Without the bonus, we never would have been able to invest (Solidaridad)

Solidaridad explicitly works on the quality of capacity development. According to Jacoline Plomp, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation manager, there is a logical link between PSO and Solidaridad. “Much of our daily work is very similar to capacity development.” A conversation about the quality bonus, the network organisation and organisation-assessments.

“A coffee grower should be able to produce in such a manner that he can find a market for his product and sell the latter. We help him to do so”, explains Jacoline Plomp. “Solidaridad is an enterprising, practical development organisation. It focuses on making the process chains for products such as cotton, coffee and cocoa sustainable. This concerns economic, social and environmental sustainability. The activities cover the entire chain from the producer to the Western market and are therefore cross border in nature. We are active in many countries.”

As Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation manager, Plomp advises her colleagues, on project planning, among other things. “For example, a plan's objective is to make cotton farmers in Peru more independent. I try to translate that goal into concrete requirements the programme has to meet and to provide recommendations on monitoring the process.”

Network organisation

PSO taught Solidaridad to refer to capacity development more specifically. “That makes you work on it more consciously”, says Plomp. “The Learning-working path with PSO contributed to raising awareness. Together, we went in search of the proper substantiation for this path. The link between PSO and Solidaridad was found in the development of the Solidaridad network organisation. This truly concerns capacity development at a local and regional level: the development of an expertise network, offices and specialists in various countries. These regional expertise centres can be found around the world and together they constitute a network. We do not operate in isolation – we lack the knowledge to do so – instead we discuss with local experts how we can, for example, best cooperate on the cotton chain.”

How does the network work in practice? “For example, Nestlé tells us it wishes to do something with sustainability in the field of cocoa. They operate in Ivory Coast and ask us to help them obtain sustainable cocoa. We then turn to our network”, explains Plomp.

The network also entails changes at a strategic level. Plomp: “In the past, strategic decisions on policy were primarily made in the Netherlands. Nowadays, we involve our network. We try to combine knowledge to arrive at improved policy.”

How successful is the Learning-working path and the network organisation? “If regional offices function better and we can reach our target group better, then we have achieved success. A concrete example. PSO supports us in the field of gender. We want to increase our knowledge on this subject, including at the regional expertise centres. If this theme crops up in projects in two years' time or if women have achieved more of a say in things, then I will be happy with the result”, says Plomp.

Assessments

Solidaridad used a self-designed assessment tool, MIDCA. Plomp explains: “The organisation asked the producers' organisations we cooperate with what we are good at and what could do with improvement. MIDCA was a complete model that generated a SWOT analysis of a producers' organisation for all organisational aspects such as financial management and staff. These analyses led to reports on the basis of which we determined what we would work on.”

“The tool had drawbacks though. The analysis was not only unwieldy and extensive, but above all it was a matter of ticking boxes. The producers' organisations hardly participated. We wanted to change that and we used PSO's quality bonus to do so. Our project Making MIDCA work! used specialists to re-shape the tool into a participatory, concise assessment; a tool we could also use in our network organisation and which would contribute to improving capacity development quality. We subsequently tested the new tool.”

The adapted tool uses participatory workshops during which the questionnaires are filled in and exercises and role playing games are carried out. The workshops are described in manuals so that everyone can use them.

In principle, the tool can be applied to all producers' organisations, with a few modifications, here and there. Plomp explains: “We have carried out a number of pilots at small-scale cotton cooperatives. Naturally, the questions and ideas were adapted to this product. But, we have already noticed that, with a few minor adaptations, we could also use the tool for small-scale coffee producers. Moreover, a cotton assessment generates a great deal of valuable knowledge which can be used in other chains. This way, we can develop capacity and knowledge.”

Results

Plomp is enthusiastic about the results: “Producers' organisations consider the self-analysis very worthwhile. They get the feeling they are doing it themselves. And they are. They develop capacity in this manner. Moreover, the results of the assessments prove to be excellent points of departure for projects.”

Plomp is also very happy with the quality bonus: “It is one of the most successful cooperations with PSO. It really is a bonus. We could decide how to use the extra funds to pay attention, spend energy and invest time in capacity development. Without the bonus we would not have been able to invest in experts and in the new assessment tool, and in outsourcing work we did not get around to because of our day-to-day activities.”