Mid-Term Review of the AGIR Programme - Sida

2 F I N D I N G S
2.3.4 AGIR CSO Partners and the Range of Activities
According to the approved AGIR strategic planning programme document, the quantitative
target for the number of partnerships to be established by the end of the programme
in 2014 was 39 CSOs. However this target has already been bypassed, as the
number of active partnerships established has now reached 43. 22 Additionally, other
interested prospective or ‘emerging’ partners are currently in the process of being
enrolled in the programme, qualifying (or not) through recently-undertaken partner
evaluation processes.
One reason for this expansion of partners is the addition of the intermediary organisation,
the Swedish Cooperative Center – SCC, that became operationalised within
AGIR in 2011, one year later than the three original intermediaries. An additional
reason is that the intermediaries, through early partnership assessments, soon found
that very few CSOs qualified for long-term core partnerships as their capacity, particularly
their institutional capacity, was lower than expected. 23 More CSOs were then
supported in institutional strengthening through nursery funds, thus increasing the
pool of potential partners.
In the review team’s initial contact with the AGIR intermediaries, it learned that the
AGIR programme was originally meant to focus on national/central level CSOs.
However, the intermediaries found that an approach that integrates relevant CSOs at
the local level would ensure critical linkages and provide a much sounder and more
sustainable basis for the programme. As a result, locally-based CSOs are now being
recruited into the programme. This adaptation to the programme parameters will be
discussed later in the report.
Within the scope of the current four thematic components of the AGIR programme,
the current partners comprise different types of CSOs, which can be characterised as
follows:
Human Rights-Based CSOs: e.g. the Human Rights League and a range of
more specialised organisations focusing on issues such as women/gender, the
youth, children, the elderly, people living with HIV/AIDS and the disabled.
While many of these organisations are Maputo based, at least two are locally
based, i.e. Akhilizeto in Nampula province and Magariro in Manica province
working with community rights and decentralised consultative councils (IP-
CCs).
22 This number does not include some partner organisations whose contracts have been suspended,
due to non-adherence to internal governance criteria, these measures relate to - MONASO, MEPT,
and MISA.
23 MASC was faced with a similar situation of CSOs with low capacity and as such, was also forced to
start with fewer qualified CSOs than expected.
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