DMCDD’s Capacity Building Policy - DMRU Capacity Building Policy Capacity Building Policy 2012 6 7...

DMCDD’s Capacity

Building Policy

2012 Capacity Building Policy Capacity Building Policy 2012

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1. Contents

1. Contents

2. Foreword

3. Purpose

4. What is capacity building?

5. Capacity and empowerment – a theological perspective

6. Capacity building at the community level

7. Capacity building of the civil society organisation

8. Capacity building at the sector level

9. DMCDD’s action steps

2. Foreword

DMCDD is pleased to present our Capacity Building Policy, which was developed with input from members and partners. We hope it will add fur-ther value to your work.

DMCDD considers capacity building to be the core strategic approach to civil society development. Civil society is where people get together to belong, to live and to create meaning. In short, capacity development of civil society can mean the creation of collective spaces where everyone is acknowledged and can flourish.

• Capacity building can strengthen already established collective spaces so as to become more inclusive, transparent and accessible for the poor and marginalised.

• Capacity building can also be instrumental in bringing people together and strengthening their voices for better governance and better delivery of public services.

Capacity building of civil society occurs when individuals (in organised groups) collectively work for causes beyond individual empowerment. Civil society development enables the poor to get a perspective to work for more just relationships beyond their own interests only, in order to help both improve their own situation and conditions at the societal level.

Process of developing this paper: The capacity building policy builds upon a learning process within the DMCDD network from December 2010 to March 2012. Apart from DMCDD’s sector panels and Board, external consultant Lisbet Fich contributed through interviews and visits to members and partners in Denmark, Nigeria and Liberia in spring 2011. Together with the secretariat, DMCDD’s capacity building committee identified the key issues, and a board of theologians have gone through the theological chapter. DMCDD would like to thank everybody involved, not least Rick James of INTRAC who, whilst at the annual seminar in May 2011, trained DMCDD members and delivered valuable inputs and com-ments in our journey to develop this policy.

DMCDD April 2012

Pictures:• DMCDD Photo Archive: p.13, p.15, p.18, p. 24.• Danmission Photo Archive - Jens Peter Tang Dalsgaard: Front page, p. 16.• Danmission Photo Archive - Signe Leth: p. 6.• IAS Photo Archive: p.29, p.30, p.31, p.32


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DMCDD uses the term ‘capacity building’ which is well-known by our members and partners, but we would like to emphasise that capacity building should aim to develop and strengthen existing structures of, for example, partner organisations and community organisations rather than building and implementing new structures. Most of us are familiar with past stories of Northern missionaries and development workers with good intentions doing things for people in a paternalistic way rather than work-ing with them in a more participatory manner. However, this approach has changed. Over the last decades we mostly have stories of Southern churches and communities working in partnership with Northern organ-isations, development workers and missionaries to strengthen local resources and enhance local capacities.

Capacity buildingCapacity building is a word that in some way conceals more than it reveals. There are various definitions just in the world of civil society development, and part of the confusion arises as capacity building can refer to several things at once. Capacity building might mean a means to achieve an end, e.g. a women’s group learning numeracy skills to be able to run their own businesses. Alternatively, capacity building could mean a process, e.g. of organisational development. Lastly, capacity building sometimes serves as an end in itself, e.g. an organisation being able to manage its finances and democratic procedures.

DMCDD acknowledges that capacity building can indeed mean all these three things in different contexts and thus follows the UNDP’s (2006) overall definition of capacity:

The ability of individuals, institutions and societies to perform functions, solve problems and set and achieve objectives in a sustainable manner.

Capacity in this definition concerns concrete abilities, performance of spe-cific functions, and also assumes that one has the ability to plan, set objec-tives and achieve them. It is useful to stick to a broad definition of capacity as it appears in many thematic areas and settings. Yet with regard to actual

4. What is capacity building?

3. Purpose

The purpose of DMCDD’s capacity building policy is to outline a vision and provide some practical guidelines on how DMCDD members and partners can work together in capacity building given existing historical contexts and partnerships. DMCDD, members and partners have a long history of working with capacity building. Yet the term ‘capacity building’ has been taken to mean many different things and therefore there is a need to clearly formulate what capacity building actually means and how we, as DMCDD members and partners, should best approach and integrate capacity building into our development work.

Main points from the learning review: The learning review report con-cluded that DMCDD members and partners have embraced the idea of capacity building, and that there is great potential in leveraging our long-term partnerships for holistic development. For this to happen, the funding modalities should be used to support solid anchoring of development activ-ities with partner organisations and the context in which they are situated through greater networking with local authorities and other influential local stakeholders.

Whilst DMCDD capacity building efforts should still take place at grass roots level, such efforts should increasingly include the partner organisa-tion level and networking with the relevant sector. The Northern part-ner has an important role in unfolding the Southern partners’ visions for development whilst at the same time maintaining a long-term perspective. There is a balance to strike here in partnerships: in such joint endeavours the Northern side should not running ahead risking to lose touch with grass roots realities faced by the Southern side. The Northern side should continually reflect upon on how far Southern partners can succeed with specific civil society development interventions with the poor and margin-alised at the core of the efforts.


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capacity building interventions, it is necessary to be specific at what level capacity is needed, why it should be developed, and with what purpose. The question “Capacity building for what?” is crucial. Where is it that we as the DMCDD network, DMCDD members and partners are particularly instrumental in civil society development?

EmpowermentWhile capacity building concerns the level of abilities, empowerment con-cerns a deeper personal level. Empowerment literally means to grant or be granted political, social or economic power. Like capacity building, empowerment can refer to a means, a process or an end. Capacity build-ing can be a factor in empowerment, yet it is only a part of empowerment. Empowerment of poor or marginalised people might imply a fundamental change of perspective, self-perception and self-esteem whether as an indi-vidual or a group. An empowerment process starts with one individual who in turn contributes to the empowerment of others and eventually to the empowerment of groups and of civil society. However for the purposes of this paper, we apply and refer mainly to empowerment at the individual level.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist and development theorist Amartya Sen views empowerment as “expanding people’s opportunities to live the kind of life they value”. This definition captures that people themselves should determine what kind of empowerment they require.

Empowerment, capacity building and the Danish Civil Society StrategyFor true civil society development to take place, Danish Civil Society Strategy emphasises the collective nature of capacity building rather than individuals’ empowerment. However, although civil society development is a collective notion, individual needs and interests at various levels in organisations are key change agents that must be included in order for capacity building to become a reality.


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Relationships are fundamentalFrom a theological perspective, the idea of individual and collective empowerment and capacity would naturally grow out of basic human rela-tionships - primarily one’s relationship to God. From a Christian perspec-tive, to be truly human is to be in a living relationship to God, to oneself, to others and to the whole of creation.According to the Biblical worldview, God created human beings in his own image and with the purpose of being stewards of all creation. God intended people to live in dynamic relation-ship with God the creator, with themselves, with each other and with all of creation.

Shared brokenness and shared vision of new communities and stewardship

In our broken world, no man or woman lives in a perfect relationship with God, oneself, others or creation. For everyone, the relationship on all four levels is broken or “out of joint”. Another word for this brokenness is sin.

In a Western context, sin has often been seen as something that first and foremost was applied to the individual level – affecting man’s relation to God, yet the Biblical understanding of ‘sin’ is not limited to a vertical rela-tion or an individual perspective. Sin or the brokenness of the world affects not only the individual or the spiritual relationship but also relationships on the horizontal or the social level as well as the relationship to all of creation. Modern theology talks about ‘structural sin’, which applies to neglect of children as well as unjust relationships of world trade and the misuse of resources. It is worth noting that for poor people, the experience of unjust and non-harmonious relationships often occupies a large part of their lives. Bryant Myers, a leading Christian development thinker puts it this way:

“Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work; that are not just; that are not for life; that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings”.

As humans we share the brokenness. Yet we also share the yearning of relationships being restored and the world being a better and fairer place to live. As Christians we believe that there is hope for a changed world, because God is there, as Creator, Reconciler and Renewer, and we see our-selves also as stewards of this hope. The vision is to restore relationships and to create more just collective spaces for people to live, love and share. The vision is also to fulfil the role as stewards of God’s creation and shared resources.

Biblical metaphor for fellowship: The bodyThe new Testament uses a powerful metaphor when it talks about the church being the body of Christ (Ephesians 4, Rom 1, 1 Kor. 12) in this world, where each individual or member has to see him or herself as a part of the body, where each member has different functions and all are needed in order for the body to function. There are different callings and duties but all are needed for the community to be able to work. The eye cannot say: “what use is the arm?” or the arm cannot say: “what use is the ear?” They all need to be there for the body to work. It is together that they can be the body.

[5. Capacity and empowerment – a theological perspective

Relationship to GodHumans are created and called to a life in relationship to God.

Relationship to selfPeople are uniquely created in God’s image and thus have worth and dig-nity. While we must remember that we are not God, we have a calling to reflect God’s image.

Relationship to othersGod created us to be in loving relationships with one another. People are not islands, but made to relate to one another, and to encourage one anoth-er to use the gifts we have been given so that each one of us can fulfil our particular callings.

Relationship to CreationJust as humans become what they are in relationship to one another, humans also exist in relationship to Creation at large. Called to steward-ship and co-creation, humans are called to manifest their likeness of God in the sharing of resources.


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DMCDD’s idea of capacity building draws on this strong metaphor, as it emphasises that each individual part needs to be acknowledged, respected and strengthened to create a truly collective civil society. Though the Biblical picture primarily relates to the work of the church as the body of Christ, the picture can provide inspiration for capacity building of organ-isations or communities. The understanding that each and everyone has a unique gift to contribute to the whole, and that no person can work on his/her own is true also at the organisational level. Any organisation has the potential of empowering its stakeholders, members and staff, and to contribute jointly to society. In any group, how fragile and corrupt it may be; there are ways of working that can be cultivated to grow and develop. Capacity building and organisational development should be profession-ally planned, but such processes cannot and should not be completely controlled as that would seriously hamper them. Humans can create space for change, yet the turning point is out of human hands. The determining point where the decision is taken or a group gets inspired to look ahead cannot be forced. It is only possible to provide space for that point to be reached. That is why, in a Christian inspired context of organisational development, the expression space for grace has been applied by Rick James of INTRAC. Depending on one’s perspective, the turning point is reached by the force of the process itself, the spiritual – or by the grace of God.

Empowerment understood as a changed self-perception becomes a key word here again. Change can come only through changed individuals, par-ticularly leaders who again influence collectives to change. For collectives to change, some tools are needed to secure good stewardship of shared resources, or in other words, good governance and management in organ-isations at various levels.

For DMCDD the concept of ‘broken relations’ as something which Christians strive to overcome is mirrored in the focus on i.e. the develop-ment of collective capacities to strengthen human relations and joint efforts that extend beyond what individuals themselves can accomplish.

God/the spiritual dimension

Wider society, Created worldOneself

One another


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Capacity building as a means

Capacity building as an end

Capacity building at com-munity level

Strengthen capacity of poor and marginalised people to undertake defined activities

Strengthen capacity of poor and marginalised people to participate in political and socio-eco-nomic arenas according to objectives defined by themselves

Since poverty is not just about money but also about insufficient relationships, lack of capabilities and manoeuvrability: reducing poverty requires a holistic approach combining spiritual, social, financial, and political aspects of life. The famous book The pedagogy of the oppressed by Brazilian priest and educationalist Paolo Freire clearly formulated the need to challenge the discourse or language on pov-erty to remove the stigmatisation so strongly felt by the poor and marginalised. Empowerment involves a new language as well as a new practice to be adapted.

The approach of mobilising people in groups is very powerful, as a group provides an alternative language about who the group members are and how a just and enjoyable community should be. It also provides a different space and practice, often felt as a ‘safe space’ for people to be together and share experiences, knowledge and skills.

6. Capacity building at the community level

Levels of capacity buildingIn DMCDD’s work capacity building takes place at the three levels pre-sented in the table below: the community level, the organisational level, and ultimately the sector level.

Adapted after Eades 1997 and James & Hailey 2007



Capacity building at community level

Strengthen capacity of poor and marginalised people to undertake defined activities

Strengthen capacity of poor and marginalised people to participate in political and socio-eco-nomic arenas according to objectives defined by themselves

Capacity building of individual organisations in civil society

Strengthen organisa-tions to perform specified activities

Strengthen organisations to fulfil their missions

Capacity building at sector level

Strengthen the sector regarding specific ser-vices or models

Strengthen the sector by supporting the delivery of adequate responses to citizens’ needs

Whereas traditionally many DMCDD partners and members focus on the community level, gradually over the last five years there have been good practices at the organisational level, and even a few at the sector level. While DMCDD wishes to continue supporting capacity building at the community level, we see interventions at the organisational level as a pri-ority area. To secure good development work over time with the communi-ties, partner organisations themselves need to be developed too. Only with good work at the grass roots level and a healthy organisational structure, can sustainable change at the sector level be envisaged.


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Another self-perception: Among DMCDD members and partners, and in churches all over the world, there is potential for an alternative language on human dignity and access to an alternative community. DMCDD can support social work via churches that reach out to the poor and margin-alised regardless of religion, while maintaining that DMCDD cannot sup-port churches’ evangelisation work.

From practical needs to strategic interests: DMCDD-supported work in targeting the most vulnerable demonstrates how mobilisation of poor and marginalised people in groups lead to empowerment and perhaps capac-ity building of whole communities at a later stage. Examples could include savings and loan associations, self-help groups for people living with HIV/AIDS as above, and literacy groups or beekeeper associations. Participating in community groups on more equal terms with others can foster a new approach to one’s own situation. Through the daily practice in a group, members can gradually get a perspective beyond their own immediate practical needs, enabling them to envision and work for a more sustainable change in their condition. With a long-term perspective it is even possible for group members to formulate longer-term strategic interests, including securing rights to access education, land and resources.

CASE - YWAM, India: How training, economic empowerment and church fellowship can facilitate women’s social inclusion in a Hindu contextSince 2005 Danish Youth with a Mission (YWAM) has supported YWAM‐Chennai’s work through a DMCDD pilot project to empower women in South India living with HIV and to improve their general physical, emotional and social well-being . The project helps develops capacity in 10 self-help groups (each consisting of 25-40 women living with HIV). YWAM helps the women to access public welfare, undertake health education in churches and communities. aiming to reduce stigma.The project is organisationally anchored in local churches, but the first self-help group consisted of women met through YWAM’s social work in slum areas. Groups consist of Hindus and Christians alike. Often women have been excluded from their families and religious communities due to the stigma and effects of having HIV e.g. not being capable of working.YWAM’s group work is part of their value-based organisational practice. For example, every meeting begins with a prayer. In churches and self-help groups, YWAM works with health information, particularly on how HIV is (and is not) transmitted. Congregations are encouraged to include people living with HIV and reduce stigma. The project also hosts a small refuge for women who have been kicked out of their homes. From here women can be rehabilitated with their families.

The strength of self-help groups are:

• Soft values, resembling family values; every group have met to share griev-ances and worries, to create trust and to hope for the future. Through fellow-ship and training, the women’s individual talents are developed. Prayer has also provided a language for distress as well as for hope, and on top of the close bonds developed amongst the women, regular home visits by YWAM staff and volunteers have contributed to the feeling of being part of a family.

• Forgiveness and community: In Christian as well as Hindu communities, many women have found peace with how the virus was transmitted in the first place (often from their passed away husbands).It can be a great relief to be freed from guilt or shame from living with HIV. For many of the women, the experience of being forgiven by God has been essential for their emotional well-being.

• Combine soft values and economic empowerment: Apart from caring groups, organisationally separate groups are formed to provide savings and loans for the members. Through economic empowerment women can be rehabilitated with their families. Once seen as a burden and shame for their families, women can now contribute to the household as breadwinners.

• Preach against prejudices: Pulpits have worked as a platform for pastors who preach that HIV is not a punishment from God and as such one should fight against these prejudices and show mercy to one another.


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Capacity building of the civil society organ-isation

Strengthen organisa-tion to perform specified activities

Strengthen organisations to fulfil their missions

In DMCDD’s work, the entry point to capacity building processes has often been a wish to deliver better services or to strengthen financial man-agement and accountability. Sometimes there has been a (too) large empha-sis on the activities side in the table above, or the ‘TO DO’ dimension in the figures below:

It is understandable that the entry point to capacity building is the ‘TO DO’ dimension, programme or the visible outcomes of its work. Nevertheless, the programme needs to be anchored with the other two dimensions to be fruitful.

7. Capacity building of the civil society organisation

Context

Internalorganisation

‘To be’

Programmeperformance

‘To do’

Externallinkages

‘To relate’

Source:INTRAC, 1993

Three interrelated dimensions of an organisationTo be identity, vision, leadership, procedures of decision-making and acting, membership base.

To do The programme the organisation is undertaking and what outcomes it produces. This could be health work, human rights awareness, social work, forming of self-help groups.

To relate relations to external stakeholders such as other civil society organisations, local government, donors and partners.

In practice, empowerment and capacity building of primary stakeholders should go along with capacity building of the partner organisation and the partnership, as the partner organisation plays various important roles in civil society development.

Recommendations:• DMCDD wishes to continuously support poverty alleviating work with

the poor themselves, when there is a vision for capacity building of civil society more broadly.

• DMCDD can support capacity building of the poor e.g. by means of skills training with an emphasis on linking such efforts involving individuals and community groups to more organised efforts in civil society.

• The empowerment and capacity building of primary stakeholders should go along with capacity building of the partner organisation and the partnership.


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To assess an organisation’s capacity the three dimensions need to exist. As for the ‘TO BE’ dimension, it takes another figure to unfold this dimension further:

Core/heart/identity: An onion grows in layers of skin from the centre (core) outwards. In organisational terms this means that growth in the organisation should be coherent with the heart (core) of the organisation. This is its identity, culture and worldview based on the founding values and vision. These provide the basis and legitimacy of the organisation’s actions.

Vision, mission, values and identity

Strategy

Structures and systems

Human resources

Capital and �nancial resources

As for the ‘TO BE’ dimension: to deliver good work and fulfil its mission, it needs to have a strong vision of what it is striving for based on core values, effective leadership, a comprehensive strategy, appropriate internal systems and competent staff.

As for the ‘TO RELATE’ dimension: Some churches and Christian organ-isations tend to work in relative isolation from government structures and other community structures, and the learning review confirmed that impression. However, organisations are generally strengthened by develop-ing better relations to other organisational structures, be it civil society organisations, other churches, religious denominations or the local authori-ties. Poor relationships will affect its performance. Of course this also goes for the organisations’ North-South partnerships as is further developed in the DMCDD Partnership Policy.


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Lutheran Church of Liberia: Jesus Christ as a model for steward leadershipAfter years of operating a very successful HIV/AIDS programme as a sub-department, among other programmes, time had come for organisational development of LCL. It was threatening to the unity of the church that its sub-departments grew enormously and were far better equipped than the church itself. Or in the words of the model: the ‘TO DO’ side of LCL had been very successful but the LCL needed a strengthening of its inner structures, the ‘TO BE’ side and also of the ‘TO RELATE’ dimension, not least to its overseas Partners in Mission.

Originally the LCL advertised for an administrator to design systems and procedures, prepare tools and manuals. As seen with the ‘onion-model’, this work concerns the ‘onion-layer’ of structures and systems. LCL clearly stated that they would trust a person who their partner Danish Evangelical Mission in turn trusted. The partner relation, the common history of having walked together and the joint experience was an impor-tant basis for this level of trust. Further, the approach of the consultant has created credibility and trust at all levels and the immediate results bear evidence to a high level of integrity and results orientation of the consul-tant. The case demonstrates that apart from professionalism, personality, respect and trust between the change agents are also determining factors in creating successful organisational change.

The Capacity building programme has – primarily through the interven-tion of the administrative consultant – addressed relations at the workplace in many aspects: revising the organogram with lines of reporting and authority, updating and developing new job descriptions accordingly and defining responsibilities and relations, appointing more supervisors, clari-fying supervisory responsibilities and building the requisite skills, defining new meeting structures and developing meeting tools etc. A range of tools to support new systems and procedures have been prepared and document-ed: organisational policies, meeting structures, leave-form, appraisal-form, policy communication, code of conduct, and a staff manual is underway.

Mission/strategy: The next layer of organisational skin is the organisa-tion’s purpose (mission) and strategy – what the organisation hopes to do about achieving the changes in the world that they think are important.

Structures/systems: Outside that, there are structures and systems (such as monitoring and evaluation systems, human resource system, financial management systems).

Human competencies: The next layer is the capacity contained in the human competencies required to take the strategy forward, i.e. carry out the activities and manage the organisation. These capacities are most vis-ible as individual staff competencies, skills and abilities.

Physical and financial resources: The outer layer (what the rest of the world will see most easily) represents the physical and financial resources e.g. money, buildings, vehicles and equipment. This level is the most visible and too often capacity building efforts stop here. For a capacity building process to be efficient, the inner layers need also to be addressed.

The case of capacity building of the Lutheran Church of Liberia (LCL), as observed through the learning review 2011, can shed light over the models above.


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Criteria for supporting capacity building of church organisations: Capacity building of the LCL could be supported by DMCDD because the LCL is instrumental for several development interventions. The capac-ity building programme in LCL addressed the ‘TO BE’ side, the internal structures and procedures. It also went further down into the layers of the onion and worked to develop the culture towards greater participation and team spirit amongst the leadership. The intervention also addressed basic financial and physical structures as this was much needed.

On-the-job-training preferable: The LCL-case also points to the strength of training-on-location: Training of staff should preferably take place on location where individual trainees get to practice their applied skills in their working situation immediately. Support can be given to relevant training at other places, yet the preparation of the candidate and the organ-isation around him/her, and the ensuing transfer of knowledge and skills back to the organisation, is crucial. Partnership relations can, to some extent, legitimate e.g. Northern partner secondment of personnel and training interventions with Southern partner representatives. However this should be balanced with other concerns such as cost and quality of training etc. Positioning, debriefing and preparing in one’s own context should be well described.

Spirituality, capacity building and organisational development pro-cesses: The learning review in 2011 found that most capacity building interventions at organisational levels generally concerned the outer lay-ers of the onion, primarily physical resources, staff competences and also structures and systems. Less was being done regarding the ‘heart’ issues, values, visions and identity area at the core. However, that learning assess-ment also found that something was actually being done here, but covered as a field perceived to be inherently a church matter. This is paradoxical, as most DMCDD members and partners would see the gospel as their central driving force.

Christian values, not least the message that people are loved by God, are heart issues for DMCDD members and partners, and driving forces for

The administrative consultant and the GS have furthermore carried out a series of workshops on communication, active listening, supervi-sion, and time management – all subjects related to behaviour and atti-tude. Adequate supervisory systems and procedures have been put in place i.e. a. a staff performance appraisal system. On the basis of this, dialogue has been established between supervisor and subordinate, reviewing strengths and weaknesses in the performance and required qualifications of the individual staff member. A general need for train-ing in generic management skills was identified within the level of Directors and senior staff. The relevance was ensured through exer-cises and group work based on participants’ own cases.

The impact of training in terms of technical managerial skills is yet to be seen in practice, but the impact on the group of Directors in terms of team spirit has been enormous: they all express appreciation of the new quality of their relations: working hand in hand with an open mind, learning from each other, sharing, giving feedback, and essen-tially regarding the others at the same level as real peers where all pull in the same direction and appreciate the role and contribution of the others to organisational life. The team spirit and joint experience adds power and critical mass to the continued process. Comparing individu-al training externally and group training on location, it is evident that group training on location has many additional advantages as regards transfer of learning to active work life and team building to sustain changes. This work regards the ‘onion-layer’ of human resources, but it also touches upon the culture of the organisation, and in that respect getting close to the core and the heart of LCL. The consultant, herself not a church member, pointed appropriately and effectively to Jesus Christ as being a model for steward leadership in LCL. Coming from outside the church, she has been very clear in addressing a heart/core issue.


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development work. It would be natural and appropriate for us to be more open about models, for example leadership derived from Scriptures or mod-els for project interventions such as Bible Societies’ work with The Good Samaritan as an approach to HIV/AIDS work. Where relevant and profes-sionally appropriate, there is good experience of using capacity building ‘tools’ from Christian spiritual practice as part of capacity building pro-cesses.. Examples could include devotions to start off the day at an organ-isational development workshop, or it could be silent moments in prayer where difficult decisions are to be taken or individual reflection is needed for the group process to move on. It is however crucial to also remember the danger of manipulation while applying such practices, thus to avoid promoting a particular direction, they must never be forced upon the pro-cess deliberately.

Recommendations:• DMCDD supports capacity building of organisations with a clear civil

society development agenda and the well-being of the poor and margin-alised at the core of the effort. Only organisations with non-discriminato-ry policies in their development work can be considered. Churches, their development offices or other development organisations can be considered according to their relevance for sound development work e.g. in terms of management or sustainability.

• Capacity building has a spiritual side, which naturally could form part of capacity building interventions. However, this side should not rely only on Danida funds.

• Capacity assessment can be a recommendation/prerequisite if the partners wish to apply for larger projects.

• Training of staff should preferably take place on location where individual trainees get to practice their applied skills in their working situation immediately.

• Capacity building through south-south learning is encouraged and can be supported.


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The Change Triangle Model shows how the levels of thematic competence (e.g. in health, social work or education) combined with organisational capacity and advocacy, need to go together for change to take place. The Change Triangle model is used by many organisations as a planning tool in development (see literature list).



Capacity development at sector level

Strengthen the sector regarding specific ser-vices or models

Strengthen the sector by supporting the delivery of adequate responses to citizens’ needs

What is a sector: DMCDD takes ‘sector’ to broadly mean governmental, private and traditional actors delivering services within a given field such as health, education or social work; and delivering much needed services to the poor. The Danish Civil Society Strategy points rightly to the gov-ernment as being primarily responsible for delivering such services, yet the reality on the ground is still that private actors, not least churches, in for example Tanzania, are delivering about 40 per-cent of the health ser-vices. DMCDD also considers private and traditional actors to be part of the Tanzanian health sector, yet DMCDD indeed would support pushing for greater financial responsibility on the part of the government but the implementation could be outsourced to e.g. churches. Civil society should not set up parallel structures, but can, through their work with the vulner-able advocate for the government, take on greater responsibility for these groups.

Walk the talk: the Change Triangle: In the experience of DMCDD members and partners, improved methods to, e.g. reach out to marginalised groups within health or education, are best introduced by having been simply shown that they work, and thereafter documented and taught to the sector level. There are good experiences of piloting, documenting and advocating methods such as promoting primary health care work in rural parts of Tanzania (Danmission/ELCT, BDM/Moravian church) or to care for sexually abused children at Sri Lanka (Assist/LEADS). To promote government responsibility for service delivery, the power of the example can be immense, yet organisational and advocacy skills are also needed.

8. Capacity building at sector level

THEMATICCOMPETENCIES

ADVOCACYORGANISATIONALCAPACITY


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Challenges: Where the Lutheran Church of Liberia’s HIV/AIDS pro-gramme and FPFK Langalanga’s social work provide great examples of how development projects can stimulate change of a given sector, the learning review also found that this often has been difficult. The focus of member and partner organisations has been simply to do good work and often the resources to document, to strengthen the organisational struc-tures and to advocate, has been severely underestimated. In particular, the advocacy skills needed for external relations (e.g. local authorities) were found to be lacking. While the Southern partner obviously plays the main role in implementation, both the Northern member organisation and DMCDD have the possibility to be more reflective and could help maintain the long-term focus and the transferring of learning to the sector level. See the DMCDD Partnership Policy.

CASE: From women’s crisis centre to capacity building of regional insti-tutions in Nakuru County, KenyaThrough their work with vulnerable children and women, the Pentecostal church FPFK (Free Pentecostal Fellowship of Kenya, partner of IAS) has shown how a passion for the marginalised can be developed into an institu-tional capacity building programme with the potential of changing Nakuru County’s approach to vulnerable women.

FPFK Langa Langa was established in 1962 with a vision of creating a digni-fied life for vulnerable children and youth from the slum areas in and around Nakuru. Since 1994 FPFK-LL has emphasised social work in collaboration with Danish missionaries. In 2005 a crisis centre for women was established with support through DMCDD. This centre has been widely acknowl-edged in Kenya and takes interns from Universities in Nakuru and Nairobi. Collaboration with local police and the social sector has also been developed gradually over time. In 2009 the crisis centre for women was the start-ing point for local community mobilisation and to get attention from local authorities. Women’s groups were formed in the slums, teachings of religious leaders and of the police were initiated, and campaigns such as public demon-strations were arranged to create a focus on gender-based violence, children’s rights and the need for literacy. In the current phase, policemen and local government officials are included in human rights and gender-based violence training. Community Mobilisation Units were set up to mobilise people, and also to counsel and mediate where needed. Community people report their cases of violence to them. Currently, the reporting function is being anchored in the powerful Chiefs’ offices as to secure the sustainability of the work after funding is phased out. At present these Boards are handling 8 cases a week.

Most recently FPFK LL developed a manual about sexual and reproductive health developed with the school children’s clubs, and the next plan is to have this material as part of the curriculum for primary and secondary schools in Nakuru County.


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Creating space for long-term development: DMCDD is aligned with the learning review in recommending long-term development. In practice, good service work undertaken in close collaboration with local government and its workers can be supported, particularly if there is a perspective to work through another phase where the focus of capacity building of part-ner organisation and advocacy can be unfolded. This implies being more realistic regarding sustainability in the future. After the first phase of a project, viability i.e. measures to sustain project outputs, should be expect-ed whereas after the second phase, DMCDD will expect a larger degree of sustainability in the sense of institutional anchoring of project activities - best carried out with existing structures, local government, local leaders or with the partner organisation itself. See also DMCDD advocacy policy.


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9. DMCDD’s action steps

Project/intervention level:• DMCDD intends to stimulate long-term development within the framework of the partnerships, through our funding modalities.

• DMCDD will support capacity building and organisational development of churches, church departments or of other organisations, according to the objectives and context of the planned intervention.

• DMCDD will develop or facilitate linking to relevant tools in capacity building and organisational development.

• DMCDD will develop and offer advocacy training for partners.

• The conditions/demands for capacity building will differ according to the size of the project.

• DMCDD will facilitate a pool of trainers/OD consultants from member and partner organisations, CORAT etc.

• DMCDD will facilitate and support south-south learning.

Facilitation of learning: • DMCDD intends to maintain a strong focus on learning. DMCDD intends to be clearer about the reflection part of the joint work and designate it some space in cooperation, project proposals and budgets, and partnership visits.

• DMCDD’s role is to facilitate reflection and learning within the fram work of the partnerships rather than being the ‘expert’.

• DMCDD will create learning spaces for DMCDD and MOs (and POs) where reflection is stimulated, in the form of learning reviews or piloting new approaches.

Recommendations:• DMCDD emphasises that it is possible and desirable to contemplate

intervening over several phases, hence making it possible to sustain activities and integrate them with existing institutions. The transfer of responsibility to the sector level should be described better, to secure sustainability of project activities.

• The Northern partner’s role in reflection and taking new strategic steps should be emphasised and explored. In terms of seeing the project intervention at a certain distance and bringing in new learning, Northern partners (including DMCDD) should take on greater responsibility.

• Advocacy skills of members and partners should be strengthened, enabling relevant advocacy at local, national and international level.


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Literature:Bisgaard et al.: The Change Triangle. An integrated model to strengthen advocacy in the South through thematic competences and organizational capacity. Ibis, DMCDD and PATC 2008. DMCDD’s website

Christiansen; Catrine: RELIGION I DANSKE NGO PROJEKTER RETTET MOD UNGE I SYD: Udfordringer og Opfordringer. BAGGRUNDSPAPIR. The Danish Children and Youth Network, 2011.

Corbett & Fikkert: When Helping Hurts. How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself 2009 Moody Publishers Chicago

Fich, Lisbet: Learning Review: Capacity Development: DMCDD Mini-Programme. Konsulentnetværket, Copenhagen Oct 2011

Freire, Paolo: The pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin Educational Books 1967

Myers, Bryant: Walking with the poor: Principles and Practice of Transformational Development. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1999), 86

James, Rick: Space for Grace. Swedish Mission Council 2004. Svenska missionsrådets skriftserie 2/2004

James, Rick and Hailey, John: Capacity building for NGOs. Making it work. INTRAC Praxis Series No. 2 2007

Danish Mission CouncilDevelopment DepartmentPeter Bangs Vej 1DDK - 2000 Frederiksberg

Tel: +45 39612777Fax: +45 39401954

E-mail: [email protected]: www.dmru.org

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