Accelerating Capacities In Civil Society And Non-Profits

Capacity development is central to sustainable social, economic, and environmental development. Capacity in its simplest sense covers the totality of an organisation’s efforts to fulfil its mission. As there are diverse purposes, missions, and rationales for starting up and continuation of different civil society and non-profit organisations, universal prescriptions of desirable capacity may not be relevant. Nevertheless, three kinds of capacities assume significance in civil society and non-profits[1]:

• Intellectual capacity: It is the analytical capacity of a civil society and non-profit organisation to clarify its perspective, its vision of a desirable society, its moral and ethical base, its analysis of the given social reality, articulating its independent thinking and position on contemporary issues. It is the organisation’s capacity for self-reflection and learning.
• Institutional and relational capacity: This involves the capacity of an organisation to manage its internal systems and procedures to foster its mission. Each organisation operates in a locally specific context through a network of relationships with other actors which not only provides the basis for its pursuit of mission but also provides the basis for its legitimacy. The internal capacity to relate and respond to the external environment including these relationships and to become adaptive and resilient is prerequisite to achieve the developmental goal of an organisation.
• Resource capacity: The material resource base is an increasingly important capacity for civil society organisations. This includes access to financial resources, physical infrastructures and assets. It is this capacity which in fact provides a strong ground for taking an autonomous and independent analysis and position on the contemporary issues.

As civil society and non-profits are being called upon to contribute to resilient and sustainable development, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic, it is critical that the resilience and sustainability of these organisations is not overlooked, particularly for the new and emergent civil society and non-profits. However, affordable institutional development support to civil society is increasingly becoming unavailable.

As PRIA completes its 40 years, it recommits to continued institutional strengthening and capacity development support to civil society and non-profits with a special focus on new generation civil society and non-profit groups. In this context, PRIA in collaboration with one of its longstanding partners INTRAC based in Oxford, UK and Dasra based in India will co-organise a Samvad  (Conversation) on “Accelerating Capacities in Civil Society and Non-Profits” on Tuesday, 31 August, 2021 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm (Indian Time).

The Conversation will delve into the following key questions:

• What new capacities are required in civil society and non-profits to address emerging local and global challenges in post pandemic recovery?
• What efforts civil society and non-profits themselves, philanthropic initiatives and other supporters must make to build these capacities?

Reference:

[1] Tandon, Rajesh. (2002). Voluntary Action, Civil Society and the State. Mosaic Books: New Delhi

For more detailed webinar report: Click here

For webinar recording: Click here