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Effectiveness is defined as promoting sustainable change that addresses the causes as well as the symptoms of poverty and marginalisation — i.e. reduces poverty and builds capacity within communities, civil society and government to address their own development priorities.
In 2002 and 2003 ACFID facilitated two conferences at which member agencies shared case study material from their programs, which they considered illustrated aspects of best practice in development. The conferences and further research:
- generated an appreciation of the need for ongoing peer sharing;
- led to the development of an NGO Effectiveness Framework (pdf) comprising
- the standards of engagement applied to program work (e.g.aiming to provide appropriate solutions to the root causes of poverty, high quality technical inputs etc.)
- program strategies (e.g. long-term engagement, learning, risk-taking, etc)
- policies (unique to each organisation)
- principles (shared by member agencies and detailed in the ACFID Code of Conduct);
- development of an organisational assessment tool (Word document).
Open Forum for CSO Development EffectivenessACFID is a member of the Global Facilitation Group (GFG) – a representative group of 25 CSO networks and platforms from around the world which acts as the governing body for the Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness. GFG co-ordinates and engages with appropriate donor and government bodies.
The Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness is an international CSO-driven process towards defining a global development effectiveness framework for CSOs.
The Open Forum aims to provide a learning space, based on mutual trust, where CSOs can discuss issues and challenges relevant to their work and relationships as development actors. Through the Open Forum, CSOs will aim to build consensus on a commonly accepted framework to improve their development effectiveness.
Development Effectiveness ForumIn order to make sharing of expertise and resources available to all member agencies, ACFID has developed the Development Effectiveness Forum (DEF): a member-only component of the public website. This component focuses on quality and effectiveness and is seen as an important way to exchange ideas and experiences. The DEF consists of two main sections: a resource centre and a help desk. The website was launched in February 2007 and is constantly growing in terms of resources and member usage. For further information about the Development Effectiveness Forum please contact Alex Oates.
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