SPECIAL REPORT: Giant project empowers civil societies to combat HIV/Aids

The Rapid Funding Envelope has provided grants to 295 civil society organisations in Tanzania since its inception in 2002. The grants support communities to undertake income generation projects such as fruit and vegetable vending. PHOTO | COURTESY OF BOCAR 

By The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

• Funded by the USAID, the programme strengthens the ability of CSOs to perform their core functions and adapt to unforeseen changes for the purposed of increasing the impact of their contributions to the functioning of the country’s health system

A five-year USAID-funded Building Organisational Capacity for Results (BOCAR) project in Tanzania has started paying dividends towards combating HIV/Aids in Tanzania. BOCAR project director Zahra Nensi spoke to The Citizen on Sunday Reporter LUCAS LIGANGA about the project. Excerpts…

QUESTION: What was the purpose of the Building Organisational Capacity for Results (BOCAR) project in the first place? Please, explain its background briefly.

ANSWER: Through institutional capacity building, grants management and ongoing mentorship, the five-year U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) - funded BOCAR programme strives to maximise the effectiveness of civil society organisations (CSOs) and CSO networks working to combat the HIV and Aids epidemic in Tanzania. By strengthening the ability of these CSOs to perform their core functions and adapt to unforeseen changes, they can increase the impact of their contributions to the functioning of the health system in Tanzania.

Q: Who are the beneficiaries of the project to-date?

A: Although civil society organisations are the primary recipients of capacity building efforts, the beneficiaries of the project include all stakeholders responding to HIV and Aids and the communities where USAID’s BOCAR project works.   The civil society organisations we work with include a wide range of non-state actors, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), print and broadcast media agencies, religious groups, academic institutions and social enterprises.  Since the start of the program in 2010, more than 500,000 individuals have been reached through high-quality, sensitive and relevant HIV / Aids community outreach prevention activities. A special focus is on Most Vulnerable Children (MVC) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) programs.

Q: What will you describe as the major achievements of the project to Tanzanians, in the fight against HIV/Aids in particular?

A: The first achievement is the professionalisation of the civil society sector that has allowed BOCAR CSOs to earn credibility and respect from key stakeholders, including government authorities, donor communities and the private sector.  Each of these groups is now listening to what the CSOs have to say.  With a combination of non-financial and financial support from these stakeholders, CSOs can maximize their current contributions to help prevent the spread of HIV and Aids.  This is implemented through launching awareness campaigns to reduce stigma and discrimination, supporting income generation activities to promote economic growth, providing vulnerable children with scholastic materials, addressing gender issues within their communities and much more.

Secondly, there is a tremendous amount of collaboration, not only between the government of Tanzania and United States government, but also within the civil society sector itself; largely enabled by government-led initiatives.  One great example is an initiative introduced by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) that brings together all CSOs working with Tanzania’s MVC on a monthly basis to share resources, disseminate information and exchange lessons learned.  The formation of CSO networks has also helped unite the civil society by creating forums to make it easier for CSOs to engage in dialogue and come together on urgent issues being faced in their communities.

Additionally, thanks to the BOCAR program, now that these civil society organizations have more clarity to articulate their identity, they are making the transition from planning to execution.  By embedding innovation within their day-to-day activities, they are making sustainable and transformative change for their beneficiaries by identifying and bridging gaps between the public and private sector.  To help fund their program activities, we are extremely pleased to report that more than 50 per cent of BOCAR CSOs have launched new and innovative products or services in order to raise new sources of sustainable capital.  Although there is still a heavy reliance on external funding, this is a positive step in the right direction.

Q: Can you describe the challenges you have been facing as a project in carrying out planned activities and how are you solving them?

A: The first challenge is the scalability of the program to meet the growing capacity building needs of CSOs.  In 2010, we worked with 17 small CSOs whereas today, USAID’s BOCAR is working with more than 65 small CSOs, six large CSOs and nine CSO networks.  However, in spite of increasing our scope by more than 300 per cent and our geographic coverage by 150 per cent we have the same six capacity building staff from East African Support Unit for NGOs (EASUN).  In order to address this challenge, BOCAR is starting to deliver interventions in a group environment to enable CSOs to learn from each other while maximizing our reach without compromising the individual attention that each organization receives through dedicated mentorship and coaching.  We’re also forming partnerships with similar implementing partners so that we can complement each other with the services we provide to individual CSOs.

Given the long-term impact of institutional capacity building, the second challenge is putting in place monitoring and evaluating solutions leveraging analytics that can show outcomes over multiple years.  The maturity model, piloted this year, has helped define a baseline maturity level for each CSO based on a set of indicators that will be tracked quarterly.  This model looks at various components of institutional capacity, including identity and values, leadership and governance, resource mobilisation, gender mainstreaming, external relationships, processes and procedures, physical resources and sustainability.