OXFAM-Novib Civil Society Support 10-14
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Programme Support between Sida and Oxfam-NOVIB on strenghtening civil society in Mozambique - enhancing democratic governance 2010-2014.
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Programme Support between Sida and Oxfam-NOVIB on strenghtening civil society in Mozambique - enhancing democratic governance 2010-2014.
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Result
Original Objectives and their Relevance: The AGIR I programme was designed to bring about a strong and vibrant civil society that participates in and influences democratic processes (as the main outcome) and thus to contribute to more accountability of the Mozambican government, a stronger democracy, increased gender equality and increased respect for human rights (as the main impacts). It was further designed to strengthen the civil society organizations (CSOs) in their mission to bring about increased accountability. The Programme moni-tored results related to capacity development of the POs throughout the whole pro-gramme period. It focused on strengthening the capacities of national, provincial and district partner organisations (POs). AGIR I looked at the internal capacities of the organizations and on the other side it focused on results management of the PO. The purpose of this approach is to increase the capacity of POs so that they can influence and generate change through advocacy. Accordingly, these areas, in line with the pro-gramme's guidelines, focused on institutional development, network facilitation and good donorship with the aim of improving the performance of POs in thematic areas such as transparency and accountability of public institutions and policymakers. In these areas, issues such as gender and HIV / AIDS were transversally incorporated. Thus, results were predicted in the areas mentioned above as shown in the examples below: 1) It aimed at each PO (57 in total) to be democratically, representatively and well governed and managed and seen as socially legitimate by their members and con-stituencies. 2) Further it aimed at POs to be dynamic, interrelated and geared towards mutual learning and the carry out their mission linking up at different intervention levels.3) It aimed at improving their alignment with their different donors and seeing to it that good donorship principles are applied.4) It aimed at supporting key actors on gender and HIV / AIDS to ensure that inter-nal systems and policies create a safe working environment. The programme thus aimed at developing the CS’s capacity, improving its internal functioning, its power to act jointly and its relations to the donors. It supported 57 carefully selected POs that work to change the face of governance in Mozambique on a wide range of important social and economic issues. The AGIR I programme provided long-term institutional funding, tailored to the POs own strategic plans and thus created the conditions for the POs to be more effective in bringing about improved levels of accountability in Mozambique, in different senses: 1. Social (services) Accountability: The programme (as implemented by Diakonia) aimed at improving the Government's performance and responsibility to provide (educational, law enforcement and legal) services to poor people, women, youth, disabled people and PLHWA - through citizens’ monitoring and advocacy;2. Legal Accountability: The programme (as implemented by Diakonia) aimed at im-proved respect for human rights, especially for women, youth, disabled people and PLHWA; and improved the rule of law, with better accessibility, performance and accountability of the legal system; 3. Political Accountability: The programme (as implemented by Diakonia) aimed at the promotion of inclusive, vibrant, transparent and pacific multi-party democracy;? 4. Information Accountability: The programme (as implemented by IBIS) aimed at empowering citizensto know and claim their participation, information, opinion and citizens’ rights and demand accountability from public agencies i) have access to good information from a diversity of communication media; ii) see their information rights enshrined in the law; and iii) see their freedom of expression and press systematically publicly defended; 5. Land and natural resource rights Accountability: The programme (as implemented by We Effect) aimed at empowering citizens to defend their collective and indi-vidual land and natural resource rights and see them protected in policies, laws and regulations 6. Environmental Accountability: The programme (as implemented by We Effect) aimed at enabling citizens to undertake advocacy for the sustainable use of natural resources; demand accountability from the corresponding public and private enti-ties and negotiate just and mutually beneficial partnerships with investment com-panies who (wish to) exploit their natural resources; 7. Financial Accountability: The programme (as implemented by OXFAM-Novib) aimed at poverty reduction thanks to an increased transparency and accountability of Gov-ernment in its policies, resources, expenditures and results; and increased interac-tion with the public and private sector and better access to and knowledge about the private sector’s plans, operations and financial management; and 8. Social (inclusion) accountability: The programme (as implemented by OXFAM-Novib) aimed at improving women’s and men’s awareness, knowledge and commitment to gender – challenging the attitudes, beliefs and underlying causes of gender inequal-ity and gender-based violence; and at reducing the exclusion and discrimination of vulnerable groups (women, youth, elderly, PLHWA, LGBT) Examples of the results achieved by the sub-Programme (OXFAM-Novib): The programme achieved most of what it was set out to do, both at outcome amplementation of the programme. The assessment covered areas such as governance, programme management, networking, gender, HIV/AIDS policies. The results of the assessment indicated limited programmatic management capacity due to lack of, or in certain cases relatively outdated, administrative and financial policies and procedures, reliance on one donor, lack of regular internal audit practices, lack of effective functioning of governance bodies, among others. At the time of the start of the AGIR programme, as part of selection process, a capaci-ty assessment was carried out to all POs that would be involved in the implementation of the programm. The assessment covered areas such as governance, programme management, networking, gender, HIV/AIDS policies. The results of the assessment indicated limited programmatic management capacity due to lack of, or in certain cas-es relatively outdated, administrative and financial policies and procedures, reliance on one donor, lack of regular internal audit practices, lack of effective functioning of governance bodies, amongst others. The AGIR I final report acknowledges its results achievements through three (3) main matrices giving an overview of the degree to which the programme attained its civil society capacity strengthening, in terms of (i) the improvement of the internal functioning of the CSOs; (ii) their articulation, coalition forming and joint ad-vocacy; and (iii) their relations to the donors. Internal functioning of the civil society organizations: The programme partnered with CSOs that the intermediaries believed could make a real difference on the governance situation in Mozambique. It made important strides in their organizational development, helping them to formulate their own long-term strategic plans, improve the participation of their members and governance organs, improve the quality of their internal management systems and consider and approve their plans (instead of the donors that used to be decisive as to what the organization would prioritize). This is a major shift of strategic thinking and internal governance. Also, virtually all CSOs improved their internal accountability and governance, with their boards meeting regularly, the organization of regular and meaningful Annual General Meetings, endorsing the strategic and operational decisions and through hav-ing their annual reports audited by credited audit firms. The CSOs have generally made significant progress in their programme management. They produce timely reports, have adequate monitoring and evaluation systems and present clean audits. They have also institutionalized gender and HIV/AIDS policies and codes of conduct to provide support in their operations. There were positive re-sults in as far as fund raising is concerned. The provision of core funds to partners has contributed in diversifying and increasing number of donors and/ projects to partners. has contributed to their autonomy as it allowed them to implement programmes ac-cording to their needs and strategic decisions This was also triggered by the fact that AGIR partners improved their internal governance and management systems. The challenge remaining is the fact that not all donors were ready to adhere to aid effectiveness principles or good donorship and have continue to provide short term project-based support. Some of the challenges remaining are related to fundraising both internally, among the members, and externally. The programme could not achieve the intended targets in member’s contributions to the organizations (membership fees, and other contribu-tions) and donor’s diversification. This situation is mainly due to the fact that very few members of the organizations have developed the commitment of paying mem-bership fees and other forms of contribution for the functioning of the organizations. Another fact is related to changes that took place in the NGOs environment. Alt-hough some POs managed to break away from the donor-driven project-based organi-zation approach efforts need to be dedicated in mobilizing the members to support the donor’s diversification need. A further factor is that not all donors were ready to ad-here to aid effectiveness principles or good donorship and have continue to provide short term project based support. Many of the CSOs are working with other partners in addition to AGIR. The creation of consortiums such as Oxfam and Save the Children International and other forms of organisational functioning helped reduce the possibility of organisations receiving funds coming from the same donor. A special note or remark on this specific area, which can be derived from the table provided in the report, is that efforts still need to be dedicated to support POs defining HIV/AIDs policies and funding strategies. This is an important point for their sustainability as organisations. Articulation, networking, coalition forming and joint advocacy between CSOs: The AGIR I programme did not only assist its POs to function better as socially legit-imate organizations, but also it managed to facilitate that they increasingly work to-gether, joining forces and thus have more impact. They are increasingly effective as network and learning organisations. They have increasingly partnered in public mobili-zation and organized many joint campaigns. The POs played important leadership roles in areas that are globally deemed as crucial for the development of the country CIP on extractive industry and corruption and public expenditure, N´weti on health and HIV communication, WLSA on gender and access to safe abortion, JOINT on human rights, Lambda on LGBT rights, Hopem on gender and masculinity, Forum Mulher on gender, particularly women empowerment, Justiça Ambiental on envi-ronmental justice, Parlamento Juvenil on youth citizenship, CTV on land, natural re-sources and environment protection LDH on Human rights, OAM on legal justice, CAICC on access to information, CESC, FORCOM on transparency in the manage-ment of public affairs, Sociedade Aberta on decentralization and complaint boxes, GMD on budget and debt, Nampula Civil Society Provincial Platform on ProSavana and the Civil Society Budget Monitoring Forum on budget and public expenditure). This intervention contributed substantially in mobilizing further engagement of the people in the debates that led to approval of new laws (access to information law, code of criminal procedure, etc.), redefinition of the resettlement programme in the areas of extractive industry, among other important outcomes. Furthermore, the POs effectively promoted networks in the SADC region and in the provinces, thus undertaking multi-level campaigns that reinforced each other. Most partners have adopted the practice of documenting their advocacy work and learning from their results; half of them actually published case studies. All have been meeting frequently to share lessons learned and see how they can further improve their advo-cacy practice. A quarter of them managed to put the professional development system in place for their key subject-matter staff. The POs positions were well covered in the mainstream media, with at least one major news item being featured every month. They also produced many more joint publica-tions. The AGIR programme in some cases provided the necessary support for the development of web pages and in others, such as the case of LAMBDA and CAICC (a web-site not created during AGIR I, but developed & up-graded in the course of the reported period) and some other organisations, to their re-formulation to improve the design and make them more informative. A quantified outcome achievements in this area is summarised in a table appearing in the AGIR I final report, which contains objectives, indicators, baseline, targets and achievements. Civil society’s relation to the Donors All the POs managed to fulfil all the criteria for direct core funding, following inter-national donor standards, such as the Paris Declaration (2005) and Accra Agenda for Action (2008) on aid effectiveness. Accordingly, the four intermediaries started to coordinate their programmes, harmonize procedures and act as one programme. The key achievement, however, of creating greater coordination and application of good donorship practices by the different funders of these organizations was not achieved, mainly because the other donors did not wish to harmonize their format and proce-dures to a common donor format. Therefore, the majority of CSOs still have to oper-ate with two or more annual reporting systems, tailored to the specific needs of the different donors. Most donors also refuse to sign MoUs to align and coordinate their funding to the rest of each civil society partner’s donors. Thus, AGIR intermediaries have reflected on how to consolidate and replicate best practices from existing com-mon funds to encourage other donors to align to them. Where common funds were not appropriate donor meetings/groups were encouraged. In Conclusion: the AGIR I programme effectively managed to improve the strategic and operational functioning of the main CSOs that are dedicated to impact accounta-bility in Mozambique. These organizations improved their governance, formulated val-id and relevant strategic plans, and aligned all their activities to these plans. They im-proved their own accountability and started articulating among themselves and at dif-ferent levels, to increase the impact of their advocacy. The programme supported POs to gain a strong commitment in diversifying funding, as desired. The programme has laid the basis for a variety of accountability initiatives with a meaningful impact in Mozambique. It is also important to note that, with the support of the AGIR programme, almost all the POs are experiencing a significant evolution in integrating social protection issues, gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS and environment in their strategic plans as cross-cutting areas on which they work. On the other hand, POs are now involved as members of different collaborative networks.
“Active citizens(hip) and a strong, vibrant civil society (that) participates in and influences democratic process, contributing to more accountable governance, deepened democracy, gender equality and human rights in Mozambique”
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