This section provides links to an assortment of materials to help build the capacity of Civil Society Organisations

A classic 1990 paper by George D. Gopen, and Judith A. Swan

If the reader is to grasp what the writer means, the writer must understand what the reader needs

Science is often hard to read. Most people assume that its difficulties are born out of necessity, out of the extreme complexity of scientific concepts, data and analysis. We argue here that complexity of thought need not lead to impenetrability of expression; we demonstrate a number of rhetorical principles that can produce clarity in communication without oversimplifying scientific issues. The results are substantive, not merely cosmetic: Improving the quality of writing actually improves the quality of thought.

Afrodad is a civil society organisation born of a desire to secure lasting solutions to Africa's mounting debt problem which has impacted negatively on the continent's development process. Publications page - several papers on Tanzania

A set of 17 one-page handouts to inform discussion
First used as part of a training programme for education advisors in Lesotho

Follow the Money - a resource book for trainers on public expenditure tracking in Tanzania

Public Expenditure Tracking (PET) involves 'following the money' from where it is given out by central government authorities, passes through local government and moves on to end users such as people in schools and clinics

This 83 page manual provides a tool kit of different ways in which PET can be carried out. It assumes that (a) you have a basic knowledge of budgets and how they work, and that (b) you are interested in promoting greater transparency and accountability in how government budgets work. As of late June 2007 over 600 people have been trained using the manual

Why a portal?
The goals of the portal are to position rural poverty as a global, regional and national priority, and to streamline the search for information on rural poverty by providing access to millions of links from a single entry point.

Communications Toolkit - We hope this online resource gives you everything you need to communicate your research effectively and to achieve the maximum impact for your work.

There are sections on Communications Strategy, Media Relations, Public Affairs, Websites, Branding, Events, Publicity Material

There are two types of management books: (a) the ones that look impressive in the bookstore but are actually so theoretical and boring that they end up picking up dust on our bookshelves; (b) the ones that we find to be so practical and useful that we reach for them frequently in our daily work.

As far as we are concerned, all the books in our list belong to the second category. We hope you will also find them inspiring!

The PSIA E-learning Course provides fundamental PSIA training in three modules (A free online course - from the World Bank)

The purpose of this site is to make resources available, free, to NGOs working in the development or humanitarian fields. We make or find manuals that can help NGOs build skills, and suggest other websites with good resources. We particularly welcome those working alone or in a national NGO in Africa, Asia, South America and the ex-USSR.

Complete, highly integrated library for nonprofits and for-profits. 75 popular categories of topics (675 topics)

A range of guidelines and manuals exist for aiding development practitioners in carrying out Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. Some guidelines are widely applicable whilst others are relevant to specific sectors, to use by different actors, or to various aspects of either monitoring or evaluation. There are a number of broadly relevant manuals, mainly developed by the large donor agencies for use by their staff and partners.

The Power Tools initiative set out to develop, test and circulate existing and new tools to bridge some of the key gaps in policy processes and content. These policy tools – tips, tactics and approaches – are designed to provide some practical help to people working to improve the policies and institutions that govern access to and use of natural resources.

This paper seeks to sharpen understanding on how poor and marginalised groups can address the forces that restrain their self-development through the creation of their own democratic economic organisations. Critical factors blocking pro-poor development are examined such as elite power, modes of living and other dependent-dominant relationships which inhibit the poor from pursuing organised actions to change their life situation. In seeking ways of overcoming these factors the paper analyses the need to provide some form of catalytic support to stimulate the poor to create informal and formal organisations under their ownership and control.

An examination of ‘official’ development policy that both explicitly and implicitly seeks to promote investor-controlled enterprise as the dominant business ownership model suggests that this approach is unlikely to bring lasting changes which will directly benefit the poor. “Because well functioning markets are designed to bypass such people.” (Sachs, 2005) Market interventions by pro-poor development partners needs to become more balanced. In particular they need to promote and support on an equal basis appropriate forms of member-controlled enterprise. It is through this self-organising approach that the poor obtain significant power to control their asset-base, promote economic democracy and retain economic surpluses.

(179 pages - 1971Kb pdf file)

This Manual draws on the practical experience gained through support to PRSPs in 15 countries from 2000 to 2005.