What makes non-governmental organisations (NGOs) effective in international development? A recent study by Dr. Alan Fowler, a co-founder of INTRAC(the International NGO Training and Research Centre), funded by NGOs themselves, assessed the organisational characteristics of NGOs across four continents and identified five areas of competence that strongly influence effectiveness. The handbook resulting from this comparative study offers guidance to NGO leaders, managers, funders and researchers appropriate to each area of competence. It flags policy problems and problem-solving options, details ways in which NGO capabilities can be improved, and suggests a choice of strategies for NGOs to adopt in the face of the many changes that are emerging in the wake of globalisation.

There has been a significant increase in the size and number of NGOs, and in financial allocations, both channelled to them and disbursed by them. The scale, diversity of scope and expectations of NGOs have grown accordingly. Impact assessments and other studies suggest, however, that NGO effectiveness has not kept pace with these changes. Extensive documentation reviews and more than 90 interviews with staff of leading NGOs in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Western and Eastern Europe, highlight the following characteristics as key conditions that underpin NGO effectiveness:

• Maintaining consistency between (on the one hand) the NGO's vision, mission, theory of development, strategy and operations, and (on the other) between organisational design and best practice benchmarks in participatory development.
• Keeping competent leadership, culture and practices which ensure internal gender sensitivity, sufficient attention to human resource development and empowerment of frontline staff.
• Possessing the skills to manage complex, diverse and unstable external relationships. Generating an appropriate mix in the quality and 'temperature' of financial resources.
• Managing by achievement, rather than by effort and output, with reference to standards negotiated (or renegotiated) with interested parties.

On this basis, steps towards improving NGO effectiveness are most apt to succeed if they lead to:

• NGOs behaving as civic organisations, not as project carriers or contractors;
• using participatory diagnosis to pinpoint capacity strengths and weaknesses;
• adopting an organisational development, rather than a training, approach to capacity growth;
• utilising an appropriate mix from four types of intervention strategies for capacity enhancement;
• and re-profiling themselves to undertake international development through civic cooperation beyond the aid system.

Among policy lessons and recommendations, the following stand out:

• Recognising that building capacity and strengthening the civic role of NGOs means modifying existing funding methods.
• Creating investments which help to root national NGOs in the economies of their own countries.
• Taking a systems view of effectiveness by, for example, including funders' behaviour in evaluations. Recognising and avoiding collisions and crossed lines between aid goals, priorities and instruments.

Source(s):
Striking a Balance: A Guide to Enhancing the Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organisations in International Development, Earthscan/INTRAC, London (1997)

Funded by: ACTIONAID (UK/Ireland), Aga Khan Foundation (Canada), Community Aid Abroad (Australia), Dan Church Aid (Denmark), HIVOS and NOVIB (Netherlands), PLAN International/Childreach (USA), Redd Barna (Norway), Save the Children Fund (UK), World Vision International and Mr Joel Joffe (1995-1997)

id21 Research Highlight: 1998-Apr-13

Further Information:
Alan Fowler or Brian Pratt (Director)
INTRAC
PO Box 263
Oxford
OX2 6RZ
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1865 201851
Fax: +44 (0)1865 201852
Contact the contributor: intrac@gn.apc.org

INTRAC, UK

Contact the contributor: AlanFowler@compuserve.com