KAMPALA PRINCIPLE 2:CSOs_SUBP 2.A

KAMPALA PRINCIPLE 2 - RESULTS AND TARGETED IMPACT

Civil society organisations

Sub-principle 2.A

Focus on maximising sustainable development results

 

Why is it important?

 

International CSOs

Local CSOs
Maximising sustainable development results is about bringing transformational change to those most left behind. Scalable market solutions can be an effective means to expand investments for sustainable development, including environmental and climate action or the creation and defence of global public goods. When public finances are used to support PSE, the development objectives and desired results should determine the selection of the private sector partners, overwhelmingly focusing on MSMEs as the first choice for crucial development partners. The project should, like any other, be evidenced-based, with careful targeting and tailored interventions. When all partners are on the same page about the objectives and desired outcomes of a project, these initiatives are more likely to be successful in producing the desired development results. International CSOs can bring the wider paradigm, monitoring the results of the partnerships, providing lessons learnt and best practice to partners in how to maximise development results. Monitoring of PSE results is important for CSOs because not all SDGs are given attention; blended finance is mobilised less in low-income countries; MSMEs have difficulties accessing resources; access to finance is a major constraint among many MSMEs; and there is lack of transparency in public-private partnerships. Sustainable development results are about bringing transformational change to those left most behind. Scalable market solutions can be an effective means to expand investments for sustainable development, including environmental and climate action or the creation and defence of global public goods. When public finances are used to support PSE, the development objectives and desired results should determine the selection of the private sector partners, overwhelmingly focusing on MSMEs as the first choice for crucial development partners. The project should, like any other, be evidenced-based. When all partners are on the same page about a project’s objectives and desired outcomes, these initiatives are more likely to be successful in producing the desired development results. Maximising sustainable development results will require careful monitoring of the impacts of PSE projects over the short and medium term, and inclusive dialogue on priorities and results. PSE programmes almost always start small as pilots. This aligns to the private sector investment mindset that favours launching new ideas as pilots to validate the assumptions about operations, profitability, scalability and return on investment. Piloting is essential to PSE programmes with an economic development focus because it enables a programme to start small and scale appropriately after the model is proven. Domestic CSOs have a role to play in ensuring that maximising development results are at the top of the partners’ agenda. 
 

Colour code:

Yellow = implementation role

Orange = watchdog role

Black = implementation and watchdog role

Self-reflection questions
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International CSOs

Local CSOs
  • Are the activities and the targeting of the interventions towards specific sectors, markets and groups such as youth, women or populations particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change informed by the government’s priorities and assessments?
  • Have all the possible contributions been made towards maximising the impact of development policies and projects – i.e. identification of target groups, project implementation, advocacy, monitoring, communications, etc.? 
  • Have you offered domestic CSOs support in their analysis, targeting and data collection methodologies? 
  • Are all the partners’ net value gains from the project clear, especially from the private sector? 
  • Have you developed a list of criteria that should be followed when partnering with the private sector, i.e. partners signing a code of conduct, disclosure of a data agreement, due diligence process?
  • Are the activities and the targeting of the interventions towards specific sectors, markets and groups such as youth, women or populations particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change informed by the priorities and assessments of national development policies?
  • Have all the possible contributions been made towards maximising the impact of development policies and projects – i.e. identification of target groups, project implementation, advocacy, monitoring, communications, etc.? 
  • How will your involvement impact disadvantaged sectors like women and young people? Have you developed targeted measures for women and other marginalised groups? Will there be an impact on the environment?      
  • Are all the partners’ net value gains from the project clear, especially from the private sector?  
  • Do you collect data from your activities that can feed into the analysis being carried out by governments and development partners to identify sectors, markets and populations where PSE can maximise development results? Do you use that data to understand the context you are working in in relation to sustainable development results?

Actions to consider
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International CSOs

Local CSOs
  • Support local CSOs to exercise their watchdog role.  
  • Ensure PSE projects and programmes focus on sectors, markets and populations such as youth, women or populations particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, that are critical for development outcomes.    
  • Support governments and development partners in identifying sectors, markets and populations where PSE can maximise sustainable development results, including the climate agenda, by participating in consultations or direct actions.
  • Encourage development partners that all partners, especially domestic CSOs and the local community, are involved as early as possible in the programme cycle. 
  • Build and act upon evidence of what works and what doesn’t and ensure the information is published and shared with partners. 
  • Ensure that you have the capacity and resources to fulfil a watchdog function.
  • Ensure that PSE projects focus on the identified sectors and populations such as youth, women or populations particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
  • Be involved as early as possible in the project cycle. 
  • Support governments and development partners in identifying sectors, markets and populations where PSE can maximise sustainable development results, including the climate agenda, by participating in consultations or direct actions.
  • Take advantage of the range of development partner PSE modalities available, including finances, technical expertise and knowledge transfer.    

Pitfalls to avoid
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International CSOs Local CSOs

      DON’T…

  • Remain silent when project partners focus solely on financial value, forgoing the value of social and environmental impacts. 
  • Disregard qualitative indicators and the lived experience of disadvantaged groups in measuring the impact of a project. 
  • Be part of a project without a theory of change, business case and exit strategy. 
  • Expect quick results, rather than a more long-term progress towards results.

      DON’T…

  • Provide anecdotal evidence at the expense of strong data and evidence-based research.  
  • Disregard qualitative indicators and the lived experience of disadvantaged groups in measuring the impact of a project. 
  • Be part of a project without a theory of change, business case and exit strategy.

COUNTRY-LEVEL EXAMPLES

RevoluSolar is a community-based non-profit organisation based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil working towards becoming an energy co-operative that researches, produces and manages renewable energy in local communities. RevoluSolar has established partnerships to grant scholarships to community members to take part in professional and technical training in solar energy. Its sustainable practices and inclusive governance allow it to do business while avoiding eroding natural resources for generations to come, and allow social classes previously excluded from the energy system to become protagonists by including them in the organisation’s decision making. 

The Finnish Development Non-Governmental Organisations has an internal standardised evaluation mechanism against which projects/partnerships are evaluated. This standardisation ensures that the organisation can measure output and impact uniformly across different partnerships.

Resources

Oxfam – Business Advisory Service

Oxfam – Making Social Purpose Count

What are others doing

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Development Partners

Large Domestic Companies

Trade Unions

Multinational Corporations

Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Partner Country Governments

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