Creation of Organizational Infrastructures at the Local Level for Self Help Promotion and Poverty Alleviation - Frequently Asked Questions

The NGO Fund Project (NGOFP) has been working in the field of capacity building of local organizations at different levels for about six years. It makes an attempt to share the experiences gained by the NGOFP in the form of frequently asked questions. The project takes capacity building as a means towards organizational development and self-help promotion. It envisions augmentation of self-help through local NGOs' support program. The major roles of the project lie in:

• Strategy building with partners;
• Administration of the German contribution;
• Capacity building of local NGOs and people's organization;
• Facilitating promotion of self-help for poverty reduction;
• Encouraging learning environment and mutual learning system;
• Creating information and knowledge based support system;
• Assisting in alliance building for greater impact ad synergy effect;
• Providing access to relevant information;
• Assisting in participatory monitoring and evaluation.

The frequently asked questions in the report cover:

• Project concept and approach:
  • What is development?
  • What is capacity building?
  • What is poverty in the context of capacity building?
  • What is NGOFP approach of addressing poverty?
  • How is gender mainstreamed in NGOFP?
• Local Support Organizations:
  • Why focus on local organizations?
  • How do you select local NGOs?
  • Why local NGOs? Are better established national NGOs not more efficient?
  • What if the NGOs split?
• Self Help Groups:
  • How long does it take for a self help group (SHG) to become functional?
  • What should be the size of a SHG?
  • Should they be homogenous or heterogeneous?
  • Who sets the rules and regulations of the groups?