Civil Society Capacity Building: Why?

My favorite kind of professional work is building the capacities of civil society organizations, especially in transitional and developing countries, to communicate, to change minds and to engage a variety of people and communities, through communications, dialogue and volunteering. But the term civil society isn't used in USA as commonly as it is elsewhere, and many don’t understand exactly what I mean when I talk about my favorite type of work.

Civil society is a term commonly heard outside the USA when discussing community development. Civil society is a term for the assortment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofit organizations, activist groups and institutions that, together, demonstrate the interests and will of residents of a particular area.  Note, however, that these interests do not have to be the will of a majority of residents. Sometimes the term civil society is used in the more general sense of "the elements such as freedom of speech, an independent judiciary, etc, that make up a democratic society." Institutions composing civil society may be for-profit or not-for-profit. These definitions of civil society come from the Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 11th Edition, retrieved 30 December 2012. 

Civil society organizations include:

• academia
• activist groups
• charities
• clubs (sports, social, etc.)
• community foundations
• community organizations
• consumer organizations
• cooperatives / co-ops
• foundations
• non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
• non-profit organizations (NPOs)
• political parties
• professional associations
• religious groups
• social enterprises (an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being)
• support groups
• trade unions
• voluntary associations
• foundations, government funders and international agencies have been supporting civil society for many years in developing countries. The goals with such support is to:
• foster social equality (access to civil rights, freedom of speech, property rights, health, economic prosperity, education, social engagement, etc.)
• foster civic engagement, including volunteerism
• create a greater sense of ownership of what happens within a community by those that live there
• create greater participation in addressing critical community and environmental needs
• ensure a diversity of voices are represented in community decision-making
• act as a counter to negative forces such as corruption, extremism, anarchy, etc.
• ensure that civil society can work within the range of actors required for a country’s development.

Why is it important for a country to have a robust, sustainable civil society? This is from “Civil society empowerment” by OECD, April 2013:

“Civil society has a key role to play in fighting corruption, from monitoring public services, denouncing bribery to raising awareness of all economic and political actors. Since most cases of corruption involve pubic officials and private companies, civil society as an independent actor representing the interests of the general public is uniquely positioned denounce and expose corruption cases and put pressure for reform. Governments therefore have to take measures to enable and strengthen civil society participation and civil society has to be aware of its role and make use of its potential leverage.”

But civil society doesn't work in a vacuum, and no civil society entity is an island; as noted in “Supporting civil society in Africa: Building ‘deep vertical’ and ‘broad horizontal’ partnerships amongst private foundations, NGOs and civil society organisations,” by International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC): "Most development activities involve a range of actors, who contribute to the work in different ways, for example bringing skills, networks or resources. There may be multiple layers between monetary input and development activities and outcomes. A typical ‘chain’ might involve private funder, intermediary international NGO, local partner NGO(s), community-based organisations and individual beneficiaries. Each of the components within this framework brings added value, but also has its own capacity needs, costs and contextual imperatives to deal with."

• providing visiting personnel, as paid consultants or volunteers, that have skills and expertise needed by the organization to meet its goals. They work at the organization doing what local staff aren't able to do themselves.
  

• training employees, consultants and volunteers, to build their skills to better serve the mission of their organizations, to institute appropriate accounting and human resources management systems to ensure transparency, accountability and results, to understand legal issues affecting their organization or program, or to promote the work of their organization to supporters and potential supporters, as well as the media, the general public and public officials, including how to lobby
  

• evaluating the work of the organization, and training the organization to gather information for future evaluations

Altogether, such strengthening of civil society doesn’t just ensure that organizations have the capacity to fulfill contractual obligations and be accountable to funders; it also better ensures the organizations will be accountable to those they represent, which should always be the primary goal, and to fulfill their role within the multiple players involved in a community, region or country’s development. Such strengthening might also enable organizations to become sufficiently sustainable to carry on their work without external support at some point in the future.

How are capacities of civil society strengthened? Through:

• Expert-lead workshops, online and face-to-face, live and recorded
• Job shadowing
• Required reading
• Enrollment in university courses
• Creating processes that build capacity

What do I mean by that last bullet "Creating processes that build capacity"? Processes that build capacity could be, for instance, a volunteer recruitment tool for NGOs that builds the NGO's capacity to support and manage volunteers. That's something I tried to do with the United Nations Online Volunteering service; I changed it from just a recruitment tool for online volunteers to a capacity-builing tool, by creating a process where, through how organizations signed up, how they had to provide details about what a volunteer was going to do, how they had to follow up with volunteers, and various reporting systems, NGOs that used the system would be building their capacities to support and manage volunteers overall. By using the service, organizations didn't just recruit volunteers; they also built their volunteer management skills.

Training is fundamentally important, but training must be focused on more than just the basics, like basic accounting tips, or how to write a press release. Absolutely, such basic trainings are important, but there needs to also be advanced trainings. Examples of capacity-building trainings that go beyond the basics:

Fundamental Importance of Mastering Communications & Partnering Skills

To survive and flourish, civil society organizations must have the competence to represent themselves and others. That's why communications-related capacity-building is so fundamental to their success. Communications includes everything from press relations to identifying hostile audiences to countering misinformation to how to organize a successful community event and on and on. It includes developing robust monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems.

Civil society organizations also need partners, formal and informal, in order to survive, and therefore need to know how to identify potential partners, how to approach potential partners, how to set expectations of a relationship, how to communicate with partners, and on and on. In particular, civil society organizations must be able to engage openly and honestly with donors, and know how not to be steam-rolled by unrealistic donor demands.

Let Me Help You!

I'm an international consultant, researcher and trainer. My work is focused on communications (my first love), volunteer involvement / community engagement, and management for nonprofits, NGOs, and government initiatives. I can design classes and workshops, or I can take on a longer-term consulting assignment for your organization.

Contact me for more information.

Also see: Civil Society: Not Just an Advocate, but an Agent for Change, a December 4, 2017 article by Chemonics. "CSOs challenge entrenched processes, resulting in inclusive, transparent, and accountable environments where communities can effectively engage with their government and promote meaningful change. CSOs continue to be an important part of the dialogue not only as advocates, but as facilitators and enablers that work towards solutions for the common good."

Also see:

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook

available for purchase as a paperback & an ebook

Completely revised and updated, & includes lots more advice about microvolunteering!
Published January 2014.

• Recommendations for UN & UNDP in Ukraine to use Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and Other Social Media to Promote Reconciliation, Social Inclusion, & Peace-Building in Ukraine (PDF).
  This is a draft document I submitted to UNDP Ukraine just before I left Kyiv in October 2014, having completed my term there as a "Surge" Communications Advisor. This draft document offers considerations and recommendations for social media messaging that promotes reconciliation, social inclusion, and peace-building in Ukraine. It provides ideas for messaging related to promoting tolerance, respect and reconciliation in the country, and messaging to counter bigotry, prejudice, inequality, misperceptions and misconceptions about a particular group of people or different people among Ukrainians as a whole.
  
  
• How to take photos in a culturally-sensitive manner, particularly with regard to respect for local customs regarding women, and to meet various needs, e.g. to show female participation.
  This resource was developed in 2007, for Afghan staff working out of an Afghanistan government agency where I was working, and is adaptable for various cultural settings.
  
  
• A presentation for Afghan women on public speaking.
  This resource was developed in 2007, for Afghan female staff working out of an Afghanistan government agency where I was working, and is adaptable for various cultural settings.
  
  
• Lessons from onlinevolunteering.org
  Some key learnings from directing the UN's Online Volunteering service from February 2001 to February 2005, including support materials for those using the service to host online volunteers.
  
  
• A comprehensive list of questions to answer in preparation for reporting to donors, the media & general public.
  I developed this with a colleague in Afghanistan, to help the local staff at the government ministry where we worked know what information donors and UN agencies regularly asked for, and what we anticipated they might start asking for; what subjects the media regularly asked about or reported on, and what we anticipated they might start asking about or reporting on; and what information could be used for evaluation purposes later. It was part of our many efforts to build public sector staff communications capacities in countries where I've served.
  
  
• Basic Fund-Raising for Small NGOs in the Developing World, a guide I developed a decade ago and regularly update until October 2015. Requesting NGOs have been based primarily in Africa, Asia and parts of Eastern Europe.
  
  
• Starting a Nonprofit or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). The laws and procedures for starting a nonprofit organization, an NGO, a charity or a foundation vary from country to country. The laws and procedures are never exactly the same. This page offers the general advice that is applicable to any country, but you will still have to go through country-specific requirements, which are NOT detailed on this page but there is advice on where to find them).
  
  
• Vetting Organizations in Other Countries: A resource that can help you evaluate volunteer-placement organizations that charge you for your placement as a volunteer, as well as for people interested in partnering or supporting an organization abroad but wanting to know it's a credible organization, that it's not some sort of scam, or an 'organization' of just one person.
  
  
• Hosting International Volunteers: More and more local organizations in developing countries are turning to local expertise, rather than international volunteers, to support their efforts. However, the need for international volunteers remains, and will for many, many years to come. This resource provides tips for local organization in a developing countries interested in gaining to international volunteers.