Strengthening local organisation - "Where the rubber hits the road"

As aid agencies embrace the concept of strengthening local organisation as an end rather than a means for achieving project objectives, there is need for wider understanding of best practice and lessons learnt in organisation al development at the grassroots level. Four case studies are examined here from the international non-governmental organisation world (Haiti, Peru, M all and Nepal). Key implications for practice and policy are drawn from the se examples. In marginalised rural areas, local organisation seems to take hold more firmly, with a process approach that permits people to define the ir own priorities and organise themselves around appropriate solutions and structures. Integrated, synergetic programmes that include economic initiat ives such as credit and savings yield stronger local organisations than sin gle-sector or technology-driven programmes, and are more likely to include women and the poor. Sensitivity to context, flexibility and adaptability ar e among other important variables. The implications of these lessons for po licies and partnerships within the international aid community are far reac hing. If donor agencies are serious about strengthening local organisations and enhancing problem-solving capacities on a long-term, sustainable basis , and wish to make the growth of civil society as important as meeting sect oral goals, there is a need for fundamental changes in the way aid funding and partnerships are understood, negotiated, structured, limed and assessed .