A Cameroonian organisation’s role in the RESILAC project

A new kind of partnership

First of all, the RESILAC project provided us with the opportunity to engage in genuine collaboration with ACF and CARE. This involved the effective transferal of numerous activities with specific performance criteria (a set of clearly defined activities for civil society organisations (CSOs) with expected results that are evaluated each year). In addition, we attended several capacity reinforcement sessions related to these activities, with the objective of increasing the quality of our operations (technical training related to the transferred activities, such as setting up VSLAs, the socio-economic integration of young people, integrating gender issues, agro-ecological practices, and topics such as the financial procedures of donors and partners (ACF and CARE), accountability and humanitarian principles). Pillar 3’s organisational support included an organisational assessment of AJED-MR at the beginning of the collaboration with ACF and CARE. This highlighted the organisation’s strengths, weaknesses and shortcomings and led to the development of a Capacity Reinforcement Plan including monitoring of project implementation and an annual evaluation of progress made. This support helped us to get to know the procedures of donors and partners (CARE and ACF), improve accounting tools and draw up a strategic plan defining the organisation’s objectives for the future. Lastly, the organisation’s inclusion at the strategic decision-making level during RESILAC coordination meetings was new for us, as was the sharing of key information. Indeed, previous partnerships with international organisations were essentially limited to meetings to monitor activities carried out. In contrast, with ACF and CARE, CSOs take part in strategic planning meetings as well. Information related to advocacy and security are also shared. All these aspects helped to improve the quality of the activities carried out as well as their visibility, and the visibility of the RESILAC project in general. Lastly, CSOs gained in credibility among the population, and among traditional, religious, communal and administrative authorities. This was the case, for example, with the transferal to CSOs of technical training for young people, which led to a contract with local state technical services. This helped to build a network and establish links between civil society and the state.

The difficulties encountered with this kind of partnership

Because we are much more used to top-down partnerships where terms of reference need to be validated by the lead partners before implementation, this new kind of partnership led to some misunderstanding when the project was launched, particularly in terms of the approach. And, it should be pointed out that the RESILAC project’s co-construction approach, with autonomous implementing partners, was new both for CSO staff and for ACF and CARE staff. There were also some problems with the joint planning of activities with the two lead partners. These were nevertheless resolved thanks to clarification meetings that helped all the stakeholders to understand the approach and improve communication. However, CSOs did have some problems implementing the different procedures of ACF and CARE. Even though, in theory, there was a single agreement with the two partners, depending on which partner was involved, the administrative and financial procedures were different for the transferred activities, (for example, two distinct monthly financial reports had to be written to respect the procedures of each organisation for a single project).

Ideas for ways to improve partnerships with international aid organisations

I think it would be appropriate to involve civil society and/or local organisations as early as the project design phase, so that they can gain more experience in partnerships. This would allow CSOs to be co-applicants and not simply solicited to implement activities. It would also be useful for international organisations who are partners to harmonise their procedures in order to optimise their assimilation by the partner CSOs. In terms of partnerships with international aid organisations in general, the approach that was tested by the RESILAC project seems sound. In addition to reinforcing the technical and organisational capacities of local organisations, it leads to a genuine transfer of key activities and budget. This helps CSOs to develop and improve the quality of their operations with the populations that they are closest to. This effective transferal of activities, with capacity reinforcement, allows partner CSOs to acquire expertise in different areas, such as agro ecology. The partnership with ACF and CARE has also allowed CSOs to acquire different tools and competencies in the following areas: organisational evaluation diagrams, the development of a ten-year strategic plan, setting up a project and fund-raising. These different points allow CSOs to become more autonomous and will improve the quality of their future partnerships. What is more, having established relations with the communes and the local state technical services, RESILAC has opened the door to other, longer-term partnerships. And lastly, thanks to a capacity reinforcement plan with projects that are not principally funded by ACF or CARE, certain projects were led by the CSOs themselves.