Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

CAPACITYW O R L D R E S O U R C E S 2 0 0 8TABLE 2.2PLACEA F R I C ANamibiaSource: USAID andWWF2007:2–3;NACSO 2003;Buck et al.2003:16INTERMEDIARY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD (CONTINUED)NAMENamibianAssociation ofCBNRM SupportOrganizations(NACSO)YEAR EST.1996TYPENGO UmbrellaNetworkISO FUNCTIONSUmbrella group for 11 NGOs and oneuniversity. Provides information sharing,technical assistance, capacity-building,regional coordination, and monitoring andevaluation to support the managementand enterprises of national conservancies.NACSO secretariat convenes workinggroups on resource management,business and enterprise, institutionaldevelopment, etc.SELECT ACCOMPLISHMENTSNACSO services such as business trainingand legal advice have helped move newconservancies from fledgling organizationswithout enterprise experience to incomegeneratinginstitutions with highcommunity participation. In 2006, conservancycommunities accrued N$26 millionin livelihood benefits from tourism andrelated commerce, creating nearly 6,000full- and part-time jobs.BotswanaSource: IUCNBotswana2005a, b, c;Buck at al.2003:17BOCOBONET1999Support network for nine community-basednatural resource organizations in Botswana.Promotes information-sharing and connectsthem to technical support, funding, andgovernment services. Also conducts training,workshops, and lobbying.Has provided a channel for communicationbetween communities and a platformfor rural voices. Its members’ work inrural communities has notably shiftedattitudes toward natural resources,particularly wildlife.ZambiaSource: COMACO2006a, bCommunityMarkets forConservation(COMACO)2002A commercial network that has evolved intoan ISO. Promotes conservation and farmeraccess to niche agricultural markets. Buildsfarmer capacity to gain access to marketsand to farm sustainably.Between 1999 and 2006, trained 30,000households in conservation farmingtechniques. Crop yields have consequentlyrisen 6–20 percent. In 2005, earned overUS$3,000 profit on soy and honeyproducts, which was reinvested inCOMACO’s work.at the project level. In return, ISOs also must act as auditors andinformation nodes, monitoring progress and passing on to fundersdata on project accomplishments and lessons learned. They musttherefore literally act as honest brokers (Ebrahim 2003:155).ISOs may also be instrumental in connecting ecosystembasedenterprises to sources of private finance or investment. Infact, in some cases, for-profit, socially responsible businesses canbecome ISOs, investing their own capital in local enterprises theydeem central to their supply chains and providing an array ofsupport services to these enterprises to help them stabilize production,expand their local benefits, and raise their product quality.Dean’s Beans—a Fair Trade coffee importer and retailer in theUnited States—is one such example (See box on following page).92ISOs: Increasing Equity and TransparencyAs a result of their “mid-level” status in many developmentefforts, ISOs are well positioned to improve the transparency,accountability, and inclusiveness of the organizations theysupport, particularly in the beginning phases of a communityenterprise. ISOs that offer projects or services that are in highdemand can insist that communities meet governance and partic-