Methodology: collection and analysis of data
This chapter is based on data collected as part of an evaluation of Dutch development aid in the DRC (Bulte et al. 2015). The organisational capacity and civil society components of the evaluation were carried out by three main researchers (including the author) and two assistants.
Data collection took place during five research trips between September 2012 and January 2015. During these trips, 19 different Congolese CSOs were evaluated as part of a stratified random sample of civil society organisations, drawn from a list of 87 CSOs. They were funded through 10 different Dutch NGOs and covered a wide range of themes, including human rights, women's empowerment, conflict prevention, agricultural development, education, health, water and sanitation. Activities included—i.a.—monitoring of conflicts, mediation meetings, providing legal aid, monitoring prison conditions, radio broadcasts on empowerment of women, supporting farmers' cooperatives, training grassroots groups, supplying agricultural inputs, organising savings groups, constructing schools, and providing potable water.The main focus of the research was the eastern province of South Kivu, where 12 out of the 19 evaluated CSOs were based. Their dominance in our sample is reflective of their dominance in international interventions. The bulk of support is channelled to this province. 40 out of 87 CSOs had their main office in South Kivu. It is one of the provinces that until today has been most severely affected by DRC's internal conflict.7 The province has a high presence of international organisations, and civil society is generally characterised as active and engaged (Hilhorst and Bashwira 2015). Due to the prolonged conflict, there is also a long-term presence of humanitarian organisations.
The analysis makes use of a Theory of Change about capacity development and the 5 Capabilities Framework (5C framework). A Theory of Change (ToC) is a tool used by programme managers and implementers to map the way in which intended change is foreseen to take place by linking objectives to strategies, outcomes, and underlying assumptions.
It is frequently used as a way to plan, implement, and monitor capacity development in international cooperation (Vogel 2012; Stein and Valters 2012; Hunter 2006). Change here is seen as complex and dependent on the context (Keystone Accountability 2009). By looking at the intended pathway (as articulated in the ToC) towards capacity development, attention is paid to actors and factors that are both internal and external to an organisation. The ToC is used here to set out the rationale of interventions and directions capacity development efforts were meant to take. It draws on different Theories of Change that we constructed during interactive workshops with staff members of the Congolese CSOs. Subsequently, these ToCs were validated and discussed with contact persons at the donor agencies.8 After two years, the ToC was constructed ex post—again, in consultation with the involved actors—to assess the extent to which the foreseen Theories were still valid.Secondly, this article refers to the 5C framework. This is a prominent tool in targeting, monitoring, and evaluating organisational capacity. It was developed by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) (Keijzer et al. 2011). Within this framework capacity is seen as an “outcome of an open system made up of resources, relationships, purposes and yardsticks for performance” (Ibid., 10). The framework distinguishes five basic capabilities, which organisations are supposed to have to achieve their development goals. They are the key capabilities that are often targeted by donor interventions and will be discussed below.