The programme Supporting Environmental Civil Society Organisations in South Eastern Europe (SECTOR) promotes the development of a vibrant and democratic environmental civil society within SEE countries. Since its launch in April 2006, one of the main objectives of the programme has been to strengthen environmental CSOs by building independent institutions and developing organisations’ skills and viability.
The main tool for achieving this is the Organisational Viability Toolkit, developed by the programme team on the basis of an initial assessment that was carried out in order to formulate a clear picture of the state of environmental CSOs in the target region. In mid-2006, the team began to develop the toolkit in the pilot country, Croatia. It is hoped that the toolkit, which is freely available in English and five regional languages, will enable other environmental groups, in SEE and beyond, to assess their organisational performance and enhance their capacity.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is a non-partisan, non-advocacy, not-for-profit international organisation with a mission to assist in solving environmental problems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The REC fulfils this mission by promoting cooperation among non-governmental organisations, governments, businesses and other environmental stakeholders, and by supporting the free exchange of information and public participation in environmental decision making.
The REC Organisational Viability Toolkit is intended to assist (environmental) civil society organisations to assess their internal performance and then to design an organisational development plan to increase their capacities. The assessment is specifically intended to consider those internal organisational capacities and characteristics that influence the viability of a civil society organisation and to help define what may require improvement in the short, medium or long term. The organisational development plan is the road map for organisational change that is designed and adopted by an organisation in its endeavour to address internal functions identified as requiring attention.
The toolkit comprises a step-by-step guide to carrying out an organisational assessment, analysing the data gathered and then designing a development plan to address the issues identified. Going through such an organisational viability exercise is an opportunity for civil society organisations:
- to evaluate their performance in a participatory manner, resulting in a thorough assessment of internal capacities (showing both strengths and weaknesses);
- to produce a tailored development plan for the enhancement of their internal capacities in the short, medium and long term, including a clear timeline, a list of investment needs, and cost estimates; and
- to strengthen staff skills in organisational assessment and organisational change.
The methodological framework for organisational development presented in this toolkit is comprehensive in its approach and broad in scope. Although there are certainly a number of successful informal, or “disorganised”, organisations, there are still many best practices that are regarded or recognised as useful — or correct — in the running of any organisation. Such practices are incorporated into this toolkit and should contribute to the improvement of an organisation’s performance in pursuit of its mission. The level of detail to be achieved is organisation-specific, thus in some cases only part of it may be relevant.
Additionally, as the manual is designed with a certain, and common, CSO organisational structure in mind, those CSOs with a very different structure should amend their assessing approach accordingly (i.e. use what is relevant). The toolkit was specifically designed for environmental CSOs in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244) as part of a larger programme of support for CSOs (the SECTOR programme). However, it is equally applicable to environmental CSOs working across the globe. An organisation can go through this process alone. However, it is highly recommended that an experienced and qualified external facilitator be used to keep the process on track by maintaining its objectivity and by bringing in suggestions regarding organisational development issues.
Structure of the toolkit
The stages that need to be followed by a CSO interested in going through the organisational viability process are covered in three main sections:
- Organisational pre-assessment determining the organisation’s readiness/commitment to the next stages.
- Self-assessment using the organisational assessment tool.
- Design of the organisational development plan based on the suggested steps and format; and by using information contained in the reference sheets.
This toolkit is structured in such a way as to enable a CSO to work through these three main stages. Most of the content is designed to be used in the form of a reader, workbook or framework throughout the process, in conjunction with the self-assessment tables and reference sheets found in the annexes. Each section contains directions for the specific steps to be followed and the tasks to be completed. Within some steps, relevant illustrative examples are included.