Reengineering Best Practices No. 4 July 1996 A Partners' Consultation: Reengineering Relationships by John A. Grayzel Lisa Rose Magno Geraldo Porta Office of Governance and Particpation USAID Philippines Agency for International Development A joint initiative of PPC/CDIE and M/ROR PN-ABY-223 Reengineering Best Practices Series No. 4 A PARTNERS' CONSULTATION: REENGINEERING RELATIONSHIPS By John A. Grayzel Lisa Rose Magno Gerardo Porta Office of Governance and Participation USAID Philippines A Partners' Consultation: Reengineering Relationships ______________________________________ Introduction: How can an ensemble sound like an orchestra and not a cacophony? There are interrelated explanations, from the skill of the performers to hours of practice. A great deal, however, has to do with the performers' understanding that they are there to engage in a common effort that gives each an opportunity to perform in an overarching atmosphere of support and mutual purpose. They also need a common understanding about how they organize themselves to achieve this purpose. We believe the concept of "orchestrated" as contrasted to "coordinated," "managed," or "directed" best describes the approach that transformed a traditional USAID/ Manila Annual Conference with its non-governmental organization (NGO) grantees into an incredibly exciting partner consultation. In the process, we and our partners learned a lot from each other and about how we could work better with each other. We would like to share some of these lessons with you. Background: Traditionally USAID/ Manila's Office of Voluntary Cooperation (OVC) held an annual conference with its many NGO grantees. USAID planned the conference agenda, largely designed to review the status of the previous year's activities. It centered on discussing lessons learned from those activities and on updating people on new USAID procedures and policies. Most of the conference consisted of presentations from a speakers table followed by questions and answers. People generally appreciated it as an effective means of USAID communication to others. The Reengineering Context: The Agency's reengineering initiative immediately affected USAID/ Manila and its Office of Voluntary Cooperation. First, there was the clear mandate for a reorientation from patron client to partnership between USAID and the NGO community. Second, USAID/Manila was appointed one of a few country experiemental labs (CELs) given a mandate to experiment. Third, because of programmatic reengineering the existing OVC program was to be transformed into a more focused democracy initiative that would emphasize targeted support to coalitions rather than to individual organization efforts. (In the office reorganization it would become the Office of Governance and Participation.) The Agency's new emphasis on participation and customer focus meant the old USAID management style was inappropriate. The appointment of the Mission as a CEL psychologically empowered the conference organizing team to be more creative, innovative, and risk taking. The new programmatic directions mandated an orientation that would maximize listening to partners, while still effectively communicating USAID's own new understandings and realities. Two additional factors need to be mentioned. One is USAID/W's announcement of a planned New Partnerships Initiative (NPI) between the Agency and the NGO community. The second is the new Agency mandate to develop measurable, results-oriented activities with clearly defined objectives and indicators. This is consistent with the reengineering core value of managing for results. Redesigning Relationships: In response to these needs, a series of conscious decisions was made. First, the conference was reformulated as a "partners' consultation." Second, the team gave it a clear, overarching theme: "Coalitions and Civil Society." (This served both to focus discussions and to impart a spirit of common purpose that reverberated through the three-day gathering.) Third, the team decided that USAID partners, not USAID, should run the majority of the meeting. (For example, voluntary partner facilitators were in charge of leading most of the activities.) Fourth, the team decided to avoid hierarchy and create an atmosphere of dynamic movement of people and ideas. Fifth, the team decided there should be a mix of participants representing a wide social, ideological, and functional spectrum, including new faces and present partners. Lastly, the team decided the Mission had explicit Agency support to "run with the new ideas of NPI" and "an indicator-measurable, results-oriented program." Theory into Reality: New Partnership with Clients 1. Diversity of Participants More than 100 representatives of 79 civic advocacy organizations (CAOs), local and national government agencies, and 4 foreign donor organizations attended the three-day consultation. As a result, participants included a mix of top government officials, nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders, individual thinkers, and customers from disadvantaged sectors. Government representation included two cabinet secretaries, two undersecretaries, the presidential advisor for Mindanao, and a progressive governor who heads the League of Provinces. NGO participants included acknowledged "grandfathers and grandmothers" in the community, (pioneers and prime movers and shakers) and a new generation of emerging leaders. The effort to invite a wide spectrum of CAOs was successful. Participating CAOs included those with and without USAID involvement. Foreign donors included the Ford Foundation, Canadian International Development Agency, United Nations Development Program, and AustraliaAid. (The Asian Development Bank, JICA??, and World Bank were invited but unable to attend.) The consultation was organized by the new Mission's Civil Society Result Package (RP) team, but with broad representation from the entire Mission. This allowed a comprehensive dialogue with our partners about all USAID's new strategic objectives (SO), not just our democracy agenda. The concept of the New Partnerships Initiative was extensively discussed and participants expressed strong interest. A Management Systems International study team (funded by the Global Bureau) working on democracy indicators also participated. The team made a preliminary presentation of proposed USAID democracy indicators and interacted with our partners. Most important, peoples' organizations (POs) were well represented, particularly from the urban poor, marginalized fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples (USAID's three initial customers from the disadvantaged sectors). Some thought inviting the POs was a risky venture, untried in previous USAID conferences. However, as with most risky ventures, when they do succeed the pay off is high. The POs spoke for themselves and posed tough questions to government officials, zeroing in on inconsistencies between government policy and action. During Q&A sessions, government officials spoke from the floor rather than the podium. They picked up the spirit of dialogue and were neither defensive nor authoritarian. For the first time, the paramount concern was effective, honest communication. Therefore, each speaker decided whether to use the local language (Pilipino) or English, further promoting a free and natural interchange of ideas. 2. Customer-focused Conference Once the decision was made to reformulate the conference, the team decided to center consultation sessions on issues most relevant to our partners and customers. The agenda stressed development substance rather than donor process. It was designed to allow for group discussions on generic issues most relevant to coalition-building and civil society, such as consensus-building, posturing vs. lobbying vs. advocacy, preserving a coalition's cause, the challenges of coalitions and partisan politics, and how and whether to sustain coalitions. The participants themselves gave these concerns concrete form in terms of their immediate issues and action priorities. To reinforce the concept of the New Partnerships Initiative (a relationship between equals), numerous habits and traditions from past meetings were abandoned. A presidential table on the stage was replaced by a small round table on a lower dais. Everyone was called a participant in conference materials, rather than resource people, guests, participants, or observers. USAID did not monopolize facilitation nor rigorously structure small-group discussions. Since participants volunteered as facilitators and activity leaders, a true sense of ownership of the meeting was created. One of the most interesting phenomena (upsetting to some) was the use of round rather than long tables of eight to ten people, set around the room with no obvious center. The set-up prompted side conversations and movement among groups, which created new networking. Some found this distracting, but it actually resulted in some immediate small victories. Groups working with different indigenous tribes, for example, were able to connect with each other and plan future collaborations. The marginalized fisherfolk coalition was able to secure a side meeting with the secretary of the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resource, bringing that coalition to the forefront of government decisionmakers' awareness. Two major federations of fisherfolk and a key advocacy NGO were able to come together and openly discuss issues that affect their members. Three groups were able to agree on a single position on the three priority issues affecting the fisherfolk sector. (The establishment of direct contact with the environment secretary opened other doors for the coalition to participate in public policy.) The relatively new secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council was also able to meet and talk openly with an urban-poor coalition for the first time. (At the meeting, they agreed to "challenge" immediately each others' full cooperation in a pilot activity in a poor area of metropolitan Manila.) The overall interaction among USAID staff and other participants was also open, culminating in an effective two-hour customer feedback session on the last day. Participants raised some valid issues and commented about USAID's strategic objectives, business operations, and future directions. Creating Synergies Apart from the natural synergy created by bringing together in one forum CAOs working in common areas, the consultation created synergy around USAID's SOs and other donors' programs. The 110 participants benefited from learning about the Mission's SOs in environment, population and health, and economic development; and understanding their interrelationships. Participants also discussed the New Partnerships Initiative and other themes, such as reengineering. The secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the secretary general of the Social Reform Council led a dynamic presentation on the government's social reform agenda that revealed its consistency with our democracy strategy. A new spirit of collaboration was one immediate gain from the consultation. Potentially extensive collaboration began between our environment SO and the indigenous peoples and fisherfolk coalitions. Within our environment SO, USAID has significant activities in community forestry, the uplands, and coastal resources management, which directly affect both groups. We collaborate with the Ford Foundation in local government, but the foundation is also interacting with the Mission on our indigenous peoples grant. AustralianAid provided leads that allowed us to connect with some Australian groups and federal agencies involved in the aboriginal peoples movements. Their experience and knowledge have potential application to our activity for Philippine indigenous peoples. Launching the Results Package (RP) for the Disadvantaged USAID/ Manila's democracy SO is defined as broadened participation in the formulation and implementation of public policies in selected areas. The achievement of this SO requires parallel results in local government (RP1) and civil society (RP2). The conference launched broadened participation for the disadvantaged as a fundamental results package (RP) in the Democracy SO. A clear definition of our new democracy strategy was needed, particularly in light of the 15-year history of the PVO Co-Financing Program. CAO and donor representatives endorsed our civil society RP to enable disadvantaged groups to coalesce and participate in the public policy arena. New Understandings of Coalition Building Processes The conference helped clarify understanding of a "coalition" as differentiated from other civil groups, such as networks or federations. A coalition was defined as the coming together of diverse groups that share a defined, discrete, practical objective. Institutionalization of the coalition is not necessarily the primary, basic interest. This does not mean that institutionalization may not be important or necessary. However, for the purposes at hand the emphasis is on forging a united effort to achieve one or more clearly delineated major objectives. Coalitions of disadvantaged groups, participants stressed, must be not just for them, but with, and ultimately, of them. Many attendees said the conference itself exemplified this with USAID playing the critical role as host of a common forum effectively designed to forge new relationships and understanding among groups, which, beneath their diversity, share fundamental values and objectives. Replication Consultations An unexpected result of the partners' consultation was the acceptance and replication of a new model for partner consultation and coalitions. Since the consultation, two attendee organizations held "echo" events where, with similar themes and methods, they consulted with diverse groups in their regions on coalition-building and new models of cooperation. The consultation outcomes are available in separate documents. A synopsis of these documents follows: Module 1: Coalitions: Their Coming of Age A. Coalition Building and Civil Society in the context of USAID Priorities Participants discussed the past relationship and prospects for continued partnership between USAID and civil society organizations, particularly in the context of USAID/Manila's democracy agenda. Highlights of USAID's reengineering efforts and New Partnerships Initiative are noted. This session concluded with a comprehensive analysis of coalition-building from USAID's perspective. B. Issues and Lessons Learned in Building Coalitions Group discussions addressed issues and lessons learned in building coalitions in three areas: consensus-building, effective advocacy, and preserving the coalition's cause. This section contains the presentation of the three workshop groups and the key points participants raised in the plenary. C. Issues and Lessons Learned in Making Coalitions Work The group discussions on issues and lessons learned in making coalitions work centered on three topics: communicating your message, NGOs in politics, and sustaining the coalition. This section contains the presentation of the three workshop groups and key points raised by participants during the plenary. Also included is a presentation by a noted NGO leader on strengthening coalitions, and guidelines on building sustainable coalitions culled from the experiences of USAID's Agribusiness System Assistance Program (ASAP). D. Specific Issues and Challenges Four workshop groups tackled issues and concerns relevant to indigenous peoples, marginalized fisherfolk, urban poor, and coalitions with business, organized around the four group leaders' presentations and participants' reactions at the plenary. E. Measuring Success Lawrence Heilman, a USAID/Global consultant from Management Systems International, and Richard Gaeta discussed the initial list of indicators for measuring progress in building coalitions and participant feedback. Module 2: Dialogue with Government A. Keynote Speech of Secretary Victor O. Ramos Victor O. Ramos, secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources talked about how civil society organizations and government have collaborated to shape many national government policies successfully. He called for the recognition of indigenous peoples' rights, and, during the open forum, discussed aquatic, forestry, and industrial policies. B. Goverment Panel Presentation on Coalition-Building Lina Laigo, secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Patricia Lontok, secretary general of the Social Reform Council, outlined the government's Social Reform Agenda and discussed the relevance of coalition-building to it. Governor Roberto Pagdanganan talked about coalition-building from the viewpoint of local governance. An open forum followed the presentations. C. Social Equity and Economic Growth in Mindanao Paul Dominguez, presidential advisor for Mindanao, outlined the government's development strategies to promote economic growth and social equity in Mindanao. He identified key development issues and called for deeper involvement from the private sector. (This module also contains key points and issues raised by participants in response to his presentation.) Module 3: Networking and Consultations A. Opportunities: Links with Other USAID Offices, Donor Agencies, and the Business Sector This is a compendium of the presentations given by panelists from other USAID offices, representatives of the Ford Foundation, the Canada International Development Agency, the Philippine Australian Community Assistance Program, and the business sector. The purpose of these presentations was to identify potential areas for synergy and cooperation. Key points raised at the open forum are included. B. International Connectivities Horacio Morales of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement discussed the importance of global networking among coalitions of civil society organizations and gave examples of how diverse networks from different countries had coalesced and successfully influenced policy decisions of global agencies like the United Nations and the World Bank. Feedback from participants is included. C. Client Consultations This module contains participants' feedback on future conferences, USAID policies and program directions, networking, operational implementation matters, and the conduct of meetings. Summation USAID's New Partnerships Initiative calls for a fundamental realignment between USAID and the NGO CAO community. Common purpose, joint effort, and consensus will define the essence of the relationship. Reengineering advocates for teamwork, empowerment and accountability, results, and customer focus. USAID/Philippines made an effort to put these to the test this year in its Partners Conference on Coalitions and Civil Society. The results, judged from both our own perspective and partner feedback, proved outstanding.