NGO support toolkit (English)  >  Institutional Change 

Networking

Every organisation needs to develop effective external relationships with other organisations to achieve aspects of its mission or strategy that it cannot achieve on its own. Communication across agencies working in the response is important for co-ordination and for representation of community level interests at policy and planning levels. The unique relationships between NGO support providers (NSPs), community level organisations, government agencies and the donor community puts NSPs in an important position to strengthen civil society participation in national responses.

NGOs and CBOs must influence local policy decision-making, by ensuring that such decisions are informed by practical experience and by advocating for a community perspective. However, it is not easy for NGOs to have effective influence on their own unless they are able to demonstrate that they speak for a wider constituency and present a unified community voice, which can then become difficult for policy makers to ignore.

A key skill for networks is to identify the key individuals in key agencies and develop productive working relationships with them. The range of relevant agencies is wide and includes donors, healthcare professionals, research and training institutions, media agencies, however NGOs will have to decide how to involve different types of agencies to ensure the network can continue to express a clear voice for community level needs and aspirations. Collaboration with other agencies will be important to facilitate delivery of clear and consistent advocacy messages and help to avoid unproductive duplication or confusion.

NGO Support providers must decide whether to play a role in establishing and co-ordinating a network, if one does not already exist, or supporting the functioning of other networks. The grant-making role that many NSPs have may conflict with the role of co-ordinating a network equitably and democratically, and thus is best suited to an independent body that can focus on network co-ordination. However, most networks (including networks of people living with HIV/AIDS) are often weak and poorly funded and may benefit from the partnership and support that a NSP can provide.

Issues to consider

• Typically, it is dificult to attract funding for a pure networking role, and thus many networks are forced to develop capacity building activities to generate resources. This can distract networks from the important leadership and representation role that is needed for civil society, which should be funded by NSPs and donors.
• Relationship building within networks can be time-consuming and costly, especially if personnel in different organisations have a high staff turnover. Key focal point people in each member organisation are important for network communication, but it is important to ensure they have the full backing of their organisations.

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