1-Planning Self-Sustainability

Several development initiatives plan strategies to strengthen their capacity for self-sustainability. 

In their day-to-day, each development initiative or project faces the problem of dependency to some extent and devises solutions to tackle it. Some initiatives deliberately plan these strategies, while others come up with solutions as they go along.

The projects that are more deliberate in this regard usually plan actions specifically aimed at increasing their capacity for self-sustainability, which often means addressing the conditions of inequality that prevent them from making decisions about their development projects or negotiating their needs on equitable grounds. 

Some, for example, design spaces and mechanisms –such as forums, suggestion inboxes or periodic meetings– that allow them to identify how decisions about their projects are being made (and by whom!), to determine whether dependence on external funding, knowledge or decisions prevents them from working in the way that best suits their specific context, and to plan, evaluate and even adapt the project according to the challenges they face along the way. 

Other initiatives define the role they want their project to play in the long-term solution of problems, the institutional profile they need to build, what the most appropriate methods to define objectives and priorities are, how roles and responsibilities ought to be distributed, what resources they have and what the best way to increase and manage them is, as well as other aspects that are also important not only to survive but also to lay the foundations for a sustainable development project.

The more you are aware of the factors that are diminishing the self-sustainability of your project, the better you will be able to tackle and solve them in the long-term. Who is deciding what the design, implementation and evaluation of your initiative should be like? Is it the participants, the communities, the State, the donors? Who does your development project depend on to meet its objectives? How do these relationships of dependence affect your initiative? What helps and what hinders your initiative’s self-sustainability? Are you managing resources with your self-sustainability goals in mind? What can you do about this?