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SPECIAL NORAD REPORT – STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY NPA’s strategy is focused on strengthening civil society actors’ capacity to promote a fair distribution of power and resources. The strengthening of partners’ role in society is therefore included in all programmes. NPA prioritises actors that have the potential to build influence, challenge unjust distribution and promote alternative views on development and has therefore not a general civil society strengthening approach. There is a strong emphasis on democratization, promoting participation and the right and possibility to organise. The strategy adapt to the local context supporting the agendas that mobilize local actors. The emphasis either on local or national processes therefore varies between the countries depending both on context and the characteristic of the actors. The NPA partnership policy puts emphasis on the development of trust and open dialogue with partners respecting their agenda and the leading role of partners.

NPA’s programmes approach the strengthening of these civil society organisations from different angles. On the one hand, this is done through the strengthening of the capacity of the individual organisation. On the other, we look at the role of the organisation in society, including its relationship to other organisations and the strength of the organisation in relation to the state.

Finally, the strength of the organisations can be reflected in the capacity to adapt to changing contexts. The NPA Partnership policy provides a framework for partner assessment and support to partners’ organizational development focusing on internal capacities (the policy and the unity of the organization, technical and administrative capacity) and external capacities (capacity to influence, have impact and make changes, capacity to relate and make alliances with other actors).

When it comes to strengthening the internal capacities of partner organizations, several outputs can be highlighted; Strengthening administrative and planning capacities; These capacities are important for transparency internally in the organisations as well as for the accountability to their members, boards and donors. Some examples from 2009 are; In Cambodia, two partners (NGO Forum and SrerKhmer) received a three year certification as Good Practice NGOs. In Southern Africa, training workshops with partners in result based monitoring were organised for partners followed by mentoring of the planning processes of the individual partners. At the end of the process, partners indicate that this has enhanced their planning and monitoring activities. Support was facilitated to three partners in Rwanda to strategic planning and development of action plans. Support to improve financial management practice has resulted in improved practice evidenced in the audit reports.

Strengthening representativeness and political capacity; This area is crucial to the NPA strategy and some examples of the work done in 2009 are; In Zimbabwe, partner CBOs put in place mechanisms that resulted in an increase membership. Three CBOs (Wadzanal, AKCT and CHIDA) recorded altogether an increase from 2070 members in 2008 to 18317 members in 2009. Soweto Concerned citizens in South Africa grew from 4000 to 7000 members. While this increases the organisations representativeness, fast growth is also a challenge in terms of the unity of the organisation, leadership capacity and capacity to respond to the membership’s different priorities. In Latin America, political training of members of social movements at different levels has continued. More than 3000 national, regional and local leaders of social movements participated in structured political training in Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. An important part of these leaders are women. NPA organised several workshops to discuss methodologies and approaches to political 1

training. Support to strengthen the functioning of local and national boards and the organising of the general assembly has also been included. In Palestine, the strategy has been to strengthen smaller organizations to broaden the local representation and grassroots initiative, emphasizing women’s and youth’s participation. This is reflected in the establishment of new workers committees where women have increased their participation. Flexibility in the response to the organizations needs and the changing national situation constitutes an important element in the capacity of NPA to strengthen organizations. This is the case in general and especially when dealing with organizations with weak administrative capacity like in South Sudan. However, this weakness has also limited the possibilities to work with a vast number of CBOs. The strengthening of internal capacities can be seen as a tool to achieve results in the external environment, but it does also have an important democratizing element, as organizations is a school in democracy where participants learn how to speak in public, express opinions, assume leadership roles and take responsibility for activities and board functions.

When assessing the role of the organisations in society and their external capacities, the developments in the context must be taken into account. The strengthening of this role was negatively affected by concentration of power, limited room for political action and repression in several countries (Honduras, Guatemala, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Palestine) or by the treat of violent conflict (Sudan). There are also positive developments opening possibilities for increased participation and influence of social movements and other civil society actors (El Salvador, Bolivia).

Both tendencies are described in the context analysis in the 2009 NORAD report.

When it comes to strengthening external capacities to influence, make alliances and adapt to changing realities the NPA programmes have contributed in various ways; On the one hand there have been contributions to strengthen new actors, broadening the diversity of the voices and grassroots interests represented. This is for example represented by the support to the Community Peace Building Network (CPN) and the Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF) in Cambodia. Both were loose networks of people when NPA initiated the support and have developed into more structured organisations with impact at the national level. CPN organise people and communities affected by evictions. HRTF address housing rights in urban areas. Another such example is Soweto Concerned Citizens in South Africa that have taken up the problems faced regarding the payment of rent for housing and urban services. In this case the impact is local and it is uncertain how these local groups will be able to link up with others and influence national politics.

Some agendas have gained new strength among civil society actors and NPA has linked up to this, notably regarding the increasing conflict around the exploitation of natural resources. In Guatemala, the conflict around investment in mining or hydroelectric projects has intensified and in San Marcos communities inhibited the entrance of foreign enterprises. In El Salvador, the Comite Ambiental de CabaĂąas (CAC) has resisted the entrance of mining companies and obliged President Funes to commit himself to not authorize metal mining exploitation in the country. In Ecuador, ECUARUNARI and CONAIE have been active with proposals and mobilization regarding the Water Law. It is worthwhile noticing the risks involved in this, as we have seen a tendency towards repression, threats and killings of especially local leaders involved in the organizations. In Mozambique, UNAC is increasingly confronted by foreign investment in land and its effects on the communities organized in the peasant

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movement. In South Sudan, achieved in restoring positive customary law practices related to women’s rights.

Civil society response in crisis situations has been supported in a series of countries. The opening of political space in Honduras was dramatically reversed by the coup against the elected president in June 2009. The partner organizations were among the active in the resistance movement against the coup and integrated in the National resistance Front. NPA also took a clear stand against the coup and demanding the same from the Norwegian government. The level of protest against the coup with nearly five months continuous street mobilization was unexpected. It also reflected difficulties in coordination between the organizations and the strength of the oligarchic forces behind the coup.

The security and human rights situation has now seriously deteriorated. NPA accompanied the partners, among others organizing workshops with partners that permitted analysis of the political and human rights situation. In spite of the difficult situation in Zimbabwe, partner organizations have been able to take advantage of the limited opening of political space. Young Voices organised nonviolence campaigns and Zimrights trained residents in communities that had been targeted by political violence in 2008. Others also worked to influence the constitutional reform process. ONIC in Colombia accompanied the Awa people that were victims of two massacres in 2009 and denounced the situation nationally and internationally. In the aftermath of the Israeli “Operation Cast lead” against Gaza, many international organisations have started operational programmes. In this situation NPA has pointed to the existence of local capacity and supported local organisations in the response to the crisis.

The capacity to relate and make alliances is important for the organisations to gain strength to promote changes. The partner profile survey shows that 15% of NPA’s partners are networks, 9% coordinations and 5% confederations. There is then an important support directly to alliances between organisations and/or local groups. Interchange between partner organisations is facilitated in many countries. NPA does encourage alliance strategies among partners and discuss this in the dialogue.

There is a dilemma regarding how proactive an external actor like NPA should be in this, as the creation of partner networks does not necessarily respond to the wider dynamics of the civil society actors in a country. In some case, especially in Latin-America, partner participation in alliances is a specific result in the plan that is monitored. Developments in partner’s alliance building are not visible in all country reports. Fragmentation of civil society organisations is an issue in various countries. Increased coordination is reported for example in El Salvador where all partners are members in one of the four national coordinating bodies of the popular movement. These united in a movement for change in 2009 and played an important role in the triumph of FMLN in the elections.

At the same time, in Ecuador no advances in this respect are reported.

The influencing of public opinion has been included ranging from involving journalists to speak out about an issue, like violence against women in Angola, through proposals on media laws to the strengthening of independent media. In El Salvador, progressive independent media joined forces in a campaign to democratize media. In Sudan, the Union of Journalists is well established, a media resource centre operational.

Another aspect is the strengthening of participation at local level, in the community or in relation to the municipal government. There are numerous examples of this in 2009, from the establishment of land use committees in Ethiopia, youth participation at local level in Angola, the creation of a 3

network of development councils in Solola, Guatemala, that joined forces to counter the wave of violence in the municipality or the partners’ active participating in the establishment of the new autonomic councils at municipal and departmental level in Bolivia. In Tanzania, organisations are using the Public Expenditure Tracking System to influence the planning and implementation of activities in their communities. Women that have participated in Women Can Do It training courses in Rwanda have engaged themselves actively in village councils and activities at local level, including the training of other women. Similarly, women targeted by such training in Mozambique have strengthened their self confidence to participate and speak in public. A search for new mechanisms for participation and consultation can be observed in most countries both at national and local level.

In some countries these mechanisms have been formalised. In almost all countries this participation is faced with tensions and challenges in finding the way to operate effectively.

At the same time, the relationship to governments is a central concern. As mentioned, this relationship is frequently tense and confrontational and marked by the government’s lack of openness or direct repression. In some countries this implies to work with a low profile at local level.

Organisations that work for democratisation and redistribution of resources and the organisations are sometimes pushed to mainly defend their existence or to respond to human rights violations. A challenging issue is how to focus not just on law proposals and establishment of rights, but also on how to establish negotiations and reach political agreements where the conditions are present.

There are considerable dilemmas for the organisations whether to negotiate or not and how to confront the risk of cooption. In some countries the dilemma for social movements and other civil society organisations is how to relate to progressive governments or governments they have supported or brought to power. Examples of this can be found in Sudan, Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador. In Bolivia, the partner organisations have been crucial in bringing the MAS government to power, have gained influence, have managed to get their candidates into local government or national parliament, but then face challenges in keeping the organisation strong as many of the leaders have become candidates. In these situations, when the reform agenda is broad, it is also a huge challenge for the organisations to keep up with and contribute to all the different processes.

These are issues NPA is concerned with and continuously address in the dialogue with partners.

At the same time, there have been important efforts by the organisations to influence legislation, like the reforms in the consumer rights legislation in Nicaragua, the women’s bill in Angola, the consultation on the interim constitution and gender policy in Southern Sudan or the law on water management in Ecuador. In some cases the proposals have been approved. There have also been actions to demand government accountability regarding public budgets, like the budget monitoring in Angola or the publishing of the anti-corruption magazine in Rwanda.

During 2009, NPA sought to strengthen the political work in Norway and support partner’s agendas through advocacy in Norway. This was among others done through coordinated advocacy work with partner organisations after the coup in Honduras and in relation to the proposed free trade agreement between EFTA and Colombia. Partners and NPA in coordination with NCA and FIVAS collaborated in developing a study regarding hydroelectric projects in Guatemala. Norwegian investments through the Government Pension Fund in Israeli companies that contribute to the occupation of Palestine were also addressed. In the last case NPA contributed with information and contacts in the process that led to the withdrawal on ethical grounds of the investment in the Israeli company Elbit.

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