Resource NGOs and Field NGOs : Roles, Responsibilities and Participation Strategies

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010

Chaitanya

1

Resource NGOs and Field NGOs : Roles, Responsibilities and Participation

Strategies

CAIM Start Up Workshop 15th July 2010Presented By:


ChaitanyaRole of NGOs in CAIM

EXECUTION - Piloting, innovation

• Designing need based programmes

• Identification and reaching the poorest of the poor

• Identification of community leaders

• Social Mobilisation, Awareness building

• Local Institution building

2


ChaitanyaRole of NGOs in CAIM

• Research and Advocacy– Watchdog– Building pressure for policy changes (RTI)– Research based advocacy

• Capacity Building– Transfer of technology – Facilitating Convergence – Exposure – Creating learning platforms

3


ChaitanyaRole of NGO vis a vis Government agencies

• Mutual complementarity between government and NGOs– NGO researches and pilots, Govt replicates (SHG)– Govt plans, NGOs execute (Jal Swarajya)– Government plans and executes, NGO monitors or

involved in capacity building (NRHM, NREGA)

Joint planning monitoring and evaluation – as equal partners is necessary approach for CAIM, since it is a new intervention

4


ChaitanyaWhy Participation?

• To identify the needs and perceptions of the community

• As a strategy for withdrawal – for community to sustain the interventions

• To monitor and evaluate the programme

• To institutionalize community-based mechanisms.

• To develop ownership among the community

• To facilitate decision making

• Convergence of resources

• To reduce cost, and ensure sustained financial contribution to run the programme

• To increase effectiveness of the programme by using local knowledge

• To empower the community 5


ChaitanyaWhy lack of participation?

• Non participation is a result of socio –economic exclusion

• Social Factors

– Dalits, women, tribals have been excluded

• Economic Factors

– Lack of resources, and limited opportunities

• Social and economic exclusion goes together - so there is a greater percentage of landless, poor and hungry amongst the marginalised communities

6


ChaitanyaParticipation in development - An Instrumentalist perspective

• Lip service to a term imposed by the donor agencies

• A management strategy for effective utilization of resources and achievement of targets

• A strategy to build consensus and transparency

• A strategy for withdrawal

• A tool for decision making

• Sharing the burden of failures in experimentation

7


ChaitanyaTransformational Participation …

• A conscious approach to community empowerment and shared accountability

• It is not the means, but the end … to build institutions which have transformational participation, is the end goal of development process.

Because …

• If people are actively engaged in identifying the problem and building consensus at solutions, then there is no need of external facilitation.

8


Chaitanya

PERCENTAGE OF FUNDS ALLOCATED TO FACILITATE PARTICIPATION

Determining Factor to assess importance to participation

9


ChaitanyaKey Principles of Participation with Empowerment Approach

• Trust between the community and the facilitators

• Collective Conceptualisation of the problem and solution

• A genuine belief in the capacity of the community to be the change agents

• Visualise the NGOs role as mere facilitator not even main actor on the stage

• Ensure a relationship of equality between facilitator and actors

• Understand that the role of the facilitator/ mentor will change with increased capacities

10


ChaitanyaParticipation should Be …

• Equal and Inclusive

• Flexible since the local plans may change

• In an environment where different stakeholders can communicate their concerns and negotiate for a solution

• Combined with decision making capacities

Participation cannot exists in the absence of:

• Organisation of the community – if they are isolated, fragmented and unorganised, their views will not be heard.

• Decentralisation with truly democratic structures

11

Chaitanya

Strategies for Community Participation

12


ChaitanyaParticipation Strategies

• Participation In Piloting and execution

• Establish People’s Institutions

• Common sharing platforms for different stakeholders – quarterly reflection and action

• Building people’s capacities to plan and implement

• Convergence through household and village level plans

• Build ownership of community

• Ongoing learning and sharing – since CAIM is new concept 13


ChaitanyaParticipation at project management level

• Help communities:– Identify – Prioritise – Negotiate – Coordinate interventions

• Facilitate Inter –Institutional Coordination (Convergence)

• Ensure Replicability of the models

• Build Cost Sharing –e.g., User’s Fee from the beginning

• Ensure Organisation’s Contribution is recorded

• Role of technology in facilitating participation

14


ChaitanyaCommunity Participation Matrix

15

Needs Assessment

Planning

Monitoring

Implementation

Evaluation

Village and FNGO

RNGO -consortium

District level

Regional level


ChaitanyaA word of Caution!

• Excessive participation, may also lead to indecisiveness for long periods

• In regions of extreme distress, it is a luxury, not all can afford it

• Meaningful participation, therefore requires creating and developing organisations to become aware of their rights and collective strengths

16

Documents

Resource NGOs and Field NGOs : Roles, Responsibilities and Participation Strategies