Capacity building of grassroots organizations

The paper discusses the meaning, definition and key factors necessary for capacity building of grassroots organizations. The important factors in achieving successful capacity building are networking, human resource management, training, infrastructure, finance, leadership and monitoring and evaluation. An organization becomes strong and effective in providing services to people when these relevant factors are identified and strengthened. My research question was, “What is the relevance of key factors in bringing about successful changes with regard to capacity building in local organization?” Through my personal experiences working with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), my coursework at the School for International Training, and the literature review, I identified several relevant factors necessary for capacity building and prepared sub-questions for each of them. In order to study and test the relevance of those identified factors, I selected 10 organizations, 3 from San Diego, California for direct interview and 7 from New Delhi, India. I used the qualitative method to analyze and tabulate the data. The study revealed that all of these factors were important for capacity building but it depends on the need of the organization, people and the local area. In addition, most of the respondents expressed the need for an efficient and committed staff, which involves providing them with frequent and relevant trainings, monitoring and assessing their work and the organization. This study will help organizations that are intending to initiate capacity building for their organization. These factors can very well be used as a starting point to initiate capacity building. The paper also provides several ways to increase people’s participation in making programs relevant and sustainable. The paper also discusses different techniques and areas for local fund raising