cases from tanzania - Sustainet

Sustainable agriculture: A pathway out of poverty for East Africa’s rural poor
Some organizations specialize exclusively or mainly in lobbying work. Field-based organizations
can form alliances with these lobbyists: the field-based organizations provides grounded
examples of sustainable agriculture in practice, informs the lobbyists of problems faced in
the field, and links the farmers they work with to the lobbying group.
organizational scaling up
Organizational scaling up involves increasing the organization’s capacity and making it more
efficient. We can divide organizational scaling up approaches into governance and management;
human resource development; and communication.
organizational governance and management
Revising governance of the organization can make it more able to deal with new situations,
including the larger scale of operations needed to deal with a bigger number of farmers or
a wider area of operation.
• Strategic planning At regular intervals every few years, the organization should undergo
a strategic planning exercise to review its vision and mission, evaluate its activities,
and determine which directions it should move in the next few years.
• Amending working rules and procedures Changing the way the organization works
can provide efficiencies and enable the organization to do more and be more effective.
For example, if the organization provides inputs to farmers for free, this can not only be
an unsustainable cost burden for the organization; it also means the farmers do not feel
they own the project. Introducing cost-sharing schemes, or even refusing to provide any
inputs apart from advice and facilitation, can reduce these costs and increase the sense
of ownership. The Diocese of Embu (p. 28) at first provided dairy goats for free; as a
result, the farmers did not take enough care of the animals. After assessing the problem,
the Diocese introduced a cost-sharing scheme, and modified the project rules to require
farmers to register with the Dairy Goat Association of Kenya. The Association trains
the farmers in goat management and breeding. As a result, management of the goats
has improved.
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Another example is rules on whom the organization serves. For example, church-based
organizations may focus on serving church members, so excluding people belonging to
other faiths from participating in their projects. In the Diocese of Embu at first only
Catholics were able to participate in the Diocese’s development activities. The Diocese’s
development committee later revised this rule, allowing non-Catholics to become involved.
• Adapting the organizational structure An organization’s structure may need revising
as its tasks evolve. This may mean creating new departments (and closing existing ones),
reassigning staff, changing job descriptions and management procedures, and hiring staff
with new skills. CHEMA (p. 77) provides an example of this: it established an inspection
and marketing unit to facilitate farmers to grow organic pineapples.
• Ensuring funding Many development organizations rely heavily on short-term, project
funding. That is a danger to the type of long-term community involvement required if