Informing the future of capacity building: lessons from an NGO partnership

Abstract

Despite a recent surge in popularity, critical gaps remain in effectively building the capacity of organisations through global development projects. Two non-governmental organisations, FHI 360 and Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), established a partnership focused on strengthening CTPH's organisational capacity to conduct high quality monitoring and evaluation and to effectively advocate for integrated population, health, and environment work. To help inform the design and implementation of future capacity building programmes, the partners describe their lessons learnt as illustrated through the five key capacity building steps: stakeholder engagement and partnership formation; capacity needs assessment; capacity plan design; plan implementation; and evaluation.

Il y a encore des lacunes cruciales à combler dans le renforcement efficace des capacités des organisations à travers des projets de développement mondiaux, même si ce domaine a récemment gagné en popularité. Deux organisations non gouvernementales, FHI 360 et Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), ont établi un partenariat axé sur le renforcement des capacités organisationnelles de CTPH pour que cette organisation puisse mener des travaux efficaces de suivi et d’évaluation et préconiser efficacement des travaux intégrés en matière de population, de santé et d'environnement. Pour contribuer à éclairer la conception et la mise en œuvre des programmes futurs de renforcement des capacités, les partenaires décrivent leurs enseignements tels qu'illustrés à travers les cinq étapes essentielles du renforcement des capacités : mobilisation des parties prenantes et formation de partenariats ; évaluation des besoins en matière de capacités ; conception du plan relatif aux capacités ; mise en œuvre du plan ; et évaluation.

A pesar del reciente incremento registrado en la implementación de proyectos de desarrollo que impulsan la efectiva construcción de capacidades en las organizaciones a nivel mundial, persisten ciertas lagunas críticas. Dos organizaciones no gubernamentales, FHI 360 y Conservación mediante la Salud Pública (ctph), establecieron una alianza destinada a fortalecer la capacidad organizacional de realizar monitoreos y evaluaciones de alta calidad de ctph, así como a impulsar la incidencia efectiva en el trabajo integral en materia de población, salud y medio ambiente. Con el fin de aportar al diseño y a la implementación de programas de construcción de capacidades en el futuro, las ong aliadas describen los aprendizajes obtenidos en cada uno de los cinco pasos seguidos para la construcción de capacidades: involucramiento de los actores y formación de alianzas; evaluación de necesidades en materia de capacidades; diseño del plan de capacidades; implementación del plan; y evaluación.

Keywords:

• Aid – Aid effectiveness
• Capacity development
• Development policies
• Civil society – NGOs
• Partnership

Acknowledgements

This work and article was made possible through financial support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of FHI 360 and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. The authors thank Joseph Byonanebye and Lynne Gaffikin for their contributions to the project, and our funder for allowing us to be so flexible in the project design and implementation.

Funding

Financial assistance was provided by USAID under the terms of Cooperative Agreement GPO-A-00-08-00001-00, the Program Research for Strengthening Services (PROGRESS) Program.

Notes on contributors

Tricia Petruney (corresponding author) is a Senior Technical Officer in FHI 360's Global Health, Population, and Nutrition group, and leads global and national efforts to support and build the capacity of governments, development partners, and funders to deliver evidence-based health policy-making and programme design. <[email protected]>

Aurelie Brunie is a social scientist within the Programme Sciences division of FHI 360, where she is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing research projects in global health and development. She has over five years' of international experience in applied research, and specialises in community-based programming. <[email protected]>

Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is the founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health. Prior to setting up CTPH in 2003, she worked as a wildlife veterinarian for Uganda Wildlife Authority and conducted tuberculosis research at the human/wildlife/livestock interface in Uganda while completing a Zoological Medicine Residency and a Masters in Specialised Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina Zoological Park/North Carolina State University. <[email protected]>

Patricia Wamala-Mucheri is a Technical Officer at FHI 360 in Uganda with experience in HIV prevention, and youth and adolescent sexual and reproductive health programmes. For the last five years, she has provided technical and programme support to community-based family programmes, particularly for the research utilisation and capacity building components. <[email protected]>

Angela Akol is an international health specialist with over 13 years' experience in the leadership, management, coordination, and implementation of community family planning, HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health programmes in developing countries. She is currently the Country Director of Uganda for FHI 360, where she serves as the FHI 360 in-country representative and is responsible for leading family planning projects, managing the country office, financial monitoring, and resource development. <[email protected]>