The Institutional Strengthening Grants Management Project (ISGM)

October 1998 - March 2004

Please note that this is a closed, archived program.

Conflict in the Greater Horn of Africa is usually, directly or indirectly, related to access to land and water—the main productive resources of the region. Fueling these conflicts are conditions of extreme poverty and underdevelopment, which are exacerbated by inadequate participation of people in decisions that affect their lives. The prospect and attainment of a lasting peace in the region, which at times appears elusive, bring forth new opportunities for economic growth and development. An important cause for optimism is the emergence of a stronger civil society and a shift in thinking from relief toward development and conflict resolution.

Pact, in collaboration with its partner organization, the regional NGO Mwelekeo wa NGO (MWENGO), implemented a grants-making program to provide seed money for innovative, catalytic activities implemented by a wide range of organizations undertaking regional activities in the GHA. Grants supported regional stakeholders in analyzing issues, setting priorities, and developing strategies to share lessons learned and strengthen regional knowledge. Activities conformed to the five operating principles of the presidential GHAI:

• African ownership
• strategic coordination
• adopting regional perspectives
• linking relief to development
• promoting stability

Grant activities focused on:

Food security

• Improved water collection and management (e.g., infrastructure development and management, training in various collection/harvesting practices, etc)
• Improved livestock care and practice (community animal-based health care systems and training, tsetse fly control support and training, ethno veterinary knowledge training, emergency interventions, vaccination support, etc.)
• Improved agricultural techniques (improved varieties, technology transfer, exchange among farmers, agro-forestry techniques, etc.)
• Improved regional food security networking and communications
• Conflict Resolution
• Improved conflict mitigation and techniques (traditional peace building practices, early warning systems, establishment and training of peace committees, active peace negotiation)
• Improved and appropriate use of the media in peace building
• Improved understanding and resolution of natural resource management based conflicts (research, training, development of strategies for intervention)
• Improved engenderment of peace processes (community and NGO training, idea sharing, and platform creation of issues pertaining to the role of women in peace)
• Improved regional conflict prevention mitigation and response (CPMR) networking and communications

Pact used a regional index to examine the degree to which an organization "thinks" and "acts" regionally, while a management control assessment tool (MCAT) was used to identify relative risk of award and areas of needed improvement for financial management and control. An organizational capacity assessment tool (OCAT) examined capacity in other critical operational areas, including governance, management practices, external relations, financial resources, human resources, service delivery and sustainability and an advocacy index assesses the organization's capacity for undertaking advocacy activities. Based on OCAT findings, each grantee received targeted training/mentoring and/or technical assistance that addressed areas in need of skill building. One of the thrusts of the organizational strengthening efforts was to get African NGOs up on and using the internet, interacting with neighboring and worldwide organizations with common interests.

Pact also provided nongrant assistance in the form of training and other types of direct assistance to NGOs who benefit from the work of the grantees. The assistance included supporting networking, innovation dissemination, centers of excellence, and database development.

Finally ISGM managers created, adapted and strengthened a range of tools, databases, information dissemination devices, networks, and regional institutional and individual resources to sustain regional approaches to food security and conflict.

Interim results

• Provided assistance to 903 African organizations working in food security and conflict resolution in ten countries in the Greater Horn of Africa. The organizations were provided funding to encourage them to innovate, disseminate and apply better practices throughout the region. Twenty-six grants amounting to US$ 3.8 million were awarded, of which 17 were made to organizations promoting best practices in: 1) water collection and management, 2) agriculture and livestock, 3) organizing or conducting peace processes, peace committees, and cross-border groups. These grantees trained, mentored, or supervised the application of better practices or innovations to more than 500 local community organizations, NGOs and government extension services in ten countries.
• Nine additional cross-border organizations and networks received grants to strengthen local CSOs in establishing sound financial management systems that led to several CSOs seeking and successfully leveraging funds from other donors, including UNICEF, FAO and USAID/REDSO. Grantees cite that due in whole or in part to ISGM, they were able to leverage US$ 2,626,049 from 23 non-USAID donors.
• Strategic coordination among cross-border organizations was strengthened through improving existing subsector or sector networks and creating new networks and partnerships. ISGM provided a platform for mutual learning and resulted in people sharing and collaborating to 1) improve policy development; 2) encourage comparative analysis; 3) improve coordination; 4) enhance information exchange; and 5) support human resources and organizational development