Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

the community. In it, facilitators from WOTR lead the groupthrough a process of examining the wealth dynamics of thecommunity, including an assessment of needs and aspirations withinthe village population. This is followed by a visioning process wherethe community generates a shared goal, agrees upon the steps to getthere, and assigns responsibilities for action. In order to cement theagreement and build trust, the group then undertakes several daysof cooperative field work together in the watershed. The idea is toengage the entire community in an on-going dialogue focused oncreating a more equitable future that offers benefits for every householdin the village, rich and poor (Lobo 2007).While many competent local NGOs can facilitate socialcapacity-building exercises, WOTR was able to use its extensiveexperience in nearly 600 villages to design the wasundaraapproach, which is tailored to the caste and wealth situation inMaharashtra’s villages and its relation to water in the arid rurallandscape. Villagers tend to respect WOTR as a firm but fair“outsider” with a proven track record in helping villages successfullyincrease their access to water. This illustrates the point thatthe established reputation of an ISO can be an important factorin convincing villagers to undertake a social capacity-buildingprocess like wasundara in the first place. Indeed, ISO effectivenessdepends in some measure on the ISO’s own social capacity.B U I L D I N G O W N E R S H I P, C A P A C I T Y , A N D C O N N E C T I O NCompetent ISOs consciously work on their own visioning processand constantly try to build their connection to their clients, sincetrust and reputation are sometimes their most valuable assets intheir work to guide and empower communities and build networksamong stakeholders at many levels (Lobo 2007).When social capacity-building is successful, it gives rise tocapabilities beyond just a shared vision and the ability to workproductively together. It can enable groups to internalize learningprocesses and to problem-solve, and it can give them the confidenceand flexibility to collaborate with outside partners and togain access to outside sources of support. These are the very abilitiesthat help local enterprises sustain themselves in the face ofoutside shocks, such as economic downturns, unfavorable regulations,or natural hazards such as drought or floods. In this sense,greater social capacity translates to greater social resilience.“Upward” Capacity-BuildingNo natural resource can be managed entirely at the local level,even when communities have been granted significant resourcerights. All such local efforts ultimately take place within the largerpolitical environment. National policies and the attitudes andcompetence of elected officials and line-agency staff have a veryreal impact on the success of management efforts at the local level.CAPACITY83