Insights

In the international development and humanitarian sectors, capacity assessments of local organizations are used for various purposes, including identifying local organizations to fund, identifying organizational needs, planning a capacity strengthening intervention, and measuring progress in organizational capacity. NPI EXPAND uses capacity assessments mainly to identify capacity needs and prepare capacity strengthening plans for grantees.

There are three main approaches to implementing capacity assessments: purely internal assessments; facilitated self-assessments, where an external facilitator organizes the assessment by the organization’s own staff; and external expert assessments, where an external expert leads the assessment and rates the organization based on their expertise. The main objective of a self-assessment— both purely internal and facilitated — is to catalyze self-reflection and analysis by the organization’s staff to ensure ownership of the assessment and the needs identified. With expert assessment, the emphasis is more on rating the organization against generally accepted performance standards. NPI EXPAND used the facilitated self-assessment approach to inform the identification of capacity strengthening activities. This approach allows the organization to take leadership of the assessment process while also benefiting from the perspectives of the external facilitator on sector and industry best practices and excellence standards to use as benchmarks. This approach creates more ownership of the assessment results and reduces the negativity and/or defensiveness which may occur when an external expert assesses the organization and potentially gives a bad score or one the staff doesn’t agree with.

NPI EXPAND has prioritized facilitated self-assessment for organizational capacity assessments. To date, NPI EXPAND completed capacity assessments and designed capacity strengthening plans for 39 local organizations across eight countries, including Ethiopia (6), Kenya (5), Mali (4), Senegal (6), Pakistan (14), and Tanzania (4). We feel that facilitated self-assessments are the best way to balance the objective of having some rigor in the scoring with the objective of ensuring a sense of ownership by the organization over the assessment and the conclusions.  To achieve this, we adhere to two key best practices:

• The assessment facilitators must be skilled in participatory techniques to ensure active participation that leads to consensus among representatives of an organization.
• The assessment process includes a cross-section of the organization with representatives drawn from various departments and everyone has an equal voice.

Following a round of capacity assessments we recently completed in Kenya, NPI EXPAND staff sought feedback from grantees about their experiences in the capacity assessment process. What we heard reassured us that we are on the right track.

For Philip Mbugua, Executive Director of the National Organization of Peer Educators (NOPE), “NPI EXPAND’s capacity strengthening approach takes a long-term and sustainable perspective,” and he appreciated that the assessment process took into account NOPE’s context. “NOPE’s thoughts and ideas were considered in prioritizing needs and recommending solutions,” says Mbugua. Further, he observed that using a combination of tools (the Organizational Capacity Assessment, Organizational Performance Index, and the family planning technical capacity assessment) gave a complete and holistic picture of NOPE’s capacity. Peter Ofware, the Country Director of HealthRight Kenya (HRK), concurs with this observation, noting that the assessment was “thorough and comprehensive” and “emphasized the long-term sustainability of the organization.”

Mary Naikumi, Executive Director of ADS-South Rift, observed that the process was very friendly and “provided the organization an opportunity to assess itself without pressure.” She further noted that the consultants NPI EXPAND contracted to facilitate the assessment “were very professional and easily connected with ADS-South Rift staff” to complete the assessment. All three respondents appreciated NPI EXPAND staff’s continued engagement and mentorship to implement the assessment recommendations and action plans. James Korio, Project Officer with Community Health Partners, concurs with this observation, noting that the process was “interactive and inclusive involving even the board.” Korio further notes that the assessment report was comprehensive and easy to interpret.

The positive attitudes engendered during the assessments have also translated into enthusiasm for and a commitment to the capacity strengthening plans that were based on the assessments. These plans are the organization’s own; they go beyond the life of one project and help senior management to prioritize where they need improvement. HRK would like to see NPI EXPAND continue to strengthen its participatory approach in capacity strengthening activities. NOPE looks forward to tracking its progress in the capacity strengthening journey. Additionally, NOPE and HRK both plan to actively participate in forums where they can share their capacity strengthening journeys with other organizations at similar levels of development.

In all cases, NPI EXPAND grantees said that they won’t stop focusing on capacity strengthening after their engagement with NPI EXPAND ends. They are committed to addressing additional areas identified through the assessment over the longer term, even if time and resources do not permit them to be addressed during the life of NPI EXPAND. All of the Kenya partner organizations are committed to continuing their journeys to becoming strong technical partners in addressing the myriad of challenges facing their communities.