Standard 6: Early transition and start-up planning (including pre-award).

• Primary responsible: Project manager/chief of party (PM/CoP) or other individual trained in CRS’ approach to partner capacity assessment (see box below)
  • The PM/CoP ensures that the partner capacity assessment is conducted per CRS’ partnership and capacity strengthening approach.

• Others involved: Staff with partnership and capacity strengthening expertise from the country program, region, or headquarters (HQ), including a partner safeguarding focal point; country representative (CR) and senior management team (SMT); technical advisors and subject matter experts from programming, finance, and other operations
  • Staff with partnership and capacity strengthening expertise provide technical support, including a focal point who leads the partner safeguarding assessment process;
  • The CR and SMT provide support in areas that are particularly strategic and/or sensitive, and participate in action planning;
  • Programming, operations, and finance experts support the adaptation of assessment tools (as needed), participate in the assessment, and support action plan development.

Capacity for capacity assessment: If the PM/CoP is not trained in CRS’ approach to partner capacity assessment, he or she contacts [email protected]. The HQ partnership and capacity strengthening team and Community of Practice will help the PM/CoP to identify an individual with the required expertise in the country, region or HQ to take primary responsibility for the Holistic Organizational Capacity Assessment Instrument (HOCAI) assessment.

• Follow the schedule laid out in the early start-up plan; conduct the assessment by the end of the first quarter at the latest. 
• Ideally CRS and each partner conducts an initial capacity assessment during the design phase. In such cases, the start-up phase assessment will:
  • Complement the preliminary design phase assessment.
  • Update that assessment based on additional information about the project.
  • Serve as the first comprehensive assessment of capacity and needs related to the project.

Partner Safeguarding Capacity Strengthening: If the Partner Safeguarding Assessment was not completed during design phase, complete this assessment prior to the signing of the sub-agreement. Identify a Partner Safeguarding Focal Point to work with partners to complete the assessment and the Safeguarding Capacity Improvement Plan. The PM and SMT members will work with the Partner Safeguarding Focal Point to understand the assessment results and plan for the consequent capacity strengthening, accompaniment and monitoring required during start up, and over the life of the partnership. 

This key action complements the sub-recipient financial management capacity assessment described in Standard 8, key action 2. If the financial management capacity assessment is requiredPer Addendum 1 to CRS’ Subrecipient Financial Management Policy, “subrecipients that have been already assessed prior to October 01, 2017 are not required to be re-assessed unless the country program determines necessary or beneficial. This should not discourage Country Program’s decision to re-assess if deemed necessary (risk wise) or beneficial (to recognize and appreciate improvements in subrecipient’s rating).” , ideally, CRS and the partner should conduct the broader partner capacity assessment concurrently and in coordination with the financial assessment. This increases efficiency and coordination, and helps to minimize disruption to the partner organization due to the assessment process.   

Follow these steps to ensure partner capacity assessments and development of capacity strengthening plans are conducted in accordance with CRS’ partnership principles and processes:

Determine capacity strengthening assessment need and scope

1. As part of early start-up planning, the PM/CoP and partner, with support from partnership specialists and the SMT as needed, discuss organizational capacity, specifically the partner’s technical capacity in the program or operations areas for which the partner is responsible under the project.

• Review any design phase discussions about capacity and the results of any partner capacity assessments undertaken at that time.
• Review the Partner Safeguarding Assessment undertaken during the project design phase and support the partner to develop their partner Safeguarding Capacity Improvement Plan.
• If CRS and the partner determine that there is sufficient information already available in all or some organizational and technical areas, whether from previous CRS-supported or other capacity assessments, CRS and the partner use the findings of the earlier assessment(s) to develop a capacity strengthening action plan, following steps 6-9 below.
• If CRS and the partner determine an assessment is needed to address organizational and/or technical areas directly relevant to the project, CRS and the partner proceed with the capacity assessment process as outlined below.
• Note: If CRS and the partner identify the need to assess capacity in a specific technical area (programming or operations), coordinate with subject matter experts to select an appropriate technical capacity assessment tool.

Prepare for partner capacity assessments

2. The PM/CoP prepares for the assessment by:

• Coordinating with others in the country program who work with the partner, to ensure that: assessments are harmonized; the partner is not overwhelmed with multiple assessment visits; and the project team is aware of any existing capacity strengthening plansIn addition to project-specific capacity strengthening plans for other projects, CRS may have broader, multi-year capacity strengthening plans with long-term strategic partners. The PM should review all partner capacity strengthening plans and ensure that the project capacity assessment and action planning leverage and complement these plans. for the partner.
• Reviewing CRS’ Holistic Organizational Capacity Assessment Instrument (HOCAI), Chapter 2, pages 5-14, which outlines the capacity assessment process, focusing on the “Preparation” and “Plan” steps.

Capacity assessment tools: The HOCAI reflects nine principle areas of capacity assessment. Use of other assessment tools is permissible if required by a donor or partner. When assessing technical areas (programming or operations) not covered in the HOCAI, work with technical advisors and subject matter experts to select an appropriate tool to complement the HOCAI.   

3. The PM/CoP and CRS project team review CRS’ partnership principles and the partner capacity assessment and action planning process.

• See the job aid summarizing CRS’ comprehensive approach to partnership and capacity strengthening for an overview of the process.

4. PM/CoP determines who is best suited to leadIf there is no one suitably qualified in the country program, the PM may seek support from the partnership and capacity strengthening team. See “Who” section above. the partner capacity assessment.

• The individual selected to lead the capacity assessment must have a good understanding of CRS’ partnership principles and approach to capacity strengthening, and a general understanding of CRS’ relationship with the partner, i.e., the history of the relationship, and successes and challenges.
• If the PM/CoP meets the above criteria, he or she may lead the partner capacity assessment; otherwise, the PM/CoP works closely with the individual identified to lead the process.

5. The PM/CoP finalizes the details of the assessment with the partner, including confirming CRS and the partner’s agreement on the assessment purpose, process, and timing.

Conduct the partner capacity assessment and develop the action plan

6. The PM/CoP and other staff leading the partner capacity assessment (if applicable) use the capacity assessment steps outlined in the HOCAI, Chapter 2, pages 8-14, to:

• Conduct the assessment.
• Analyze the data.
• Choose the capacity areas and components to be improved.
• Develop the organizational capacity strengthening action plan using the Assessment to Action Planning workbook. The PM/CoP uploads the completed workbook to the partner institution record in Gateway.
  
  • If the capacity strengthening assessment includes technical areas (programming or operations) complementary to the HOCAI, develop an appropriate action plan for these areas of capacity strengthening.

Capacity strengthening is more than formal training: The capacity strengthening action plan should reinforce CRS’ multi-faceted approach to capacity strengthening, rather than relying solely on formal training. Identify opportunities for learning-by-doing (e.g., “job shadowing” of a more experienced counterpart; exchange visits; short study tours, etc.), particularly in the start-up phase when many foundational project management and programming activities take place.

Follow up after the capacity assessment

7. The PM/CoP ensures that the project-specific capacity strengthening plans agreed on with the partner are incorporated into the project detailed implementation plan (DIP), and formally revisited at least annually.
8. The PM/CoP also follows up with colleagues working with the partner to share the partner capacity strengthening plan and to ensure key staff are aware of their role in supporting the partner to implement their Partner Capacity Improvement Plan, including compliance monitoring visits. This helps to ensure that CRS and partners have a complete picture of the partner’s capacity and can better coordinate action plan activities.  
9. The PM/CoP uses CapTrackCapTrack is a simple table designed to help quickly and easily capture basic information about planned capacity strengthening activities, including participants, activity and purpose, description, duration, location, cost and who is responsible. CapTrack is a complement to other capacity strengthening tools, including HOCAI and Assessment to Action Planning.  to schedule and elaborate upon activities in the capacity strengthening plan.