In-Country Managed Funds
~ Section B | In-Country Administered Grant Funds Principles
There are a number of principles that have been proven to result in more effective and sustainable outcomes. These are:
- Partnership
- Capacity building
- Mentoring
- Programme approaches
- Strategic targeting
Wherever possible the following fund principles should be pursued.
Partnership
Working with chosen partners over an extended period helps to build trust and mutual understanding of priorities and objectives, particularly if the implementing organisation is close to beneficiaries and understand their needs. Sustained engagement enables donors, implementing organisations and beneficiaries jointly to determine priorities and the best manner in which to respond to longer term development needs.
Capacity building
Building the institutional strength of organisations, particularly civil society organisation, can result in gains far in excess of the money spent. Assistance and training in management, planning, strategy development, administration and systems enables organisations to more effectively respond to stakeholder needs and places them in a better position to generate funding and resources. It improves institutional stability and effectiveness.
Mentoring
Along with partnerships, mentoring leads to more sustained poverty reduction. Helping beneficiaries develop their planning skills and assisting with the preparation of work plans and proposals are worthwhile interventions. Also, the technical mentoring of projects and activities supported is seen as critical. New ventures often involve beneficiaries working in areas where they may not have any previous experience or technical knowledge. The return on money allocated is likely to be much greater if beneficiaries are supported. This could mean use of local government expertise, training in business approaches, or contracting technical advice such as an NGO or industry association to fulfil an advisory and mentoring role.
Programme approaches
Supporting the programmes of an organisation, rather than discrete projects, assists organisations with medium term planning and reduces the administrative burden. Single one-off projects may address a particular need, but are unlikely to address the underlying causes of poverty, which contributed to the particular need in the first place. A need may just be a symptom of more comprehensive underlying problems.
Strategic targeting
Focusing on a particular geographic area, sector or target group will focus development efforts.
Limitations of principles
Particular country contexts may mean that some Funds may not be in a position to embrace one ore more of these approaches. Countries and societies are at different stages of development and this could mean:
- weak local capacity
- scarce resources (especially skilled personnel)
- institutional fluidity
- geographic isolation
- the sheer size of the poverty and so on.
These need to be considered in the design of the fund.