Section 02: Capacity strengthening and change

Capacity strengthening with partners is about two things:

• Appreciating the strengths, contributions and uniqueness of their organisation Supporting change which helps them to become more effective versions of themselves

• Getting involved with partners in this way is delicate: they have done the work to start, nurture and develop their organisation, and then we come along with goodwill and suggestions (not always with sensitivity), and often too, our own agendas which may not always match their own needs.

2.1: What is Capacity Strengthening?

Capacity strengthening is a planned process of change to enable an organisation to better carry out activities, fulfil its mission and grow and develop itself sustainably.

Capacity strengthening involves reflection, leadership, inspiration, adaptation and search for a better fit between the organisation’s mission and its systems, structures and activities. In the end it comes down to people wanting to change what they do and how they do things. Change is personal.

2.2: What do we bring?

We need to be very clear about what we (and our organisations) bring to the process.

• Are we mainly acting as funders, bringing resources for training, equipment and setting up improved systems?

• Do we have specialist skills to help with technical aspects of running an community group (such as fundraising)?

• Do we see ourselves as facilitators, coaches, supporters?

• Are you doing a mixture of these things?

• What are your strengths? What do you need to get better at doing?

2.3: What kind of change are we trying to support?

We need to be very clear about why we are building partner capacity. Are we:

• Helping partners to implement projects we are funding?

• Supporting the long-term sustainability of their organisation?

• Hoping to contribute to a strong and influential civil society sector?

• Contributing to deep changes in rebalancing power relations between the global north and south?

Or something else? Why you are involved has implications for how you will relate to your partners and how you go about helping them to develop.

2.4: How does change happen?

Change is a human process. For an organisation to change the people in it have to do things differently. Nothing is just ‘technical’. A new computer system relies on people to learn how to use it, to maintain it and to fix it!

So change is also about power, emotions, and relationships. It’s complex and has unpredictable outcomes.

If your aim is to support partners to become more autonomous and effective then start by asking yourself what you can do to ensure they are making the decisions, building the relationships and finding the resources they need to move forward.

They are building their own capacity – we are there to help and support and to learn and change our own practices alongside them.

2.5: What capacity strengthening is not!

There are many poor examples of thinking that smaller organisations always need our help with capacity strengthening and that capacity strengthening is basically training, and it’s as simple as sending people on a course.

The reality is that small organisations have often been set up despite many difficulties, by a small group of people with few resources, who have successfully improved the lives of people in their community. They did it without our help. That speaks for itself! Appreciating their achievements is a good starting point for capacity strengthening.

2.6: Reflection

Before you go on , take time to write down what you think the answers are to some of the questions above and how they apply to you in your current role inyour organisation.

Not all the questions will be relevant for you, or you may work with many different partners in different ways.

When you’ve read more of this toolkit, come back to this section to see if your thinking has changed in any way.