“PCI's expertise in institutional capacity building, including both technical and organizational capacity…and commitment to this process and the skills they have acquired since the late 1980s appear to be among the strongest demonstrated by US Private Voluntary Organizations.” Independent study sponsored by the US Agency for International Development

“Capacity building interventions must address the unique needs of an organization in its particular stage of development at that specific time. There is no single way to build organizational capacity.”

Kaplan, A and Soal, S. (1995), Capacity Building – Myth or Reality? Institutional Development, Vol 2, No 2

LOCAL CAPACITY STRENGTHENING

PCI'S APPROACH TO LOCAL CAPACITY STRENGTHENING For PCI, building local capacity is synonymous with doing good development work. It has always been at the heart of PCI’s philosophy and theory of change, and is key to our success. If just one word were used to describe PCI’s approach to local capacity strengthening it would have to be “partnership” - partnership with the local communities we serve and with the local institutions, organizations, networks and governments who are key to ensuring real and lasting impact.

PCI brings five decades of experience in cost-effectively assessing and building the capacity of a wide variety of organizations and networks worldwide across a wide array of organizational and technical domains, with a specific focus on strengthening the “absorptive capacity” of local organizations or networks (the ability to improve and expand service delivery while managing new and increased resources effectively). Not only is this a core competency, but it is an area where PCI is often considered a preferred partner, bringing proven expertise, methodologies and tools designed to improve local organizational absorptive and implementation capacity for greater sustainable impact at scale.

>>>Fostering Local Ownership & Partnership for Success PCI engages with communities, local organizations and government agencies as true partners in the design and implementation with continuous and meaningful support by PCI. We help empower them as agents of their own advancement in the process of achieving sustainable impact. PCI fosters an atmosphere of possibility, where positive change is not only possible but is achievable through the application of new knowledge and skills and a process of on-going learning.

>>>Taking a Custom-Tailored Approach Each organization has unique strengths, needs and challenges. PCI utilizes a set of defined tools and strategies to identify those strengths, needs and challenges and builds capacity that is more personal and relevant to the organization and its stage of development. We employ conventional methods such as standardized training as well as unconventional approaches including secondment of PCI staff to the organization during the capacity building process. PCI has developed or adapted a comprehensive set of tools, manuals and methodologies that have been utilized in all 16 target countries and across all intervention areas.

>>>Strategic Use of Performance Standards PCI utilizes performance standards in concert with its behavior change-oriented approach to local capacity strengthening. In partnership with the Education Development Center, PCI developed a standards-based capacity assessment and building system entitled ISTAR (Integrated System for Transformational Assessment and Results). By focusing on behavioral standards, the system engages participants in the process of individual and institutional behavior change from the start.

PCI’s Principles of Partnership:

1) Shared recognition for implementation and success

2) Shared responsibility for implementation and failures

3) Transparency of strengths and weaknesses

4) Joint decision-making

5) Self-determination

PCI’s Four Basic Models of Organizational Capacity Building:

1. Genesis This is where PCI, in effect, gives birth to a local organization. These are local organizations are created by local PCI staff that wish to continue beyond a particular project life and now have the skill sets to continue independently. PCI has been utilizing this model for the past 50 years, going back to its earliest of years and the founding of PCI Hong Kong. Other organizations that have been born and continue today include Rixin Tnamet in Guatemala and Planned Social Concern in India. 2. Co-Implementor This occurs when PCI and a local organization decide to join forces to jointly implement a program and capacity building is made an intentional component of the contractual arrangement entered into by PCI and the local organization. This model involves working side by side as partners engaged in a process of mutual learning. 3. Network Similar to the Co-Implementor Model, but it also involves building the association of several organizations and strengthening that network – organizationally, financially, and technically. 4. Constellation This is where PCI works to assess and build the capacity of several local Civil Society Organizations at once, with the aim of expanding services and with a specific capacity building objective incorporated into the project design.

In addition, PCI has developed a set of Gold Standards of Performance within 6 pillars of management: Leadership and Governance, Program Quality and Impact, Financial Management, Organizational Vitality and Growth, Infrastructure, and Other (including topics such as Gender Mainstreaming) and spanning 30 domains ranging from program design to close-out and from vehicle maintenance to organizational leadership. This tool provides a process and format to assess objective and verifiable conditions of performance within an organization. >>>Measurable Impact There are 3 basic types of measures of organizational capacity strength: 1) Self-assessment, 2) Objective measures, (e.g., observations by an external evaluator), and 3) Performance measures (e.g., number of clients served). The choice of measurement approach or tool should depend upon the purpose of the measurement and how the data will be utilized. PCI has found that the measurement of capacity is best approached through a combination or range of measures. A self-assessment where data with good content validity can be assured, combined with verifiable indicators seems to offer a “best of both worlds” solution.

LOCAL CAPACITY STRENGTHENING TOOLKIT PCI is dedicated to equipping communities and local organizations/ networks with practical and necessary knowledge, drawing from a rich menu of resources including need-based trainings using adult literacy techniques, tools development/adaptation, systems establishment and/or enhancement, knowledge transfer through interactive workshops and cross-visits, sharing of manuals, on-site mentoring, and supportive supervision. The toolkits contain the following practical, field-tested tools and manuals which have been successfully utilized globally with hundreds of local organizations/networks, as well as with PCI’s local country offices: Financial Management Systems

Field Accounting Manual: Standards of conduct, authorities, cost allocation, procurement, property management, backup documentation, reconciliations, audit guidelines, match/cost share tracking and reporting guidelines, understanding and valuing gifts-in-kind, etc.

Sub-Award Management (SAM) Manual: Collection of financial management capacity assessments (financial health checklists) and tools for internal controls, tailoring capacity building plans to address key areas of risk, budget development and execution, donor reporting, and grant closeout.

Training Curricula: USG Rules and Regulations, Analyzing Donor Agreements, Fraud Awareness, Setting up a Filing System, etc.

Administrative Management Systems

Start-up Reference Field (SURF) Guide: A step-by-step guide to field office start-up, including detailed checklists and tools in the areas of administration, finance and human resources.

Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual: Includes salary administration plans/payroll, recruitment and retention approaches, compensation and performance reviews, staff planning tools, and succession planning.

Governance/Board Development Guidelines: Intervention to help NGOs understand the different roles of organization directors/managers and board members, and to strengthen the role that boards play in NGO sustainability.

Project Management Systems

Program Development and Management (PDM) Manual: Relevant policies/tools include building effective partnerships, proposal development guide, budget development checklist, report writing toolkit, etc.

M&E for Partners: A nine-module training curriculum which includes: Introduction to M&E; Creating a M&E Plan; Indicators; Quality Improvement Verification Checklists; Instrument Design; Sampling; Reporting; and Evaluations; development and maintenance of USG-compliant project data; development and roll-out of electronic data management systems at the partner level to simplify data management, analysis and reporting.

Integrated System for Transformational Assessment and Results: Overall project management and technical intervention area assessment and planning tool built around behavioral standards and appreciative inquiry approaches to institutional change.

Mobilization of Resources

Care like an NGO – Act like a business: New ways to build and sustain your NGO’s future: Equips partner NGOs with skills, knowledge and attitudes that will help them be more effective at promoting their activities and accessing financial and in-kind resources, drawing from both traditional non-profit fundraising experience and the private sector.

CHILD Methodology (Children in Local Development): Methodology developed by the World Food Programme and UNICEF to assist local organizations (e.g. schools) in mobilizing existing community resources (labor, in-kind, cash) to complement donor and government funds.

“PCI’s very personal and

intense approach to strengthening its partner CSOs was…key, with both provision of a wide range of training opportunities

and most important, intense mentoring ‘on the ground’…and a respectful

but honest approach to problem-solving being essential components.”

- Final Evaluation of PCI’s Building Bridges program,

Botswana

“Many projects here are not successful because they do things without consulting us, but with PCI we feel like it is truly the community’s project…When the PCI car pulls into town, people exclaim, ‘Oh, here comes the women’s car!’ They do not see it as a PCI or government project. They see it as a project that will benefit women in the community."

- Director of the local Women’s Affairs Office in Chifra Woreda, Afar region, Ethiopia

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 5151 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 320 San Diego, CA 92123 ph: (858) 279-9690 www.PCIGlobal.org

WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE 1220 19th Street NW, Suite 210 Washington, DC 20036 ph: (202) 223-0088

SEATTLE REPRESENTATIVE ph: (206) 708-1942 pciseattle@pciglobal.org

December 2012

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NETWORK STRENGTHENING

Multi-country Initiatives: PCI has implemented several major, USAID funded multi-country initiatives designed to strengthen the capacity of networks: - The BEACON Initiative (Building Effective AIDS Coalitions, Organizations and Networks) covering networks in Indonesia, India, Zambia and the US/Mexico Border Region - The CASCADA Initiative (Central American Initiative for Strengthening Collaborative Action for Development in Water and Sanitation), focused on wat/san networks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua South Africa: PCI, together with the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Networks on Violence against Women (which represent over 300 local member organizations) has been spearheading a cross-sectoral effort to change social norms that sustain violence against women and which puts them at increased risk of HIV infection (2009-2012). Central to the project’s success is the active support from various public and civil society sector partners, including the South African government, Departments of Health and Justice, as well as the police services. Through this partnership, the KwaZulu-Natal network has improved its capacity in financial management and M&E, and recently succeeded in receiving direct funds from USAID. US/Mexico Border Region: PCI’s 13-year Border Health Initiative involved an array of coalitions and networks working in TB, HIV and substance abuse. NATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM STRENGTHENING India: With funding from CDC and in partnership with the National AIDS Control Organization, PCI is currently (2009-2014) leading a process of lab strengthening throughout the country. PCI is leading labs at all levels through a quality improvement and accreditation process that is transforming how HIV testing is done in India. Mexico: PCI has been working for eight years, with USAID funding, to transform the Mexican TB control program from a more medicalized system to one that is more person centered and which coordinates the facility and community elements together in a more cohesive system, using ISTAR and a variety of engagement and capacity building strategies.

Zambia, Malawi & Botswana: With funding from the US Department of Defense/PEPFAR, PCI has been building the capacity of the defense forces in these three countries to design, implement, monitor and evaluate comprehensive HIV/AIDS programming in the military and related communities. CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION STRENGTHENING Ethiopia and Zambia: PCI’s USAID-funded BELONG project (2004-2010) strengthened over 500 local OVC-oriented organizations/schools in Zambia and Ethiopia and provided direct services to nearly 252,000 OVC and over 15,700 OVC caregivers. PCI identified of centers of excellence within the target CBOs/NGOs which then served to build the capacity of others using a cascade approach. Botswana: Through its USAID-funded Building Bridges Program (2008-2011), PCI provided capacity building support to 13 Botswana HIV-oriented CSOs and two umbrella organizations to address gaps in their capacity that undermine their ability to effectively manage and sustain HIV services. Through training, technical assistance, and systems building support, PCI has built the capacity of CSO partners in areas that include HIV/AIDS technical service delivery, program planning and documentation, monitoring and evaluation, financial management, human resource management, governance, and resource mobilization. 11 CSO partners increased their reach from 5,759, in 2009, to 10,273 and, by adopting new service delivery models, 10 partners reduced costs per beneficiary by 64% by the project’s end. In addition, two of PCI’s CSO partners “graduated” to secure direct PEPFAR funding through the PEPFAR New Partners Initiative Program and nine CSO partners increased their funding from non-PEPFAR sources to 40%. Nicaragua: With funding from USDA and USAID, since 2002 PCI has been working with small-scale farmers in Nicaragua to help them grow higher quality crops, sell their crops for the best price, and increase their family incomes. By building the capacity of 40 farming cooperatives and strengthening two local Centers for Rural Development, PCI raised the average income of participating farmers by 146%.

SELECT EXAMPLES OF LOCAL CAPACITY STRENGTHENING