How can the sector prove its effectiveness?
NGOs need to be more effective - and to show that we are, writes BOND's Joni Hillman
Pressure from donors, beneficiaries, the public, media and other stakeholders - are compelling organisations to ask themselves some difficult questions.
With an independent scrutiny body for charities being proposed and rumours of standards being imposed by donors, the external pressures on the sector to improve its effectiveness are mounting.
What do we need to address?
What exactly do we mean by effectiveness? Good question - and one we are asked all the time.
Essentially, we are talking about how organisations respond to the big challenges facing the international development sector.
Although, broadly, effectiveness refers to 'being better at development work', in reality it covers almost every activity an NGO engages in, both in the UK and in the field. It encompasses how organisations and individuals learn, and how they approach monitoring and evaluation and assess impact, as well as the standards debate.
How can NGOs manage the inherent tension between the need for organisational learning and the pressures of reporting on performance?
Everyone has a different perspective on these issues, depending on what size and type of organisation they work for, where they sit in the aid chain, and their own experiences of learning, development and change.
The important thing is to stop ignoring the issue and start talking, to accept that the sector needs to transform if it is to successfully respond to those who seek to challenge its legitimacy and credibility and its ability to change the lives of people in the South.
Relationships are central
The principle finding of the 2006 BOND report on quality standards was that the quality of an NGO's work is, amongst other things, determined by the quality of its relationships with its partners and beneficiaries.
The importance of relationships can also hold true in other areas of the broader effectiveness debate.
How we communicate and work with donors and government, is crucial to putting learning and change at the heart of good development work, as well as to securing funding, fending off attempts to challenge the autonomy of NGOs and impose standards, and defending ourselves against those who seek to scrutinise the sector's legitimacy and credibility.
The network of relationships that we develop within our own organisation and with our peers in other organisations can only improve our learning and understanding, and help join up our thinking about development and change.
Where next?
For a sector that works with fundamental issues of power and change, we are surprisingly reluctant to address them closer to home. These debates have been moving up and down the agenda for many years but we now seem to have reached a point where internal and external pressures are combining to demand that 'something must be done'.
Many different conversations are taking place on these thorny issues - we need to bring them together. And many organisations are tinkering with parts of the development process - we need to share these experiences and learn from them
BOND Quality Standards Group wiki where users can upload case studies and other useful information.
The group also encourages people to meet to share experiences of the practical ways in which they are managing relationships. SMOLNet, the Strategic Management of Organisational Learning Network, has been home to many discussions about organisational and individual learning (and the lack of it) over the last few years. A sub group is currently looking at working with donors on issues of learning and change.
All attempts to address these problems are welcomed; we should not fear experimenting with new approaches, or sharing our successes and failures with the rest of the sector. No one has all the answers but we can, and should, work together at linking up the dialogue and collectively finding better approaches to relationships, learning and change.
Tell us what you think
If you would like to comment on this article, please email Joni Hillman.
Useful Links
A BOND Approach to Quality Standards Report
Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness
Working Group Meetings
The next Quality Standards Group meeting will be on 5 March, 2-5pm, where Concern Worldwide will discuss their new 'Listen First' project.
If you would like to present your experiences of managing relationships in your work, please contact Joni Hillman.
The next SMOLNet meeting will be on 13 March, 12.30-5pm. Please contact Sofia Angidou for more information.