Getting it Right from the Start - Oxfam New Zealand

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anecdotal evidence suggests that in some cases this may haveundermined the capacity and desire of local communities to contribute totheir own development. A frustration commonly expressed by field staff,for example, is that there is an expectation on the part of communitiesthat they will receive incentives in exchange for their participation. Asexplained by an NGO staff in Upper Nile, „some NGOs … dig the latrinesand then just give them to the community. After that it‟s hard to convincethe community to do the digging themselves‟. 19 Countering thisexpectation requires a consistent, inter-agency approach.While some communities have become accustomed to expectingservices from NGOs at no cost to themselves, this is not the case vis-àvislocal authorities. In South Sudan many communities have noexperience with government service delivery, and thus areunaccustomed to expecting let alone demanding services fromgovernment. The implications of this are exacerbated by the fact thatdecades of war and the resulting disruption to communities has in manyareas left behind a civil society that has limited capacity to collectivelyorganise and hold government to account. The result is a seriousabsence of formal or informal civil society oversight – or „downwardaccountability‟ – of government actors.‘What we need is arevolution from the bomas.People need to start formingtrade unions, cooperatives,farmers groups, women’sgroups – at grass rootslevel. These groups arethere anyway, in some form,in any community. So it’sjust a matter of building theircapacity; teaching them howto make their ownregulations and how toadvocate.’Advisor to the Ministry ofAgriculture, Upper Nile, May 2011.The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that it is extremelydifficult for national NGOs or CSOs in South Sudan to accessinternational donor funds. This is due to a range of factors including lackof access to information on funding opportunities, cumbersomeapplication procedures, a requirement for audited accounts, arequirement that operational support costs be shared between multiplegrants (when many national NGOs/CSOs have only one donor), orminimum grant sizes that are too large for most national NGOs/CSOs tomanage. 20 The exclusion of civil society from development assistanceruns counter to the commitment made by donors in the Accra Agendafor Action to „work with CSOs to provide an enabling environment thatmaximises their contributions to development‟ 21 – and limits the abilityof national NGOs/CSOs to play a role both in service delivery and inpromoting/demanding good governance.Recommendations• Provide more substantial support for initiatives that promotecommunity participation in both humanitarian and developmentassistance. „Community driven development‟ models have in somecases proved successful in achieving sustainable results – howeverto maximise the chances of success such initiatives should beclosely monitored, and where possible linked to governmentplanning processes. Whatever the model used, grant agreementsshould require (and be long enough to allow for) the genuineparticipation of men, women and children, and should be flexibleenough to be adapted in response to community input.12
• Provide more substantial support for efforts aimed at strengtheningcivil society including women‟s, youth and faith-based groups. Thisshould include financial support for CSOs, and training forcommunities and CSOs on the roles and responsibilities ofgovernment and on strategies for engaging with local authorities. 22The South Sudan Development Plan 2011-2013 (SSDP) contains acommitment to training civil society on good governance, and theGovernment of South Sudan (GoSS) should be supported to fulfilthis commitment.• Ensure that South Sudan‟s new aid architecture facilitates nationalNGO/CSO access to international funds. This requires attention tothe factors currently precluding access (financial reportingrequirements, limited capacity to cost-share, grant sizes, etc); andattention to building the capacity of national NGOs/CSOs to submitcompetitive proposals and meet donor requirements includingproperly accounting for funds received.13
Page 1: Joint Briefing Paper 06 September 2
Page 4 and 5: Recommendations1. Balance developme
Page 6 and 7: IntroductionOn 9 July, millions of
Page 8 and 9: esponding to a worst case scenario
Page 10 and 11: persons displaced. All this took pl
Page 14 and 15: 4 Ensure an equitable distribution
Page 16 and 17: 5 Prioritise the most vulnerable an
Page 18 and 19: • Targeting strategies must be ba
Page 20 and 21: 6 Support pro-poor, sustainablelive
Page 22 and 23: interventions must support, not exc
Page 24 and 25: ‘There’s a school, but thereare
Page 26 and 27: 8 Allow sufficient time for transit
Page 28 and 29: 9 Provide timely, predictable funds
Page 30 and 31: pooled funds managed by private con
Page 32 and 33: comes up. We should have a good fiv
Page 34 and 35: ConclusionFollowing substantial sum
Page 36 and 37: 1516171819sufficient farming commun
Page 38 and 39: 7475767778798081828384858687Bennett

Getting it Right from the Start - Oxfam New Zealand

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