SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY STOCKTAKING EXERCISE
FOR AFRICA
ACTION LEARNING APPROACH & ORGANIZATIONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT,
SNV UGANDA
Methodology
Type
Basic
Information
Specify whether (i) PB, (ii) IBA, (iii) BPET, or (iv) PPM (can select more than one
option as some SA initiatives do not fit neatly into these categories)
Name of
Intervention
Primary Agency
running the
Intervention
Location
Sector or Level of
Focus
Type of
Engagement
Context and
Scope
What is the driving
force behind SA
initiative?
-
Action Learning Approach
Organizational Self assessment
SNV Uganda – Mission: Capacity development support to
intermediary organizations and local capacity development providers
to reduce poverty in relation to structural poverty reduction and
improved governance.
Kampala - Uganda. There are regional offices referred to as
portfolios, i.e. Rwenzori, Karamoja and West Nile portfolios.
It is multi-sectoral and covers five practice areas: Responsive and
Accountable Local Governance and gender sensitivity, Development
of Market Access to the poor, Peace Building and Conflict
Transformation, Institutional responsiveness to HIV/AIDs and Propoor Tourism.
The engagement is a continuous process to promote planning and
management, accountability, strengthen organizational and
institutional capacity and learning. Ideally it is part of the
Organizational Development process.
It was found that lack of involvement and participation of the
beneficiary and other stakeholders is undemocratic and undermines
ownership and sustainability. Action learning and Organizational
Self Assessment would promote;
Effective involvement and participation of all stakeholders,
A conducive environment for participation,
A simple and less stressful but motivating tool, as compared to the
traditional fault finding and external evaluation missions
Being visionary and reflective
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What are the main
objectives and
what key
accountability
problems does it
seek to address?
Who is the target
audience or
demographic focus?
What is the political
culture or
environment?
Effective involvement and participation of all stakeholders,
transparency, accountability, ownership and sustainability.
Reflection on experience and integration of lessons learnt to improve
the planning process and quality of planned result.
The organizations (CBO, Local Government, NGO, etc)
Key stakeholders include management and staff, women, men, youth,
policy makers – councilors and parliamentarians.
The government of Uganda has a gender sensitive and democratic
constitution, Local Government Act and policies to promote effective
service delivery and eradicate poverty.
Also, the Management of the organizations are now getting
committed to the Action Learning approach and they promote the
cultures of a learning organization
Tools and
Methodologies
Used
What specific SA
tools and
methodologies are
being used?
Action Learning Approach
Organizational Self Assessment
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Briefly describe the
tools and
methodologies
being used
Action Learning Approach has four components that form a complete
circle: Action, Experience, Reflection and Planning. Each component
feeds into the other (interlinked) and is a continuous process. For
every action undertaken one reflects with the questions - what went
well and why? what did not go well and why? what could have been
done better?
The above questions are simple but strategic and can be answered by
the management, support staff or any other stakeholders. It could be
done as a “story” of events and activities of the organization.
However it requires a skilled facilitator to probe deeper to allow for
analysis, reflection and learning to take place.
The result of this is seen in the insights, learning and innovations that
emerge and can be integrated into the planning.
The steps taken involve
Persuading the management and soliciting their commitment
in terms of resources and time
- Survey / needs assessment to establish the key challenges
and motivating other stakeholders to participate
- Preparation of process and programme for facilitating the
organization
- Collection of data and information from all stakeholders
- Analysis of issues and identifying key priorities for planning
purposes
- Developing and action list
- Identifying key persons and resources
- Planning
- Implementation of identified action list
- Review and reflection on what went well and why, what did
not go well and why, what could have been done better, way
forward and integration of issues in the new planning.
-
What advocacy and
media activities
support the
initiative?
The result of the action learning and organizational self assessment
can be published for stakeholders information in the media and video
documentary as well as the planning document for donors to capture
the trend of events of a particular activity. These plans have been
used to solicit for donor funding and technical support for the
organizations.
Voice recording is important to capture the emotions of the
discussion reflecting how people feel about the activity in question.
This has been used for advocacy and lobbying for the same reasons
as above.
How inclusive was
the intervention?
It has been used for both the management and subordinate staff,
target group and all stakeholders.
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Participation
It is simple and less stressing approach. Members of the
organization are enthusiastic to participate in planning
and review session (quarterly and annual reviews) because
they know their concern will be taken up in the planning
and mistakes corrected / resolved.
Other important information
and comments
Consideration:
The elite find this approach less challenging, obvious and
therefore time consuming. However, the result of the
approach is quite informative and empowering to all
stakeholders.
Adequate time and resource should be provided for action
learning to get a meaningful result out of it.
It is important that an external consultant (person)
facilitates the process of Action Learning to allow for
better participation by all.
Result and
Impact
What (if any) has been the
impact of the initiative? What
have been the incentives?
It has built confidence and empowered beneficiaries to
voice out there concern (advocacy) and demand for
remedies for mistakes done. It has improved the quality of
internal organizational plans (especially bottom up
planning).
It has promoted the involvement and participation of
especially the women and youth who are to be
“marginalized”
Is the methodology or
initiative institutionalized?
Are there any institutional
linkages and partnerships
established with the
government, parliament,
media, NGOs, communities?
Describe.
Action learning and organizational self-assessment are
some of the tools / methodologies used in organizational
development. This is SNV’s main area of support to
partner organizations for capacity development and
effective performance.
ULGA will take up the Organizational self-assessment as a
means for improving downward accountability, selfassessment and quality plans in the Local Governments.
SNV has partnership with District Local, Uganda Women
Parliamentarian Association, Uganda Local Government
Association, national NGO Forum, Association of Micro
Finance in Uganda and other meso level organizations.
Through these associations it is expected that services to
members and community at large will improve.
(If applicable), has the
initiative been scaled up?
Repeated?
Yes, it is a tool for organizational Development (OD) that
is used in strategic planning and review intervention with
all our partners. ULGA intends to use this approach for
its member Local Governments as above.
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What were the main outcomes
of the SA initiatives
It is important to promote participatory discussions and
consultations than desk reviews because it has improved
communication and information sharing; it has promoted
a sense of ownership and inspiration for the people to
demand for accountability; it has improved team
relationship, transparency and organizational values, it
has promoted a spirit of learning.
Bottlenecks / problems: What
difficulties did the agency or
NGO face, and how did they
resolve them. (Comment: this
section will yield rich insights
on innovations that can be
shared).
Difficulties
Government organizations (highly structured and
bureaucratic) think Action Learning Approach is an NGO
tool and not meant for them.
Action learning and organizational self-assessment
address less tangible areas like gender, values, leadership,
vision and mission more than the tangible products. It is
therefore more difficult to solicit commitment of the
management who would like to see more tangibles then
intangibles.
It requires the commitment of the management, effective
facilitation, patience, time and resource to have quality
results. However, many organizations have not adequately
provided for them, and the approaches are not high on the
priorities set.
Action Learning approach is not well known, and has been
used unconsciously.
Action
Integrated the Action Learning as one of the tools for
planning and review sessions. On the other hand,
Organizational Self assessment is a prerequisite for
establishing partnership with SNV because it easily
identifies areas of capacity gaps
Trained staff as process facilitators.
Has published a process approach with clear concepts and
steps to be taken. This promotes learning.
Further
References
Web Sources
Documents and Reports
SNV Capacity Development Service Booklet using Action
Learning Approach will be published in November 2004.
ULGA Review and Planning workshop reports.
Resource Persons / Contacts
Kwiyucwiny F. Grace
SNV Uganda, P.O Box 8339, Kampala.
gkwiyucwiny@snvworld.net
Kwiyucwiny@yahoo.com
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