Key concepts
Key concepts that the OCB program works with, are Organization Development (OD), Rights based approach to development and Partnership.

OD and RBA working hand in hand
The program’s present understanding is that OD and rights based approaches to development work hand-in-hand.

A rights based approach builds citizens’ awareness of rights to national resources and of the responsibilities of the central and decentralized governing bodies. In order to be able to act out of this awareness, however, civil society needs more than “just” an awareness of their rights and power. They need to be self-empowered to identify for themselves what demands they want to make from their leadership and to strategize and act.

Civil society-sense of self empowerment
Civil society are able to organize themselves into associations and organizations to this end. However, in an environment where civil society associations and organizations (CSO’s) consider themselves disadvantaged in finances, technical and human resource, this becomes difficult because they are then vulnerable to pursuing the agenda of external bodies that support them with the technical and material resources they believe themselves to be lacking.

This is where OD compliments our rights based approach. OD process can enable CSOs to become or remain self-empowered, independent and in control of their own process of furthering the rights of civil society.

The OCB program seeks to support CSOs to undertake development work from a rights based approach, and at the same time facilitate these CSOs’ sense of self-empowerment and ability to act independently. So that they are able to place worth on their own vision and internal resources, and go on to seek external resources, from a place of self worth and self confidence, such that power imbalances do not compromise their own focus.

Thus OD is a potential means to developing and building CSOs. CSOs become empowered and begin to work with civil society towards the attainment of the rights of civil society and are able to draw the development agenda of the nation.

Partnerships
Partnerships are adopted as a means of creating and maintaining balanced relationships to facilitate this empowerment.