Too busy to plan: Is PME capacity building at a human rights organization possible?

Life at an Indonesian human rights NGO is hectic. Every day there are new cases or new political developments to respond to. I'm calling it 'life at an Indonesian NGO' instead of 'work', because working here actually means living here. Practically, this means that most of my colleagues spend lots of time at work and little time at home. It means that they don't take the holidays they're entitled to or that if they do, people sometimes regard them as being not that committed.

And there I came: THE advisor on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (in short, PME). I was going to change this workaholic mentality (or diminish the workload) and help KontraS plan better. They would learn to work even more effectively and report about the outcomes in more detail. Starting in November 2009, I had the assumption that it would take me a few months to understand the way of working and that I would be able to implement a large body of PME changes fairly easily. Within two months, I analyzed the situation, wrote recommendations and a work plan to go with it. This was going to be an easy ride! Not only I myself had high expectations of my stay here, the staff also seemed to think my presence would miraculously bring beneficial change.

Amis Boersma, explaining a PME game.....

Work one on one with the ones who want to learn more
It was around my fourth month that reality began to kick in: change doesn't happen overnight and it certainly doesn't happen miraculously. Of course, I had read the articles on the topic, even took a course in change management. But it hadn't hit me yet that the theories actually made sense. People are reluctant to change. They are too busy with doing the important work they do to try new things. It's like the parable about the man chopping trees down in the wood with a saw. He doesn't want to stop to sharpen his saw, because he's too busy chopping...

Doing workshops together

So, there was a challenge. Even though I am a very open and outgoing person, I have a fervent dislike for anything that has a potential for conflict. So my initital tendency was not to push or insist. Instead I focused on other areas where I could be helpful – which luckily are many. However, this technique didn't help improve PME very much.

When people feel there are big changes ahead, which they cannot oversee, they tend to hold back. What to do when dealing with resistance? Mostly due to many discussions with my coach and my fellow capacity builders around the world, we came up with a set of recommendations which I am implementing now. One is to not come with a big set of changes, but with small changes, one at a time. Give many short workshops on a wide array of topics. Teach people how to write a proposal or analyze the organization together from different perspectives.

Work one on one with people that are interested to learn more. Help them writing proposals or reports. Not only this, but work on anything else that people need help with as long as it's not too far from the scope of your task. Setting an example or showing different ways of working is also a form of capacity building, I believe.

Make it fun!
As I teach English every Wednesday, I have created 'free' time with some of my colleagues (the class is open to all staff). I use the classes sometimes to discuss issues related to PME, such as cultural differences when it comes to experiencing time and planning. We've talked about leadership, learning and working towards a goal. The class gives a platform to talk about PME without having to call it that.

Gaming is fun.......

Make it fun! Over the past months, I have done a quiz on PME, where the winners got a prize (Dutch cookies). We wrote a 'recipe' for cooking the KontraS way - trying to find out what are the ingredients for successful work and what preparations make them so typical for KontraS. Also, I am working with a creative artist to make a PME manual that explains in a more accessible way what it is about. The price winners!

Very important is not to expect too much from your own intervention. Create small goals and take small steps. And most of all, cherish the small successes you achieve.


Amis Boersma
Young Professional ICCO - Togetthere

Where can I find online tools for organizational analysis?

There are various toolkits for organizational analyis/capacity assessment available online.

• MDF has developed The Integrated Organizational Model and the TANGO toolkit. You can request for the toolkit on the MDF site here.

Tearfund has developed the CASA tool for Capacity Self Assessment.

DFID has published a sourcebook of tools and techniques with about 20 tools.

The participatory Capacity Building Toolkit consist of a list of 100 statements, and using the POET method (Participatory Organisation and Evaluation Tool).

PSO has various report and resource on their site in their resource section about capacity building.

IC-Consult has developed the IC-scan. There is a short scan and an elaborate scan.

USAID developed Discussion-Oriented Organizational Self-Assessment (DOSA) as a tool to measure and build organisational capacity.

A list of 75(!) tools for organisational analysis can be found at Reflect and Learn.

CARE has a developed the PCA tool

How to translate the abstract issues of capacity assessment and development?

After a participatory assessment of the network advisors at times experience that organizations have difficulties to understand terminologies such as mission, vision, strategy, etc. Notwithstanding this low understanding of capacity building elements, can I create ownership or the process? Are there ways of 'simplifying' the issues without the organizations losing ownership of the process?

It is important do the following:

• to invest in the relationship
• to keep the capacity assessment simple - meeting their needs and understand their language
• to clarify what you can and want to offer to the organizations
• continuously ask feedback from colleagues

Example of a process in a small organization with little experience with capacity development: "In one case, I went on a few field trips with various staff. By means of informal talks about their 'difficulties' and 'pain points' but also their ambitions, I formulated a capacity building question and some possible interventions. I went back to them with this formulation to check whether this captured their main concerns. It was appreciated because I formulated the questions in a different manner as they had, but in a way that they felt: Yes, that's exactly what we meant".

How to facilitate a capacity assessment?

Josefien de Kwaadsteniet worked in Burundi. She wrote a case study which is summarized in this blogpost. She worked in a two-year ICCO program on capacity strengthening. The -ambitieus- objective of the program is to make organizations in Burundi work more efficient, effective, participatory and sustainable.

When she started she visited all organizations several times to exchange ideas and explain about capacity building, using the diagram shown here. After that, the capacity assessment took place. This was done by a two day participatory workshop with each organzation. She worked with local consultants who had been given a training on the method. Josefien used the Participatory Capacity Building Toolkit.

During the workshop, the worked with maximum 15 persons. First a profile of the organization is made - vision, mission and main activities. Then the capacity of the organization is analysed on on the basis of questions and discussions. In between the group is animated by games to keep up their energy level. The results are summarized in a report and given to the organization.

This is the basis for a next series of workshops in which the most important capacity areas are chosen and a plan is developed. Most organization have difficulties to manage their financial and human resources and to plan, monitor and evaluate their activities.

Some do's and don't for the facilitator

• Do take your time to explain capacity strengthening
• Do work with local consultants and make sure they really understand the method
• Do let the organization choose one or two persons responsible for the process within their organization
• Don't rush things and take your time to adapt to their schedule
• Don't be a perfectionist
• Do adapt the method to the level of the organizations and if possible conduct a pilot
• Do share the idea of capacity strengthening with other donors of the organization to get shared support and to avoid double work

Some lessons Josefien learned are that you have to find a balance between the way you want to see things and they way it is going, sometimes you can't influence things. You never know for sure what the real motivation of organizations is to participate, don't push on this too much. Capacity strengthening is a process that takes time and one has to be really patient.

More documents on capacity strengthening can be found at the PSO website. Some capacity building advisor sites:

IC-consult

Facilicom Consult

Baco Consult

Photo: workshop with one of the partner organizations

How to facilitate an auto-evaluation?

Picture: restitution and planification workshop

Erwin Brouwer wrote a case study about auto-evaluation which is the basis for this blogpost. He is making use of the following (downloadable) toolkit: Participatory Capacity Building, a facilitators Toolbox for Assessment and Strategic Planning of NGO Capacity.

In september 2005 he started a new capacity building program in Congo, with an OD/ID approach and a special focus on Peace and Democratisation. He explained the participatory capacity building cycle through an introduction workshop for 11 partner organizations. The objective was to ensure the support of the representatives.

Then an auto evaluation took place with all organisations, using a questionnaire. This was finalized by restitution workshops and the development of a capacity building strategy and workplan. Erwin worked with a local consultancy organization. The consultants knew the context and the local NGOs well, as well as the culture and openness to discuss internal problems.

The most important result of the auto-evaluation was that the organizations feel a sense of 'ownership' of the results. It was their evaluation and interpretation of the results, which lead to their capacity building strategies. A positive effect of the auto-evaluation was that internal discussions were started which mirrored their own situation. They discovered their strengths and what needs strengthening by training, coaching or exchange. Members from all levels of the organization participated, giving a voice to persons who are not always involved in decision making.

Some downsides of the method: sometimes staff did not feel comfortable to speak their mind in presence of the coordination of the organization. The facilitators tried to resolve this by splitting up the groups. Sometimes participants did not have enough trust to give 'negative scores' even after clear discussions on weak elements of their organization.

Furthermore, the method had to be adapted to the local context and level of understanding of each organization. This is not a downside, but something that should be kept in mind. In South Kivu, there is a culture of talking and listening. This means quick brainstorm discussions and writing ideas on cards is difficult. The written words count and should be weighed. The method of presentation with a computerized calculator, graphics had to be adapted. In this context there was often no electricity.

The language was also a problem, not all understand French, hence the questionnaire was translated and the facilitators were allowed times to explain. This meant that the strict time-tables of the manual were not feasible.

Some do's and don't for the facilitator

• Do make it clear that you are not there to judge them or their program
• Do work with local consultants
• Do respect the confidentiality, don't send the reports to ICCO for instance
• Don't follow the method without adapting it to the level of each organization
• Don't mix your position with that of a prgram evaluator
• Don't hand the program over to local consultants, but stay in charge of the method
• Don't pay per diems for participants in workshops, this is about learning