1. FOR JOINT COMMUNITY PROJECT MONITORING IN
NANDI, UASIN GISHU AND TRANS NZOIA COUNTIES
Organized by Mercy Corps For Local Leaders
at Comfy Hotel, Eldoret – April 10 – 12th 2013
Moderated By
Dann O’Wereh,
Process Documentation Consultant
PENIEL Development Consult

2. Accountability is about
RESPONSIBILITIES and
RELATIONSHIPS
The key question in
accountability is: WHO is
accountable to WHOM and
for WHAT?

3. Dimensions of Accountability
 For what are we accountable? In an UPWARD and
DOWNWARD approach
 Upward accountability denotes: showing
funders/donors and governments that we have
accepted and fulfilled our responsibilities
 Downward accountability denotes: being responsible
to others; Being responsible for oneself by ensuring
and showing that our organization is able to fulfill its
responsibilities (internal accountability)
 Sharing responsibility with others; Working with
peers and beneficiaries to ensure we fulfill our
responsibilities well (Horizontal/Downward acc.)

5. Operational Reasons: Accountable communities, actors, NGOs are
more effective:
- They know how their money/resources are being spent;
- They get feedback on their activities, enabling them to identify new
opportunities and improvements;
- Fosters trust from donors and supporters leading to more funding
- They make it harder for criminals to commit fraud or abuse undetected.
Legal Reasons: Communities, NGOs, CBOs are legally obliged to be
accountable through government laws, decrees and regulations and
also funders/donors requirements;
Ethical Reasons: Actors, NGOs, CBOs, have a moral duty to be
accountable to society.
- That they exist for the benefit of the public and have a duty to
explain to the public how they are helping them
-NGOs, CBOs are supported by the society through funding, tax
breaks and volunteering (through trusts, foundations)

6. Policy Reasons: It is in the interests of the
NGO sector to be seen as accountable:
-In order to ensure a favorable legal, regulatory
policy and funding environment;
-To ensure continued public support and
assistance
-To seal accountability gaps owing to:
Inefficiency; Isolation; Fraud; Loss of funding;
Bankruptcy; Aggressive regulation

7. External Accountability – showing funders and
government that we have accepted and fulfilled our
responsibilities
Externally accountable organizations show what
they have done and why they have done it
External accountability demonstrates that:
Activities are beneficial; Resources are spent wisely;
High standards are maintained; Special status is
merited – THROUGH – Annual/Financial reports;
Audits; Evaluations against project goals, objectives;
Publicity

8. Internal Accountability:
1.Demonstrate: Strong internal
governance; Formal structures; Separation
of governance and management; Mission
focused; Highest professional and ethical
standards; Responsible resource
management and use;
Through: Internal rules, policies and
procedures; Internal minutes and reports;
Internal audits; Annual reports; Accounts

9. Horizontal Accountability:
Demonstrate that: The sector
understands and fulfils its
responsibilities.
Through: Codes of conduct; Self-
certification; Accreditation;
Watchdogs; Databases; Information
sharing and cooperation

10. Downward Accountability:
Demonstrate that: You are focused
on the impact of your activities; You
are seeking ways to fulfil your
responsibilities better.
Through: Transparency; Project
evaluation (beneficiary feedback);
Complaints and redress procedures;
Beneficiary representation

11. To beneficiaries:
End of Slide #1

12. SLIDE 2
LEADERSHIP

13. Leadership is an ability, meaning a leader has a capacity to do
something through talent and skill. Talent is natural ability and skill is
proficiency gained through training and experience. Talent
certainly helps, but it isn’t required. I know many people whose
natural leadership ability was close to zero but through training,
experience, and most of all, persistence, became great leaders
Leadership is adaptive, meaning that the leader makes adjustments.
A leader who fails to adjust to the territory will lose their way. Only
fools willingly follow someone who is lost
Leadership acts on a setting, meaning a leader adjusts the state of the
surroundings and people. A leader carefully observes those states and
discerns significance looking for how to adapt the setting most
effectively
Leadership empowers, meaning a leader inspires confidence and self-
esteem. And that inspiration comes in many flavours. Some leaders
inspire by bold talk; others by soft talk; and others by their example.
There are many ways to empower rather than a single way

14. Leadership acts on people’s feelings, meaning a leader finds ways to link to
people’s instinct or intuition. Leaders help everyone feel empowered, which in
many organizations with bad histories is a leap of faith. If a leader can also
provide concrete evidence that helps the empowerment, wonderful. But
evidence usually comes after the leadership actions produce the desired
results
Leadership creates contribution, which means every member gives
something. Sometimes that may be sharing an idea. And sometimes that may
be holding an ideas in reserve and allowing someone else to arrive at the same
idea and share it
Leadership is about solving the problems, which means closing the gap
between things as desired and things as perceived. Everyone works on the
solution to intermediary problems while keeping in mind the ultimate
problem — closing a gap for the client or customer
Leadership fosters creativity, meaning imaginative use of limited resources.
A leader that enables people to use their imagination is a step closer to solving
problems faster, better and cheaper

15.  Autocratic Leadership: Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of
transactional leadership, where a leader exerts high levels of power
over his or her employees or team members. People within the team
are given few opportunities for making suggestions, even if these
would be in the team's or organization's interest.
 Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Because of this,
autocratic leadership usually leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff
turnover. Also, the team's output does not benefit from the creativity and
experience of all team members, so many of the benefits of teamwork are
lost
 Bureaucratic Leadership: Bureaucratic leaders "work by the book",
ensuring that their staff follow procedures exactly. This is a very
appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks (such as
working with machinery, with toxic substances or at heights) or
where large sums of money are involved (such as cash-handling).

16.  Charismatic Leadership: A charismatic leadership style can appear
similar to a transformational leadership style, in that the leader injects
huge doses of enthusiasm into his or her team, and is very energetic in
driving others forward.
 However, a charismatic leader can tend to believe more in him or herself than in their
team. This can create a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if
the leader were to leave: In the eyes of their followers, success is tied up with the presence of
the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and
needs long-term commitment from the leader
 Democratic Leadership or Participative Leadership: Although a
democratic leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other
members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This
not only increases job satisfaction by involving employees or team
members in what's going on, but it also helps to develop people's skills.
Employees and team members feel in control of their own destiny, and so
are motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward.
 As participation takes time, this style can lead to things happening more slowly
than an autocratic approach, but often the end result is better. It can be most
suitable where team working is essential, and quality is more important than
speed to market or productivity

17.  Laissez-Faire Leadership: This French phrase means "let them do" and is used to
describe a leader who leaves his or her colleagues to get on with their work. It can be
effective if the leader monitors what is being achieved and communicates this back
to his or her team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership works for teams in
which the individuals are very experienced and skilled self-starters. Unfortunately,
it can also refer to situations where managers are not exerting sufficient control.
 People-Oriented Leadership or Relations-Oriented Leadership: This style of
leadership is the opposite of task-oriented leadership: the leader is totally focused
on organizing, supporting and developing the people in the leader's team. A
participative style, it tends to lead to good teamwork and creative collaboration.
However, taken to extremes, it can lead to failure to achieve the team's goals. In
practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of
leadership
 Servant Leadership: This term, coined by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes
a leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone, at any level
within an organization, leads simply by virtue of meeting the needs of his or her
team, he or she is described as a "servant leader". In many ways, servant leadership
is a form of democratic leadership, as the whole team tends to be involved in
decision-making.
 Servant leadership model suggest it is an important way ahead in a world where values are
increasingly important, in which servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values
and ideals. Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people practicing
servant leadership will often find themselves left behind by leaders using other leadership
style

18.  Transactional Leadership: This style of leadership starts with the premise that
team members agree to obey their leader totally when they take a job on: the
transaction is (usually) that the organization pays the team members, in return for
their effort and compliance. As such, the leader has the right to punish team
members if their work doesn't meet the pre-determined standard
 Transactional leadership is really just a way of managing rather a true leadership
style, as the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for
knowledge-based or creative work, but remains a common style in many
organizations
 Transformational Leadership: A person with this leadership style is a true leader
who inspires his or her team with a shared vision of the future. Transformational
leaders are highly visible, and spend a lot of time communicating. They don't
necessarily lead from the front, as they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their
teams. While their enthusiasm is often infectious, they can need to be supported by
"detail people"
 In many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are
needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done
reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add value

19. Dominating Leadership: Talks to group members all the time; Does
not involve others in decision making or sharing of ideas – Typical
among local politician, highly educated or experienced leaders who
think they know more than the rest or want to show off their abilities;
Participative (Involving) Leadership: Shares power with group
members who get involved in decision making, planning and execution
Commanding Leadership: Leader makes all decisions and announces
to the group – members always receive ready made decisions which
they are asked to follow – like in the armed forces or school
Passive Leadership: Leader has no influence and things get done the
way members wish because there is no guidance; In this case the leader
appears indifferent and any member tries to fill the leadership gaps –
leads to confusion and competition between/among members
Other forms of leadership are: The Disappearing leader; The
Despairing leader; The Expiring leader; The Inspering leader; The
Inspiring leader; The Conspiring leader

20.  Giving members a chance to make decisions
 Encouraging members to contribute in skills, materials, suggestions
 Making constructive criticisms that help members improve
 Helping the group to reach effective decisions
 Being punctual at meetings and encourage others to attend regularly
 Being a good listener
 Acting on decisions made by members
 Keeping promises
 Appreciating other contributions and give praise when it is deserved
 Being impartial in settling conflicts
 Knowing individual members and be friendly towards all
 Accepting members as individuals regardless
 Summarizing group decisions
 Coordinating different views and activities (be in charge)

21. (a) Knowledge and ability: Should have a thorough understanding of:
 Roles of group and community members, agencies, partners, etc
 Beliefs and values that guide behaviour at all ages in the community
 Technological knowledge in the community
 The norms of behaviour and the acceptable or unacceptable practices (do’s and
don'ts of the community)
 Interests, needs, expectations, aspirations of the majority of the members of the
groups he works with
 Economic and environmental conditions: climate, vegetation, soil, relief, wildlife,
income earning activities
(b) Skills in:
 Handling people gently, respectfully, positively
 Addressing people effectively
 Persuading and convincing people to accept/adopt positive ideas
 Collecting and using information
 Sharing duties and tasks with other members
 Follow-up implementation of agreed tasks and mandates
 Organising members for tasks
 Counselling members to solve problems
 Listening to points made by others
 Observing group members non-verbal behaviour

22. (c) Good behaviour:
 Honesty when using groups or members’ resources e.g. Finances, materials, time,
etc
 Be committed to performing the roles expected of him/her
 Have interest in the community’s welfare
 Avoid use of harsh or rude language
 Be a good example to others in terms of behaviour
 Be sensitive to other peoples feelings
 Avoid showing biased judgment or backing opposing groups or individuals
 Listen to and accept other peoples views and opinions
 Show perseverance and patience when problems arise
 Be approachable and inviting
 Be hard working
 Be observant and analytical – trying to understand how and why things happen
 Have initiative and drive (not waiting to be told what to do, when, where, how ...)

23. SLIDE 3
COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION

24. The involvement of people in a community
project or such undertaking in order to solve
their perceived, existing or identified problem(s)
People cannot be forced to ‘participate’ in
projects or activities which affect their lives but
are given the opportunity to willingly engage in a
process that influences their lives and
surrounding as a basic human right and
fundamental principle of democracy

25. Needs Assessment: Community expresses opinions about desirable
improvements, prioritizing goals/objectives and negotiating with
agencies/actors
Planning: In formulating objectives, setting goals and criticizing
plans
Mobilizing: In raising awareness about needs, establishing and/or
supporting organizational structures within the community (goodwill)
Training: participation in formal/informal training activities to
enhance communication, construction, maintenance, and financial
management skills
Implementing: Engaging in management activities; contributing
directly to in operations, construction, O&M with labor, materials;
contributions (cash/kind) towards project costs, payment of services or
membership fees, etc
Monitoring and evaluation: Appraisal of works done, recognizing
improvements and failures in progress and redefining needs

26. Community participation motivates people to
work together - people feel a sense of
community and recognize the benefits of their
involvement
Social, religious or traditional obligations for
mutual help
Genuine community participation gives
people the opportunity to better their own lives
and that of the entire community
Remuneration both in cash and kind
(Dividends accruing)

27. Unfair distribution of work or benefits
amongst community members
Individualism where there is no sense of
community
The feeling that government or agency
should provide facilities, etc
Agency treatment of community
members – if people are treated as being
helpless they are more likely to act as if they
are

28. It is very important to ensure minority groups, low
status groups in a community are not left out in the
consultation process and that includes women, men,
children, PWDs, PWSNs, elders, etc
It is also important to ensure gender considerations
do not impede on equity and opportunity by
considering gender related differences in terms of:
-Differing needs and priorities
-Power and vulnerability differences
-Equity and equality issues
The key to participation is involvement because at
the end of the day “A project becomes the answer to
a communities needs!

29. Hakuna Choo!!!
Diarrhoea Choo Chafu Kunya Ovyo
Ovyo
Dhuluma Kwa
Wanawake
Hakuna Vifaa
Wanaume wa
Kujenga
Hawapo
Rasilmali
Haitoshi
Matokeo
Sababu

30. Kila Familia Wawe na
Choo
Choo Safi Hakuna tena
kunya Ovyo
Ovyo
Hakuna
Dhuluma Kwa
Wanawake
Peana vifaa
kwa kila
mhusika
Mobilise
Wanaume wote
kila Nyumba
Tuchangie
Rasilmali za
ujenzi
Mwishoe
Uwezo/Mean
Nia/Lengo
Hakuna
Diarrhoea tena