ABSTRACT

What, then, are we to conclude from the rich diversity of experiences presented in this book? The most obvious point to note is that there are no straightforward answers to the question of how to enhance the developmental impact of NGOs. There are strong arguments for adopting all, or any, of the strategies represented. But each strategy faces significant obstacles that must be overcome if it is to be effective, and the efficacy of each can be challenged by critical counter-arguments. There is, therefore, no such thing as an ‘optimal’ strategy for all NGOs, even given similarity in context and background. This does not imply that all choices are equally valid, for NGOs have considerable ‘room for manoevure’ in their decisions and there will be more and less effective approaches for achieving impact in particular situations. Scaling up NGO impact: some lessons of experience and key issues https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">

Scaling-up via working with government

Lessons

NGOs must work within the constraints of government systems – poorly-resourced, poorly-motivated usually bureaucratic agencies that are resistant to change;

Personal relationships with key staff are crucial;

The problems of employing expatriate staff – unsustainability, problems of handover – must be thought through in advance;

High mobility of government staff reduces impact of advice and training – tackle this issue directly if feasible;

Allow government to take the credit for success;

Plan for very long time-horizons;

Concentrate on policy reform at central government level;

Recognise that larger donor influence on policy reform outweighs that of NGOs and select a complementary strategy to lobby donors.

Key issues

Can governments be reformed? If so, which types should one focus on?

How should Northern NGOs relate to Southern governments?

How should NGOs cope with the practical difficulties of working within government systems?

Scaling-up via operational expansion

Lessons

NGOs adopting this approach must anticipate dramatic strains as organisational culture is changed and they restructure;

Sustainability should be planned from the start in financial, manpower and legal terms;

Extensively pursuing donor preferences for service delivery is likely to convert NGOs from agencies with a ‘mission’ into public-service contractors;

This strategy may require trade-offs from other strategies – the tone of advocacy work and the nature of support for local initiatives may be compromised.

Key issues

Does operational expansion automatically reinforce existing power structures?

Does the ‘donor view’ of NGOs define a narrow role for them in terms of strategies and activities? Does it reduce accountability to intended beneficiaries and supporters?

Can NGOs expand operations without becoming bureaucracies?

Does operational expansion by NGOs displace the state and strengthen policies of liberalisation and unfettered markets?

Are there some services that only NGOs can provide, so that operational expansion is the only option?

Scaling-up via lobbying and advocacy

Lessons

To date NGO influence has been confined to projects rather than fundamental attitudes and ideology;

Donors are keen to see NGOs as project implementers, not actors in a policy dialogue;

NGO knowledge of donors is partial and this limits their impact;

A practice base is important for UK NGOs to legitimise their lobbying work with charitable status;

UK charity law will significantly determine the future influencing work of UK NGOs with charitable status.

Key issues

How to carry out successful influencing while remaining within charity law?

How to balance programme work with influencing, and link the two more closely together?

Which issues and targets are most important for influencing?

Should NGOs seek to influence symptoms or causes, programme design or underlying ideology?

How can Northern and Southern NGOs combine to influence donors more effectively?

4. Scaling-up via supporting local level initiative

Lessons

The opportunity for effective involvement in such work is very dependent on state sanctioning. Where such approval is denied NGOs must carefully analyse their options for becoming ‘apolitical’ or partisan;

Official aid agencies are unwilling to support serious initiatives to mobilise and empower disadvantaged groups;

Many NGOs are happy to obfuscate the extents to which their social mobilisation programmes are intended to empower or deliver services. At times this may be a tactical device (to hide intentions from the state) but commonly it is based upon an unwillingness to make this key decision.

Key issues

Should strategies of social mobilisation be the major role for Southern and Northern NGOs in the future?

What steps can be taken to ensure that grassroots organisations are member-controlled and do not merely follow the dictats of their ‘parent’ NGO?

Are the regional patterns of social mobilisation very different? If so, what might Africa or Asia learn from Latin America?

Should networks of local organisations remain politically unaffiliated or should they openly ally with political parties?

What are the trade-offs between empowerment and welfare, when ‘parent’ NGOs become heavily involved in mounting donor-financed service-delivery activités?

How can cadres of professional social mobilisers be developed without a reduction in the quality of relationships with intended beneficiaries?