PROGRAMMING 17
government agencies and external development partners (Delve et al. 2013). It also endeavors to help enhance trans- formative capacity through improved governance and by its ability to deliver services and systems, including improved democracy and transparency; improvements to health, edu- cation, and other services/infrastructure; search and rescue mechanisms; and savings and credit initiatives. Building on learning and innovation interventions that promote sharing of lessons learned and best practices among implementers and donors, CRS has launched the CM-DRR Learning Alliance, intended to improve partner and staff skills for helping communities identify their DRR needs and develop disaster risk management plans (CRS 2013). In Niger, CRS’s 2007–2012 Food Security and Nutri-
tion Program (known locally as Programme de Sécurité Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle, or PROSAN) used a mul- tisectoral approach that aimed to strengthen livelihoods, improve health and nutrition status of children, and enhance resilience through improved community capacity to identify and respond to recurrent shocks. Preliminary findings suggested that protecting assets and promoting positive coping strategies, as well as investing in natural resource management, soil fertility, and food or cash for work, contributed to increasing the absorptive capacity of households and communities. Tese findings also sug- gested that adaptive capacity was enhanced through livelihood diversification, use of drought-tolerant crop varieties, literacy training, livestock restocking, adoption of sustainable farming practices (for example, soil con- servation practices, improved cropping practices), and small irrigation systems. Te program is perceived to have contributed to community transformative capacity through good governance, management, and transparency at the village level by emphasizing village commitees (for example, village development commitees, early warning groups) and farmers’ groups. Communities are seemingly beter able to mobilize resources in order to both sustain and expand activities (TANGO International 2013c). Such interventions reinforce the community-level structures and processes that enable communities to mitigate the risk of, deal with, and recover from shocks and stresses. For many NGOs, including CRS, there is concerted
pressure from within—but also from donors and host governments—to reach as many beneficiaries as possible,
particularly in light of recurrent shocks. Large numbers of beneficiaries are not necessarily problematic in and of themselves, but the program must be sufficiently re- sourced—in terms of both funding and staff capacity—in order to effectively achieve its desired goals. Being spread too thin (having an insufficient concentration of resources) makes it difficult to achieve impact.
Secure Africa’s Future
As our final case study, World Vision’s Secure Africa’s Future project in Tanzania offers a good example of a cross- sectoral, long-term approach to building resilience to eco- nomic and climatic shocks. Secure Africa’s Future focuses on three critical pillars of rural livelihoods: smallholder farming, natural resource management, and social safety nets. As part of this process, World Vision conducts exten- sive preliminary analyses of internal and external stake- holder engagement, the key opportunities for enhancing resilience, and the critical limitations that communities face in supporting child and household well-being and caring for the environment. By clearly outlining the methodology for analysis across all levels of the organization (headquar- ters to field office) prior to program design, the program makes a concerted effort to correctly identify appropriate leverage points needed to effect desired change. Follow- ing analysis, integrated, long-range programs are designed; various complementary projects are part of a phased rollout (Folkema and Fontaine 2011). Market-led agricultural programs are the centerpiece
of Secure Africa’s Future. Trough these programs, World Vision organizes farmers into groups, helping them access the most effective planting supplies and providing training in the use of beter planting methods. Te program also helps farmers pool their yields and transport their harvest to lucrative markets for sale at significantly higher prices. A critical element of this initiative is the concerted effort to enhance the connections between farmers, traders, and buyers. Local partnerships provide farmers with the financ- ing to pay for planting supplies through small loans and at the same time provide training in financial management. Trough partnerships, the programs offer crop insurance in case of flooding or drought. As a whole, the integrated and sequenced activities offer good potential for improving farmers’ absorptive and adaptive capacities.
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