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Bottlenecks
and Drip-feeds - Channelling resources to communities responding
to
orphans and vulnerable children in southern Africa
Save the Children (UK)
June 2005
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/scuk/jsp/resources/details.jsp?id=2985
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Executive
summary
One of the biggest challenges in southern Africa is how to support
the huge and growing numbers of orphans and vulnerable children
within their own communities. Small groups of committed community
members are already caring for children - but are in urgent need
of more funds and technical support to ensure all orphans and vulnerable
children receive the support they need.
This briefing
document summarises findings from recent research by Save the Children
UK in southern Africa and offers key recommendations.1
It identifies a number of 'bottlenecks' that are stopping the smooth
flow of funds to support community initiatives:
- providing
resources to communities is not taken seriously at global and
national level
- current mechanisms
do not allow for resource 'flows' that reach community-based organisations
(CBOs)2
- lack of
clarity about the numbers of children reached and the quality
of interventions
- donors and
governments are not held accountable for spending to support community
initiatives.
Southern Africa
is in the middle of a protracted and unprecedented disaster, and
with HIV/AIDS at its centre, the consequences for children are tragic.
More than 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have already
been orphaned, and millions more are living with sick parents.
Faced with huge
numbers of vulnerable children, communities are fighting back, providing
care and support. These small-scale, local initiatives can best
understand the needs of children in their communities. Indeed, in
many countries in Africa, the most effective 'aid' currently consists
of the poor helping the destitute. Out-of-pocket spending on HIV/AIDS
represents the largest single component of overall HIV/AIDS spending
in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Rwanda it is as high
as 93 per cent of overall spending on HIV/AIDS.3
International
funding for HIV/AIDS programmes has increased dramatically in recent
years. By 2007, global resources for HIV/AIDS are expected to expand
to $10 billion. An analysis of reported funding in the 17 most affected
countries in sub-Saharan Africa suggested that funding for orphans
and vulnerable children in 2003 was around $200-$300 million.4
A number of key international initiatives in the developing world
- such as the US Government's PEPFAR programme, the World Bank's
MAP programme and the UK Department for International Development's
HIV strategy - specifically recognise the importance of supporting
vulnerable children and state that channelling resources to community
level is a priority. Too little of this money is currently reaching
community initiatives.
Getting resources
to community organisations As the flowchart below shows, the routes
for getting funding from governments and donors to community organisations
are long and complex. Central government money is cascaded down
through departments, different governmental levels and through sub-contracted
organisations. Our research found bottlenecks at every level.
Resource flows
at the top of the flow chart are increasing. However, there are
bottlenecks at all levels of disbursement, where money gets 'blocked',
and much of it never reaches community groups. The money flow is
slow partly because of lack of staff and experience - from national
level down to the smallest administrative level. Conditions placed
at all levels on spending make it hard for community-focused organisations
to access funding. It can be hard to apply for funding where there
is little information about what is available, and where and how
to apply. The process for making applications is also often demanding
and time-consuming. Often donors and big international or national
NGOs do not know how to 'find' small local community groups.
Community-based
organisations need funding that is 'drip-fed' - continuous, steady,
small amounts of resources. The research found only a few examples
of successful mechanisms for disbursing small amounts of funds to
large numbers of CBOs.
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full document
1. This research
involved a literature review and interviews with people working
at local and district level, including: communitybased organisations,
faith communities, small NGOs and local government officials in
Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. At national and
provincial levels, government agencies,
international and religious donors, NGOs, inter-governmental agencies,
local donors, trust funds and community foundations were interviewed.
In all, 70 interviews took place with donors, central government
representatives, intermediaries and community-based organisations.
2. Community-based
organisation (CBO) here refers to an organisation that does not
have paid staff and is supported by local contributions.
3. UNAIDS,
2004, 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic: 4th global report.
UNAIDS: Geneva
4. Gutierrez
and Bertozzi, 2004, ‘Resource availability for HIV/AIDS and
the funding gap’, presentation, National Institute for Public
Health; UNAIDS, 2004, 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic:
4th global report. UNAIDS: Geneva
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