Capacity-building is known as the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world.
The main four components of capacity building include the following; institutional development, financial resource development, human resource development and effective National Society programmes. They are equal partners in the capacity building-process as outlined in this framework and they are complex and closely interwoven. The strong unifying factor among these elements is the programme mission of helping the most vulnerable people.
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Institutional development includes the issues of identity and functions (mission, legal base and constituency), governance and organization (structure, systems and procedures), as described in the Characteristics of a well-functioning National Society.
A number of tools in developed this sector, such as the Institutional Development Handbook and its five Application Guides. While the capacity-building tools are relatively recent, they have been well adopted by National Societies, many of which have begun important institutional change processes on their own initiative. This applies equally to the societies in industrialized countries as to those in the developing world.
Corporate Identity
An organization’s corporate identity is a core aspect of its institutional development. Corporate identity can be defined as the ongoing harmonization of the design, behaviour and communications of an organization based on its unique philosophy. The strength of an organization’s corporate identity is reflected in its public image, the quality of its product and services, and the motivation of its employees and, in case of the Movement, its volunteers. Many National Societies are reviewing their corporate identity in order to modernize their working culture, system and policies to develop and deliver more customer-focused programmes to beneficiaries, members and donors.
Legal base
The Federation pays particular attention to the statutes of its members in order to guarantee the functioning of National Societies in accordance with the ten conditions for recognition. The legal base consists of the Society’s statutes and the national law or decrees under which it is recognized by its government.
Governance
Governance is the way an organization sets direction by making decisions about people, priorities, programmes and services and ensures that the mission is fulfilled: the mechanism through which accountability is realized and the act of ensuring compliance with legal controls.
Different National Societies have different approaches to board structure. Some boards maintain a complete separation of board and management, while others include representatives of management, branches and beneficiaries. The essential issue in governance and management is to assure that the tasks of the two functions are responsibly carried out.
The publication National Society Governance Guidelines is among the most recent capacity-building tools. As the demands for transparency and accountability increase, the ability of National Societies to adapt their structure and ways of working to future challenges becomes crucial. The guidelines take up the issue from different perspectives related to the work of a governing body: its mandate (roles and functions, responsibilities); its conduct (the way it organizes its work); and its membership (composition, size, preparation).
Special attention is paid to the often-complex relationship between the governing board and management, or the elected decision-makers and the staff structure. The guidelines also include a listing of characteristics of a well-functioning governing board and an assessment checklist. It is specifically designed to enable boards of National Societies to develop their own abilities and capacities to govern
Integrity
Protection of the integrity of National Societies is an important element of the Federation’s approach to National Society’s capacity strengthening. The Federation is aware that the entire Movement is seen and judged by the outside world to be only as neutral, strong and effective as its single components. This includes full transparency and accountability in all actions at all levels towards beneficiaries as well as members, supporters, donors and the public at large.
Strategic planning
Effective strategic planning enables an organization to know where it wants to go and how it will get there. Its major elements are a situation assessment, identification of critical issues and beneficiaries, formulation of strategy, setting goals and objectives, planning activities, assigning responsibilities, monitoring and managing the process, as well as changing the plan as needed to achieve identified objectives.
FINANCIAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Financial resource development covers financial and material resources as presented in the capacity section of the Characteristics of a well-functioning National Society. To be a sustainable organization, a National Society must generate necessary resources from a diversified base to support programmes and associated costs. Organizations that develop a long-term strategic plan for resource development and use sound marketing and fund-raising practices are more likely to achieve the stability, sustainability and increases in resources needed for their activities.
Fund-raising
The Federation’s Resource Development Handbook helps National Societies improve their own financial base and reduce dependency on outside sources. Guidelines on Fiscal Concessions suggests ways in which governments can support National Societies financially.
The Resource Development Handbook analyses the pre-conditions for effective resource development including planning and budgeting, financial management, volunteer leadership, staffing, and image and public relations. It describes how to raise funds from individuals, corporations, foundations, organizations and governments, and through events and revenue-generating projects. Additional guides and training videos are also available to assist National Societies increase their capacity in financial resource development.
Revenue Generation
Revenue generation goes beyond fund-raising and means selling or persuading people to pay for something they want. The three goals of income-generating activities should be to make a net profit, meet a valid social need and build capacity of the National Society. In the best revenue-generating projects run by National Societies, the product or service is not only profitable and of real social value, but it also supports the organization’s mission. It flows naturally out of the work of the organization, supports the organization’s image, and increases its capacity to assist vulnerable people in some specific way.
These activities include selling or leasing goods, services or property. They range from renting out space in buildings to providing services for a fee, from cause-related marketing with corporate partners to running businesses. They all require a business mentality to ensure that they make a profit and to know how to restructure them, cut their costs, or cancel them altogether if they do not. The capacity to run a business needs to be developed or acquired. Innovation, risk-taking, marketing talent and other business skills are essential for success.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
It is not possible for an organization to rise above the levels of knowledge and competence of its combined volunteers, board and staff. Developing the skills of individuals and teams is a critical part of the Federation’s capacity-building process and one of the key thrusts of the development policy. The Federation encourages National Societies to use many different means of developing individuals including formal and non-formal training, sharing best practices and lessons learned, international visits and exchanges, as well as financial, information and technological support.
Management
Good management is an absolute requirement for a well-run National Society. Essential responsibilities of management are to lead and develop the organization, to manage the necessary process of change and to ensure that tasks are completed. Management also needs skills in strategic planning, communications, and relations with staff and volunteers. It needs to know how to manage finance, programme and fund-raising functions.
A number of basic and advanced training programmes for National Society managers at national and branch levels through its development delegates and consultants who are specialized in NGO management and cross-cultural training. To reflect the important role of information management, the Federation has developed the Library and Information Services Network.
Volunteers, staff and board members
Materials are being developed on volunteerism and on inter-cultural aspects of capacity building. The recruitment, training, use and management of volunteers are important issues in the Red Cross and Red Crescent because volunteers carry out such a substantial part of the work. Practical guidelines in this area, based on experiences from National Societies around the world are being prepared. The inter-cultural aspects of capacity building have a particular importance in ensuring the adaptability of guidelines for volunteer and staff development to different geographical and cultural contexts.
Learning capacities
Today’s environment is not just characterized by change, but by a process where even the rate of change constantly accelerates. Increasing the speed at which National Societies are able to respond constructively to their changing environments becomes a critical challenge if the Federation is to serve the most vulnerable more effectively.
The ability of organizations to achieve their fundamental mandates is increasingly linked to the concept of the learning organization. A ‘learning’ National Society not only copes by adapting to change, but thrives and contributes to overall progress by enhancing its ability to create, innovate and transform. The learning National Society systematically monitors internal and external changes and conducts an ongoing dialogue with its stakeholders, and the different groups and individuals who have an interest in it.
The concept of the learning National Society is critical because the rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage. Any programme or project of capacity building must therefore be carried out with the appreciation that it is a part of an ongoing process of doing, learning, and then doing differently.
EFFECTIVE NATIONAL SOCIETY PROGRAMMES
Programmes and services
National Society programmes focus primarily on community-based health, blood collection and first aid, social welfare programmes, disaster preparedness and response, youth, women and development, and other local priorities. Disaster response and development-oriented programmes seek to be balanced and mutually reinforcing.
Beyond the scope of the individual, the organization also requires a set of additional abilities that allow individuals to function as an organization. These supplementary organizational requirements and skills include strategic planning, organizational structure and operating systems. To enhance learning across the Federation, tools such as partnerships, linkages and networking are regularly used between groups of National Societies and with the Federation Secretariat.
Assessment
Since meaningful change is most successfully achieved only with full commitment of those most affected, the Federation places high value on the process of self-assessment. It has developed aids and guidelines to assist this process. The self-assessment method aims to analyse the relationships between providers and clients, examine the value added by comparing inputs and outputs, and identify a National Society’s internal strengths and weaknesses along with external opportunities and threats. Critical to the process is the full involvement of a National Society’s volunteer and staff leadership, along with representatives of its membership and the community as well as an external facilitator.
The primary tool for National Societies to determine priorities for programme development with respect to its external environment is the vulnerability and capacity assessment, for which the Federation has provided a specific reference guide. This assessment is designed to identify both the nation’s most vulnerable people and their precise vulnerabilities and capacities. It seeks to understand the nature and level of risks that communities face, where these risks come from, what and who will be the most affected, what is available at all levels to reduce the risks, and what needs to be further strengthened. As such, it is an essential diagnostic tool to be used for capacity building, relief, mitigation and development programmes.
Project planning
National Societies use the project cycle as a basic tool in their programme activities. Project activities are organized on the basis of the common-sense elements of a project cycle. The Federation’s basic project cycle can readily include the capacity question as part of its analysis.
Monitoring and evaluation
In this context, monitoring is defined as the ongoing reality check and systematic observation of a project or programme in order to prepare steering decisions. Monitoring includes data collection on qualitative and quantitative dimensions concerning achievement of objectives, applied methods, timing, use of material and human resources, and effects on the given socio-cultural environment.
PROCESS OF CAPACITY BUILDING
Capacity building is a process that aims to strengthen an organization’s ability to fulfill its mission and achieve its goals effectively. It involves developing and enhancing the skills, knowledge, resources, and systems needed to succeed in a specific area or field. Here is a general outline of the process of capacity building:
