Month: <span>March 2019</span>

CIVIL SOCIETY: How can donors and grantees use measurement to its greatest potential effect? How can they get better together? The solution demands that both parties trust and respect one another – and believe fervently that there is always room for improvement. Donors must make the effort to ensure that the the metrics they want to see are useful both as performance indicators and as tools that can help the civil society organization improve its results. And civil society leaders must find a way to measure data that will help them get better at what they do regardless of specific donor requirements. From experience, grantees that develop these capabilities are ultimately better positioned to do the measurement work required by donors, even when those efforts are directly different – possibly because of experience gathering meaningful data and analyzing it, and the organizational culture of accountability and results that can develop as a by product of that experience.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

CIVIL SOCIETY: What would Civil society do to achieve better results if they had time, ample resources, and no pressure at all from funders to generate progress reports of all sorts?
Ideally, they would continually track and reflect on their performance in a manner that would help them improve their programs. They would internalise the truly vital metrics that would help them measure their current performance against their strategy and the needs they are trying to meet. They would gather data relevant to decisions about what to stop, start, continue, and refine – all with an eye toward increasing their impact.
Unfortunately, even though measument is perhaps the single most powerful tool that civil societies and their donors can use to get better together, it’s rarely deployed to that end.
Happy talk prevails in public because donors and grantees need each other and share a common passion. In private, however, hand-wringing may become the order of the day as reporting-related frustrations accumulate.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

CIVIL SOCIETY: What do you understand by an effective donor-grantee partnership? When civil society leaders are asked what, in their experience, distinguishes the most effective donor-grantee partnerships, they invariably cite the same three characteristics: clear communications, consistent expectations, and a sense of mutuality and respect.
In essence, they are saying, “Treat us the way you’d want to be treated if our situations were reversed”. It sounds simple, but in reality a lot can get in the way, even when there is a single donor decision maker. When there is more than one, the chances for confusion and miscommunication increase exponentially.
Nothing in life is static, and donor-grantee relationships are no exception to this rule. Even when donors and grantees have created the basis for an effective partnership-through careful mutual selection and by “right-sizing” a grant (resource it right)-it will require continuing care and vigilance to remain effective. It will also require a commitment on both sides to share the “brutal facts”. Why? Because the goals that the donor and grantee jointly agreed to will likely evolve over time as the strategy is implemented and evolves.
Consequently, the more clarity there is, the better:Clarity about the funding strategy and goals;about how and when go/no-go, decisions will be made about milestones and expected outcomes;about application and reporting requirements.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

CIVIL SOCIETY: How may partnership be persued in the donor/grantee relationship?
In real partnership, donor and grantee together and continually explore opportunities to build upon and leverage their relationship through innovative strategies, enhanced collaboration with other organizations and constituents, and increased financial and/or non-financial support.
When the two parties work together productively, the benefits that accrue from that working relationship outweigh the costs. The higher these net benefits are, the more productive the relationship.
The time and influence a donor contributes to a grantee can often be as valuable (or even more valuable) than the grant itself.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

CIVIL SOCIETY: What can donors and grantees do to ensure that the grantee has what it takes to get the job done?
To begin with, both have to ask whether the overhead in question is an important piece of the organization’s ability to do its work well. For most civil societies of any size, for instance, it would be hard to argue that a capable accountant would be a “bad” overhead. The same applies to a human resource function that will help to develop an organization’s people and build its managerial bench strength, or an up-to-date information technology platform that will help staff make better decisions, or a chief operating officer who can manage the organization’s administrative systems, leaving the executive director free to focus on program issues, and to develop funding, avoiding burn out. “Good” overhead, in its many forms, is simply what it takes to achieve the results that the civil society and its supporters seek.
A growing number of pioneering donors and grantees are taking powerful and exemplary steps to recognize good overhead, and to ensure that the beneficiaries and causes they are passionate about, have the most and best support possible.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda