Capacity Building Cannot Succeed in Funding Systems That Exhaust Grassroots Organisations
An Alliance Magazine commentary argues that capacity-building programmes can place additional pressure on grassroots organisations when they are designed primarily around donor requirements. Drawing on the Ecumenical Women’s Initiative report on funding for women’s and girls’ organisations in the Western Balkans, it highlights a disconnect between how donors and grassroots organisations understand capacity. Donors often focus on administrative, leadership and financial skills, while organisations associate capacity with staff security, continuity, care and the ability to sustain their work. Short-term project cycles, extensive reporting requirements and demanding capacity-building activities can divert organisations from community work without creating lasting resilience. Cascade funding can improve access to larger funding streams, but may also add administrative layers and require grassroots organisations to develop indicators within compressed timeframes. Shifting priorities and unspoken expectations create an “invisible cut” that encourages self-selection and disadvantages smaller, politically exposed and less institutionalised actors, particularly those engaged in advocacy and movement-building. The commentary calls for capacity-building rooted in organisations’ everyday realities and supported by core funding, staff stability, administrative relief and space for strategic and political work.. Read more here.
Source: Alliance Magazine
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