PACA Project:
Structure and Challenges
Jörg Meyer-Stamer
[email protected]
Basic structure of a PACA Project
Build-up
PACA
Exercise
Implementation
Main issues and challenges in a
PACA Project
Management of Expectations
Build-up
PACA
Exercise
Implementation
Identification, mobilisation, motivation of Champions
Moving from ideas and
excitement to action
Main issues and challenges in a
PACA Project
Management of Expectations
Build-up
PACA
Exercise
Implementation
Identification, mobilisation, motivation of Champions
Moving from ideas and
excitement to action
Key rules for Management of
Expectations in a PACA Exercise
 Do not create unrealistic expectations!
– don‘t promise that you will solve the local
stakeholders‘ problems!
– don‘t give the impression that you come with a big
bag of money!
– don‘t promise activities which will overwhelm your
capacity!
– do not formulate proposals which are unlikely to
be implemented!
– limit the number of proposals, and mention who
will be in charge of them!
Public Relations effort in the
preparation of a PACA Exercise
 Assess the relevance of various media
– newspaper, radio, local TV, Internet, ...
 Assess the advantages and disadvantages
– advantage: broad communication
– disadvantage: little focus, may attract the wrong
people
 Prepare Press / Media Releases
– explain the principles of PACA
– explain the rationale of the local PACA Exercise
– explain who is running the Exercise
– explain the expected outcomes
Main issues and challenges in a
PACA Project
Management of Expectations
Build-up
PACA
Exercise
Implementation
Identification, mobilisation, motivation of Champions
Moving from ideas and
excitement to action
The two types of Champions in a
PACA Project
PACA Host: Organising the
Exercise, mobilising local actors
Build-up
PACA
Exercise
Implementation
PACA Project Champion:
Implement practical activity
Why do we want to mobilise local
players?
 Stimulate self-help potentials
– unburden higher-level organisations
 Stimulate self-help in the private sector
– unburden government
 Stimulate bottom-up development
– use local know-how and creativity
How, when and where do we
mobilise local players to become
project champions?
When and where:
 during the build-up
phase to the PACA
Exercise
 during the Kick-off
Workshop
 during the Fieldwork
– in interviews
– in Mini-workshops
 during and after the
Presentation Event
How:
 some persons volunteer
 some persons want to
be asked and then
gladly volunteer
 some persons need
persuasion and support
 often, like-minded
persons need to be
connected
What are the main challenges in
mobilising local players? (1)
 Absence of organisations = reliance on volunteer work
– needs strong motivation
– needs a lot of available time
– motivation suffers as a result of lonelinesss
 Distrust between public and private sector
– needs strong incentive to work together
 Allergy to inefficient meetings
– crucial role of facilitation / moderation / visualisation
What are the main challenges in
mobilising local players? (2)
 Tradition of top-down, government-driven
development
 Local players, non-government actors not used to
collective action / joint problem solving
 PACA = facilitating radical change in approach to
development
– bottom-up
– partnership between government, private sector,
other players
 Radical change does not happen swiftly, in one step!
How not to deal with the
Champion challenge
Difficulty to identify
Champions
Action implemented
in traditional
top-down way
Passive / beneficiary
mindset of local
players is reinforced
How to deal with the Champion
challenge
Difficulty to identify
Champions
Elaborate, with local
players identified in
PACA Exercise,
realistic proposals
(3 Criteria)
Local players move from
simple to more complex
activities, articulate
more specific demand for
external support
Local players are
empowered to pursue
bottom-up development
Identifying Champions: How to do
it practically (1)
 During the fieldwork:
– in interviews: Ask interviewees whether they want
to champion a proposal they are making
– after interviews: Discuss in the PACA Team
whether the interviewee appears like a possible
Champion
– in a Mini-workshop: Invite very outspoken
participants to become Champions
– after a Mini-workshop: Discuss in the PACA Team
whether any participant appears like a possible
Champion
Identifying Champions: How to do
it practically (2)
 In the second part of the Presentation Event:
– invite participants to indicate their interest
• to champion specific activities
• to participate in specific activities
– invite volunteers to a Way-forward
Workshop on the following day
Conducting a Way-forward
Workshop (1)
 Option 1, with a small group:
– detailed discussion of implementation
of a small number of proposals
– apply Pfeiffer’s Six Points
– define responsibilities
Conducting a Way-forward
Workshop (2)
 Option 2, with a bigger group:
– clarify proposals
– initial discussion on how to implement
– define responsibilities and make appointments for
subsequent meetings around each proposal
Two weeks later
 Organise a Champions’ Breakfast
– to signal commitment from your side
– to motivate Champions
– to connect Champions
– to assess progress
– to stimulate exchange of experience
 Turn Champions’ Breakfast into regular event
Main issues and challenges in a
PACA Project
Management of Expectations
Build-up
PACA
Exercise
Implementation
Identification, mobilisation, motivation of Champions
Moving from ideas and
excitement to action
Moving from ideas and excitement
to action
 A PACA Exercise usually builds a momentum: Local
players get excited and motivated to do something
about local development
 Why does the momentum evaporate?
– stakeholders underestimate the amount of time
necessary and overestimate the amount of time
they have available
– champions get discouraged as soon as the first
obstacle appears
– champions get the feeling that nobody cares
– individual champions get lonely
How to keep the momentum?
 Rigorously apply the 3 Criteria to prioritise realistic
proposals
 Identify Project Champions during the PACA
Exercise, distribute work on many shoulders
 Make sure that Champions don’t get lonely
 High frequency of follow-up contacts and external
facilitation
 Make sure that facilitation is facilitation, and not
delivery
– facilitation = constructive deflection!
More detailed structure of a PACA
Project
Activity 1
PACA
Build-up
Exercise
Activity 2
Activity 3
M+E
PACA
Activity 4
Cluster
PACA
So what comes after PACA?
 Option 1: More PACAs
– to monitor, energise and re-focus ongoing activities
– to initiate more intense development activities in
specific clusters or value-chains
– to constantly adjust an LED effort to new
opportunities and necessities
• Generic LED, Reflexive LED
 Option 2: From PACA to local strategy
– PACA leads to alignment, sophistication and
motivation of local players
– Players agree to formulate an explicit LED strategy
Possible structure of a Two Year
PACA Project
Year 2
Year 1
February
Start build-up
January
Implementation
March
First PACA Exercise
February
Third appraisal
April
Implementation
March
Launch GENESIS
May
Implementation
April
Implementation
June
First appraisal
May
Complete GENESIS
July
Implementation
June
Focussed PACA Exercise
August
Focussed PACA Exercise
July
Implementation
September
Implementation
August
Implementation
October
Implementation
September
Fourth appraisal
November
Second appraisal
October
Implementation
December
Implementation
November
Implementation
December
Fifth appraisal
Explaining the elements of a Two
Year PACA Project
 Build-up and PACA Exercise
– initial diagnosis of the local economy, definition of
short-term proposals
 Implementation: of short-term proposals
 Focussed PACA Exercise
– diagnosis of sector, cluster, value chain
 Appraisal: of process and results of implementation
– possibly definition of new proposals or need for
additional PACA Exercise
 GENESIS
– local / regional strategy formulation exercise
Thank you for your attention!