Strengthening the Capacities of Philippine CSOs

CODE-NGO joins a consortium of Philippine civil society organizations (CSOs) in implementing USAID’s “Philippine CSOs Strengthening Project,” a 3-year initiative to build the capacities of Philippine CSOs for development effectiveness and sustainability. The consortium is composed of leading Philippine CSOs with track record in implementing capacity-building programs for the sector. 

Ayala Foundation, which manages the project, leads the group and is supported by technical partners, Association of Foundation (AF), Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) and CODE-NGO. 

	The Project Steering Committee led by Ayala Foundation, in partnership with AF, CODE-NGO, PBSP, PCNC, and UP-NCPAG discussing the capacity-building framework during a workshop.

The project intends to provide training and other capacity-building interventions to 120 selected Philippine CSOs in the next three (3) years on the following areas – governance and leadership;  strategic planning and management;  financial management;  human resource development and administrative management;  resource development; and program design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.  At the end of the project, it is expected that more local CSOs will  achieve sustainable and significant impact, will be  accountable to their constituents and will be  able to effectively compete for and manage donor resources.  

This initiative responds to the reform effort of USAID dubbed “USAID FORWARD”, to change the way it does business with partners in order to achieve high-impact development.  Specifically, it responds to the implementation and procurement reforms objective of USAID to “strengthen local civil society and private sector capacity and improve aid effectiveness and sustainability” and to be able to contract with and provide grants to more varied and local partners. 

The Project Steering Committee, composed of representatives of the consortium members, recently finalized the list of 120 CSOs who will be partner-recipients of the capacity-building interventions from this initiative.  The 120 CSOs was selected from a pool of more than 900 CSOs referred by consortium members and partner organizations, that was later on trimmed down to around 250 CSOs that submitted their expression of interest to be part of the project and their organizational profiles.  The final list of 120 CSOs was selected based on key criteria such as legal status, presence of basic governance and financial systems, ongoing programs that are in line with their organizational mission and adequate staffing. At least 30% of these recipient organizations come from Mindanao, it being USAID’s priority area in their Country Assistance Strategy. – by Roselle Rasay, Program Specialist for Membership, CODE-NGO.