The recent turn in international development has led to a widespread questioning of established Western ideals such as the notion that "progress" and "growth" are inherently good, that the importation of "universal" or "expert" knowledge is appropriate or replicable, or even that one entity can "develop" another without undergoing significant transformation itself. For example, while the last few decades might be largely remembered as relief oriented Northern PVOs administering aid to more or less passive "beneficiaries," today PVOs and indigenous groups are seeking to become partners where both are sharing, influencing and shaping the development agenda. This story is about an innovative approach undertaken by one PVO and the 120 indigenous NGOs it works with overseas to create meaningful dialogues about what it means to build organizational capacities.
The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) advocates and promotes institution-building by working with over 120 local and national groups in 27 countries. over the last three decades this joint venture of the Christian Reformed Church in the U.S. and Canada has established a strong tradition and reputation for its "results-oriented" development approach, which has been fostered through staff training, solid management information systems, and attention to the measurement and evaluation of organizational capacity indicators OCI. In recent years, however, the increasing demand for collaboration and mutuality in the development world has challenged them with how to maintain this concern for outcomes and accountability, while more deeply honoring partnerships with indigenous groups.
For example, while the last few decades might be largely remembered as relief-oriented Northern PVOs administering aid to more or less passive "beneficiaries," today PVOs and indigenous groups are seeking to become partners where both are sharing, influencing and shaping the development agenda.
Through a grant from USAID's office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation, CRWRC and the SIGMA Center have joined together to respond with a series of "listening tours" that involve CRWRC field staff and their 120 partner NGOs in a three-year collaborative inquiry into the area of organizational capacity building and sustainable development. Internal conferences have already been held in East and West Africa, Asia, and Latin America with CRWRC field staff and NGO representatives using Appreciative Inquiry to explore possibilities for making OCI. systems more contextual and participatory. over the next year CRWRC field staff will be involving all of their partner NGO's in inquiries for understanding and enhancing the responsiveness of capacity building methods. In addition to furthering these North-South partnerships, these dialogues will guide CRWRC's future efforts for strengthening its OCI. systems based on mutual learning and dialogue. In the third year of the project, partner NGO's will come together regionally in South-South dialogues to exchange and sustain learnings about organizational capacity building.
This approach is based on the notion that the very act of creating the conversation about capacity building and sustainability is a positive intervention. The dialogue to date has centered around questions such as: "What sustains you and allows you to accomplish your mission?"; "What do you do to enhance your capacity, your training, your networking, and your learning from other organizations?"; "What are the unique aspects of your culture that support strong, vibrant organizations?"; "How do you measure and monitor organizational capacity building?"; and, "How can Northern NGO's and Southern NGO's partner to enhance capacity for sustainable development?"
Consequently, during the first round of conferences SIGMA staff have noticed a shift in the dialogue about the nature of capacity building: It has moved from being a unidirectional discussion to a mutual conversation between the Northern NGO's and the Southern NGO's; images are changing from solely objective and rational definitions of capacity building to include an affirmation of indigenous cultural history and its use as a basis for a new definition of organizational capacity; and there is a growing attention to existing indigenous resources-an affirmation of sufficiency, power, and capability rather than a sole preoccupation with what is lacking or needed.
Also witnessed through these dialogues has been the potency of imagination and hope to release power and energy for capacity building. This has been especially evident in East and West Africa, where citizens had been under colonial influence for so long, and want to move to a "new world" through the power of their indigenous definitions rather than imposed expertise from the North. Also there is a growing awareness of the power of relationships to create cooperative and collaborative solutions to problems. For example, while the call to value indigenous resources is being heard, it is also recognized that North-South partnerships remain an important capacity building resource. Moreover, it has become clear in the workshop dialogues that Northern NGO's have a great deal to learn from Southern NGO's about sustainability, about relationships of mutuality, and about being in partnerships built upon cooperation and collaboration.
In sum, the very act of holding mutual dialogues about capacity building and sustainability has proven to be a positive intervention. It has created learnings about the partners, about life-giving relationships, and about capacity building, which the partners have already begun to implement. Furthermore, more relational and affirmative processes and systems for measuring capacity building are being enacted to enhance mutuality and the full voice of all participants. Plans are underway to share the more comprehensive learnings from this initiative near the end of the tours.
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