Partnership/Organisational Capacity

Xxxxx

Partnership/Organisational Capacity

Self Assessment Report

Date &Location

Contents

Introduction......

Background of Xxxxx......

Purpose......

Monitoring & Evaluation......

Strategic Planning......

Methodology......

Planned Process (Ideal)......

Actual Process (Reality)......

General Findings......

Key Lessons and Challenges......

Key Recommendations......

Immediate......

Short Term......

Long Term......

Working Group......

Appendixes......

1. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Results & Analysis......

2. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Work-Plans......

3. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Participants......

4. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Working Group......

5. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Tool – Excel Work-Book......

Introduction

The purpose of thisPCA / OCA is for Xxxxxto dispassionately self-assess their partnership / organisation, its mandate, its structural and operational mechanisms,its external relations and its influence on voice and accountability in the state. It serves to elaborately locate the partnership’s / organisation’s present position in these areas of functional capacity. This will lead to a broad collective understanding of its current status in terms of organisational strengths, gaps, challenges and opportunities relating to each capacity area.

The intended outcome will be a joint agreement between membersof Xxxxx on what is the best and most appropriate way forwards, to takeaction (reinforcing or remedial) to develop their partnership / organisationbased on analysis of the results of this assessment. The resulting action plan or work-plan will then form the basis for engagement and agreement with SAVI,on areas of possible support, in demonstrating actions that the partnership / organisation is committed to addressing. Timelines, responsibilities, and mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing progress on the implementation of these plans will be identified and shared. Progress will be overseen by an agreed joint implementation working group.

This process takes place annually. For Xxxxx, this is the first / second / third / etc … occasion on which we have conducted a full PCA / OCA. … Give a brief background on where the partnership / organisation has reached in terms of your use of this tool, your development and monitoring of action plans, and the status/performance of your joint working group.

This particular PCA / OCA was conducted on … give date … in … give locationand venue ... It was facilitated by … specify the extent of members / SAVI staff involvement in the facilitation, and any other highly relevant additional information relating to circumstances under which the self-assessment was conducted (e.g. other activities undertaken by members on the day of the event; others in attendance whose presence might have influenced the discussions).

Backgroundof Xxxxx

Give a very brief summary of the partnership’s / organisation’s history, structure, role within the State, some examples of accomplishments to date, present status, known challenges (if any), etc. linked to itshistorical development and local context (political / social / cultural / economic environment, competition, etc. if any). … Also give a very brief summary of the intent of the partnership / organisation to use the results of this self-assessment to promote collective ownership, participation, teamwork/partnership, and empowerment of members for sustainable development of the partnership / organisation through strategic and/or operational planning and budgeting – as a sort of internal formal/informal MoU.

Purpose

Monitoring & Evaluation

The process used to administer this PCA / OCA is the same as for the PCA / OCAof other CS Partnerships, Media Houses and SHoAs in this and other States– these tools are very similar, but their content differs. This tool is specifically for … please specify which: CS Partnerships engaged in Policy Advocacy work; CS Partnerships engaged in Budget Process work; an individual Media House; or the SHoA in a particular State …All are conducted annually through 'self-assessment' by partners for the purpose of establishing capacity baselines and evaluating progress over the course of a programme of capacity building support. In line with programme reporting requirements, the results of these assessments are made available at least one month before annual, midterm or any other external reviews for all partnerships/organisations supported by the programme – hence their annual timing is determined by such requirements. This same tool is used to monitor progress throughout the year, at least quarterly, whether through self-assessment by the whole partnership/organisation, or by a sub-set of leading partners, or as an 'external' assessment by programme staff.

Strategic Planning

While these assessments serve as a useful record of capacity building progress over time, as an M&E tool for partners and programme staff alike, their greatest value is in their use as a planning tool, to identify capacity gaps and provide a capacity building roadmap. All partners are encouraged to generate and regularly update their own partnership/organisational development plans (strategic and operational) on the back of each assessment, as an immediate output of the process. These plans then serve as a basis for agreement on what capacity building support partners can source among themselves – within their partnership/organisation or by extending out to others – and what support they need, if any, from the programme.

Methodology

Planned Process (Ideal)

Facilitation: programme staff in each state (initially with the support of a national technical adviser) introduce the tool to all the members of a particular partnership/organisation (or as many as are available at the time of its use), run through it, and discuss it until it is sufficiently understood by the vast majority. In time, as they gain in confidence, partners are encouraged to take up this role of introducing it to new members of their partnership/organisation, and to facilitate the entire process by themselves.

Assessment: all members of the partnership/organisation in attendance collectively rate the whole of their partnership/organisation against each of the indicators on each of the (green tabbed) sheets in the tool – on internal capacity, programme skills, external relations, (and dependency, in the case of CS partnerships only). They discuss which of the narrative descriptions they most closely align with (levels 1 to 5) on each indicator – reaching agreement by consensus. For each rating, they keep a record of the key justifications (evidence) they have provided and any key recommendations (planned actions) they have suggested during the discussion. This record is kept on the (orange tabbed) references sheet. Throughout the process of assessment, there should be no involvement of programme staff or advisers, except as observers to ensure the methodology is adhered to, and to clarify (resolve disputes over) the assessment process or the intended meaning of any of the indicators or narrative descriptions in the tool, as the need arises.

Grouping: where you have a small number of partners participating in the assessment, they should remain as a single group, but where you have a larger number (more than 20), break into groups and agree which group covers which component of the assessment – internal capacity, programme skills, external relations, and dependency. The same process of assessment as described above is used by each group, whether large or small. However, where partners break into groups, at the end of their assessment, all groups come back together to review each other's assessments. Each group presents its ratings to the plenary with their key justifications and recommendations. These are open to discussion, agreement/disagreement, and resolution by consensus to arrive at a final rating for each indicator. This part of the process is moderated by an experienced member of the partnership, nominated by the partners to perform this role. Alternatively, where this is not possible (usually at the time of initial use of the process, when partners are less familiar with it), a member of theprogramme staff or the adviser in attendance may substitute, based on agreement of the partners and clear guidance not to interfere with the discussion except to provide further clarification on the tool, its content or the process of assessment, where this is requested by partners or required to mediate a dispute between partners. The final ratings, justifications and recommendations from this plenary are recorded in a fresh workbook by nominated partners. Again, a member of theprogramme staff or the adviser in attendance may assist on request, or as required if those responsible for record keeping are observed to be in need of some guidance on where and how to enter the data correctly (usually at the time of initial use of the tool).

Reporting: Partners are encouraged to facilitate the process, and required to record the results in order that they 'own' the process. They are also supported by programme staff to document the process and the results in a simple narrative report – for which a standard template is provided, though partners are free to 'customise' this for their own partnership's use. This document remains the sole property of the partnership/organisation but they are required to share it with the programme staff for their own internal M&E purposes. At the end of the assessment a date is provisionally agreed for the next one. This is reflected in their partnership/organisationaldevelopment plan generated/updated immediately after each assessment.

Actual Process (Reality)

The intention of the partners and any supporting programme staff is tofollow the planned process (self-assessment methodology) outlined above, as far as is possible. However, we know from experience that different partnership / organisationaldynamics, contextual factors and unintended courses of events can redirect and slightly or largely influence changes the process of how the PCA / OCA is conducted. To ensure the integrity of the process, we need to depict the reality as well as the ideal. Any deviation from the planned process is detailed below, followed by a general description of processon the day.

Deviations: … please specify here any deviations from the planned process described above, unintended and intended, with reasons …

Description: … please give a very brief summary of the key events of the day: the sequence and timing of events, key roles and responsibilities performed, the quality of the facilitation, collective understanding of the tool, any capacity areas that required significant further clarification, the number of participants, any grouping required, how the group work went, how the plenary sessions went, key challenges in agreeing on ratings, providing justifications and making recommendations, any major points of disagreement /dispute on the final results and analysis, how the recording/documentation went, etc.

Undue Influence: … A key concern for the integrity of this assessment, as a self-assessment, is the extent of involvement of programme staff – please specify the extent to which you observed programme staff unduly influencing the discussion and/orthe results in any way, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and what steps, if any, were taken to address this.

General Findings

Give a general overview of the outcome (results and recommendations) of each capacity component (environment) of the assessment – internal capacity, programme skills, external relations (and also dependency in the case of CS partnerships) … please note that this need only be an overview/executive summary for each component, as the full detail of the results and recommendations against each individual capacity area are provided in an appendix.

You may wish to insert the capacity ‘spider-grams’ (these can be found in the ‘charts’ sheet in the self-assessment tool) here rather than in the appendix… these provide a very powerful visual representation of the capacity strengths and gaps ofthe partnership / organisation, and are very useful for broad analysis and planning.

Key Lessons and Challenges

Please specify any key lessons learnt and any key challengesnow faced by the partnership / organisation based on the findings of this self-assessment – these may have been observed during the assessment or have come from subsequent analysis while compiling this report; they may also relate to partners expectation and relations with the programme.

Key Recommendations

Please specify any key recommendations for your partnership / organisation based on the findings of this self-assessment – these should aim to address the key lessons and challenges outlined in the section immediately above, and should build on the summary of results and recommendations presented in the ‘general findings’ section further above.

You may wish to list these as bullet points under the following headings:

Immediate

Short Term

Long Term

… please note that these need only be broad recommendations, as the full detail of the recommendations against each individual capacity area are provided in an appendix. Both sets of recommendations, broad and capacity area-related, should be based on observations and agreements reached by the partnership /organisation during the assessment or during subsequent analysis in the course of compiling this report – with collective agreement.

These recommendations will serve as the starting point for any subsequentpartnership / organisational development planning, facilitated by the management or by an agreed working group, with or without the support of the programme.

Working Group

[ To repeat the most important paragraph of the introduction to this report: … “The intended outcome will be a joint agreement between members of Xxxxx on what is the best and most appropriate way forwards, to take action (reinforcing or remedial) to develop their partnership / organisation based on analysis of the results of this assessment. The resulting action plan or work-plan will then form the basis for engagement and agreement with SAVI, on areas of possible support, in demonstrating actions that the partnership / organisation is committed to addressing. Timelines, responsibilities, and mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing progress on the implementation of these plans will be identified and shared. Progress will be overseen by an agreed joint implementation working group.” ]

Please specify here any decision taken by the partnership / organisation on the establishment of such a ‘working group’. This might be or might build on a group that already exists within the partnership / organisation for such purposes, established by leading members / senior management. … What is the constitution of this working group? … What representation doesit have across the whole partnership / organisation? … How and when will it meet? … How will it facilitate consultation and feedback with the rest of the partnership / organisation on key matters?… If any of thesethings has yet to be agreed,please elaborate on the process by which they will be, including provisional timelines.

Appendixes

1. XxxxxSelf-AssessmentResults & Analysis

ASSESSMENT SHEET: INTERNAL

s/n / Capacity Area / Level
(1-5) / Justification (Evidence) / Recommendation (Action)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

SPIDERGRAM: INTERNAL

- insert here -

ASSESSMENT SHEET: PROGRAMME

s/n / Capacity Area / Level
(1-5) / Justification (Evidence) / Recommendation (Action)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

SPIDERGRAM: PROGRAMME

- insert here -

ASSESSMENT SHEET: EXTERNAL

s/n / Capacity Area / Level
(1-5) / Justification (Evidence) / Recommendation (Action)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

SPIDERGRAM: EXTERNAL

- insert here -

ASSESSMENT SHEET: DEPENDENCY

s/n / Capacity Area / Level
(1-5) / Justification (Evidence) / Recommendation (Action)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

SPIDERGRAM: DEPEDENCY

- insert here -

2. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Work-Plans

WORKPLAN SHEET: BROAD-BASED

Recommendation (Action) / Timing / Responsibilities
Immediate
Short Term
Long Term

WORKPLAN SHEET: INTERNAL

s/n / Capacity Area / Recommendation (Action) / Timing / Responsibilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

WORKPLAN SHEET: PROGRAMME

s/n / Capacity Area / Recommendation (Action) / Timing / Responsibilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

WORKPLAN SHEET: EXTERNAL

s/n / Capacity Area / Recommendation (Action) / Timing / Responsibilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

WORKPLAN SHEET: DEPENDENCY

s/n / Capacity Area / Recommendation (Action) / Timing / Responsibilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

3. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Participants

ATTENDENCE LIST

Date: / Location:
s/n / Name / Designation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

4. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Working Group

MEMBERS LIST

s/n / Name / Designation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

5. Xxxxx Self-Assessment Tool – Excel Work-Book

See attached completed worksheets (this is a separate MS Excel document)

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