Organisational Capacity Assessment Guide for Pacific Civil Society Organisations

Download this Document

This guide is part of a package of capacity development activities developed by the Raising Pacific Voices programme (RPV), a three-year civil society strengthening programme. It is intended to assist people working to strengthen inclusive, transparent, accountable and effective civil society organisations
(CSOs) in the Pacific region. The guide provides a framework for assessing CSO capacity. It is divided into two sections: 1. Our approach to capacity development of Pacific CSOs; and 2. The organisational capacity assessment process. English (1.6MB)

download pdf

This guide is part of a package of capacity development activities developed by the Raising Pacific Voices programme (RPV), a three-year civil society strengthening programme. It is intended to assist people working to strengthen inclusive, transparent, accountable and effective civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Pacific region.

The guide provides a framework for assessing CSO capacity. It is divided into two sections: 1. Our approach to capacity development of Pacific CSOs; and 2. The organisational capacity assessment process. The CSO capacity process provides the basis for the development of an organisational capacity assessment plan. A separate guide (forthcoming) covers Phase 2, the planning process.

Funded by the European Union, Oxfam in the Pacific worked in partnership with the Pacific Disability Forum (as the focal point for the Pacific Regional NGO Alliance) to develop the RPV in order to strengthen the capacity of civil society groups across the Pacific region.

An analogy of building a fale – the Samoan word for all types of houses, small or large – is used to illustrate the importance and interlinkage of organisational elements. Governance is the foundational element that underpins all other elements. Management, human resources, and finances are three ‘load-bearing posts’ that build the structure of an organisation and allow it to collaborate and influence and, ultimately, to deliver the organisational mandate – illustrated by the thatched roof of the fale.

In the spirit of Raising Pacific Voices, this publication is considered a second-stage pilot. The development and initial testing of the tool has been carried out by three partner organisations It has since been revised considerably taking into account feedback received from partners.

This guide in your hands, will be distributed widely for CSOs to further test and provide feedback. Oxfam in the Pacific welcomes your review of the technical content, the usability, and the accuracy of the rankings.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Contact the Raising Pacific Voices’ Capacity Building Advisor, Filipo Masaurua, on [email protected] with any feedback on the guide.

Published by Oxfam in the Pacific