Programs & services
Networking & advocacy
Yearly networking events organised by EASUN bring CSOs together to examine their practices in social development work and find ways of strengthening collaboration and advocacy work. Networking events are an important avenue for institutional development of civil society organisations.
Three specific areas currently characterize the networking and advocacy outreach of EASUN:
I. Networking for Knowledge Sharing and Awareness Building
- Various workshops organised to raise awareness and strengthen skills in specific areas such as governance, identity of civil society organisations and various areas that interface with OD, e.g. gender, HIV & AIDS, etc., for mainstreaming civil society values of equity, tolerance and diversity management in the workplace.
- A biennial OD/ID networking meeting brings organisations and individuals involved in capacity to deliberate on best and next practices in OD and other capacity building approaches;
- Consultations for local and international NGOs to deliberate on best ways to collaborate to support the development of relevant and effective civil society in the region.
II. Advocacy for CBOs Institutional Development
- EASUN plans and coordinates action-research, training and collaborative efforts that strengthen strategic capacities of CBOs as civil society organisations undertaking advocacy work at grassroots community levels.
- Community mobilisation training (FAF), CBO referral system & OD interventions, networking and impact assessment are strategic instrument through which EASUN responds to expressed needs of CBOs in the region. The referral system is a key link and support mechanism for outsourcing services, networking and knowledge sharing opportunities.
- Regional consultations, networking and follow-up visits, as well as services offered by the referral system have provided an advocacy platform and strengthened clarity on the roles and identity of CBOs as essential development institutions in local communities.
III. Association for practicing OD in East Africa (APODEA)
- APODEA is a platrform built on strong values based OD training and a development practice grounded in profound respect for the wisdom of the situation whose development processes is supported through consultancy work.
- APODEA is a formal Association of OD practitioners. More significantly, however, it is a movement of individuals and institutions who value working with processes that enable the client to take responsibility and ownership before, during and after engaging with them.
- Formalisation, broadening and strengthening of APODEA adds a critical advocacy role for capacity development that increases possibilities for transforming performance and relevance of civil society organisations in East Africa. Six specific activities currently characterize the role that APODEA shall be playing in the institutional development of CSOs in East Africa.
How does APODEA characterise its development practice?
I am a consultant, working often with civil society organisations to support their institutional development. I intervene from a position of power. My identification as a consultant reinforces this. Depending on what my purpose is I can break or make an organisation. I am continuously reminded of this fact by what I find in organisations I am requested to intervene in. There are those that expect me, the consultant, to police their affairs such that my interactions are limited to reviewing the books, and not operating cultures. Then, there are organisations that seem to be on auto pilot having lost a sense of what they are about and only respond to what the benefactor wants or demands. Similarly, there are organisations that purely serve the role of development brokers: they look for the opportunity to attract development aid/funds to remain afloat.
Many CSOs I work with tend to express surprise at my orientation as an OD consultant. They question my reluctance to posture as having the answer for all their development questions, whenever I engage them in learning processes that prepare them to exercise greater self autonomy. They find it hard to believe that I recognize they have wisdom sound enough to help their organisation out of stuck situations.
How has it come about that there are differing postures in how we engage with the process of development? How is it that expectations from our engagement often results in our assuming roles that appear to be in opposition to an emancipatory agenda?
Salma Maoulidi, EASUN OD Associate
Dar es salaam, Tanzania
I was recently paired with a consultant to undertake some organisational development work. Having been given the terms of reference, we independently sat down to chart out how we would approach the work. When we came together to exchange ideas in order to craft out one approach to the work ahead of us, I realised I was not prepared for the surprise that unfolded.
My colleague proposed that we collect data, analyze, summarize and conclude the picture, with recommendations for and on behalf of the client. The only part they would come in was to endorse our options through a "quick discussion" in a space of no more than two days. Equally surprised, her own face fell apart when I presented a process-rich, five-day approach, which essentially suggested that we would get there eventually, but through sets of processes that would lead to a conclusion that was consistent with the organisation's current need, in the context of its core purpose. This was informed by a practice preference that respected the knowledge and input of the client organisation, where the role of an OD consultant is to accompany by making strategic interventions that take the clients own process further.
The accolades that accompanied the resume of my colleague dwarfed mine incredibly. She had a long and solid experience and exposure in "development" circles. She had been commissioned by UN agencies, the Breton Woods institutions and various international organisations; a visiting fellow in a university and her references were big names. Yet I could not help wondering: "How could her fundamental approach to building the capacity of organisations be so grossly wrong? Why was she in a rush process-wise? What did that say about the institutions she had worked for?
Wangui Karanja, EASUN OD Associate,
Nairobi, Kenya
APODEA: A movement for transformative action
In October 2008, EASUN OD Associates annual mentorship and coaching workshop took place in Tanga, Tanzania, where they resolved to establish the forum as a nucleus for an Association for Practicing OD in East Africa (APODEA). This is a platform built on strong values based OD training, with its development practice grounded in profound respect for the process and wisdom of the situation whose development processes is being supported through consultancy work.
With the understanding that varying approaches to OD carry political statements on how we practice development, APODEA is much more than a formally registered Association. It is a movement of individuals and institutions who: 1) value both process and outcome in capacity development interventions; 2) consider learning and changes in perspectives to be concrete outcomes in any capacity building process; 3) endeavor to leave capacities behind for organisations to work with after an OD process; 4) create processes that enable the client to take responsibility and ownership before, during and after engaging with them; 5) appreciate that organisations are effectively places of relationship.
EASUN OD Associates meeting in Tanga felt that further formalisation, broadening and strengthening of the forum would provide a platform that is able to advocate more effectively for skills and capacity development initiatives that increase possibilities for values-based performance by civil society organisations in East Africa. Examples of activities that would achieve this:
- Developing new knowledge: contributing to the growth of OD practice through home-grown experiences;
- OD Interventions and institutional development of CSOs: responding to current organisation development needs of CSOs and addressing emerging questions, trends, and opportunities for developing effective OD practices in the region;
- Research and documenting: Writing publishing capacity development experiences in the region;
- Spreading good practice: workshops, symposiums, conferences, sensitisation and exposure visits for members and interested CSO leaders;
- Practice exchange: Bringing professionals from around the world to East Africa through the EASUN Learning Centre and other fora;
- Developing benchmarks: setting standards, documenting and disseminating them to the CSO community in East Africa and beyond.
