Assessing humanitarian organizations’ transition from a service provider to a capacity strengthener: A case study of World Food Programme

Abstract: Humanitarian organizations transitioning from a service provider (SP) to a capacity strengthener (CS) in countries where there is political stability and economic growth presents a set of opportunities and challenges. Despite this there has been limited research studies that have been conducted on the transition of humanitarian organizations in this context. The overall objective of this research is to investigate and determine the internal and external factors that could help or hinder humanitarian organizations’ transitioning from a SP to a CS. The aim of this study is to ultimately develop an outline for a plan of action that could be used by various humanitarian organizations to address the needs of the vulnerable individuals in fragile contexts. To determine what internal and external factors influence the transition in the case of the World Food Programme (WFP) in East and Central Africa (ECA, interviews with eighteen WFP key informants from the Regional Bureau in Nairobi (RBN) and the Kenya country office (KECO) were conducted. This was complemented by extensive literature review from studies published in journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. The results of the analysis revealed that there are a number of internal factors such as capacity building of staff, management support and provision of funding, while external factors include engaging in external partnerships with other UN and humanitarian agencies, and establishing a relationship of trust with the government that WFP needs to consider in its transitioning process.