capitalisation study on capacity building support programmes for non state actors under the 9

151 Pages·2009·2.52 MB·English

Final report

The European Union’s EDF Programme for ACP Countries

CAPITALISATION STUDY ON CAPACITY
BUILDING SUPPORT PROGRAMMES FOR
TH
NON STATE ACTORS UNDER THE 9 EDF

Letter of Contract N°2008/162532

FINAL REPORT

Prepared by:
Maurizio Floridi
Beatriz Sanz-Corella
Stephano Verdecchia

June 2009

The project is implemented by IBF International Consulting
The project is financed by the European Union
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“The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the contracting party
and should in no case be considered as representing the views of the European
Union.”
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Foreword
The capitalisation study on capacity building programmes under the 9th EDF, sponsored by the
European Commission, took place between September 2008 and April 2009. It was undertaken by
independent experts, namely Maurizio FLORIDI – sociologist and specialist in the dynamics of non state
actors in the ACP countries -, Beatriz SANZ CORELLA – socio-economic and management expert,
specialist in support and advisory services for civil society experts and training, formulation and
monitoring of EDF programmes -, and Stefano VERDECCHIA, a participatory local development expert.

Being a capitalisation study, the team in charge with the study focused their attention on the concrete
experiences which characterised the NSA support programmes under the 9th EDF and, in particular, on
best practices. A selection of the latter is presented herein, by way of example, in order to illustrate
possible solutions to the problems that affect the majority of NSA support programmes.

The team was confronted with various problems; theoretical and methodological on the one part and,
on the other, organisational.

In terms of theory and methodology, the study required the adoption of two approaches: quantitative
and qualitative, each involving different analytical logics and methods. In addition, the needs of the
qualitative approach forced the team to increase the number of field missions. As such, in addition to
the 3 missions foreseen in Ethiopia, Uganda and Dominican Republic, a further 5 missions were added
with a view to enriching the overall quality of the study, which took place in Suriname, Malawi, Burkina
Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali.

As to the constraints of the organisational side of the project, the major problem was, firstly, the
collection of documents relating to the 40 NSA support programmes and, secondly, the analysis of a
quite significant number of pages, not an easy task when the time and budget considerations are taken
into account.

The team would like to highlight the importance of the restitution seminar held in Brussels on 1-3 April,
which allowed the team to meet with a large number of actors (35 representatives of the ECDs in the
ACP countries, 15 members of the PMU and AIDCO, DEV and RELEX representatives) on the themes and
first results of the study.

The team would, in particular, like to thank the services of the European Commission Delegation in the
38 studies involved in the study, as well as the PMUs of the 40 NSA support programmes for their
cooperation and availability in the collection of the documents needed for the analysis.

Lastly, we would like to offer a sincere thanks to the members of Unit E4, notably Ms. Susana El-Kum
Molina, the in house Commission study coordinator and her support staff for the invaluable assistance
and advice provided.

Maurizio FLORIDI, Beatriz SANZ CORELLA and Stefano VERDECCHIA

May 2009

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Acronyms

ACP Africa, Caribbean and Pacific
CfP Call for Proposals
CSCBP Civil Society Capacity Building Programme
CB Capacity Building
CS Civil Society
CSF Civil Society Fund
CSO Civil Society Organisation
CSP Country Strategy Paper
EC European Commission
ECD Delegation of the European Commission
EDF European Development Fund
EU European Union
FA Financing Agreement
GRO Grassroots organisation
IEC Information, Education and Communication
INGO International Non Governmental Organisation
IO Intermediary Organisation
LA Local Authority
NSA Non State Actor
MDG Millennium Development Goals
NAO National Authorizing Officer
NGO Non governmental Organisation
NIP National indicative Programme
OCA Organisational Capacity Assessment
PCC Project Coordination Committee
PMFU Programme management and Facilitation Unit
PMU Project/Programme Management Unit
PRMT Participatory Resource Monitoring Tool
PRSP Poverty Reduction strategy paper
PS Private Sector
RCA Regional Corresponding Agencies
SC Steering Committee
SMC Steering and Monitoring Committee
TA Technical assistance
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TAU Technical Assistance Unit
TC Technical Cooperation
TFG Task Force Group
TFP Technical and Financial partners
ToR Terms of Reference
WP Work programme
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Index
Executive summary......................................................................................................................................................10
Part A. Context and presentation of the study............................................................................................................19
1. THE CONTEXT: LEGAL RECOGNITION OF THE ROLE OF NSA AND THE OBJECTIVE OF CAPACITY BUILDING..................................20
2. CAPITALIZATION STUDY ON THE SUPPORT PROGRAMMES FOR NSA UNDER THE 9TH EDF....................................................20
2.1. Objectives and scope of the study..............................................................................................................21
2.2. Research timetable............................................................................................................................23
2.3. Methodological approach..................................................................................................................26
2.4. Key notions adopted by the research................................................................................................27
Part B. The results of the study..........................................................................................................................30
1. DEFINITIONS AND TYPES OF NSA..................................................................................................................................31
1.1. The private sector/civil society dialectic............................................................................................31
1.2. The principle of differentiated analyses............................................................................................32
1.3. The question of differing vocations and the differentiation between actors....................................34
1.4. The question of grassroots organisations and emerging actors........................................................38
1.5. Towards a new approach to NSAs.....................................................................................................39
2. THE PURPOSES OF NSA SUPPORT PROGRAMMES AND THEIR STRATEGIC POSITIONING.........................................................42
2.1. Analysis of purposes..........................................................................................................................42
2.2. Analysis of guiding principles of 9th EDF programmes and orientations for the 10th EDF...............44
3. IDENTIFICATION OF CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMMES AND MAPPING EXERCISES..............................................................49
3.1. Quantitative analysis of mapping exercises and identification studies.............................................49
3.2. Qualitative analysis of mapping exercises and identification studies................................................52
3.3. Final thoughts as regards the mapping exercises under the 10th EDF..............................................59
4. THE INSTITUTIONAL ORGANISATION, INTERNAL PROGRAMME GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS, THE ROLE AND PROFILE OF THE TA AND
THE COOPERATION WITH DONOR ORGANISATIONS................................................................................................................60
4.1. The management system: feasible options and cost analyses...................................................................60
4.2. The Steering Committee....................................................................................................................69
4.3. The role of actors involved................................................................................................................73
4.4. The role and profile of TA..................................................................................................................79
4.5. The role of international NGO (INGO)...............................................................................................87
4.6. Cooperation with donor organisations and the new common funding systems (pool funding).......92
5. CAPACITY BUILDING: DEFINITION, APPROACHES AND MODUS OPERANDI................................................................................97
5.1. The programme components and the approaches and tools deployed for capacity building..........97
5.2. Approaches deployed by the programmes for the prioritisation of NSA access to capacity building
activities..........................................................................................................................................................102
5.3. Concrete experiences and lessons learnt from the adoption of the capacity building plan.....................109
5.4. Concrete experiences and lesson learnt from the adaptation of the ”Call for proposals” mechanism....110
6. PROGRAMME MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES............................................................................118
6.1. The situation for 9th EDF programmes............................................................................................118
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6.2. Impact Indicators.............................................................................................................................120
6.3. The disruption of the evaluation logic: when failure turns into success..........................................123
6.4. Taking into account the “inferred effects” or the “unexpected effects”.........................................124
7. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION WITHIN NSA SUPPORT PROGRAMMES.......................................................................124
7.1. The role of communication and the superimposition with the need of visibility............................124
7.2. Communication as a capacity building instrument..................................................................................126
7.3. Communication as an instrument for the promotion of strategic position of a programme and its
“mission” as regards the stakes of NSAs.........................................................................................................127
7.4. Communication for the promotion of transparency.......................................................................129
7.5. Communication instruments....................................................................................................................131
7.6. Institutional visibility and communication.......................................................................................133
ANNEXES....................................................................................................................................................................135
Annex 1 : Grid for the in-depth analysis..........................................................................................................136
Annex 2 : Grid for the synthetic analysis.........................................................................................................140
Annexe 3 : Grid for the quality analysis of information and communication..................................................142
Annexe 4 : Agenda of the workshop 1-3 April 2009........................................................................................143
Annexe 5 : Participants of the Brussels Seminar (1-3 April 2009)....................................................................150

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Index of figures and tables

Figure 1 : The two levels of analysis.............................................................................................................................22
Figure 2 : Differentiated actor analysis........................................................................................................................33
Figure 3: Relation modalities between partners (INGOs) and CSOs............................................................................90
Figure 4 : A reminder of the capacity building dimensions..........................................................................................98
Figure 5 : Visualisation of the on line bulletin of the “Civil Society and good governance support programme”
(PASOC) in Mauritania.....................................................................................................................................125
Figure 6 : Visualisation of a page from the website of the “Strengthening Somali Civil Society” Programme”.........126
Figure 7: Visualisation of a page of the Tanzanian NSA Support Programme website..............................................129
Figure 8 : Visualisation of a web page from the site of the Mauritius NSA Support Programme..............................130
Figure 9 : CSO Support Programme in Niger and the webpage of the ARIANE programme in Mali..........................133

Table 1 : NSA families and levels of organisation.........................................................................................................36
Table 2 : Institutional and political changes taking place on a national and local level and major implications for NSA
...........................................................................................................................................................................43
Table 3 : The added value of cooperation actors.........................................................................................................83
Table4 : Capacity Building instruments in relation to objectives and dimensions.......................................................99
Table 5 : Visualisation of a page of the website of the Malian NSA Support Programme, relative to the grants given
under the “Support for development initiatives” component........................................................................130
Table 6: The list of websites of 9th EDF NSA Support Programmes...........................................................................132
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Executive summary

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