Institutional Development and Capacity Building.
'Organising and Planning for a Better Future'
Background to Community Development in the Niger Delta:
(by Chief Bill Knight, co-founder, PNI Nigeria)
Pro-Natura International (Nigeria) regards Institutional Development and Capacity Building in rural communities as a realistic and sustainable alternative to the 'business as usual' practice of awarding contracts for rural development in the Niger Delta. PNI's process emphasises a bottom-up community led process that is fully representative and participatory; essential for any development process to be sustained and successful.
It is unrealistic for most communities to expect people to identify, manage and implement their own development process unless they have the necessary organisational capacity and experience. This process therefore emphasises the development of people first, and physical structures later; infrastructure development is important but it is necessary to develop a trusted organisational framework within the community for sustainability to be achieved.
This is a paradigm shift from government and oil company practice of community development, which aims to 'placate' communities and is implemented through 'contracts'. This placed short term objectives above longer term security and has directed money into the pockets of the wealthy few while failing to address the cause of poverty in rural communities.
PNI (Nigeria) has developed over many years of experience and experimentation, a process of institutional development and capacity building that is integral to the participatory community development process. It provides communities with the institutional framework and the tools necessary to manage the development process in , encourages independence, dignity and self-determination and encapsulates the principles of good governance, accountability and transparency.
This is not a ‘quick fix’ solution, but it offers a real solution to the very real problems facing the people of the Niger Delta.
All too often development is measured in terms of bricks and mortar, miles of roads built or millions of Naira spent. Whilst these are all very important; especially for government to be providing basic infrastructure of businesses to grow, they do not alone constitute development. This is especially true when provided by the extractive industries who by doing so, undermine the role of Government.
A cursory glance at the Niger Delta shows a plethora of unfinished or crumbling buildings that have never been fully utilised. Hospitals without doctors, schools without teachers, boreholes without water and electrification without power are all too common. Many of these are the legacy of being 'imposed' upon communities, with their need often having been negotiated with village elites, particularly those living outside of the community and have commercial interests in the awarding of the contract. Communities, meanwhile, are powerless when contractors fail to complete, or even start projects, while local culture dictates that they should show appreciation for the development (such as by paying money or providing land). Communities then suffer further from 'accusations'' of not maintaining or 'not looking after'' the facility. This system is made possible because those who commission the project have little interest in ensuring that it is finished. They are reluctant to visit the communities, (the village is too remote; it is too dangerous; people are too busy), and furthermore, many do not want to know or don't care; taking the attitude that "it belongs to the community now".
PNI believes that the only form of truly sustainable community development is through the participatory process whereby people are empowered to determine and manage their own development. For this to be successful it is necessary to provide people with the necessary tools to undertake this task. These can be summarised as:
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Institutions that are representative and responsible, clearly demonstrating principles of accountability, transparency and good governance.
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Communities with the capacity to identify problems, seek solutions, prioritise needs and implement, manage and sustain projects.
For the last ten years Pro-Natura has been working in Akassa, a remote sand-barrier island community located on the Atlantic coast. Through a process of experimentation, PNI has developed a process of institutional development and capacity building that enables communities to take control of their own development. This process has proven to be successful in achieving development objectives and popular in the community. Furthermore is has also been demonstrated to be replicable: such programmes also exist in Eastern Obolo and Opobo-Nkoro, and the process started in Oron, Esit Eket, Eket, Kolo Creek and Egi.
Lessons:
The Akassa Community Development Programme has learned that for community development to be successful, the concept of contracts must be rejected in favour of a participatory process approach that is community-led and bottom-up; with local communities identifying the skilled labour required and making their own contributions in-kind.
The process begins with Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) undertaken by a multi-disciplinary gender-balanced team comprised of both impartial external observers and community members. This team listens to and learns from the community’s aspirations and fears, it analyses the root causes of their problems and discusses a range of possible solutions with the community.
This process involves living in the community for a considerable period of time, listening and talking to everyone - from the paramount ruler to the poorest fisherman or farmer. Included in these discussions are those groups invariably omitted from any consultation process: women, the disabled and migrant populations who are traditionally considered to be unimportant and powerless.
The PRA process culminates in a series of workshops across all main communities within the LGA. This produces an LGA wide community development plan created by the people for the people. It is then possible to create a broad-based development programme that works to equip the community with the skills to implement the plan by its own efforts. This programme is managed by the community and facilitated by PNI (Nigeria)
The main difficulty when implementing a development plan in many riverine and rural communities in the Niger Delta is that there are few effective institutions with which to work. It is not uncommon to find that the Council of Chiefs has been discredited; that the Youths are divided and in a state of almost perpetual conflict; that the women have no voice; and, the local government is absent. In this environment, decision-making and reaching broad agreements is very difficult. It must be done however.
It is therefore necessary to either reform or create representative and responsible institutions that have the mandate of the community. These institutions may need training in how to hold meetings, minute taking, accounts, basic project management as well as the more complex principles of good governance, transparency and accountability. They must win the trust and confidence of all parties within the community so that subsequent programmes receive wide ranging acceptance and approval and do not further exacerbate conflict as if often the case when important stakeholders (and the majority of the people) are not consulted.
The role of PNI evolves as the community develops. Initially, there will be strict financial supervision and control but over time this is slowly devolved to the programme management and ultimately to individual institutions. PNI also ensures that safety mechanisms are in place to ensure sound financial management. This ensures that all involved remain confident in both the process and the institutions involved.
In the case of Akassa, Eastern Obolo and other locations, Pro-Natura facilitated the creation of a Community Based Organisation (CBO) known as the Community Development Foundation (CDF). In Akassa, the Akassa Development Foundation (ADF) is the proprietor of the Akassa Community Development Programme and is finalising registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Creating Institutions
It is not hard to create an institution: if sufficient money is available institutions will come from nowhere claiming to represent this or that interest group. Many institutions are created in the ‘top-down’ fashion by oil companies, State and Federal ministries, ‘First Ladies’, and other development agencies. These institutions often comprise the local elite and tend to represent vested interests rather than the community.
Pro-Natura seeks to develop truly representative institutions. Principles such as good governance are implicit to the PNI philosophy. Where possible, rather than create new institutions, PNI will try to use existing one. In Akassa the ‘ogbo’, is a traditional local name given to a group formed through common interest. Through a process of facilitation, existing ‘ogbo’ developed into slightly modified savings cooperatives, and others were encouraged to form. Constitutions were adopted and simple accounting methods were learnt. Slowly, these ‘ogbo’ built up confidence and trust in each other and some joined similar like-minded groups to form Area Community Savings & Credit Schemes. Others became Village Health Committees, Area Development Councils, and Fishery Associations.
Crucially, the institutions remained representative. An Area Development Committee that excludes women or a clan-wide institution that excludes certain villages cannot claim to be representative of the community as a whole.
Building Capacity
Creating institutions is not in itself useful unless they have the capacity to function in the interests of the community. A classic example of this situation is the multitude of Community Development Councils (CDC) all over the Niger Delta. These institutions created by government exist in name but our experience has shown that more often than not they have neither the capacity nor the inclination to implement projects for the good of the whole community. In the case of Akassa, PNI found that it had little choice but to establish other organisations to fulfil this role - the CDCs were controlled by benefit captors whose only interests were contracts and profit at the expense of the community. These institutions were not interested in reforming themselves and as such became slowly marginalised as more representative organisations took their place.
Today, we see a different situation: the Community Development Councils have approached PNI and shown a willingness to reform. In response, Pro-Natura is providing facilitation so they may become more representative (gender balance) and better able to perform their function.
What Kind of Training is Required?
Capacity building is integral to the participatory process and covers a very wide range of training needs. Areas offered during the Akassa programme range from adult literacy to civil engineering, minute taking and principles of good governance. The identification of training needs is an ongoing process that continues throughout the lifetime of the programme and does not stop after the PRA.
When PNI started in Akassa, the primary training needs centred around literacy and how to hold effective meetings. In the past, minutes were not taken, action points not highlighted and accountability for action often non-existent. Through a process of facilitation, these institutions soon developed the basic skills to hold more effective meetings whilst the publication of minutes created greater transparency and accountability. Capacity building was then able to move into more complex areas such as creating development plans, and project management skills.
In the last 5 years Pro-Natura has facilitated training in many areas of community development. These include: |
