Participatory Capacity Building in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

This seven-page report shares information about a capacity-building process and the experience of using this process with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Zimbabwe. According to the authors, capacity-building is often interpreted as being concerned only with training and staff development, but it actually encompasses much more than this, including planning and empowerment. The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO), a co-ordinating body for NGOs in Zimbabwe worked with a consultant to use a participatory capacity assessment and planning method to develop strategic planning for the organisation. According to the article, this encouraged NGOs to begin a process of self-diagnosis, analysis, and strategic capacity planning.

According to the publication, “capacity is the power of something. It may be defined as the ability of individuals and organisations to perform functions effectively, efficiently, and sustainably. To clarify capacity in its context it is necessary to answer the question: capacity for what? Here [the authors] narrow down capacity as the ability to solve a problem, to achieve or sustain a mission, or to reach a set of objectives. NGOs need capacity to achieve their planned objectives, to have an impact, and to fulfil their organisational purpose. It has been widely acknowledged that insufficient capacity of development organisations hinders sustainable development."

Lack of capacity has several aspects:

• excessive dependency of NGOs on external resources and technical assistance, leading to:
• limited sense of local ownership of the development processes by the NGO and its intended groups, also caused by the top-down approaches of projects;
• inadequate consideration of broader environmental or systems factors, such as undeveloped NGO legislation;
• poor integration and coordination of multiple development/programme initiatives between different stakeholders such as government, NGOs, and private sector partners.

The first step outlined in NANGO's participatory capacity building process is a one-day workshop where the assessment team of the organisation is guided through a set of discussions to assess the current capacity of the organisation in seven capacity areas. In a second workshop participants engage in participatory reflection and planning, starting with a reflection on the results of the participatory capacity assessment. Participants analyse the assessments either individually or in small groups. For each capacity area they look for areas of high and low capacity and brainstorm possible reasons for this.

The group is then asked to start dreaming about their organisation’s future capacity. They brainstorm what their ideal capacity would be in three to five years’ time, focusing on priority capacity areas. The facilitator asks the participants to group these elements and name them. The group then identifies blockages that keep the organisation from reaching this vision, focusing on the elements of the vision and weaknesses in the organisation’s capacity. The organisation can then take the strategic capacity building directions and prepare a more detailed activity plan within the organisation. These plans include specific actions, timelines, responsibilities, and resources. This process does not require external facilitation since all organisations have their own planning mechanisms.