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7.5.2 Social capital, community organisations and NGOs: Institutional design and capacity building

Written by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: Another key issue is that most of the poor do not have access to the wider social networks that are usually needed to sustain new enterprises. Since enterprise creation is fundamentally a social rather than a technical process, appropriate steps must be taken to create and nurture social networks. A closely related concern is the need to develop 'industrial clusters' within the informal sector (see Schmitz, 1997).

7.5.2 Social capital, community organisations and NGOs: Institutional design and capacity building

Another key issue is that most of the poor do not have access to the wider social networks that are usually needed to sustain new enterprises. Since enterprise creation is fundamentally a social rather than a technical process, appropriate steps must be taken to create and nurture social networks. A closely related concern is the need to develop 'industrial clusters' within the informal sector (see Schmitz, 1997).

A key feature of pro-poor development programmes is the control of social funds by communities who are able to develop microprojects that combat poverty through employment creation. There is an urgent need, therefore, to develop the capacity of community institutions to manage this process effectively. Furthermore, most individual micro projects that are implemented will have a wide range of tasks which, in varying degrees, will require new and improved skills.

As noted earlier, there are pervasive concerns about the institutional capacity of NGOs to act as intermediaries in support of local economic and political development. While the promotion of self-organisation is an important objective, it is utopian to believe that most communities are capable of developing their own self-help organisations without considerable assistance from specialist NGOs as well as public organisations. Improving the management and facilitation skills of these organisations is, therefore, crucial. Curriculum and training methodologies need to be comprehensively revised in most countries in order for these skills to be effectively imparted.

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
PAPERS
43
Learning to change: Skills
development among the
economically vulnerable and
socially excluded in
developing countries
Paul Bennell
Employment and Training Department
International Labour Office Geneva
First published 1999

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Article Tags: combat poverty, community institutions, developing countries, employment and training, employment creation, enterprise creation, facilitation skills, geneva, industrial clusters, informal sector, institutional capacity, intermediaries, international labour office, micro projects, ngos, paul bennell, public organisations, self organisation, social networks, training methodologies



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