Toward purposeful individual capacity strengthening: alternative considerations for Western NGOs

Abstract

The international donor community continues to emphasise country-led development strategies designed to equitably engage public and civil society agents in managing development assistance. Similarly donors who fund Western NGOs to implement development programmes on their behalf in recipient countries are increasingly pushing for cost-effective programme implementation that actively engages local actors. This article proposes an alternative theoretically grounded model for individual capacity strengthening to responsive and mission-driven Western NGOs that claim to be committed to ideals of capacity strengthening and indigenisation of programme leadership.

La communauté internationale des bailleurs de fonds continue à mettre l'accent sur des stratégies de développement menées par les pays conçues pour faire intervenir de manière équitable les agents de la société civile et du secteur public dans la gestion de l'aide au développement. De même, les bailleurs qui financent les ONG occidentales pour qu'elles mettent en œuvre des programmes de développement en leur nom dans les pays récipiendaires exigent de plus en plus une mise en œuvre des programmes présentant un bon rapport coût/efficacité pour le renforcement des capacités individuelles de la part des ONG occidentales réactives et conscientes de leur mission qui déclarent leur engagement en faveur d'idéaux de renforcement des capacités et d’« indigénisation » du leadership des programmes.

A nivel internacional, la comunidad de donantes continúa favoreciendo aquellas estrategias de desarrollo que, de acuerdo a su diseño, en la gestión de la ayuda para el desarrollo involucran de manera equitativa a los agentes de la sociedad pública y civil. .De manera similar, dichos donantes –que aportan fondos a las ong occidentales a fin de que implementen programas de desarrollo en su nombre en países beneficiarios– cada vez más impulsan programas eficientes en cuanto a costos, que involucran destacadamente a los actores locales. En el presente artículo se propone un modelo alternativo, asentado en bases teóricas, dirigido a fortalecer la capacidad individual al interior de ong occidentales que dicen estar comprometidas con la promoción de los ideales del fortalecimiento de capacidades y de una mayor indigenización en el liderazgo de sus programas, y cuyos mandatos se orientan tanto a dar respuesta como al cumplimiento de aquellos objetivos planteados en su misión.

Keywords:

• Aid – Capacity development
• Civil society – NGOs
• Partnership
• Participation

Notes on contributor

Vincent M. Mugisha is a teaching and research fellow, Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences, College of Education and Social Services, University of Vermont. His teaching and research interests are in diversity and social justice studies; organisational leadership and social transformation; and educational and international development.

Notes

1 My professional experiences span 10 years of professional practice, and include: (1) working in head offices of various North American NGOs in Greater Washington, DC, and Ottawa, Canada as a mid-level manager of development programmes designed to strengthen capacities of local actors; (2) liaising with leading bilateral donors such as USAID and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to develop, implement, and evaluate development programmes; (3) traveling to developing countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Togo, Zambia, to provide technical assistance such as programme management training and mentoring; (4) serving as a third-country expatriate senior programme leader in Benin/Togo and Haiti; and (5) Serving as an independent consultant to deliver capacity strengthening services to employees of Western NGOs, and conduct programme development assessments and project evaluations in countries as far apart as Haiti and Burma/Myanmar.

2 I have deliberately not used actual names or quoted any personal statements of employers, clients, friends, and colleagues, so as to protect the confidentiality of my colleagues who were not aware that I would eventually reflect on my past experiences for scholarly purposes. Furthermore, it was not my intention to direct any criticisms or accolades to specific development initiatives of the organisations within my professional circles. Rather, I intended to share personal experience and knowledge with fellow scholars and practitioners in international development, and organisational studies.