11.Table 3: Promoting reform coalitions - promising ways of working for donors |
12.• Informed by in-depth analysis of context, and a detailed understanding of the players and their relationships | 13.It is clear from the Program’s experience that context matters: success of the Leadership Development Forum in Tonga contrasts with the limited uptake of the concept in Vanuatu and Samoa. 14.The Program has good understanding of context – in no small part because of the high quality team Program staff employed from around the region, the emphasis internally on reflection and learning and an approach that readily adapts to context. Similarly, Program staff appear generally to have a good understanding of players and relationships, though choice of participants for the Forum in Vanuatu appears to have been one of the factors explaining the limited uptake.
One area where there is scope to strengthen the Program’s approach is around more systematic appraisal and analysis of relationships, networks and coalitions.
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15.• Flexible, to respond to critical junctures. | 16.It is clear also that opportunities matter. We heard on a number of occasions that the ‘time was right’ in Tonga for a serious debate on leadership, given the political reforms and the return of a number of prominent Tongans from overseas. 17.The Program undoubtedly operates flexibly and responsively – indeed a few respondents saw risks in an approach that lacked definite boundaries. But the Program’s effectiveness also appears heavily underpinned by relationships of trust. What sort of ‘pre-investment’ is required to position the Program so that it can support coalitions to promote and seize opportunities, is a live issue for the Program (and for other agencies seeking to do this). |
18.• Support for stakeholders meetings. | 19.This has been a strong aspect of the Program; in the context of its work on coalitions, the Program has supported a range of action-orientated consultations that have been important in advancing the agenda. |
20.• Focus on the most influential leaders | 21.The Program’s focus on leadership enables it to do this perhaps more easily than other donor programs. There are risks associated with ‘elite capture’ but in the main the Program appears to manage this well. It does this by a) supporting the emergence of young leaders, who have the potential to challenge the status quo (e.g. through support to Youth organisations and b) promoting the understanding that citizens more generally have a key role in holding leaders to account (e.g. through the leadership code in Tonga). Given the lack of women in formal political leadership roles it is also critical that the program better integrates gender analysis throughout the program (see section 2.8). |
22.• Work with actors that are part of established networks and coalitions. | 23.As already noted, effective partnerships with organisations that have their own networks has been a prominent feature of the Program’s success with coalitions to date. And this model is continuing, for example, through work with civil society umbrella bodies in Tonga and Solomon Islands to strengthen leadership of the civil society network, as a vital element in building a meaningful compact between the sector and government. 24.But experience also highlights the limits on the transferability of this strategy. Work with the civil society umbrella body in Vanuatu has seen limited progress, in part because of the fragmented and intra-competitive nature of the sector. In practice, the ‘network’ of youth organisations in Vanuatu, accessed through links with the National Youth Council and Youth Challenge Vanuatu, is very weak. As a result, the Program is exploring alternative ways to strengthen the network. |
25.• Build capacity in organisations’ professional and political skills. | 26.The findings in section 2.2 highlight the Program’s effectiveness in building organisational and leadership capacity among partner organisations. In coalition terms, this appears to have paid dividends in the cases of PIPSO and PYC. In both cases, in addition to supporting their professional/technical capability, the Program worked to enhance their political skills by assisting in the formulation of strategies to influence the most senior regional bodies. |
