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Organisational Assessments of Civil Society Organisations in view of possible qualification as Sida’s framework and/or strategic partner organisation

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Countries
Bangladesh, Belgium, Cambodia, Chad, Denmark, Ethiopia, Georgia, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Somalia

Categories
Civil Society, Monitoring and Evaluation

Start date

End date

The purpose of this assignment was to asses the capacity of 30 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) applying to become framework organisations eligible for civil society support and/or strategic partner organisations for humanitarian assistance with Sida. The organisations were assessed against a set of 60 Qualification Criteria, established and adopted by the Director General of Sida in 2011. This was the first time that the criteria were applied in practice. These criteria were jointly developed by the two units Sida/CIVSAM (Civil Society Unit) and Sida/HUM (Unit for Humanitarian Assistance) in light of a need for Sida to work in a more uniform manner vis-à-vis CSOs.

The components assessed were:

  • The degree to which the organisation is representative, independent and has well-anchored operations
  • The existence, effectiveness and compliance to the organisation's internal management and control systems
  • The organisation's capacity and skills to achieve and report relevant results towards its own strategies and those of Sida, including its application of human rights based approaches and international humanitarian principles
  • The organisation's capacity and skills to undertake policy and methodological work.

Some organisations were assessed for both their international development cooperation activities, as well as their humanitarian operations. This included Save the Childen Sweden, Swedish Mission Council, Diakonia, PMU Interlife, WeEffect, Church of Sweden, Plan Sweden. Some were assessed purely on their humanitarian operations, including Oxfam GB, Swedish Red Cross, Action Contre la Faim, International Rescue Committee, Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Islamic Relief. Finally, some were assessed purely on their international development cooperation activities, including Action Aid, Individuell Människohjälp, The Africa Groups, Kvinna till Kvinna, the Hunger Project, Hand in Hand, MyRight, SOS Barnbyar, Svenska Afghanistan Kommitten, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, RSFU, WWF Sweden, LO-TCO, Forum Syd, Olof Palme International Centre.

The assignment was divided into two phases, with 17 organisations undergoing an assessment in 2012-13 and 13 CSOs assessed in 2013. The assignment was completed in April 2014 and the reports produced formed basis for Sida’s decision on core support or strategic partnership with these organisations. Sida/CIVSAM approved three new framework organisations, and decided to withdraw framework status from two organisations, bringing the total number to 16 from 15. Sida/HUM approved 11 organisations as strategic partners for humanitarian operations.

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