Sustainability strategy
Introduction Important stakeholders for the sustainability of the TdH intervention strategies are: vulnerable children and young people who live in difficult circumstances and their parents as the individual beneficiaries; the partner organizations which have direct contact with the beneficiaries and the communities in which the children and young people live and develop. These main stakeholders our strategy constitute a local system with their environment. It is ultimately that their coordinated social interactions and efforts can make the sustainable impact on the quality of the life of the children and young people as main beneficiaries. TdH has foreseen the need for changes at the organizational and institutional level of its own and of the partners’ capacities. Therefore it was decided to develop a sustainability strategy explaining clearly how we intend to enhance sustained impact of it’s development programs. More specifically, the purpose is to increase the quality and the effectiveness of the projects/programs benefiting the vulnerable children and young people and sustainably improving their position in the society as equal citizens. In this on-going complex process, TdH takes into account all the stakeholders involved, targeting them on three different levels: beneficiaries (child-based); projects/programs (interventions) and organizational (partner organization).
Defining sustainability Sustainability is a popular term in the field of development cooperation and many development organizations aim at ‘sustainability’ or ‘sustainable development’ in developing countries. Despite of this popularity there is no single definition of sustainability; it is a highly dynamic, largely indefinite, and highly contested concept (Gruen et al., 2008; Scheirer, 2005). The field of development cooperation generally refers to sustainability as sustainability of development projects: implementation of projects that create local programs that will ultimately be self-sufficient, in the sense that beneficiaries are able and willing to sustain after donor support and funding departs. Some researchers refer to this as the sustainability paradigm which is adopted by many development organizations. The sustainability paradigm involves a total exclusion of the charity approach, including service delivery, and the adoption of a sustainable development approach. It lays the focus on the future, autonomy and self-reliance and rationality of development projects, and leaves no room for nonsustainable contributions. Development projects are supported for a few years and expected to continue on their own after this funding period (Gruen et al., 2008; Scheirer, 2005; Scherz, 2010). While many donors and development organizations have embraced the sustainable development approach there is an upcoming amount of criticism that questions its feasibility, cost-effectiveness and social consequences. They argue that sustainability and cost-effectiveness is used to legitimize a sort of ‘managed inequality’ and sub-standard care for the poor (Farmer, 2003; Scherz, 2010; Swidler & Wadkins, 2009). Therefore, an alternative approach to sustainability is proposed that has a different focus of change, a different level of intervention. According to Scherz (2010) development interventions should no longer focus on sustainability of institutions, but should be used as a means to create sustainable individuals or households who will be able to care for themselves and for others. And when self-sufficiency is not an option, a person’s sibling or relative should be empowered in order to create a sustainable household together. In line with this Rauschmayer, Omann and Frühmann (2008) argue for a re-focus of sustainable development on needs and quality of life of individuals: ´A high quality of life can be seen as being able to meet one’s needs sufficiently and feel well about
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it” (Rauschmayer, Omann & Frühmann, 2008, p. 3). So sustainable development should be used to enable individuals to meet their needs sufficiently, both now and in the future. Principles of sustainability “The origin of the Earth Charter” enlists a number of principles that form the basis of sustainable development. The ones relevant to TdH are categorized in inter-linked two sections: 1) principle of sustainability of that communities should have sustainable livelihoods and 2) Human rights should be ensured by empowerment. The relevant principles for TdH are the following: 1. sustainable livelihoods: Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required. Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves. Honour and support the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfil their essential role in creating sustainable societies. 2.
Human rights and empowerment: Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible. Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence against them. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of all family members. Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making. Protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and dissent. Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development. (The origin of the Earth Charter, 1992 Earth Charter Commission World conservation unit)
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C&D Focus within the sustainability discourse TdH considers relevant the aspects of sustainability related to economic and social development. Environmental sustainability is most important but outside the scope of TdH. Also, sustainability entails for us ‘equality in economic growth’. It means access to basic services in order to fulfil human needs, access for all groups including rich and poor, vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and indigenous people. Economic and social development can and should be mutually reinforcing. Money spent on education and health can raise human productivity. Economic developments can accelerate social development by providing opportunities for underprivileged groups or by spreading education more rapidly. These pillars of sustainable development are the basis for TdH. Sustainability is also a way to deal with long-term causes of poverty by providing long-term solutions. We want our efforts and resources to be effective, not only in the short run but also in the long run. We want our results and objectives to be achieved and the changed situation to last. To work in a sustainable way, different levels can be considered. The focus will be on working towards sustainable effects for beneficiaries: changes in the lives of beneficiaries should endure beyond the project lifetime. Structures should be in place or processes institutionalized to allow results to live on: e.g services should be sustained either by governments or by communities themselves. On another level, working towards a strong civil society, partner organisations should in the end be able to work independently with limited support from international donors, to be a countervailing power for the government. The sustainability strategy of TdH takes all those levels into account. Strategies for sustainable development Sustainability is an important aspect of TdH’ programmes. The aim is to achieve long-lasting results and impact. Sustainability can be analysed on different levels; sustainability of the results on the level of the beneficiaries, sustainability of the projects and sustainability of the partner organisations. The strategies for sustainable development used by TdH are outlined below. a) Sustainability on the level of beneficiaries: Objective of sustainability at beneficiary level: For sustainability on beneficiary level we take into account the links between the real needs of the children and their parents and the current services that exist in their local context putting emphasis on the quality, costs and the accessibility. TdH’ beneficiaries include vulnerable children up to 18-years old and young people with disabilities up to 25-years old. The most vulnerable population is identified as beneficiary, often in remote areas. We focus on specific groups, such as children and youth with disabilities, children of ethnic and cultural minorities, street children, children infected with or affected by the HIV/Aids pandemic, child victims of exploitation, violence and abuse such as child labourers, girl sex workers and children of sex workers. We also consider the families of these children – especially the mothers - and the communities in which they live, essential to their development. These groups are high-risk, usually outside of the state and society’s support systems and lack opportunity to develop to their potential. Sustainability of the results and impact on the level of beneficiaries should be safeguarded in the project design. Structures should be put in place, or processes instutionalised within the POs and 3
maybe on the community level, to allow effects/ impact for the beneficiaries to live on beyond project life span. TdH staff discusses the long-lasting effect of envisioned results with the partner organisation at the start of the partnership. Means to achieve sustainable results on the beneficiaries level:
Income generating activities are a means for beneficiaries to increase their income. If community members/parents earn a sustainable income, it will make sure that children continue to be enrolled in education for example. The partner organisation will take the initiative (perhaps stimulated by TdH) and the beneficiaries will take it forward. TdH staff should monitor if increased family income also results in improved livelihood conditions for the children. Awareness raising is an important strategy of TdH. It would ideally result in changed behaviour by beneficiaries. The behaviour becomes more supportive for development and well-being of the beneficiary. If awareness raising really results in improved behaviour than this is also an example of a sustainability strategy on the level of the beneficiaries. Training of community members in providing services for children will result in more capable communities to take over responsibilities to support the needs of the children, to include them in the community activities and to stimulate their participation and integrity in expressing themselves.. Examples are; training of Village Health Teams (VHT), Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA’s), training communities in Child protection systems, etc. Advocacy and lobby: Sustainability requires the enforcement of wider responsibilities for the impacts of decisions made by the Government authorities. This requires changes in the legal and institutional frameworks of the Governments or endorsement of the current legal frameworks. TdH encourages POs, through their activities, to lobby and advocate for the rights of children at the grass-roots and national levels. Therefore, we enforce the advocacy efforts of POs to bridge the gap between governmental obligations to promote, respect and protect the rights of children and the lack of governmental resources and initiatives towards implementation of children’s rights. Advocacy and lobby can be undertaken in different ways and by different people and organisations which can influence decision-makers to create change and ensure policies and programmes that not only promote but also protect and implement the rights of the children.
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b) Sustainability of the projects/programmes (interventions): Objective of sustainability on project/programme’s level: With sustainability of the project intervention, we refer to the development activity implemented by the PO’s together with the target group. For example, we support partners in establishing Parentsteachers associations in Education projects. In the end we would like those PTA’s to function without donor support, to be sustained by the community itself. With project or programme we mean intervention. A set of projects or interventions together are forming a programme. Sustainability of the project is also something to be discussed between the partner organisation and TdH staff at the start of the partnership. There are different ways to enhance sustainability of projects, e.g. by requesting for contributions from target group (users of services). The discussion on sustainability of the projects is part of the discussion on exit strategy. Means to achieve sustainable results on the project/programme level
Local ownership: Sustainable development on a local and national level can only be positively triggered by locally motivated, indigenous processes. If TdH really wants to nurture and stimulate that process, even for the purpose of achieving a project/programme impact, it should hand over more control and autonomy to the partners. Local ownership can be increased and sustainability of the programme goals can be reached when POs are motivated internally, set their own agendas and priorities, and contribute willingly with their resources for a broad community purpose. Therefore, the development of project/programmes is impossible without synergy between TdH, partners and local communities in which the project/programmes are implemented. Ultimately, the projects/programmes can only have a long-term impact and be sustainable if they are supported and owned by the local communities. Context specific projects/programmes: The involvement of the POs from the earliest stages of the development of joint projects/programmes and the capacity to influence the intervention processes in the desired direction, increases the effectiveness and sustainability of the project/programme results. With the POs expertise and knowledge, the programme should be designed as a bottom-up, tailor-made and context-specific that addresses the real needs of the beneficiaries and the local communities. This is in accordance with the concept of partnership which stimulates an increased level of involvement of the POs for planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the development projects/programmes in the respective countries. The projects/programmes which are fully embedded in the partner’s organisational and operational framework have the biggest chance of delivering sustainable results and benefits in the long-term. Lobby towards government for improved service delivery: is aimed at making government aware of it’s responsibility in providing basic services such as quality education and health care. Governments should either implement services themselves, or financially support the NGO’s that provide the services for them. Getting the government to take up it’s responsibility in services provision will guarantee the continuation of the services provision (intervention). Small contribution from beneficiaries: In some cases it is possible for the project owners to ask for a small contribution from beneficiaries. This reduced the financial dependency of the project on donors. It goes for projects that offer a service to beneficiaries. If the beneficiaries have some means a small contribution is a way to sustain the project. Increased efficiency also contributes to sustainability of project. If projects are working more efficient and consequently they need less money to implement the same activities, this also reduces their financial dependency. 5
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Sustainability of the partner organisations:
Objective of sustainability on PO’s level: At the organizational level, TdH is assessing the organizational capacity that the PO needs to have in order to maintain their essential services and activities and the organizational feasibility. The organizational feasibility reflects beyond the financial feasibility of the partner organization. It analyses the ability of the PO to reach towards other essential types of support and relationships, reflecting on its interdependency and connectedness in the broader institutional context at which it operates. The means to achieve sustainable results on the level of partner organisations The capacity of partner organisations and civil society in general will be strengthened in such a way that presumably NGO’s in the future can survive with diversified resources of funding. This will be discussed at the beginning of the partnership and specific objectives in terms of capacity building and exit strategy will be defined at the start. The aspects of the great importance for reaching financial and broader organizational feasibility of the PO are: Networking: Enhancing and improving relations with other stakeholders in the development arena also contributes to the sustainability of the partner organisation. If the organisation is well-known and part of important networks role and legitimacy of the partner is clear. Funding diversification: Ability to have diverse funding and to maintain fundraising strategy that fits the local context and the needs of the beneficiaries, also balancing the relation between the demand for funding and the supply from funders. Strategic planning and positioning of the organization in the dynamic development arena: Sustainability of the partner will not only be achieved by enhancing the financial capacity of the partner and by increasing the ability of the partners to raise funds. Also the organisational/institutional capacity of the partner helps to sustain the organisation and implement more effective and efficient programmes. Knowledge sharing and learning: seeking for a knowledge platforms and actively contributing in them; constantly learning and up-grading its programs and establishing partnerships with other relevant actors in the sector. For the purpose of more clarity TdH defines 3 levels of interventions in which sustainable results are envisioned: the level of beneficiaries, the project/program level and the organizational level. There is no strict division between these levels. They are intertwined and the results from one level, contribute to the results in another level. For example if the results of the project are more sustainable, that will have a positive spin off effect on the sustainable results for the beneficiaries. On the other hand, sustainable results on the organizational level will improve the quality of the project/program and will increase the chances for long-term impact. Furthermore, policy and local political climate can influence the beneficiaries in their level of awareness and capacity to deal with poverty issues and vice versa more capable and cohesive communities will bear greater influence on larger social and political changes of the status of children. Assessing the community competences within their own context and making sound decisions for further joint actions with the POs will increase the sustainability impact of TdH’ intervention strategies. Conclusion For TdH sustainability of its intervention strategies represents an on-going process rather than a state of perfection. We are constantly growing and making efforts to reflect on our performance. The stakeholders in the three levels should be mutually connected and their interdependence is crucial for 6
the success and for the sustainable impact of our interventions. The important point is that the interventions should be designed as a bottom-up, tailored and context-specific processes that reflect the real needs of the vulnerable children. Given it’s importance, sustainability should be incorporated in project and programme design from the beginning. Ideas on how to increase the sustainability of projects and programmes should be integrated and implemented from the start of a project or programme. On the three different levels (beneficiaries, project/programme, partner) examples of sustainability strategies are given in this paper. These ideas could serve as an inspiration when developing a partnership for development.
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