NGO support toolkit (English)  >  NGO Support Programme management 

Organisation

In order to achieve their objectives all organisations need to make the most efficient use of their human resources. Thus all organisations need a clear governance structure and a broader organisational structure in which to set organisational strategy, allocate tasks and responsibilities for the implementation of work, and provide for day-to-day management and monitoring of that implementation, with clear lines of reporting and accountability.

NSPs in particular need to develop structures and systems which:

• ensure that organisational resources are used effectively and efficiently to fulfil their mission, in circumstances when implementation of their support programme is often complex, because it involves multiple partner NGOs and CBOs, each with different support needs;
• provide transparency and proper reporting and accountability to the donors and other stakeholders in respect of the NSP’s activities, policies, and procedures;
• can evolve to reflect the NSP’s changing roles, ranging from initiating its first partnerships, through strengthening existing partnerships and scaling up, to implementing exit strategies at the end of a time-limited programme of support.

Issues to consider

The most appropriate organisational structure for an NSP can vary considerably from country to country, and from time to time. Importing organisational models and systems from other countries can speed up the process of establishing a fully functioning local NSP, but these models need to be carefully adapted to reflect the particular local culture of organisational values and expectations, as well as in-country legislation.

In some cases, specific NSP functions are added to an existing implementing organisation. This raises a number of organisational issues.

• The governance structures, styles of leadership and management, and decision-making procedures and systems of an existing organisation will not automatically be adequately tailored to providing the best possible support to other NGOs and CBOs. For example, there may not be structures in place to assure the quality of such things as partner selection, strategic thinking and external representation relevant to NGO/CBO support.
• There may be real or perceived conflicts of interest within the organisation itself in the process of changing decision-making structures and systems which were developed for another purpose.
• It is important to be particularly thorough and scrupulous in developing transparent reporting and accountability systems for the new NSP to ensure that it is perceived as carrying out its new NSP functions fairly and consistently, by those outside the organisation.

Especially in the early stages of an NSP’s life there can be a perceived conflict between putting organisational effort into immediately tangible external support activities, and the effort needed to develop sound internal systems and structures. However, it is important to balance both, in order to provide not only a sufficient quantity of NGO support, or a large enough scaling up, but also to put mechanisms in place that ensure that the support activities are of a consistently high quality.

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