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Theme: Policies and Institutions that Work

Project name: NGO Policy Influence in sub-Saharan Africa

Dates / Duration: June 2000 - June 2002

Introduction:

This project aims to develop a framework and methodology for assessing and improving the effectiveness of policy advocacy by investigating the strategies and methods used by NGOs in two countries, which seek to promote land rights and pro-poor policies.

Over the last 20 years, growing numbers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have diversified from service provision into policy advocacy. They are being credited with considerable impacts on global processes ranging from economic development to democracy. But are these impacts actually occurring, and if so, how are they being achieved? This project investigates the effectiveness of NGOs’ strategies and methods to influence land policy reform. It is based on a study of seven NGOs promoting land reform and land rights in Mozambique and Kenya.

Objectives:

To assess the impact on land policy reform of seven organisations, drawing out key lessons
To develop a framework and methodology for assessing the effectiveness of policy advocacy which can be used by organisations with similar aims and which contributes to our experience of impact assessment.

Key findings/ progress to date:

While the NGOs selected for this study have had significant impacts on land policy processes, the study clearly demonstrates the shortcomings of linear models which separate policy making processes from implementation. Both case studies show that legislation and regulations can be modified, reinterpreted or simply ignored when it comes to implementation, when local level power relations become critical. There are two direct implications of this finding. Firstly, building the capacity of community groups to take informed action is not only important as an end in itself but is also critical to long-term and sus-tainable pro-poor policy influence. Secondly, many aspects of laws and policies are actually made during implementation, with specific situations determining the practice of a law or policy. Monitoring this process is therefore a key role for NGOs. Despite current shifts ‘upstream’ from service provision to engagement with policy, the NGOs in the study all feel they need to engage directly with communities and with their immediate concerns and needs if they are to gain legitimacy for advocacy and monitoring. Other key lessons for practice include:

NGOs which can provide well-researched arguments to support pro-poor land rights will increase their policy influence.
Good NGO leadership and relationships with power holders are important for policy influence. However, the way in which leaders engage with their staff and the relationship between organisational culture and policy influencing work require further research
NGOs will have greater longer term impact by building the advocacy capacity of representative organisations of less powerful groups.
The basis and terms of engagement between NGOs and government need to be made clear in each individual case.
NGOs need to increase efforts to address gender, class, ethnicity and age inequalities in both internal structures and decision-making, and in their work with communities.
Donor support for NGOs to work on policy development should include support to NGOs’ important role in building sustainable policy influence from the grassroots.
Donor funding for advocacy work should have longer time frames and expectations of what can be achieved should be realistic and context-specific.
Donors should consider funding NGO core staffing and administration to decrease staff stress and facilitate reflection and learning.
Qualitative assessments of advocacy work, using simple frameworks and informed by local political realities, should supplement more quantitative output-oriented assessment.
Assessments funded by donors should maximise learning and not be directly tied to funding cycles.

Key Publications:

Promoting Land Rights in Africa: How do NGOs make a difference?
N Kanji, C. Braga and W. Mitullah, 2002