Standard 5: Technical Quality
Our Commitment:
We are committed to the technical
quality of our projects and to
ensuring that they reflect
communities’ own relief and
recovery priorities.
Latrine block at a school in Kandahar, Afghanistan
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
Standard 5: Technical Quality
The issues
Project evaluations in the past have criticised NGOs for carrying out projects
which are of poor technical quality – for example a building which was poorly
designed or used inappropriate materials or a feeding programme which didn’t
follow agreed nutrition standards. The project staff may have been well meaning
but they didn’t have access to technical support or qualified professionals who
could ensure the project’s design was technically appropriate.
The Tsunami Evaluation Coalition in its evaluation of the tsunami response noted
the poor technical quality of some projects and identified one of the contributing
factors as being the lack of suitably skilled staff and another as being the
extension by some NGOs into sectors that they had no previous experience or
competence in. This came alongside another criticism: that the projects carried
out did not actually reflect the priorities of the communities themselves. The TEC
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. Demand-led approaches are 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 requires input from the community or beneficiary but
the project is based on the supply of materials and approaches as opposed to
demand from the community. More recently we are recognising the superiority of
demand-led approaches, such as Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).
Projects are sometimes described as having “hardware” and “software”
components: “hardware” meaning the physical or constructed provisions of a
project, such as a well, a latrine or a school building, and “software” meaning
the ownership, knowledge, understanding and skills which are needed if such
physical provisions are to be properly owned 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 and so provide
the “software” requirements.
Biblical foundations
The book of Nehemiah provides a good example of technical quality
considerations, when the prophet sets about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In
ancient times, most cities had city walls. 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 defence.
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
Standard 5: Technical Quality
Good Practice commitments
Tearfund’s commitment is to ensure that emergency projects are of good
technical quality, and that they reflect communities’ own relief and recovery
priorities. When considering technical quality, the issues of sustainability and
replicability need to be assessed; for example it may be possible in theory to
design and build a latrine which is a very high technical quality, but it isn’t
sustainable if the owner can’t replace it in the future and it isn’t replicable if
others in the community can’t afford to build to the same design. Standards of
technical quality therefore need to be assessed for the context and the issues of
supply and demand need to be carefully considered.
The Sphere handbook (see introduction on page 143) provides technical guidance
for a wide range of sectors and should be used to help guide assessment, project
design and implementation. Assessment checklists are provided and are a good
reference to help you decide what technical questions to ask in an assessment,
and the Sphere standards and indicators can be used in the project logframe.
Close links to other Quality Standards
There are close links with Disaster Risk, as we need to address underlying
vulnerabilities in our technical design (e.g. earthquake resilient buildings);
Children and Gender, as we need to ensure that technical design is appropriate
for the needs of boys and girls, women and men; Environment, with the need to
consider impact on the environment in our technical design; and Sustainability,
as projects need to be locally sustainable and responsive to demand as well as
being of good technical quality.
Where to look for further information:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Sphere Handbook (see introduction on page 143)
Nutrition: Valid International Community Based Therapeutic Care
Food Security: LEGS (FAO Website)
WASH: http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/page/about-site
http://www.redr.org/redr/support/resources/EinE/EinE.htm
http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/resources/water-sanitation-hygienepopulations-risk
http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/WHO_Technical_Notes_for_Emergencies/
http://tilz.tearfund.org/webdocs/Tilz/Topics/Why%20advocate%20for%20w
ater,%20sanitation%20and%20hygiene.pdf
http://tilz.tearfund.org/Topics/Water+and+Sanitation/Water+Safety+Plans
.htm
Shelter and Construction: Lessons from Aceh: Key Considerations in PostDisaster Reconstruction (by Jo da Silva - Disasters Emergency Committee /
ARUP / Practical Action Publishing)
Education: Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
Health Promotion: Tearfund Children’s Health Promotion Manual
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
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
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
Step 5: Monitor and evaluate
the project and make
technical adjustments where
necessary
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
Standard 5: Technical Quality
Step 1: Be clear on your own
areas of specialism and
technical strengths as an
organisation
Is there a clear understanding amongst staff of the specialisms of your
organisation – what types of projects 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 are wanting 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, food, shelter.
The assessment checklists in the Sphere handbook can be helpful in deciding
what technical questions to ask.
As the community shares priority needs in areas which are outside of your areas
of specialism, you have an important role to play in advocating to others to
respond to these needs.
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
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
project
staff
responsible for the project,
both for its design and 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 even just by reading through the project
proposal. Remember that both the “hardware” and “software” requirements of
the project need to be adequately supported and the level of demand carefully
considered.
Step 4: Ensure quality control
when you are working with
contractors
Some projects may involve subcontracting, often ones that involve
large scale construction e.g. building homes 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 need to be daily.
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
Standard 5: Technical Quality
Step 5: Monitor and evaluate
the project and make
technical adjustments where
necessary
This
involves
monitoring
and
capturing learning to ensure technical
standards are being maintained, but
also checking to confirm that the
project still meets communities’ own
priorities
and
there
is
good
acceptance.
It
also
involves
considering the issues of sustainability
and replicability as set out in the Practical Steps listed under Sustainability.
Monitoring technical quality which stems from a social marketing or demand-led
approach brings challenges in ensuring the approach is demand-led and based on
community and individual action, whilst also ensuring appropriate minimum
technical design and structural safety.
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009
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 home-owners to
do the necessary improvements. 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.
Quality Standards Field Guide – First Edition, December 2009