Best Practices & Innovations (BPI) Initiative Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods

National Alliance Partnership Program The Alliance to End Hunger

Overview: The Alliance to End Hunger, through the National Alliance Partnership Program, is working with similar National Alliances in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda to help them build their organizational and financial capacity; diversify their coalitions, with particular emphasis on engaging farmers and producers organizations; and increase their capacity to engage in policy and advocacy at the national level. The goal of the National Alliance Partnership Program is to strengthen the ability of civil society to participate, in a sustainable way, in the development, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation of country-led agricultural development, food security and nutrition policies and activities.

Intervention Details:
Location Start Date End Date Scale Target Organizations Partners Funders/Donors Total Funding Website Ghana, Kenya and Uganda July 14, 2011 March 31, 2013 Regional/International Alliance Against Hunger (and similar) organizations (and their members) in our three focus countries. Catholic Relief Services, National FFA IFAD $165,000 NA

About the Intervention

1. Background/Context Recent U.S. and multilateral food security initiatives (Feed the Future, CAADP, GAFSP, etc.) have emphasized the need for country-owned and led processes to ensure successful accomplishment of their goals. This emphasis has opened the door for civil society to engage in the political process in new ways especially in developing countries. The capacity for local CSOs to participate in these processes, however, is more often than not woefully underdeveloped or entirely lacking. The goal of the National Alliance Partnership Program (NAPP) is to build the capacity of country-led civil society coalitions to hold the door open, long after the bilateral and multilateral initiatives are gone. Through NAPP we help Alliances in developing countries to build their organizational and financial capacity; diversify their coalitions, with particular emphasis on

engaging farmers organizations and increase their capacity for advocacy and policy analysis in the areas of agriculture, food security, and nutrition.

2. Goals & Objectives Objectives: 1. Strengthen the organizational and financial capacity of the developing country Alliance. 2. Diversify the coalition of groups who are active in the developing country Alliance, with special attention to engaging farmers organizations and groups representing rural constituencies. 3. Increase the advocacy and policy analysis capacity of the developing country Alliance so it can substantively engage, and influence, the planning and implementation of country-led agriculture, food security, and nutrition activities in their country. National Alliances are a proven model for engaging diverse stakeholders in building the public and political will to end hunger at a national level. The basic assumption underlying the National Alliance model, and one key to its effectiveness, is the idea that organizations acting in concert are inherently more effective than they are acting alone. The effectiveness of a National Alliance is determined, in large part, by the health of the organization, the diversity of its coalition (which can include civil society organizations, social movement groups, farmers organizations, universities, faith-based groups, private sector, and sometimes, government representatives), and its capacity for advocacy and independent policy analysis. 3. Key Activities Activities We see capacity building as a hands-on process. To that end, the NAPP coordinator will make a minimum of two visits, with extended stays, to each country during the grant period. This program will also engage the Alliances executive director, chief of staff, and membership services manager. The process includes the following activities. 1. Assessment and Planning: The first step is for the NAPP Coordinator to spend time with the developing country Alliance to do an assessment of the organization, including its structure, strategic objectives, finances, key stakeholders, and knowledge of advocacy and policy issues. The purpose of the assessment is to identify organizational strengths and weakness and to determine the greatest areas of need and opportunity. The next step is to develop a strategic plan that addresses issues, such as financial stability and fundraising; growing and diversifying the Alliances coalition additional skills training in organizational management, advocacy, or policy analysis; and leadership and staffing issues. This plan will lay out the Alliances vision for the organization, as well as its strategic policy and advocacy goals. 2. Investment: After the assessment and planning process, the developing country Alliance has the opportunity to apply for sub-grant(s) from the US Alliance to help meet a critical capacity building need. Up to $12,000 in sub-grants has been earmarked for each country. Developing country Alliances are encouraged to apply for multiple, smaller grants over the course of the partnership, rather than one lump sum. Using the sub-grants to leverage additional funding from in-country donors is highly encouraged.

3. Outreach and Coalition Building: Building and diversifying the developing country Alliances coalition will take place throughout the grant period. As part of the process, potential new members will be identified and a strategy will be created to reach out to them and invite them to join the coalition. The recruitment process will also include creating materials that summarize the strategic goals of the Alliance, as well as the responsibilities and benefits of membership. While the U.S. Alliance and its members will be instrumental in this process, the developing country Alliance will take the lead in making the contacts and doing the follow-up. It is important for them to own the new relationships. 4. Engagement and Advocacy: Size and diversity, in and of themselves, are not adequate measures of the health or viability of a National Alliance. The ability of the developing country Alliance to respond to country-led food security and nutrition initiatives with relevant and timely advocacy and policy analysis is critical. As the final step in the NAPP, the coordinator will work the developing country Alliance and its coalition to develop a written response to a country-led food security or nutrition policy, and to engage in at least one coordinated advocacy action around that policy. The purpose of this activity is to practice coalition building techniques and to develop and execute a coordinated advocacy action plan. 4. Effectiveness/Evidence of Success Our greatest success thus far has come in Ghana where, since the inception of the NAPP partnership, the Hunger Alliance of Ghana has graduated from receiving capacity building assistance from the US Alliance to providing capacity building assistance to some of their own member organizations. Through targeted interventions on organizational management; coalition building; sustainable fundraising and resource mobilization; and advocacy and communications, the Ghana Alliance has grown into an active, dynamic partner in many of the national and international food security and agriculture development initiatives underway in Ghana. In conjunction with the US Alliance and USAID/Africa Lead, the Ghana Alliance convened two CAADP NonState Actor consultation meetings involving over 100 civil society organizations. These meetings significantly raised the level of awareness and engagement of civil society in the implementation of Ghanas Mediumterm Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP). (See attached Africa Lead newsletter.) As a result, the Ghana Alliance has been designated as the secretariat for Ghanas CAADP NSA Task Force. In addition, the Ghana Alliance has been chosen as the lead civil society organization for activities to be conducted under the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, which was officially launched in Ghana during the week of December 5-9. In connection with this work, the Ghana Alliance has submitted a multistakeholder work plan and funding proposal to FAO. The Ghana Alliance has also successfully facilitated the formation of a Parliamentarians Caucus against Hunger and Malnutrition, now a bipartisan Caucus in Parliament to raise the profile of hunger and nutrition issues in the legislature. Finally, the Ghana Alliance has recently applied for and received a grant from the French Embassy in Accra (see attached grant application) to conduct a capacity building project for four farmers organizations in northern regions of the country. The US Alliance and our member, the National FFA organization, will provide technical assistance for this project. This project represents, in effect, a graduation for the Ghana Alliance from being dependent on outside assistance to being an independent, well-respected, self-sustaining organization capable of engaging with the government and positioned to contribute to the long-term success of the food security, nutrition and agriculture development efforts in Ghana both today and into the foreseeable future.

5. Equitable Outcomes Though not a specific provision of the grant, the equitable representation of women has been made a requirement for all activities under the grant. Though quotas are not imposed, specific and focused attention is given to ensuring the full and equal participation of women in leadership, discussions and policy formulation of the developing country Alliances. In Kenya, women constituted a significant percentage of the participants (about 22%) during the discussions that formed the new Kenya Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition. The leadership positions for the new Alliance were apportioned equally between men and women the first President being a Kenyan woman. Within the work plan developed by the new Alliance is an emphasis on recruiting member organizations that represent women farmers. In Uganda, women are widely represented within both the leadership and membership of our partner coalition, the Food Rights Alliance (FRA). The current coordinator of the FRA is also a woman. During their recent National Farmers Forum an open dialogue for farmers to comment on food and agriculture policy in Uganda nearly 40% of the farmers who participated were women; ensuring that the voice of women farmers is broadly and fairly represented in the national conversation. In Ghana, as in our other focus countries, the inclusion of women and organizations that represent them has been a priority for all of our discussions and activities. Women represented a significant percentage of participants in both CAADP NSA consultations (30% in Accra and 22% in Tamale). The action plan for the NSA Task Force includes a specific initiative to recruit and engage women farmers and farmers organizations. Finally, the four farmers organizations targeted by the capacity building grant represent a significant (though un-quantified) percentage of women farmers, especially in the rice growers and vegetable growers organizations.

6. Efficiency/Cost-Effectiveness Assessing the cost-effectiveness of capacity building interventions is incredibly difficult. How do you quantify the value of better organizational management? Or improved policy analysis? These things clearly have value, especially when introduced to an organization(s) in an environment where such capabilities are sorely lacking as in many developing countries. The value of civil society actors that represent the voice of vulnerable, under-represented populations in new and effective ways is hard to overestimate. In our current project, we have and continue to assist such groups in three countries where the role of civil society has traditionally been to provide rubber stamp legitimacy to government policies and actions. To help these organizations develop the tools, knowledge and credibility necessary to meaningfully engage the government on hunger, nutrition and agriculture development policies and plans creates the opportunity for the people whose lives are most directly affected to become true, active partners in the shaping of their own destinies. At the risk of not answering the question, how do you put a value on that? Then again, for $165,000 over 18 months the successes outlined here should more than pay for themselves over the long-term.

7. Sustainability Everything about this project is directed toward achieving the goal of sustainability. The outputs expected from National Alliance partners as part of the project are intended to demonstrate that each developing country Alliance has made significant steps toward long-term sustainability. These include: 1. A multi-year strategic plan focused on organizational growth. 2. Clearly articulated advocacy and policy goals, with strategies to achieve them. 3. A larger, more diverse group of stakeholders, especially farmers organizations. 4. A response to the Country Investment Plan, or another key government food security or agriculture initiative, on behalf of the National Alliance coalition. Part of the multi-year strategic plan is a strategy for becoming financial self-sustaining one of the critical success factors for developing country Alliances. This is usually one of the first capacity building interventions and is usually an ongoing aspect of the partnership. 8. Challenges & Lessons Learned One of the great challenges of this project has been the widely variable organizational conditions and capabilities that we have encountered. In each country, the organization was in a completely different place within its lifecycle meaning each had a very different capacity to take on the role of a National Alliance. Thus, the interventions required and capacities to be built were very different in each situation. In Ghana, the Alliance had been operating for several years and was mostly in need of a sustainability plan. Whereas in Kenya, we literally helped create the Kenya Alliance from scratch, working with local and international NGOs working on hunger issues in the country. The lesson, I guess, is that there is no one-size-fits-all process to get a specific organization up and running. Each situation requires a complete assessment, which results in a unique action plan specifically designed for that organizations circumstances. Its difficult, its time-consuming and it requires a lot of planning, patience, and understanding, which is why almost no one is doing it.

9. Enabling Factors & Recommendations Capacity building is not a short-term activity. There has to be a long-term commitment on the part of funders as well as the organizations involved both providers and recipients. Nor is it something that can be done long-distance. The staff and partners involved in the interventions must be available and willing to spend significant time on-site to assess the circumstances of the organization and to deliver hands-on training, advising and feedback in order to ensure success. They must possess significant cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity in order to adapt their approach appropriately. And critically they must be willing to let go and allow the local organizations and leaders to take control of the process when necessary. They must allow the local staff to own the process or it is doomed to fail.

10. Replicability/Adaptability To our knowledge, this particular set of interventions is not currently being replicated anywhere. That is not to say that it couldnt be, or that some of the principles and activities arent in use within other projects. Coalitions and coalition building are a well-established way of achieving many socially desirable ends. But the focus on National Alliance organizations with interventions concentrated on creating both internal and external capacity as well as long-term sustainability is, as far as we know, not currently being applied anywhere else. That being said, there are currently National Alliance organizations, either active or organizing, in over 60 countries. This project could be replicated in any of those countries where the organization is functional enough to absorb and such capacity building interventions, and is committed to engaging the government and other institutional stakeholders on behalf of the organizations represented in their coalition.