1. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for Household Economic Strengthening Activities

2. Course Objectives By the end of the training, you will be able to…
Explain why HES activities will enhance existing programs for VC
Explain how HES activities fit into their organizational mission and goals
List the general steps necessary for planning and implementing HES activities
Identify core organizational strengths and weaknesses for implementing HES activities
Name four key components of partnerships
Identify key challenges of forming partnerships and corresponding strategies for mitigating them
Develop a plan for working with colleagues to do a deeper assessment of organizational capacity

3. What is Household Economic Strengthening?
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
What is Household Economic Strengthening?
“A portfolio of interventions to reduce the economic vulnerability of households and empower them to provide for the essential needs of the children they care for, rather than relying on external assistance.”
PEPFAR working definition, 2011

4. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Discuss diagram – copies for everyone. Discuss types of HES activities and place on the diagram (blown up) in the appropriate place.

5. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Why HES Activities?
Go around the room and have everyone share why they have added or plan to add HES activities to existing programming. (Talk about team effort & communication)

6. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Why HES Activities?
Benefits to target audience
Benefits over other types of interventions
Benefits to organization (mission fit, strategic objectives, etc.)
Small group discussion – 15 min (groups of 2 or 3) – one person volunteers to share their answers. Why does their org choose to implement HES activities.

7. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Health Kits
???????
???????
Abuja notes: example given by group – health kits distributed widely but failed to show any benefits (often components are sold). Diagram was drawn during discussion of how we can improve the process. Either we have to think more carefully about what goes into the health kits, the decisions that lead to them being distributed (and who is in them), components, method of distribution, being ‘free’, etc. Or think about what happens after they are distributed – adding conditions (ie if we come back in a month and the nets are hung, you will be eligible for X), improving training, etc.

8. Organizational Capacity

9. Organizational Capacity
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Organizational Capacity
Overall OC
What do you do?
How well do you do it?
How strong are your ‘systems’?
OC to implement HES Activities
What are you planning to do?
How well can you do it with your current resources?
What is your capacity to enhance existing resources in order to do it well?
Two ways to think about OC

10. Overall Organizational Capacity
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Overall Organizational Capacity
Resources for Assessing Organizational Strength
Technical and Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (TOCAT)
Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA)
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis (SWOT)
MCAT – Management Capacity Assessment Tool
Finance, administrative, grants management
MOST – Management Organizational Strengths Assessment Tool
NHOCAT – National Harmonized Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool
Discuss tools people are familiar with and have used
Abuja notes: most in room were very familiar with one or more tools & had used them

11. Technical and Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (TOCAT)
Core Functional Areas
Principal Capacity Domains
A: Institutional & Programmatic Technical Capacity
1. Number, Mix and Capacity Of Technical Staff
2. Technical Quality Standards
3. Technical Supervision
4. Training and Mentoring
5. Client/Beneficiary Communications
6. Community Involvement
7. Service Delivery Organization and Quality Assurance
8. Referral Systems for Continuum of Prevention, Care and Support Services
B: Institutional & Programmatic Organizational Capacity
1. Governance and Leadership
2. Management Practices
3. Operational Planning
4. Structure: Roles and Responsibility
5. Structure: Delegation of Authority and Decision-Making
6. Staffing and Human Resource Management
7. Partnering and Networking

12. Technical and Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (TOCAT)
Core Functional Areas
Principal Capacity Domains
C: Financial Management Systems
1. Financial Planning and Budgeting
2. Cash and Banking
3. Accounting and Record Keeping
D: Procurement and Supply Management
Procurement
E: Monitoring for Management
1. Technical Program Planning and M&E
2. Data Collection Systems
3. Data Use and Culture of Information
4. Stakeholder Communications and Reporting

13. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
SWOT – HES ACTIVITIES
STRENGTHS
What are we good at?
WEAKNESSES
What do we do poorly?
OPPORTUNITIES
What are our best strategies for improvement or growth? Of what or whom can/should we take advantage?
THREATS
What can get in our way? In what do we have little or no control?
Internal Factors
Positive Influences
Negative Influences
External Factors
Discuss basic components of a SWOT analysis. As a group spend 5 minutes: “What are some general strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by organizations with expertise in working with OVCs to implement HES activities?”
Strengths: established target audience, trust built, strong knowledge of target audience and context
Weaknesses: little or no technical capacity, perception of ‘needs’ may be skewed, working with children presents challenges
Opportunities: partnerships, funding availability, in-country expertise
Threats: changing market/context, competition
Small groups: do SWOT for your org’s capacity to implement HES activities. Place sticky notes on wall under S, W, O, T for later review (see photos)

14. How can we use these tools?
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
How can we use these tools?
COLLABORATION
ACTION PLANNING
ACCOUNTABILITY
What else?
Collaboration is key to conducting an organizational assessment. Tools like TOCAT include specific recommendations for who should be involved in assessing each level of capacity. In general, include staff at all levels, not just executive staff and not just field staff. (This is hard… just because boss says ‘it’s so’ doesn’t mean it is… except when it does )
Even more important than assessing organizational capacity is using the information gained in your decision-making process. For example, if it is determined that you need to resolve one or two key weaknesses, planning to do so should commence immediately and staff should be assigned specific tasks and deadlines.

15. Capacity to implement HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Capacity to implement HES Activities
What are you planning to do?
How well can you do it with your current resources?
What is your capacity to enhance existing resources in order to do it well?
What does it mean to
do HES activities “well”?
In order to know IF we can do it well, we must understand what it means to do it ‘well.’

16. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
HES For VC Guidance
Key question
Why is this important?
What do people really need?
Incorrectly matching HES activities to households can have long-lasting negative consequences in the home and community.
How will HES activities affect and be affected by the local economy (“the market”)?
To take advantages of opportunities in the market and avoid negative side-effects of HES activities within the community.
Who will be the direct participants or beneficiaries of HES activities?
There are pros and cons to targeting particular populations for HES activities.
How can we monitor and evaluate these activities?
To know if HES activities are having intended (positive) effects and avoiding unintended consequences.
Can we implement HES activities alone or should we partner?
HES activities are resource intensive and technically challenging; strong internal systems and partnerships are key to delivering effective, efficient programs.
Abuja notes: Instead of going through next 16 – 26 (most of which had been covered in days 1 & 2), I turned key points in to Jeopardy – feedback from previous day was that they needed more energizers. 4 categories (Provision, Protection, Promotion, Potpourri). This seemed to be effective for new participants that day too and everyone got into the spirit of it!

17. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
HES For VC Guidance
Key question
Why is this important?
How do you do it?
What do people really need?
Incorrectly matching HES activities to households can have long-lasting negative consequences in the home and community.
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
How will HES activities affect and be affected by the local economy (“the market”)?
To take advantages of opportunities in the market and avoid negative side-effects of HES activities within the community.
Conduct a market assessment
Who will be the direct participants or beneficiaries of HES activities?
There are pros and cons to targeting particular populations for HES activities.
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners
How can we monitor and evaluate these activities?
To know if HES activities are having intended (positive) effects and avoiding unintended consequences.
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Can we implement HES activities alone or should we partner?
HES activities are resource intensive and technically challenging; strong internal systems and partnerships are key to delivering effective, efficient programs.
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Display and discuss row by row

18. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
An effective HLA will help you…
Develop a holistic understanding of household and community livelihoods and well-being, economic conditions, health, food security, political and environmental security, etc.
Determine household and community needs and designing interventions to meet them
Examine intra-household poverty and how it affects VCs and other household members differently
Understand household and community opportunities and capabilities
Establish a baseline or reference point from which to identify and measure changes (positive and negative) in the future. This information enables program course correction as required, and to assess overall program outcomes and impact.
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners
Simply put, it is almost always more difficult than we think to understand the causes and drivers of poverty in a household or community – even the ones in which we work and live. It is equally important that we both select HES services that will fulfill specific needs and will also do no harm in the process. Problems of over-indebtedness in India and other parts of the world – where microfinance overreached and allowed people to retreat into even deeper poverty – have received media attention. There are similarly many examples of cash and asset transfer programs that created dependence in households that couldn’t be sustained, also leaving them in a worse place than when the program started. These are just two examples of good intentions gone wrong which could have been prevented with more careful planning and understanding of household needs and capabilities.

19. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
A poor HLA can lead to adoption of HES activities that…
Are of little or no value
Have a negative impact on households
Encourage dependence
Disrupt local markets and merchants
Fail to take advantage of valuable local opportunities and capabilities
Have a positive impact on households but a negative impact on communities
Fail to address inequalities in intra- household poverty
Fail to result in positive outcomes for vulnerable children
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

20. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
A good market assessment will tell you about…
The local supply and demand of goods, commodities, services and skills
The accessibility of inputs, including commodities, capital or services, and
How the environment (political, regulatory, etc.) shapes incentives and opportunities for household participation in the market
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

21. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
The results of a poor market assessment could result in…
Lack of necessary supplies
Production of goods or skills for which there is no demand or too much competition
Negative impacts on local sellers
Breaking the law
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

22. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
Identifying and targeting appropriate direct and indirect beneficiaries…
???
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

23. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
Identifying and targeting appropriate direct and indirect beneficiaries…
…???
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

24. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
Effective M&E will help you by…
Providing program planners and implementers with information to select HES activities
Knowing what and how households and VC are doing
Giving managers insight into whether HES activities are meeting targets
Being accountable to stakeholders
Providing ‘data for decision-making’
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

25. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
Ineffective M&E…
Collects too much or too little information
Is poorly accessible
Does not feed directly into decision-making processes
Does not differentiate between program objectives and household / VC realities
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

26. Designing HES Activities
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Designing HES Activities
An organization assessment should tell you
Your capacity to do all of these things well to select and design HES activities
Your capacity to DELIVER selected HES activities well
Conduct a household livelihood analysis
Conduct a market assessment
Choose a program structure that maximizes positive outcomes for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Create and implement a monitoring and evaluation plan
Conduct an organizational analysis and assess strengths and weaknesses of potential partners

27. Implementing HES Activity
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Implementing HES Activity
Savings Groups
Cash Transfers
Asset Transfers
IGAs – example?
Discuss some of the features of implementing each of these activities – one activity per group

28. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Key Decision Points?
Each participant should name 2-3 key pieces of information they need to get or activities to undertake to determine org capacity for HES activities.

29. Partnerships

30. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Discussion Questions
Why partner?
What are the biggest benefits you’ve encountered of forming partnerships?
What are the biggest problems you have had with forming or operationalizing partnerships?
How would you do things differently to avoid them?
Discussion for 30 min or so.

31. Four Core Principles for Strong Partnerships
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Four Core Principles for Strong Partnerships
CHAMPION
Transparency
Goals
Motivations
Processes
Shared Goals and Principles
Values
Program objectives & outcomes
Mutual Benefit
Meeting individual and collective goals
Mutual Respect
Value each other beyond financial contributions
Shared / equitable decision-making
Transparency
Trust is an important part of any relationship and transparency of goals, motivations and processes are essential for building trust and maintaining accountability to each other, beneficiaries, donors and communities
Shared goals and principles
Partners share the same values and aim to achieve the same objectives as your organization. Even when missions are different, you should be able to agree upon a shared set of program outcomes.
Mutual benefit
Healthy partnerships will design programs to ensure that all organizations meet individual as well as collective goals.
Mutual Respect
Partners should value each other for reasons other than financial contributions. Decision-making should be an equitable process.
Transparency
Trust is an important part of any relationship and transparency of goals, motivations and processes are essential for building trust and maintaining accountability to each other, beneficiaries, donors and communities
Shared goals and principles
Partners share the same values and aim to achieve the same objectives as your organization. Even when missions are different, you should be able to agree upon a shared set of program outcomes.
Mutual benefit
Healthy partnerships will design programs to ensure that all organizations meet individual as well as collective goals.
Mutual Respect
Partners should value each other for reasons other than financial contributions. Decision-making should be an equitable process.

32. Choosing a Partner
Use organizational capacity tools to identify your needs and assess partner capabilities
Assess for the four principles
Other key questions
Do they have a good reputation implementing the HES activity you are interesting in?
Do they have reports that show positive results from past HES projects?
Do they have a standardized and documented approach to the HES activity?
Do they have experience working with VC HHs or do they have the expertise necessary to tailor their approach to make it appropriate?
If they don’t have sufficient staff expertise currently, do they have the necessary resources to recruit new staff or consultants?

33. How are Partnerships Formed?
At the coffee shop / bar family reunion
At a training / conference / meeting
Via HQ (regional, national, international)
Other working groups, government resources, etc.
Others?

34. How are Joint Programs / Projects Developed?
At the coffee shop / bar family reunion
At a training / conference / meeting
Via HQ (regional, national, international)
Other working groups, government resources, etc.
Others?

35. How are Partnerships Formed?
Final Proposal or Plan
Partner 1 Input
Partner 2 Input
Vs.
Final Proposal or Plan
Partner 1 Input
Partner 2 Input

36. HES Activities – What Capacities do we Need?
Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
HES Activities – What Capacities do we Need?
Outline the process from A – Z
INPUT – PROCESS – OUTPUT – OUTCOME – IMPACT
What is A? B? C?
Who will do it?
Who are potential partners? In this room? Outside?
Activity: using chart paper, sticky notes, markers, etc, diagram an HES activity from A-Z – starting with needs assessment, ending with outcomes / impacts. Identify what needs to happen at each step along the way and who should be involved (ie emphasize specific partnerships needed, naming local actors).
Abuja notes: In retrospect, they focused too much on the INPUT – PROCESS – OUTPUT – OUTCOME – IMPACT framework which wasn’t ideal for this. But they were familiar with it and it did help in some ways. See photos + one ppt + one video with their outputs.

37. Organizational Capacity and Partnerships for HES
Leverage
COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES
Grants/Donor Agencies (WASH, UNICEF etc.)
NGOs and CBOs
MFB
CSOs
Media
Traditional institutions
Religious institutions
Universal Basic Education (UBE)
National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP)
MDG-No 1 goal
SMEDAN
Social Welfare
Primary Health Care
Sure-P
CPC
National Center for Women’s Development
SPECIFIC TO NIGERIA – BUT WHAT ARE OPTIONS FOR LESOTHO? CAN BE DONE BOTH AHEAD OF TIME AND DURING THE TRIANING.