Learning from the best: The Non Governmental (civil society) growth progression
74Yesterday, 12th of May 2008, The president of the republic of Kenya, His Excellency Mwai Kibaki, with the support of the Prime Minister, The Right Hon. Raila Odinga and other government officials, come together to raise Ksh 1.6 billion in support resettlement program of the internally displaced persons (I.D.Ps). The government threw all its weight through a representation of its respective arms; the judiciary, the parliament, and the executive in their individual capacities to support the fund raising activity which will be implemented by the government and the Kenya Red Cross as the Lead implementing Non Governmental Organizations (N.G.O) agency. One may wonder how an N.G.O can gain so much support from the government especially when
The International Red Cross society, the parent organization of the Kenya Red Cross, despite its international recognition amongst world nations, its international reputation that allows its volunteers to actively participate in war zones and battle fields without being harmed and its resource support to help injured soldiers and civilians was not started as an United Nations Agency but by the efforts of Henri Dunant, a Swiss business man in 1859 when he saw over 40,000 causalities suffer during the battle of solferino in Italy. Dunant persuaded the neighboring villagers to help care for the wounded and later in 1862, published Un Souvenir de Solferino (a Memory of Solferino) which suggested that committees of volunteers should be formed in all countries to care for those wounded in war.
His efforts led to the formation of the Red Cross in Geneva in 1863 where 16 delegates from European Nations called for its formation in every country and in 1864, 15 European states signed the first treaty in international Law, the neutralization and protection of ambulances and military hospitals, to assure the protection for the wounded of the armed forces in time of war and for those who attend and treat them. Today the activities of the Red Cross have spread to cover every form of disaster related activities that include natural calamities. By learning from the example of Henri Dunant, those setting up N.G.Os today in Kenya can grow to the same heights as the Red Cross to become as effective and influential in there related fields of operations. Below I give the various stages that N.G.Os go through to achieve that growth and offer some basic tips on how to fast forward the growth process.
Stage1: The self help level. All civil society organizations except those founded with the motive of making money start with this phase. This is the most important phase since it determines the future lifespan of the N.G.O by setting the right motivation for engagement and involvement. This level is driven on the simple principle of doing what one can; moved by the heart. This level of growth can include all organizations registered as self help groups, welfare societies, informal schools who are run by promoters who have started with the resources they have to address a given social need that is affecting them. The founders are running their activities with cash from their pockets and are driven by concern so much so, that they take on responsibilities larger than their ability to support. Often known as grassroots organizations, They grow though the use of volunteers and other larger N.G.Os who engage them in capacity building activities, resource mobilization and other forms of support.
Stage 2; The resource mobilization stage. It is with the realization that the task ahead is beyond the ability the founders of the stage 1 organizations that these organizations start to source for outside support. They are fully engaged in exhibition activities to create awareness and to show the need of their organizations. Most Kenyan N.G.Os are at this level with very few proceeding to the next level. This is because as earlier stated, the N.G.O themselves are not founded by people who have a genuine desire to meet the needs of the society or are infested with members from larger organizations who are controlled with selfish interests. It is at this stage where numerous ‘request for funds’ proposals are written with other more serious N.G.Os offering to provide organizational support through capacity building. However there is a lot of duplication of work where several organizations are engaged in the same activity in the same locality with no tangible change and results after a number of years. Any Organization focused on real growth should therefore engage in stage three activities in order to grow.
Stage 3; The research stage. Organizations that are genuine will realize that resource mobilization and other related activities in stage 2 are not enough to address the problem. These organizations will therefore engage in research activities to discover what are the real problems affecting their target recipients of assistance and to find new ways of addressing these problems in order to become more effective. They then host presentation sessions to deliver their findings to their resource partners and other stakeholders. A good example of such a case is of one organization that I am told set aside 40 million shillings to construct a water pipe for a given community. Despite the availability of funds to complete the project, the local community refused to construct the water system or even use the water after completion. The concerned N.G.O therefore decided to conduct a research to find out the reasons why the local community was not in support of water project. It is usually from such research activities that N.G.Os discover, for example, preventive health activities targeting water bodies is more effective than curative health activities like treating malaria. These organizations soon realize that they need much more than funding to deliver real change; ushering their entry into the next stage of N.G.O growth.
Stage 4; The advocacy stage. After the N.G.Os realize that through their research findings that past strategies are not effective in delivering real change, they start a number of activities that include publishing articles and reports, engaging the government and other relevant stakeholders though intense lobbying and educative seminars to allow for a change in policy in terms of addressing the given need. Good examples of such an organization is Transparency International who publish country corruption index reports and engage in other advocacy activities that help reduce corruption in the general public. Most organizations in this level normally become authorities in their respective fields and are thus called upon to develop new solutions to problems facing society. They also realize that they need to work with other organizations and N.G.Os to build the necessary support for the desired legislative changes. This ushers them into the next stage of N.G.O work
Stage 5; The representative/partnership level. At this level, the dominant activity is the participation of the N.G.O in numerous workshops sponsored by the government and other stakeholders to produce policy reports. A good example is Care International whose report on children was used to create a policy document in partnership with the government called “the rules and regulations governing charitable children’s institutions in Kenya” to govern the registration and management of children’s homes in Kenya. Normally N.G.Os at this level normally engage in joint programs with the government and other stakeholders. They are also appointed by other international N.G.Os and other bodies like the U.N and government agencies like USAid and Sida to act as representatives of their activities and as channels to deliver resources to other smaller N.G.Os. There main function in such activities is to perform the monitoring and evaluation function. This level is normally assumed to be the apex of N.G.O work. However there is one more level which I refer to as the super apex level of N.G.Os
Stage 6: The Emergency response stage. This is the level in which in the case of a disaster, the organization is called upon to address the crisis. Activities at this level are characterized by campaigns and operations. For example if there is a cholera outbreak then the government will call upon the assistance of the organization to help solve the problem. This is because of the deep understanding that your organization has about the problem at hand, the immense ability that the organization has to mobilize funding within the short time period and its capacity in terms of staff and facilities that it has to be able to address the issue. An example of an organization that is operating at this level is the Kenya Red cross. During the post election violence, the Kenya Red Cross was recognized as the lead N.G.O Agency to handle the whole of the I.D.P issue. Other N.G.O activities then fell under the work of the Red Cross with other N.G.Os coming in to assist in their various areas of specialization. Few N.G.Os have reached this level which is normally comprised of para-government agencies like USAid, The United Nations, The International Monetary fund and the Army. In Kenya the various arms of the ministry of special programmes will in future grow to become such organisations. Such Organizations thereafter are then involved in stage 3, 4 and 5 activities to find the causes of the disasters occurrence and thereafter develop solutions like disaster preparedness activities. Such organizations normally have assured long term funding and engage in programs with similar durations.
Therefore as a person aspiring to address a given need through N.G.O work or as an already existing N.G.O wishing to grow bigger and become more effective, One needs to understand at which level they are operating in and thereafter learn from the activities of other larger organizations. This process normally takes several years including even a century but that period can be reduced considerably by following my personal tips to become a super growth N.G.O. These tips which work are however personal ideas based on my limited N.G.O experience. More advice can be sought from other consultants in the N.G.O sector who are willing to share and support young organizations through their growth phases.
