How closing organizational gaps helps boost local capacity

In 2011, the Ayala Foundation was chosen to implement the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Strengthening the Capacity of Philippine Civil Society Organizations Project, a 40-month initiative in line with USAID Forward’s objective to improve aid effectiveness by increasingly going local. The project, according to Chief of Party Marissa Camacho, “could not have come at a better time.” The role of partnerships has been a main focus of the administration of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, who has emphasized the potential of expanding civil society collaborations. The Strengthening the Capacity of Philippine CSOs Project itself is a reflection of this increased cooperation. The project is being implemented with various consortia and networks of CSOs: the Association of Foundations, Caucus of Development NGO Networks, Philippine Business for Social Progress, Philippine Council for NGO Certification and the University of the Philippines’ National College of Public Administration and Governance. At 40 percent, the USAID Forward 2015 localization target for the Philippines is higher than the standard 30 percent that it has set for most USAID missions. The Philippines is also home to an active civil society, making it a suitable country for a CSO capacity-building project. Diverse group of established CSOs Among an initial group of more than 900 CSOs, 120 were picked to participate in the capacity-building effort. The final number was set at 131, with several organizations — 30 percent, according to Code-NGO — from Mindanao, USAID’s priority area in its country strategy for the Philippines. Camacho told Devex that the participating CSOs — a diverse set that includes corporate foundations like the One Meralco Foundation and PLDT-Smart Foundation, as well as nongovernmental organization groups such as the Antique Federation of NGOs and the Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks — were chosen for having legal status, at least three years of operations and basic governance and financial systems, such as an annual audit. “This project is not meant for startup organizations,” she said. “This is meant for organizations that have basic systems in place, and we want to assist them to improve their capacity to manage and implement programs and work with international organizations like USAID.” Victoria Alcoseba, the project’s capacity building manager, explained that the framework used to identify and close organizational gaps addresses issues in five areas: ▪ Governance, leadership development, strategic planning and management. ▪ Resource mobilization and development. ▪ Program design, implementation and management, monitoring and evaluation. ▪ Financial management. ▪ Administrative and personnel management. Many of the participating CSOs are largely dependent on grants, which made long-term sustainability a problem. In addition, several of the smaller ones do not pay that much attention to issues involving personnel management, according to Camacho. “The main objective is to close these gaps within the project period by providing them with technical input,” Alcoseba told Devex. Formal training, mentoring, peer learning, exposure to best practices and provision of templates are all employed to improve these CSOs’ capacity. Lessons learned, next steps As they prepare to wrap up the project this year, Camacho and Alcoseba shared some observations from working with these CSOs. A better understanding of the management team’s responsibilities, according to Alcoseba, has translated into a clearer definition of roles within the organization. “Often, the board thinks it’s the sole responsibility of the executive director to get funding and support for the organization,” Camacho said. “With the workshops we conduct, I think there’s a better appreciation now that the role of sustaining the organization is a shared function.” Camacho and Alcoseba have also found that the same input can have a very different impact on each organization. Many participating CSOs, for example, did not have documented systems. As soon as this is pointed out to them, some organizations respond “immediately, positively,” Alcoseba said, and would have a copy of the manual ready for their assigned mentors to review on their next visit. Others, however, won’t even have begun drafting the manual. “The priority of the organization also determines the area that they focus on,” Alcoseba said. “If the [management team] thinks there’s not much change needed even though our technical input says they should have this or that, they won’t touch that area so much.” There are also those who go beyond the minimum requirement to work on concerns not included in their initial capacity assessment. Camacho pointed out that some organizations have already passed the Non-U.S. Organization Pre-Award Survey — a selection tool USAID uses to determine a potential non-U.S. partner — and yet still opt to stay in the project to further improve on areas they think are in need of attention. But both Camacho and Alcoseba claim that while the degree of improvement differs across the group, all 131 CSOs have progressed throughout the project. This points to another insight: “The organizational development process cannot be a template timeline; each organization is unique,” Camacho said. “Some will be able to address their weak areas quickly, while some will take longer.” For Alcoseba, much of the process is dependent on factors that are internal to the organization. “Externally, you can only really try to catalyze [these factors],” she said. For the last leg of the project, there has been a greater emphasis on working with NGO networks and consortia. More than a hundred CSOs out of thousands, Camacho acknowledged, is a “drop in the bucket,” and there is a need to ensure that the lessons from the project are still applied even when it ends. “We’re really trying to put effort in assisting the networks,” she said. “Beyond the project, they can then continue doing the assistance for their own members and making the instrument available to whoever can use it.” How do other donor agencies help boost local capacity in areas they are working in? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.