Renewed Commitment for Building CSO Capacities

CODE-NGO’s commitment to revitalize the capacities of its member networks for governance, networking and effective local and sectoral advocacy is declared as a major key result area in its recently approved Strategic Plan for 2013-2017.  This initiative could not have come at a more opportune time, as there are increasing expectations and demand for CSOs’ involvement in budgeting, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating government programs and projects at the local and national levels. 

To support the capacity-building initiatives of its member networks, the CODE-NGO Board recently approved a new round of 5-year Capacity Building Fund (CBF), a small grants window of at least 3 million pesos annually, which will provide infrastructure support for the coalition’s 12 member networks. CODE-NGO believes that a key to CSO capacity building is core support – to help cover a range of vital functions such as planning and evaluation, board-staff relations, improvements in technology and communications and governance measures. The flexibility that the CBF can provide will allow member networks to employ a support staff they need to be viable and productive or to be able to cover basic operational expenses, so they can focus on leveraging external funds for new programs or policy initiatives.  The key requirement to access a CBF grant is for the member network to craft its 3-year Capacity Building Plan and to demonstrate commitment to pursue this plan and meet its declared objectives, which shall be reviewed by the CODE-NGO Board annually. 

The requirement for member networks to craft their own Capacity Building Plan is in line with the requisites of CSO participation in the “Capacity Building for Philippine CSOs Project”, an initiative being implemented by a consortium of Philippine CSOs led by Ayala Foundation and supported by USAID. Seven of the 12 member networks of CODE-NGO are receiving capacity building interventions under this project, 2 are part of the implementing team and 3 who are non-participants are being provided with parallel technical assistance by CODE-NGO.

With its participation in the consortium that is implementing the Ayala Foundation and USAID-led initiative, CODE-NGO adopts the capacity-building framework of the project for its own CBF program, which defines interventions and corresponding expected outcomes in the areas of Governance, Leadership and Strategic Planning and Management; Financial Management; Administrative and Human Resource Management; Resource Mobilization; and Project Development, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation.  To enhance the framework and to fit the needs of CSO networks, CODE-NGO is set to develop corresponding capacity-building program for the following areas: Networking, Advocacy Effectiveness and Member Relations — By Roselle Rasay, CODE-NGO Program Specialist for Membership