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Community-based Approaches and Service Delivery: Issues and Options in Difficult Environments and Partnerships

Author: T Slaymaker and K Christiansen
Date: 2005
Size: 43 pages (210 KB)

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Summary

What are the challenges in implementing community-based approaches (CBAs) in difficult environments? How do they relate to wider service delivery (SD) objectives? This paper for the Department for International Development UK (DFID) analyses the different objectives between CBA and SD, and the challenges of linking these objectives in aid dependant post-conflict states.

CBA is an umbrella term for approaches to programming which involve beneficiaries in their identification, design or management. The objectives of CBA include empowerment of people and communities, improving the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of interventions, building local organisational capacity, and strengthening local governance.

CBAs are increasingly applied in conflict and post-conflict settings where there has been a collapse of state (SD) institutions. They are promoted as a mechanism for early rehabilitation of basic services, and for rebuilding trust, promoting social cohesion and empowerment as means to addressing the root causes of conflict. However, multiplicity and lack of clarity of objectives often reduce the effectiveness of CBAs. Implementing CBAs in difficult environments also has challenges relating to defining the user community, degree of local authority involvement, and financing. There are further problems in scaling up activities from relief to development. The potential and limits of CBAs are:

They are responsive to the needs and priorities of beneficiaries, but communities are less able to identify solutions. This requires sound Technical Assistance
Community priorities are not always consistent with equity, efficiency and sustainability
They improve targeting in general, but there are problems surrounding the targeting of vulnerable groups within communities
Determined by the presence or absence of an enabling environment of responsive support institutions, which takes time to develop. This requirement runs counter to short-term funding cycles and the desire to see quick impacts in post-conflict settings.

CBAs are relevant across many sectors. They can equally be applied to individual community-level projects or as a component of wider national programmes. However, the way in which aid actors behave and external flows are delivered in difficult environments is not always conducive to developing the systems that support CBAs. It is necessary to clearly locate CBAs in relation to other interventions in terms of focus, type, and scale. To do this requires care in distinguishing between the different objectives associated with CBAs, and understanding how these relate to wider SD objectives. CBA can contribute to broader SD objectives, but there needs to be more clarity about its limits, and more realism about what is achievable within the operational context. This requires:

Differentiating between adopting a CBA and simply implementing projects at community level
Avoiding the assumption that because CBAs can be used to achieve a range of objectives, using them will achieve these objectives
Identifying a clear hierarchy of objectives and acknowledging the trade-offs between them
Careful choice of entry level in relation to emerging government structures. For example, traditional authorities may be an unsuitable choice to deliver services equitably and efficiently.

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Source: Slaymaker, T. and Christiansen, K. with Hemming, I., 2005, 'Community-based Approaches and Service Delivery: Issues and Options in Difficult Environments and Partnerships', ODI, London
Author: Overseas Development Institute (ODI), http://www.odi.org.uk/