Standard 5: Technical Quality
Our Commitment:
We are committed to the technical
quality of our projects and to
ensuring that they reflect
communities’ own needs and
priorities.
Latrine block at a school in Kandahar, Afghanistan
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
The issues
Project evaluations in the past have criticised NGOs for carrying out projects
which were of poor technical quality – for example a building which was poorly
designed or which used inappropriate materials, or a feeding programme which
didn’t follow agreed nutrition standards. The project staff had good intentions
but they did not have access to the right technical support or qualified
professionals.
Such criticisms have applied in both relief and development. After the 2004
tsunami, an evaluation of the response noted the poor technical quality of some
projects. One reason for this was the lack of suitably skilled staff and another
was the extension by some NGOs into sectors in which they had no previous
experience or competence. This came alongside another criticism: that the
projects carried out did not actually reflect the priorities of the communities
themselves. The evaluators recommended that NGOs “concentrate their efforts,
and develop deeper competence in specific sectors”.
There is also growing recognition of the differences between demand-led and
supply-driven approaches when working with a community. Demand-led
approaches use processes that empower beneficiaries to address the needs that
they perceive as important. This builds on the comment above about projects
needing to reflect the priorities of the communities themselves. Supply driven
approaches, by contrast, focus on providing assistance, which may require a
little input from the community (or beneficiary) but the project is based on the
supply of materials and services, not upon the priority needs expressed by the
community. More recently we have been recognising the superiority of demandled approaches, such as Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).
Projects are sometimes described as having “hardware” and “software”
components. “Hardware” means the constructions or physical inputs of a
project, such as a well, a latrine or a school building. “Software” means the
ownership, knowledge, organisation and skills that are needed if the physical
provisions are to be properly used and have lasting impact. NGOs need to have
both the technical skills to provide the “hardware” requirements of the project
and the sociological skills for engaging with communities to provide the
“software” requirements.
Biblical foundations
The book of Nehemiah provides a good example of technical quality, when the
prophet sets about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In ancient times, most
cities had a perimeter wall. The wall was an important defence that surrounded
the city. It would be strong and high and several metres thick. The wall that
Nehemiah planned to rebuild needed to be of sufficient quality if it was to be a
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
defence. He persisted with the project, despite the unjustified criticism and
mocking from his enemies (Neh.4: 1-9).
Good Practice commitments
Tearfund’s commitment is to ensure that all projects are of good technical
quality, and that they reflect communities’ felt needs and priorities. Technical
quality relates to sustainability and replicability. For example, it may be
possible to design and build a latrine that is of very high technical quality.
However, the benefits are not sustainable if the owner can’t maintain it and
other people are unable to afford to replicate this design. Standards of technical
quality should therefore be influenced by the context; good or appropriate
quality is not the same as best quality.
Every project type will have its own relevant technical standards. If it involves
construction, building codes must be met. If it involves education, then issues of
national curriculum content and standards of teacher training will be important.
Other technical areas of current focus for Tearfund include WASH (Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene), Food Security, Livelihoods, prevention of Sexual
Violence, Cash Programming, Peace Building, Resilience and specifically within
Disaster Management: Shelter, Protection, Nutrition and Psychosocial Support.
Appropriate technical support and quality are needed in each of these areas.
The Sphere handbook (see introduction on page 154) provides core standards for
all project types, plus technical guidance for work in a wide range of sectors.
These standards can be used to guide our assessments, inform project design
and assist our implementation. Assessment checklists are provided and are a
good reference to help design more technical questions. The Sphere standards
and indicators can also be used in the project log frame.
Close links to other Quality Standards
Our commitment to Technical Quality has close links with:
 Disaster Risk, as technical quality needs to be sufficiently robust to
address underlying vulnerabilities (e.g. earthquake resilient buildings);
 Children and Gender, as technical design must be appropriate for the
needs of boys and girls, women and men, and all should have the
opportunity to influence the quality of the inputs;
 Accountability, in that there should be community participation in
decision making & opportunity to complain if quality is poor;
 Environment, in that the technical design should not impact heavily upon
the environment;
 Sustainability, as projects need to be locally sustainable and responsive to
demand as well as being of good technical quality.
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
Where to look for further information:
 The Sphere Handbook (see introduction on page 154)
 Nutrition: Valid International Community Care:
http://www.validinternational.org/about-us/
 Food Security (Livestock): Livestock Emergency Guidelines (LEGS)
 Cash Programming: CALP http://www.cashlearning.org
 WASH: Community Led Total Sanitation:
http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/page/about-site
 REDR UK Emergency Preparedness resources:
http://www.redr.org.uk/en/resources/index.cfm/emergencypreparedness
 WHO Technical Notes for Emergencies:
http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/knowledge/notes_emergencies.html
 Shelter and Construction: Lessons from Aceh: Key Considerations in PostDisaster Reconstruction (by Jo da Silva - Disasters Emergency Committee /
ARUP / Practical Action Publishing):
http://www.dec.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/lessons-from-aceh.pdf
 Education: Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies:
http://www.ineesite.org/en/
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
Practical Steps for carrying out our Technical Quality commitment
Identification
Step 1: Be clear on your own
areas of specialism and
technical strengths as an
organisation, and those of
your partners
Step 2: Understand the
priorities expressed by the
community, and identify
which areas you have the
technical experience and
capacity to support
Design
Step 3: Ensure your project
staff have the technical
support needed to guide
project implementation
Implementation
Step 4: Ensure quality
control when you are
working with contractors,
and when supervising
construction
Step 5: Monitor and evaluate
the project and make
technical adjustments where
necessary
work directly.
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
Step 1: Be clear on your own
areas of specialism and
technical strengths as an
organisation, and those of
your partners
Is there a clear understanding amongst staff
of the specialist knowledge and experience
of
your organisation? What are the types or
sectors of project which you do and don’t
carry out?
Avoid the danger of trying to meet needs in a situation where you do not have
the necessary technical experience. Also avoid the temptation of designing
your project based on what donors want to fund, when these don’t fit with
your areas of specialism.
Step 2: Understand the
priorities expressed by the
community, and identify
which areas you have the
technical experience and
capacity to support
When you carry out assessments, ensure
that you gather detailed information that
relates to your areas of specialism e.g.
water and sanitation, or food distribution,
or shelter.
The assessment checklists in the Sphere handbook can be helpful in deciding
what technical questions to ask.
If the community shares priority needs in sectors which are outside of your
areas of specialism, then you should seek to link the community with other
agencies or Government Departments, who do have the skills to respond to
these needs.
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
Step 3: Ensure your project
staff have the technical
support needed to guide
project implementation
For any project that needs technical input, make sure that this input is
available to the staff responsible for the project, both for its design and
later for implementation. This could be arranged through the hiring of
suitably qualified and experienced staff (e.g. nutritionists, engineers,
nurses) or drawing on the support of technical advisors or consultants.
Such advisors can provide helpful comments, perhaps just by reading
through the project proposal. Remember that both the “hardware”
(inputs) and “software” (knowledge/skills/organisation) requirements of
the project need to be adequately supported and the level of demand
carefully considered.
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
Step 4: Ensure quality
control when you are
working with contractors,
and when supervising
construction work directly.
Some projects may involve sub-contracting. For example, large scale
construction projects e.g. building homes, clinics or schools. In these situations
the construction company rather than the NGO carries out the actual building
work and good quality control is needed so that you can be sure that the work
carried out by the company is of high technical quality. In these project
situations, it is important to appoint a supervisor to oversee the work, checking
for example that concrete is made to the correct ratios, foundations are
properly laid, building design is closely followed, and so on. Depending on the
situation and the reliability of the contractor, such monitoring may take place
daily.
Step 5: Monitor and evaluate
the project and make
technical adjustments where
necessary
This involves monitoring to ensure
technical
standards
are
being
maintained, capturing learning for
future projects and also checking to
confirm that the project still meets
communities’ own priorities. If this is
the case, then there will be good acceptance. Negative feedback on quality
should be carefully considered and acted upon, with a response given to those
making complaints.
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Standard 5: Technical Quality
Project Examples
A partner working in the Andaman Islands after the tsunami realised that
there was greater technical expertise available in the area of training and
supporting livelihoods by liaising with local government departments than
they would be able to provide internally. Therefore they established a
relationship and linked in their beneficiaries with government schemes. This
was also more sustainable.
A post-tsunami housing project in Indonesia using contractors resulted in
houses that were of poor quality. The decision was made to put in some
more funds for remedial work, but this time to enable the homeowners to do
the necessary improvements themselves. Cluster groups were set up in each
village, the members were trained in each of the issues in the key stages in
house improvement, then they were given a grant for one stage of work, the
quality of that work was checked by partner staff engineers, with the cluster
receiving their next grant instalment only when all their members had
completed the renovations to a satisfactory standard. By the end of the
remedial work, the community were reporting that they were satisfied with
the quality of their homes mainly because they had been enabled to do the
work for themselves.
In Uganda, a partner was implementing water and sanitation projects but
there was demand from the community for the construction of rainwater
harvesting structures at household and community level. To ensure technical
quality, the partner established contact with another partner in southern
Uganda who was very experienced in this area. The partner provided them,
and the local community, with training in the construction of rainwater
harvesting structures, with follow up support and facilitated exchange visits.
This meant the project was of higher technical quality and the partner staff
and community learnt new skills.
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