KANAVA Provides Capacity Building Support to Colombian Organizations Looking to Partner with USAID

Photo by Diana Grigoriev

By Nidia Trujillo, Project Director

Through the dislocation of the pandemic, KANAVA International has partnered with Tetra Tech ARD (ARD) in Colombia to build the capacity of Colombian civil society organizations who work with ARD on the implementation of two projects focused on land formalization and gender equity. Increasingly, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Requests for Proposals (RFPs) require bidders to strengthen the capacity of its local implementing partners to receive USAID funding either through transition awards or by qualifying for USAID funding directly, as part of its New Partners Initiative.

As a women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned small business working in the international development space, KANAVA is uniquely positioned to leverage its Impact Strengthening Development (ISD®) collaborative tool to help civil society organizations and small businesses prepare themselves to work with USAID and its partners. Our comprehensive approach combines collaboration and experiential learning to strengthen organizations for long-term sustainability.

In November 2021, USAID Administrator Samantha Power shared her vision for the Agency and emphasized the need for inclusive development that puts local voices at the center of everything it does. She stated, “When we partner with these local NGOs and businesses, we have an opportunity to double our impact—to not just manage a project and deliver results, which is important, but to grow the local capacity of that business or organization so its impact will be sustained long after its relationship with USAID ends.”

OUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTHENING MODEL

KANAVA begins its organizational capacity building work by providing a brief introduction to the history of USAID, its mission, its strategic objectives in Colombia, and its process for designing, implementing, and evaluating its programming. We find this is an important step to ensure a full understanding of what USAID does and how USAID’s approach aligns with the current operating model of targeted organizations.

Once organizations have an understanding of USAID, we invite them to work apply our ISD® process and undergo a participatory organizational assessment, which leads to an organizational strengthening plan that details priority areas to address, required resources, and a timeline for completion of the work. The assessment tool evaluates nine areas critical for long-term sustainability including governance and ethics, administration, human resources, finance, organizational, and program management, leadership and team dynamics, and financial sustainability.

When the organizational strengthening plans are finalized, the organizations are enthusiastic and committed to strengthening their systems for long-term sustainability. They understand that these priority areas will empower them to take on additional clients and workload

While KANAVA assists in all agreed upon priority areas, finance and accounting often require sustained effort and commitment. not because the function may be weak but because USAID’s contracts require complex systems that can differentiate among cost centers and between direct and indirect costs. Further, NGOs tend to depend on other revenue sources, including from foundations or the private sector, that may require financial and accounting systems different from those of USAID. KANAVA also goes beyond these critical areas to develop and strengthen other systems needed to establish a firm base from which the organization can expand and grow its portfolio of projects.

KANAVA conducts a second assessment a year after the initial one to ensure progress is being made against the baseline, to recalibrate priorities or continue to build on what has already been achieved. It helps assess the organization’s readiness to develop a proposal for USAID or one of its implementing partners. And it provides USAID a way to measure organizational capacity building progress.

Once an organization is deemed ready for an experiential exercise, KANAVA supports and mentors them to develop a technical and cost proposal. After project award, we also provide support through implementation by mentoring staff and providing project management tools. Engaging staff in hands-on experience and reflection helps them use real-life situations to understand how to implement the theories and knowledge learned in training.

Effective organizational strengthening focuses equally on the institution and the individual. It builds and strengthens an organization’s structure and systems and empowers staff with knowledge and skills that promote greater engagement, reflection, critical thinking, creativity, and leadership. Through its capacity building work in Colombia, KANAVA has placed an emphasis on the active participation of staff across the organization. Tapping into their diverse knowledge, perspectives, and lived experiences, we have found, supports greater insights and impact.

Strengthening local organizations by including them as full partners in the design, implementation, and evaluation of USAID programming makes assistance more responsive, sustainable, scalable, and inclusive. Most importantly, it helps amplify local voices and ownership to empower long-term sustainability.