Page 1 of 10
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 1
Organizational Capacity Building of Civil
Society Organizations (CSO’s) in Nandi
South District, Kenya
Elizabeth Murey1
1 Moi University, School of Human Resource Development, Department of Development
Studies, P.o Box 3900-30100, Eldoret, Kenya.
Email: lizmanoah@gmail.com
Abstract
Currently donors are moving away from funding physical projects to funding intangible projects
like capacity building, which are of great importance to the attainment of Sustainable development.
The attainment of these goals is dependent on the organizational capacities of Civil Society
Organizations (CSO’s) which in turn affect their performance. This study examines the various
forms of organizational capacities of CSO’s in Nandi South District, Kenya with a view of
explaining how capacity building influences their performance. The study was guided by systems
theory which stipulates that organizations should be treated as open systems which are continually
dependent upon and influenced by the environments in which they operate. The findings of the study
established that there are two forms of organisational capacity building; resource and
management. The study also established that most CSO’s are dependent on donor funding and that
is why they have a weak financial base and are not self sustaining. The study recommends that
CSO’s should diversify on their sources of funds to enable them be self sustaining.
Key words: Capacity building, Civil Society Organizations, Sustainable Development
Introduction
An organization’s capacity is its potential to
perform, its ability to successfully apply skills
and resources. It is also the potential for
engaging resources and skills in optimum
combination in order to perform relevant
activities and tasks in line with the
organization’s strategy. Organizational
capacity explains how two organisations may
perform very differently, even if they posses
almost identical resources and skills.
Organizational performance is influenced not
only by how it employs its capacities which
includes resources and management, but also
Page 2 of 10
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 2
by forces in its external environment. These
comprise forces of administrative and legal
systems that govern an organisation as well as
its political, social cultural context (Horton
2001).
The internal environment relates to the
organisation culture, rewards, incentives and
management style. All these factors influence
organizational performance which in turn
affects community development. Capacities
also exist among individuals and groups and
within the organisation as a whole.
Individuals possess knowledge, skills and
attitudes that reflect their experience and
training. When individuals share their
knowledge, skills and attitudes with
colleagues, these become embedded in group
norms and processes. It can be said that they
become part of the group’s capacity. And
when individuals and group capacities
become widely shared among the
organization’s members and incorporated into
management systems and culture, they
become organizational capacities (Horton
2001).
Civil society capacity is crucial if they are to
deliver on their mandate. Moreover the
ultimate goal of capacity building
programmes is to support the development of
better skilled and knowledgeable individuals,
more responsible and effective institutions
and a better policy environment for pursuing
development objectives. The key message is
the importance of going beyond mere skills
transfer towards supporting country
leadership and strategic decision making,
accounting systems and culture of learning
and innovation. Local civil society
organizations are endowed with resources
which include human, financial and even
infrastructural. The productivity of these
resources depends not only on organizational
capacity building but more so on how they are
utilized. In order to achieve superior
performance, these organisations must learn
to do more than merely identifying its needs
and acquiring the missing resources. They
must learn how to nurture, integrate and
deploy their resources to create the
capabilities needed to accomplish strategic
goals and achieve community development.
As such, when the local organization
capacities are developed they will be
independent and will achieve sustainable
community development in the long run since
the communities will be involved directly in
setting and fulfilling their own development
goals (Morgan 1997).
Page 3 of 10
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 3
Statement of the Problem
Resources have always been viewed as an
important aspect of organisational capacity
building because there lie the sources of
organization capacities (Morgan 1997).
However, it is not it’s acquisition per se that
drive organization performance especially
when they are not fully utilized.
Organisational capacity may include
acquisition of resources but must include
learning how to deploy and integrate these
resources to accomplish complex task of
development.
Research questions
The following questions guided the research:
i. What sources of funding are available
for CSO’s in Nandi South District and
what is their level of resource
utilization?
ii. How competent are the facilitators
offering training to CSO’s in Nandi
South District?
iii. Apart from collaboration and
networking, what are other capacity
building needs of CSO’s in Nandi
South District?
Theoretical Framework
An organization is a system which is open
and prone to interference because both
internal and external environment will have to
be provided for an organization to perform.
Miller and Rice (1967) argue that
organizations should be treated as open
systems which are continually dependant and
upon and influenced by their environment.
The greatest challenge encountered by
organizations is that performance is
influenced not only by how it employs its
capacities which include resources and
management, but also forces in its external
environment which comprises forces of
administration and legal systems that govern
an organization as well as its political and
social cultural content.
Methodology
The study employed expost facto reseach
design approach. The study population was
CSO’s in Nandi South District which
included 20 Non-government organizations, 6
faith based organization and 1010 community
based organizations. Of these, 38 % were
randomly selected as units of study.
Stratified sampling was chosen to select
respondents the approach ensured that the
desired representation from various Sub
groups was achieved.Primary data was
collected using a structured questionnaire and
