How can Donor Requirements be Reformed to Better Support Efforts to Strengthen Local Capacity?

This paper has been written to inform discussion between donors, the United Nations and NGOs about an emerging tension between two important goals: building local capacity and managing programmatic risk.

Five challenges are presented from the experience of INGOs that influence the degree to which local capacity can be effectively built:

  1. donor cost constraints unintentionally mitigate local capacity
  2. linear thinking stifles innovation and risk
  3. compliance requirements distort capacity building
  4. national and local NGO receive little direct funding
  5. simple practicalities block local access to funding.