NGO support toolkit (English)  >  Technical support 

Organisational development

All organisations need to establish proper governance, management, administrative and financial structures and systems to ensure that they achieve their goals and objectives effectively and efficiently in the short term, and develop sustainable programmes in the long term.

Most NSPs support a range of NGOs and CBOs with a variety of organisational development needs. Newly formed organisations or CBOs which are in the process of turning themselves into NGOs may need extensive support with setting up basic administrative and managerial systems. NGOs which are scaling up their coverage or broadening the scope of their work may need substantial transitional support with restructuring their existing management systems. And NGOs with experience of running sophisticated programmes may only need help with particularly problematic management issues. So the starting point should be a thorough analysis of the beneficiary organisation’s existing state of organisational development.

NSPs should recognise that although they can facilitate and support the process, organisational development needs to be driven from within the NGO itself. Thus there is always likely to be an initial process of helping NGOs and CBOs recognise the value of a well-planned programme of organisational development and involve them in identifying priorities for development. Generally this should involve a process of assessing organisational capacity and identifying weaknesses in systems, structures or skills that can be addressed through technical support.

It may be important to think about root causes of the weaknesses identified, as these may not be readily apparent. For example, poor financial reporting may be because programme staff do not fill out expense forms correctly, not lack of capacity in the finance department; lack of volunteer commitment maybe be because they are not rewarded enough, or could be because the organisation lacks strategic direction.

It is also important to make clear the level of commitment that will be required from staff and management to address the weaknesses. NGO staff may already be stretched and it will be unrealistic to plan ambitious organisational development goals unless staff are willing and able to commit sufficient time to the necessary processes.

Issues to consider

• It is important to introduce technical support on organisational development early in a programme as it is a long-term process. For the same reason, it is important to commit to a long term relationship and sequence of support, rather than one-off interventions.
• NSPs should not assume that all organisations want to develop. Some NGOs and CBOs may not wish to change their practices as they perceive themselves to already be effective.
• An organisation’s willingness to be open to change may or may not be a possible criterion for NSPs when selecting partners.
• Organisational development principles apply just as much, if not more, to NSPs as to NGOs and CBOs. An NSP’s technical support is likely to be much more convincing if it is based on principles and practice that are transparently applied in its own work. See NSP management .

• Send to a friend
• Printer-friendly