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CBI Formation and Development

This is ASE’s overarching strategy. As such, it determines the intention of the organisation to achieve the anticipated results in community empowerment. This strategy is also crucially important to speeding up ASE’s institutional transformation, from a service-delivering organisation to a community-empowering one. ASE will pay greater attention to ensuring that the basic services are delivered to the needy community through the CBIs. To that end, it will give the CBIs considerable capacity-enhancing support. ASE has done some testing on the viability of the concept of CBI building in the past five years. It has also reviewed this particular strategy by involving the communities, pertinent government bodies and other NGOs. To this effect, it has developed strategy guidelines, two months before the process of drawing up the new Strategic Plan began. The following are, therefore, the major strategies of the CBI development, and the detailed account of these strategies is given in the main document of the CBIs.

ASE-CBI partnership: This partnership will be initiated as soon as ASE is in the operational woreda. One of the reasons why ASE wanted to see the CBIs established at the kebele level from the outset is to start dealing with the representatives of the community in all matters that affect the lives and environment of the local people. In making a strategic shift from service delivery to community empowerment, the first important step for ASE is, therefore, to initiate, recognise and develop a community organisation that will be responsible for delivering all the social and economic services to the people and continues to exist with greater capacity, even in the absence of development partners like ASE. The modality of the partnership at the initial stage is, therefore, characterised as follows: ASE will have more power in directing and controlling the development process for a few months. In the meantime, the first CBI (the ad hoc one) should get formed and begin to learn how to manage a development institution and work with ASE as its bona fide partner. Upon getting stronger, the community organisation, which presumably will begin to operate fully in about a year’s time, will be the main decision-making body, whereas ASE will be limited to playing the role of capacity enhancer. ASE organises the CBIs on the philosophical ground that they are civic organisations that work in the collective interest of the community and towards the betterment of specific social groups such as the poor, women and other marginalised segments of the community. The lowest unit of the CBI is the one established at the kebele level, whereas the woreda-level apex organisation, which will eventually come into the picture, will formally represent the community at the woreda level. This body has to get registered with the concerned government body at the woreda, zonal or regional level

The phasing-in and phasing-out strategy: Supporting the formation and strengthening of CBIs is an entry-and-exit strategy for ASE. ASE begins its intervention by doing nothing else but exerting maximum effort towards setting up a community-based institution. Throughout the programme period, ASE is expected to enhance the capacity of the institution, and make sure that the local people are able to manage their own development affairs with a sense of ownership. Why? Because ASE has to make a gradual withdrawal from the programme area. A good indicator of the timeliness of the complete phasing out of the organisation will be the strength and capacities of the CBIs. ASE’s roles at the different phases of a CBI development are indicated in the CBI strategy and in the implementation guidelines. The earlier the CBI becomes self-reliant, the earlier will ASE withdraw from the area. As ASE has chosen the concentric area expansion approach (with a common middle point), the probability of having fully-operating ASE project offices in the nearby woredas will, however, be high.

Enhancing capacity: ASE plays the roles of capacity enhancer and facilitator of an enabling environment for the CBIs to become robust institutions that are self-confident and self-reliant in initiating and leading the development efforts relevant to their respective constituencies. ASE continuously gives various training opportunities to the CBIs’ leadership, so as to enhance their thinking capacity and enrich their experiences in project execution. Training in leadership and organisational development is a continuous process, but the types and intensity of the courses will vary in accordance with the development phases of the concerned CBI. Experience-sharing and educational tours are also very effective tools to enhancing learning within a relatively short period of time. The phrase “capacity enhancing”, in general, refers to making the CBIs have all organisational management systems in place—so as to ensure proper management, reliable financial sources, adequate technical knowledge, effective networking and partnership. ASE is, therefore, responsible for making sure that all these indicators are achieved during the period of partnership with the CBIs. Most importantly, ASE should pay greater attention to helping the CBIs establish their own programme execution office, where programme officers and grassroots-level-development staff are recruited and trained.

Making community innovation and development funds available: Community Innovation and Development Funds [CIDF] is a block grant of money that will be made available to the CBIs to help them learn how to write project proposals, implement development projects, handle accounts, prepare reports and, in general, manage partnerships with development partners like ASE. The second objective of this fund is to support the innovative, technical and institutional initiatives of the community (groups and individuals) and the collective needs of the community, which were not duly addressed while developing the main programme document. This approach will be very helpful to developing an innovative spirit within the community as well as the organisational management capacity of the CBIs. ASE will manage the fund, but the CBIs and the other government partners will have a say in the decision-making process. Separate guidelines on how to use the CIDF will be made available.

Mobilisation of other resources: ASE will encourage the CBIs to mobilise local resources by collecting registration and membership fees, organising fundraising events, soliciting donations from the private sector, linking with donors, establishing income-generation schemes, accessing bilateral funds by entering into partnership with the local government, etc. These constitute the most important activities of the CBI.

Supporting CBIs to own income-generating enterprises: This is indeed part of the resource-mobilisation strategy mentioned above. It is, however, important to treat this strategy separately, as this particular strategy plays a decisive role in ensuring the financial sustainability of the CBIs. This is all about helping the CBIs establish viable income-generating enterprises that could also support the development efforts of the woreda. The CBIs will be encouraged to establish as many enterprises as possible during ASE’s stay with the CBI in the programme area. The CIDF can be the main source of fund for establishing the income-generating enterprises. The CBI’s management capacity, its experience in transparency and accountability, marketing, etc. are, nevertheless, some of the important factors that determine the numbers and sizes of the enterprises to be owned by the CBI.

Networking: The CBI is not expected to establish its own “island of development” and thus remain isolated. On the contrary, it should be encouraged to share its own development philosophy and approaches with others and learn from them in turn. Local traditional associations, the kebele administration, the woreda administration, line offices, kebele-level cooperatives, unions, NGOs, donors and other civic associations are the first category of actors with which the CBIs should network and thereby forge good working relations. This exercise should be an effective tool for maximising the benefits that would accrue to the CBI. The CBI must avoid networks that are not worth the trouble and are, in fact, highly tasking. At the various stages of the CBI’s development, ASE will maintain with it a very strong partnership. At the post-phasing-out stage, however, ASE will forge a network with the CBIs. And this networking will be forged as it is normally done between any two equal partners. Once they are duly registered and have become fully operational, all CBIs will be made corporate members of ASE’s General Assembly, if they so wish to. ASE strongly believes that the establishment of the CBIs at the woreda level will be a point of departure towards gradually establishing a network of smallholder farmers at the regional, or even national, level.

Constituency building: To ASE, a CBI is an association created basically by the rural people/farmers, but it should be able to lure members or supporters from other domains. To that end, ASE will give the CBIs the support they need to get linked with those people who originally come from the woreda but are now residing in Addis Ababa or in the major towns. All businesspersons, civil servants, religious leaders and members of the civic associations in the woreda and any other groups of people who live anywhere in the country are prospective constituents of the CBIs, as long as they originally come from that particular woreda. It goes without saying that, by accepting such groups of people as their members, the CBIs could create an environment favourable for these people to participate in the development affairs of their area. The decision as to which group of people qualifies for membership and which group does not, nonetheless, rests entirely with the leadership of the CBIs. In other words, ASE will have no say whatsoever in such matters. The CBE could also decide to accept some as full members, and others as only associate members.

Conflict management: Inevitably, the CBI will face a number of challenges. These challenges could come in the form of a conflict between two members of the CBI, or between a member and one of the leaders, or between the CBI itself and the local government administration. However they appear, conflicts can be resolved by properly using certain tools—including transparency, accountability, joint planning, properly understanding one’s mandate areas, participatory monitoring and evaluation, constituency building, positive thinking, communication skills and forming strategic alliances. ASE should be able to introduce these tools to the CBIs at the different stages of their development.

Micro-financing: The second important activity to be undertaken as part of ASE’s phasing-out strategy is making micro-finance institutions work in close collaboration with the CBIs. For instance, PEACE Micro-Finance Institution is an important partner of ASE’s—as stated earlier. It provides financial services to the farmers in ASE’s areas of operation. It is, therefore, expected to continue working with the CBIs following the phasing-out of ASE. Nevertheless, ASE should also look into other micro-financing options like establishing a credit and savings cooperative, or working with other micro-finance organisations, in case PEACE is not adequately available to the CBIs at the right time, or its capacity to address the needs of the community proves to be low.

Making VLDPs and VLHPs accountable to the CBIs: The Village-Level Development Promoters (VLDPs) and the Village-Level Health Promoters (VLHP) are those people who will be elected by the CBIs and assigned to support them in implementing their development programmes [VLDPs] and health extension matters [VLHPs]. These are usually farmers and provide their services to the community on a part-time basis. Through time, ASE will invest in the VLDPs and VLHPs and thereby enhance their capacities, so that they will be able to reach a level where they can adequately support the CBIs, even after the phasing out of ASE. These people should be accountable to the CBIs. The plan is for them to replace ASE’s development agents as permanent employees of the CBI upon the partial phasing out of ASE.

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