that the

need for own implementing capacity might be less in development than in relief andrehabilitation in (post) conflict areas.


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Partners or commandersAlthough there are indeed examples of LNGOs and CBOs that are of real support fortheir people, it is obvious that not all of them are independent or that they are alwaysmore connected and committed to the beneficiaries than the INGOs. Especially in postconflict areas, where for a long time war and displacement have taken place, socialstructures and cohesion have been damaged too, resulting in the absence or poorfunctioning of CBOs and LNGOs. In fact, in such situations local authorities often want to

control society and will not promote or even allow independent private organizations atthe grass root level to develop, particularly as long as durable peace is not achieved orin cases where they are afraid to lose control over the population, the masses.

In these circumstances, it may have serious consequences if INGOs have the strategy towork solely through partners. Although one may say that by working through theseorganizations these can be transformed, at the same time the monopoly of thesepolitically imposed or even military affiliated organizations continues and in case ofgetting used to working in this manner these organizations get further strengthened.When people are not given enough space to organize themselves and to be directlyinvolved in their own rehabilitation and development, the INGOs should stand togetheras independent, neutral organizations to promote private initiatives to organizethemselves as an essential part of sustainable development and capacity building of the

civil society.

For partnering and participation mostly some sort of harmony on a village level isassumed, however this is rarely the case in post conflict situations. So if CBOs getaccess to resources, there will often be battles over power within the CBOs and betweenthe CBO and the village. Therefore one has to be careful with partnering even with realCBOs especially if it concerns rehabilitation works with relatively large budgets, whichcan deteriorate the relations within the community.

Organizations, whether local or international, should be really primarily focused onbeneficiaries and meant to transform the communities instead of to control them or to actas income generating clubs for their own organization, staff or other (political) goals.

Figure 1: Capacity building at grass root level women groups, Fishermen Organizations, Farmers Organizations, etc

Capacity building and / or progressEnhancement of capacities is a time and energy consuming process. Often it goesbeyond strengthening capacities as it also includes adjustment to new situations, e.g.


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after a period of war and being involved in relief becoming more oriented towardsrehabilitation and development in the post conflict period. The beneficiaries need assoon as possible a variety of basic facilities rehabilitated or developed which they oftencan define themselves for a large part. However the LNGOs and CBOs do notimmediately have the capacity to fulfill these needs, naturally leading to delays or themissing of opportunities. In situations where INGOs are only allowed to work with certainLNGOs and if these are defined for a geographical area, it is very difficult to work in an

area and to improve the progress if that specific LNGO is already occupied. A similarproblem arises with having limited partners available but more INGOs that want to workthrough these partners. This becomes even worse if some INGOs are paying well foroverhead costs, so that they are only interested to work for those which are mostadvantageous for them.

If communities are able to realize that they are not offered the chances for rehabilitationand development they could potentially get (i.e. available resources are not used), somepressure could arise to increase activities and progress. However, in (post) conflictsituations, people are often not in a position to understand the chances available or arenot even able to stand up for themselves if they are dependent on the sameorganizations and authorities.

Figure 2: Capacity building at grass root level involving beneficiaries and quickly restoring basic living conditions

In certain situations it is advisable to have fast progress and quick impact within a limitedperiod, say 1 2 years, to ensure proper semi permanent shelter and water andsanitation for all families as part of a post conflict rehabilitation effort. Such a quickimpact not only improves the basic l iving conditions, but also contributes to psycho socialwell being, including the support of peace and reconciliation while people get motivatedto move on to develop their own lives and to leave the past behind.Slow progress or lack of certain type of activities can be politically motivated byauthorities, to keep beneficiaries dependent. In case there is enough space and optionsto work for INGOs, slow progress can also be caused by the international community

itself if they are afraid to increase the activities quickly or in the worst case it creates anexcuse of INGOs to continue their presence.

The following figure visualizes schematically working methods in a post conflict situationagainst time. Initially, proper partners have not yet been defined, but activities areneeded. In this period it is very important that the INGO is very sensitive in doing its


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needs assessments and implementation in close contact with the local government andcivil society. Later on, more work should take place through partners, while partnershipsand capacity have improved. Purely capacity building and lobby and advocacy arealmost impossible if just started, but can increase after being more accepted and trusted.

0

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0 1 2 3 4

time in years (indicative)

percentageoftheprogramm

e

Capacity building

+ Lobby & Advocacy

Rehabilitation & Development

through partners (such as CBOs, LNGOs, etc)

Rehabilitation & Development

through own implementing capacity

Relief through own implementing

capacity (and if possible through partners)

Figure 3: Working method in a post conflict situation against time (schematically)

While working in these situations is often complex with many actors involved which takestime to understand and while capacity building is a process in which relationships playan important role, it is advisable to have key (expat) staff at least for 2 or 3 years at alocation but preferably longer and new programmes should be started with staff who arefamiliar with the context and know the situation as much as possible.

Working solely through partners with lack of capacity, can easily result in situations thatpeople are not benefiting enough of the presence of INGOs and possible assistance.The other risk is that relationships with these LNGOs or CBOs become no realpartnerships anymore, no mutual capacity strengthening is taking place anymore, whilethe INGO tries to influence too strongly to get these organizations adjusted or they even

get spoiled because of being in a luxury position caused by their monopoly.

Capacity building through own implementing capacityWhen the INGO operates through own implementing capacity, it can recruit a highernumber of staff from the area than INGOs that work solely through partners. Staff fromthe area has often gone through the same experiences as the people and therefore theycan quite easily identify the needs and activities can be carried out almost immediatelyby them, provided that funding is available. For example exchange visits as part ofeducation or peace building, which might be not in the scope of the LNGOs can easilybe organized by the INGO by just paying for transport charges to a principal or so. Byacting in such a way, the INGO can give examples of activities that were lacking and cancreate some competition instead of supporting the monopoly of the LNGOs. By working

closely with the beneficiaries, the people can much easier be activated and madeunderstood that the more they organize themselves and contribute, the more assistancethey can expect to develop further. In this way capacity building at the grass root levelwill take place more or less automatically.


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Own implementing capacity and using human resources from the area (project staff,administrative staff, drivers, etc.) also contributes to the capacity building of civil society,while working in an INGO can open up their world and even that of the family membersand neighbors around them. Besides that, even if staff from the area might have someless skills or specific knowledge, it is a must to have them in the organization whilepersons from the capital or other big cities are often almost as far removed socially andculturally from the (often rural and generally poor) beneficiaries as expatriate staff.

Probably the most important reason for own implementing capacity is that it is essentialfor understanding the ground realities, which helps immensely to define needs forcapacity building and in the process of capacity building of partners at all levels (CBOs,LNGOs, government officials, departments, etc.). It can be seen as an ongoingsimultaneous need assessment, implementation and monitoring & evaluation. Bymissing own implementing capacity this process becomes often much more fragmentedand does therefore not give that much information and insight.

Own implementing capacity: more than just implementingWorking through own implementing capacity means, compared to working troughpartners, more information from and more presence on the grass root level while morestaff from that area are working for the organization. On top of this, these are also staff

representing a cross section of that specific society, instead of only the more educatedand often upper part of the society who generally work in an organization that operatessolely through partners.

Being present on the ground with these staff does not only provide a good insight inhuman rights issues, domestic violence and psycho social problems, but also gives achance to work in these sectors as well and being very practically involved in protection.Being operational and involved in many activities gives the possibility for lobby andadvocacy, for which in (post) conflict situation the presence of (preferably long staying)expatriate staff is essential.

Non independent, politically imposed and driven partners may easily pursue certain

policies that do not ensure the fulfillment of actual needs of the people. For example, ifpartners are saying that there is no need for semi-permanent shelter but only forpermanent houses although people continue to suffer because of inadequate shelter,this will not be accepted by staff originating from the area in an INGO with properimplementing capacity.

To have at least some own implementing capacity is also very useful to understand theworking conditions of partners. In fact like in any other business it is not possible to justassist or train others if someone does not really know how to do the job himself. Anotheradvantage, especially in (post) conflict areas, is the ability to assist the people in case ofa deteriorating situation or a disaster occurs. For example when the Tsunami struck theNorth Eastern coastline of Sri Lanka in the end of 2004 or when violence increased in2006 causing many newly displaced people, organizations with own implementingcapacity and a track record of experience in the country could act much faster and moreeffectively than those without.

Last but not least, working through own implementing capacity can be very cost efficientso that with the same budgets more people can be reached, while no profit needs to bemade on purchasing, transport, etc. This is even more valid in areas with monopolies of


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LNGOs or in case rates are controlled, read increased, through taxes by localauthorities.

Working through partners is often meant to be a cost cutting exercise, as LNGO officesand staff cost less and can often be calculated as direct costs, where office costs and(expatriate) staff of the own organization are seen as indirect costs. However with furtheranalysis and taking into account the other advantages, this should be reconsidered.

Capacity building not without own implementing capacityWorking through partners is one way of capacity building and can be done very well if, ina context like northern Sri Lanka, simultaneously also own implementing capacity isused. INGOs and LNGOs will be able to have a much better cross-fertilization in thisway. However, especially in (post) conflict situations and in areas where civil society isstrictly controlled, caution should be exercised in the selection of local partners in orderto prevent that the wrong organizations are strengthened.

Let it not be a disqualification to be efficient, to have fast progress and to be able toreach many people through own implementing capacity. With time passing and trust andrelationships improving, more capacity strengthening processes can take place and workthrough partners may increase. In addition, there are many other advantages of being

present in the area at grass root level related to understanding the often complex reality,human rights issues, etc.

Of course, enhancement of capacities is an urgent need, but this should not lead toworking uniquely through LNGOs. Next, instead of presenting capacities strengtheningas an immediate urgency (an urgency according to donor or organization policy or anurgency according to the political situation), it should be acknowledged as a gradualprocess.

Capacity building needs to take place at all levels, especially at grass root level.Sustainable development and improvement of the whole society cannot be achievedwithout sufficient involvement of communities and their organizations. INGOs with proper

own implementing capacity and with sufficient staff from the area will definitely contributeto the strengthening of local civil society.

H.A. Vervoorn, Programme Manager ZOA Refugee Care (2003-2006)3 October [email protected]

References:Approaches to Equity in Post-Tsunami Assistance, Sri Lanka: A Case StudyMandeep Kaur Grewal, November 2006, Office of the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery (OSE)`Signs of Hope`, ZOA Refugee Care Strategic Framework 2007-2010, 12-02-2007

Article Capacity Building- The Value of Own Implementing Capacity

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