• It has been a learning experience for us
• Gained conceptual clarity on vision, mission, values and other related aspects
• This exercise is quiet inspiring and has built our morale
• Now we feel like owners of this institution and this feeling is really enthusing
• We need to do lot of interim work for second phase and need timely support from Project Management Unit and CRD
• Resource persons were very friendly and proved to be good facilitators
• There needs to be better coordination between the resource persons (first phase)
• First two days we were confused about what is going to be the outcome but at this moment we feel we have a quality product in our hands
• Occasional Involvement of participants as resource persons has been encouraging
• Logistics could have been better (first phase)
• Inputs from higher officials like Commissioner, AMR APARD and Jt.Commissioner, CRD, CEO, APMAS, representatives from WASSAN was very useful
• Future support expressed from CRD and APARD is reassuring for the team

1. Teams to share the output and process with the Project Directors’ concerned
2. A District level workshop in each district with secondary stakeholders, collaborators and partners on the process and outputs to seek feedback and inputs on the same
3. Interaction with primary stakeholders to share the information about LRC and its vision and to assess the agenda to be pursued by LRC in future
4. A Three day meeting of the team members to evolve strategic business plan for resource centers in the district
5. Second phase state level workshops to finalise the strategic business plans.

Support from Project Management unit and APARD discussed and it was agreed that resource persons would accompany the districts during this process.
District level workshop-Design
Schedule for the District Level Workshop on Visioning for LRCs

Objectives

• To develop Common understanding on visioning of LRCs
• To Evolve common vision for LRCs

CAPACITY BUILDING

Capacity building may be defined as:

• the creation of an enabling environment with appropriate policy and legal frameworks; institutional development,
• including community participation (of women in particular);
• human resources development and strengthening of managerial systems

Capacity building is a long-term, continuing process, in which all stakeholders participate (ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organisations and water user groups, professional associations, academics and others).  

Capacity Building is much more than training and includes the following

• Human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively.
• Organisational development, the elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures, not only within organisations but also the management of relationships between the different organisations and sectors (public, private and community).
• Institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organisations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities.

Another essential mechanism for capacity building is partnership development. Partnerships give a local organisations access to: knowledge and skills; innovative and proven methodologies; networking and funding opportunities; replicable models for addressing community needs and managing resources; options for organisational management and governance; and strategies for advocacy, government relations and public outreach.Another important view of this concept is discussed by Berg who regards capacity building as characterized by three main activities:

Sources: Counterpart International; NDP Briefing Paper

 "skill upgrading - both general and job-specific; procedural improvements; and organisational strengthening."

He includes under skill enhancement "... general education, on-the job-training, and professional deepening in crosscutting skills such as accounting, policy analysis and information technology."

Organisation strengthening covers the process of institutional development;

Procedural improvements refer to general functional changes or system reforms.

Morgan (1993) defines capacity development as "the ability of individuals, groups, institutions, organisations and societies to identify and meet development challenges over time." The author summarizes the main approaches to community development as follows: the core of capacity development is wider and more holistic, it attempts to contribute to the institutional environment in each country, there is a close relationship between human resource development and capacity development, there is an evolving relationship between training and capacity development; capacity development could be seen as a response to some of the major development themes, effective capacity development requires sustained attention over a longer period of time, the policy implementation split of previous phases of institution thinking gets less attention, capacity development attempts to move beyond administrative techniques and beyond projects, and capacity development attempts to accelerate interaction between organisations and their environment.
Finally Loubser (1993: 23) compiled a list of the elements of capacity:
"Specified objectives, including vision, values, policies, strategies and interests;
efforts, including will (motivation, drive) energy, concentration, work ethic and efficiency;
capabilities, including intelligence, skills, knowledge and mental sets;
resources, including human (for collective participants), natural, technological (infrastructure), cultural and financial;
and work organisation, including planning, designing, sequencing and mobilizing."

Source: Adapted from MDF

Vision

An image of our desired future

A vision is a picture of the future you seek to create, described in the present tense, as if it were happening now. A statement of “our vision” shows where we want to go, and what we will be like when we get there. The word comes from the Latin videre, “to see”. This link to seeing is significant; the more richly detailed and visual the image is, the more compelling it will be.
Because of its tangible and immediate quality, a vision gives shape and direction to the organisation’s future. And it helps people set goals to take the organisation closer.

Source: Senge, P.M., Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross and Bryan J. Smith    (1994)
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organisation. New York, Doubleday. Pg. 302.

It is five years from today’s date and you have marvelously enough, created an organisation you most want to create. Now it is your job, as a team, to describe it- as if you were able to see it, realistically, around you. Consider these questions one by one, painting an ever-clearer shared vision of your future organisation.

Make sure each member of the team has an opportunity to comment on each of the questions, Note the main points on a flip chart that everyone in the group can see.

1. Who are the stakeholders of this organisation we have created (five years from now)?
   How do we work with them?
   How do we produce value for them?
2. What are the most influential trends in our sector?
3. What is our image in the market place?
   How do we compete?
4. What is our unique contribution to the world around us?
   What is the impact of our work?
5. How do we make money?
6. What does our organisation look like?
7. How do we handle good times?
   How do we handle hard times?
8. In what ways is our organisation a great place to work?
9. How do people treat each other?
   How are people recognized?
10. How do we know that the future of our organisation is secure?
   What have we done to ensure its future?
11. What is our organisation’s role in our community?

Concise. Although not as short a phrase as a vision statement, a mission statement should still get its point across in  one sentence.

Outcome-oriented. Mission statements explain the overarching outcomes your organization is working to achieve.

Inclusive. While mission statements do make statements about your group's overarching goals, it's very important that it does so very broadly. Good mission statements are not limiting in the strategies or sectors of the community that may become involved in the project.

Values

The word “value” comes from the French word valoir, meaning, “to be worth”. Values describe how we intend to operate, on a day-to-day basis, as we pursue our vision.

• Values are a set of beliefs that we practice in any situation.
• Values are expressed in terms of behaviour and are demonstrated through one’s behaviour.Values are expressed through single words and not sentences

Sources:
Senge, P.M., Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross and Bryan J. Smith    (1994)
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organisation. New York, Doubleday. Pp.302

A set of governing values might include: how we want to behave with each other; how we expect to regard our customers, community, and vendors; and the line that we will and will not cross. Values are best expressed in terms of behaviour: if we act as we should, what would an observer see us doing? How would we be thinking?

When values are articulated but ignored, an important part of the shared vision effort is shut away. By contrast, when values are made a central part of the organisation’s shared vision effort and put out in full view, they become like a figure head on a ship: a guiding symbol of the behaviour that will help people move towards the vision. It becomes easier to speak honestly, or to reveal information, when people know that these are aspects of agreed-upon values

Values of an LRC

Use the following guiding questions to identify values of the LRCs

What do you value deeply about:

• Yourself (Without being humble, what do you value the most about yourself, as a human being, as a friend, parent, and so on?)
  1. Your work (When you are feeling best about your work, what do you value about it?)

Strategy

Strategy refers to the way in which objectives are to be reached. How do we convert the Organisation’s mission in to reality?

More specifically, strategy concerns the choices between different ways of achieving the objectives. The strategy of an organisation can be defined as the long-term plan of action of an organisation to realize its objectives with the available means (inputs). A condition for making a plan of action is that the objectives have been set and are clear to the various parties involved.
The strategy is of course related to the mission of an organisation but not a mere translation of it. The mission of an organisation is often rather broad and leaves much room for interpretation. In order to determine a strategy, it is necessary to set one or more tangible objectives. If there are no objectives determined, it is difficult to make a cohesive and effective plan:
“ Would you tell me please, which way I ought to walk from here?”
“ That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the cat”
“ I don’t much care where…”, said Alice.
“ Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk”, said the cat.
“…so long as I get somewhere”, Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you are sure to do that”, said the cat, “if you only walk long enough”
(Alice in Wonderland)

The success of a strategy depends on its quality, the acceptance and the time, which can mathematically be represented as follows:

Success = F (quality, acceptance, time)

Source: Senge, P.M., Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross and Bryan J. Smith    (1994) The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organisation. New York, Doubleday. Pg. 303

Matching strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and strengths

External strategies

1. To grab an opportunity by utilizing strengths and by removing weaknesses;
2. To reduce a threat by utilizing strengths and by removing weaknesses

Internal strategies

1. To utilize a strength for grabbing opportunities and for reducing threats;
2. To remove weaknesses for grabbing opportunities and for reducing threats

Steps in strategic orientation

Define the entry or problem are

Identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

• Internal analysis: SW
• External analysis: OT;
• Based on joint discussion or brainstorm

Setting priorities

• Select 5-7 factors of each category (S, W, O, and T), if necessary, cluster and combine factors;
• Develop consensus on priorities (discussion and/or voting)

Matching strengths and weaknesses with opportunities and threats

• Use the strategic orientation matrix;
• Identify the combinations that will have the major positive impact on the entity/problem field. (Discussion and/or voting)

• Formulate strategies for those combinations that provide the highest positive impact.

• Identify areas for further investigation;
  • Or, if possible, formulate strategic plan based on the strategies identified.

Source: Adapted from MDF

Design for interaction with Primary stakeholders

• Introduction, purpose of visit and objectives
• Discussion about the programs being implemented by the CBOs who are present in the meeting
• Roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder while implementing the programs
• Services that are needed to improve their role and make it effective
• Institutions working with the CBOs at present
• Assess the needs of CBO in the context of program implementation and institution building