Seeking Soul Funding
A Case Study of Masizakhe Community Project
Amy Shelver, a research anthropologist, spent a month with the team at Masizakhe in 2008. She was conducting a case study prior to the development of a much larger research project, led by Middlesex University in the UK, looking at the effectiveness of ‘Western’ funding of community-based organisations (CBOs) involved in HIV and AIDS care and prevention in Africa. She visited local schools, clinics and hospitals, and interviewed members of Masizakhe’s community. By means of direct observation, structured interviews, focus group discussions and document reviews, she looked at Masizakhe’s effectiveness on the ground, and how this was impacted by its relationship with its four funding partners/donor organisations.
Amy’s central conclusions were that:
1. Short-term funding commitments can mean that there is a sense of crisis management within CBOs instead of long-term planning for sustainability.
2. Funding may target work which CBOs don’t actually think is important. Funds are accepted because CBOs, like Masizakhe, are not in a political or economic position to negotiate their ‘demands’ and are not used to turning aid away.
3. Official procedures, red-tape and long waits for funding decisions are problematic. They delay the fulfillment of long-term visions which in turn stunts the growth of CBOs and reduces their effectiveness in their communities.
4. Top-down or western management styles hamper the building of African management systems. There is a ‘meeting in the middle’ and compromises are made as local management styles are sacrificed to fit in with a Western agenda. However, it was noted that Masizakhe has tried to carve out its own management style using the principle of Ubuntu[1] in daily life and ethics.
5. Faith and other intangible effects of a CBO’s work like love, care and hope are very important but difficult to measure and get lost when reporting procedures and governance systems focus on statistics and other numerical data.
6. The long-term independence of CBOs like Masizakhe may be an unrealistic expectation. There is a tension between the desire for independence (held by Masizakhe and its donors) and its dependence on the system that has trained it and of which it is a part. CBOs are not businesses, they are service providers, and like all service providers who do not require that clients pay, they are compelled to have some other philanthropic interest that will sponsor their services. This means that for the continued survival of Masizakhe, there must always be a partner/donor with a vested interest in what it does.
In fact, in comparison with other donors, EngageHIV did reasonably well. We first partnered with Masizakhe in 2003 and funding agreements have been for three year periods; our funds are unrestricted and can therefore be used as Masizakhe sees fit. In addition, although Masizakhe does provide regular narrative and financial reports, we also value the relationship we have with the team through regular visits when intangible effects of the work can be appreciated and encouraged.
[1] The term Ubuntu is a philosophy which comes from the Xhosa proverb ‘Ubuntu ungamntu ngabanye abantu’ – ‘People are people through other people’. “Ubuntu is … an abstract term, it manifests itself through various visible human acts in different social situations. In short, the quality of Ubuntu is manifested in every human act which has community building as its objective orientation. Any act that destroys the community, any antisocial behaviour cannot, in any way be described as Ubuntu” (Cowley, 1991: 44 in Mtuze, 2004: 103).
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