Project Case Study
Empowering Afghan Civil Society for Sustainable Governance
Tawanmandi and Rahnuma's Collaborative Efforts to Foster Accountability and Inclusivity in Afghanistan
Established in 2011, Tawanmandi is a multi-donor challenge fund that seeks to contribute to the development of a vibrant and inclusive Afghan civil society and improve governance in Afghanistan through greater accountability and responsiveness of the state to its citizens. It focuses on issues of policy and practice and seeks to build an inclusive civil society able to engage effectively on issues of human rights, access to justice, anti-corruption, peace building and conflict resolution and media, with due attention to disability, gender, youth and ‘out of Kabul’ civil society as cross-cutting themes.
Rahnuma is providing technical assistance and capacity building support to targeted Tawanmandi Sector Based Core Partners (SBCPs) so that they are more effective in pursuing their priority outcome-level goals and in facilitating their respective Sector Working Group member organisations, where appropriate, to be likewise. The project provides demand-driven training, coaching and mentoring to build the capacity of these SBCPs to act as catalysts for sectoral change so that they can play a pivotal role in their respective sectors.
During the inception phase, the Rahnuma team initially carried out participatory organisational capacity assessments of the SBCPs to identify their capacity building needs. The team subsequently held discussions with the organisations, in which the capacity building support was agreed and planned out.
The project has focussed on prioritising key aspects of capacity required for performance and sustainability and has been working with the CSOs to address these. The Rahnuma team has ensured the support and mentoring is aligned with partners’ demand, need and commitment throughout the project.
Project achievements:
- Assess the capacity needs, current capacity and capacity gaps of the SBCPs;
- Understand cause of limited capacity;
- Prioritise key aspects of capacity required for performance and sustainability;
- Identify opportunities to build on strengths and respond to genuine demand;
- Facilitate decision-making to narrow the focus of support to be provided, ensuring it is aligned with partners’ demand, need and commitment;
- Develop and agree organization-specific workplans, ensuring that targeted technical assistance is tailored to the needs of different partner organisations;
- Develop capacity development results frameworks; and
- Deliver improvement in capacity and performance.
