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PREFACE
In relating with several other NGOs in different Asian countries, we began to see
certain patterns and issues common to the work of Support Organisations. Yet, we
found that very little is known about Support Organisations and challenges and
dilemmas they face.
It was with this in mind that the three sponsoring organisations came together to
convene a consultation on the nature and roles of Support Organisations in Asia. The
Asian NGO Coalition (ANGOC) is an Asia-wide network of NGOs working on rural and
sustainable development. The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has
been promoting the philosophy and practice of participatory research by providing
educational support to grass-roots NGOs.
The Institute for Development Research (IDR) is a U.S. based non-profit research and
training NGO working towards strengthening the capacities of support organisations in
countries of the south. In collaboration, PRIA-IDR-ANGOC have initiated a programme
to strengthen the capacities of Support Organisations active in Asian countries. This
seminar was the first Asian regional consultation of this programme.
We ore grateful to Ford Foundation, CIDA and PACT for their support to this seminar.
This report has been prepared by L. Dave Brown and Rajesh Tandon. It is an attempt
to summarise key issues, trends and patterns. It is being published and distributed with a
view to generate further debate and reflection on the nature and role of Support
Organisations in different regions of the world. We hope that it will also serve the
broader purpose of strengthening the grass-roots.
October 1990
CONTEXT
the arena of development in many of our
countries began to get more complex in the
late 70s and 80s, new types of voluntary
organisations also began to emerge. These
have come to be kown as Support
Organisations.
The last two decades have seen a
dramatic increase in the visibility as well as
the contribution of non-governmental
voluntary development organisations in many
countries of the world. This growth in the
visibility, size and contribution of organisations
generally characterised as voluntary
development organisations (or NGOs) has
- been possible because of a variety of
demands arising from the development
process in our countries. As models of
development proposed by capitalist and
socialist theoris began to crumble, as theories
of macro-economics and positivism led to
continued perpetuation of the statusquo, and
as the plight of the poor and the marginalised
in many of our countries of the South and the
North continued to worsen, non
governmental organisations in different parts
of the world began to play an increasingly
important role in experimenting with
development models, approaches and
principles. Many of these experiments led to
changes in government policies at the
national level, changes in the policies of multi
lateral and bilateral institutions at the
international level.
These are the organisations which do not
necessarily work at the grass-roots level alone,
directly with the poor and marginalised. These
organisations support other grass-roots NGOs
in a variety of ways through research, training,
documentation, advocacy, networking, and
so on.
While the growth of such organisations has
been a relatively new phenomenon in many
Asian countries, there have been some
organisations of this kind for quite some time.
Yet, in recent years, the nature and role of
such organisations continued to be confused
and undefined and somewhat enigmatic. It is
to review this that a consultation of leaders
from support organisations from several
countries of Asia was convened in Delhi
during March 1990. The consultation brought
together a wide range of experiences and
views with respect to the nature and roles of
support organisations, the problems and
challenges they face, and the kinds of
directions they need to be pursuing in the
coming period. It also provided an
opportunity to explore the meaning of
support and support organisations, their
relevance and contribution and their
potential in strengthening the growth of
voluntary initiatives in our countries in the
future.
Most non-governmental organisations
engaged in the promotion of development
initiatives work at the grass-roots level. They
work directly with the poor, marginalised
sections of the population — the women, the
children, the tribals, the landless, the slum
dwellers. Their work entails a range of services
— education, health, drinking water,
irrigation, appropriate technology. It also
includes education, organisation and
conscientisation of the poor such that they
could play a more active role in defining and
working towards their own development. As
This report is an attempt to summarise the
various ideas shared, debated and analysed
during this consultation and to present the
3
and illustrations from different countries but
to highlight the characteristics and the
strategies, of Support Organisations which
could provoke further discussion, reflection
and understanding on this complex and
emerging phenomenon in the future.
wide range of meanings, strategies,
challenges, possibilities that were mentioned,
articulated and debated. The reflection
during the consultation was rich and
multifaceted and this report presents only
some of the opinions voiced. It is not an
attempt to present details of case-studies
4
MEANING OF SUPPORT ORGANISATION
One of the more interesting issues
debated during the consultations was what
do we mean by support organisation ? What
kind of support do such organisations provide
and to whom is that support provided ?
Clearly, support organisations in the voluntary
development sector of our countries provide
a wide variety of support activities —
research, training, technical assistance,
information sharing, advocacy, networking,
etc. And this support is rendered to other
grass-roots development NGOs, peoples'
organisations or other groups and individuals
engaged in promoting voluntary
development initiatives within our countries. In
this sense, support organisations provide a
specialised function for those engaged in
voluntary development initiatives in our
countries.
which guide the voluntary development NGO
movement in many of our countries and the
region. They are inspired by a vision of social
change and it is within this vision that they see
a role for support functions. Therefore, the
manner in which they carry out the support
function, the relationships they build with the
recipients of that support is consistent with this
broader framework and vision of social
change and its philosophical underpinnings.
Thus support organisations are not mere
service-providers; they are partners in the
broader movement of social change. They
have philosophical principles and futuristic
aspirations similar to those to whom they
provide this support.
This does not mean that support
organisations do not offer competent
services. They are meant to provide certain
types of support services on a professional
and competent basis. This professionalisation
of the support function need not necessarily
imply commercialisation of their perspective
and approach. This distinction is critical in
understanding the nature of support
organisations that are being discussed in this
report.
Debate in the consultation focused on the
distinction being made between a support
organisation and a service organisation. While
activities like research, training, technical
assistance etc. could well be construed as
services offered by an organisation, those
services could well be rendered in a
commercial consultant mode. The provider of
such services treats recipients as its clients and
the relationship is negotiated around scope,
outcomes and finances. There was a general
consensus that the kind of support
organisations we have in mind are different in
significant ways from mere service providers,
service organisations or specialised technical
resource organisation. Support organisations
are part of the broader movement of
voluntary development NGOs in a given
context, country or region; they have a world
view of their own; they have a vision of a new
society and they share some of the
philosophical and ideological underpinnings
TYPES OF SUPPORT
Support organisations seem to be offering
several critical types of support activities
which were shared and analysed during the
seminar. The emphasis, the priority and the
history of these support activities may vary in
different countries of the region, and it may
vary over a period of time on the whole. The
following eight types of support functions
seem to be the dominant ones provided by
support organisations - information-sharing
and dissemination; documentation, research
and evaluation; technical assistance; training
5
and human resource developmentorganisational capacity building; networking
among NGOs; linkages to donors and
government agencies; and policy advocacy
and influence.
control and regularly withheld or
disseminated in distorted forms. It is also partly
so because formal and dominant media are
controlled by the ruling elite, are terribly
expensive and logistically inaccessible to
those working in remote, diverse and poor
communities. Newspapers, television and
radio are forms of communication which
either do not tell the whole story or the
relevant story or are just inaccessible. Bringing
out newsletters on other written and audio
visual means for disseminating information,
experiences and ideas thus becomes a
critical function of support organisations. Such
support organisations also develop capacities
to acquire, store, analyse, document, publish
and disseminate information in a form that is
understandable and usable by grass-roots
activists. Such capacities rely increasingly on
access to new technology, though many
support organisations still find it difficult to use
it fully.
One of the most common types of suport
functions and perhaps the most wide-spread
is informcrfion sharing and dissemination.
Support organisations undertaking an
information sharing and dissemination role
regularly collect and distribute information
about successes and failures, opportunities
and threats, programmes and schemes,
legislations and policies that have a bearing
on the work of other NGOs and development
initiatives within a country or a region. Some
of these functions are carried out within a
limited geographical or linguistic region, some
are carried out all over the country, in Asia
and even Internationally. The importance of
this function is related to the fact that many
grass-roots development initiatives lack a
regular in-flow of information regarding the
issues on which they are working, similar
experiences of others and the macro
context in which their work could be
understood (Box 1).
Sharing experiences across nations and
regions among like-minded NGO communities
has become a crucial requirement in order to
advance our collective efforts towards social
transformation as the world has become
increasingly internationalised and inter linked.
Access to authentic, relevant and useful
information in a form and manner useable by
such grass-roots NGOs is extremely restricted
partly because of the manner in which
information is used as a source of power and
The second major function of support
organisations is in the area of research and
evaluation. Much of the research being
conducted presently serves the interests of
perpetuating the status-quo. Both the
Information Sharing and Dissemination in the Asia Region
The Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) is a network
of national NGOs and NGO networks throughout the Asian Region. In its information sharing role,
ANGOC publishes newsletters and a journal for the NGO community. It also regularly publishes
proceedings from conferences on critical issues. In 1988, for example, ANGOC coordinated a
conference on Strategic Management of NGOs, and published the resulting cases and
analyses so that other NGOs could build on experiences discussed there. In 1989, ANGOC
coordinated conferences on people's participation in sustainable development. It is actively
engaged in disseminating information about emerging experiences with sustainable
development activities. ANGOC is also documenting cases of NGO efforts to influence national
and international policies relevant to sustainable development.
Box 1
6
knowledge and experience of people at the
base of the poor and the have-nots, and their
own capacities to create, articulate and use
their knowledge have been extremely
restricted. It is within this context that field
workers and leaders of grass-roots NGOs need
to acquire the confidence and competence
to utilise their own research, reflection and
analytical capacities to work on their issues
and concerns directly related to them. Use of
such capacities in dealing with the problems
of poverty and marginalization from the
perspective of the poor themselves with
active involvement of the poor and those
working with them is the dominant
contribution of support organisations. Some
support organisations also engage in
alternative research initiatives to bring out the
basic dynamics of marginalisation and
exploitation in our societies — issues which
otherwise do not get the visibility that
dominant knowledge production and
academic enterprise also. (Box 2).
Similarly evaluation of grass-roots
experiences and the work of people's
initiatives and voluntary organisations is a
regular contribution of support organisations
with such functions. The perspective towards
evaluation is one of strengthening the
capacities of reflection and analysis on an
ongoing basis within such grass-roots
initiatives, instead of a one-time intervention
from the outside. Participatory Research and
evaluation are contributions evolved through
the work of support organisations in this
framework and perspective.
A third role for Support Organisations is to
provide technical assistance of various kinds.
In some cases, such as with the centre for
Development Cooperation (CFDC) in Sri
Lanka, technical assistance may include
basic administrative services and equipment
that supports NGOs which do not have
secretarial, photocopying, and other
document preparation capacities. Others
may provide much more specialized forms of
technical assistance (see Box 3). Technical
support is increasingly necessary as NGOs
seek to solve such poverty problems as
deforestation, income generation, watershed
management etc. While individual NGOs
seldom have the resources to hire the kinds of
professional expertise needed for such
problem - solving, centers that serve a wide
range of NGOs can provide technical
expertise and innovations vital to those
dealing with complex problems or those
articulating technical alternatives which are
Research and Evaluation in Thailand, Pakistan and India.
The Rural Reconstruction Alumni and Friends Associate (RRAFA) works closely with grass-roots
NGOs in Thailand to develop systematic research on problems of poor villagers. They have
developed participatory strategies for getting previously unavailable data on issues like rural
indebtedness. They are also developing ways to present their research to policy makers so that
national decisions can be based on good information about the realities at the grass-roots.
ASR (Association for Social Research) in Pakistan is a centre for research and documentation
on issues of progressive social transformation. It works with womens' groups, other voluntary
agencies, trade unions etc. to promote research and documentation.
PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia), New Delhi promotes grass-roots research by
activists and NGOs on issues related to poor peoples' access to and control over Natural
Resources. It also engages in Participatory Evaluation exercises with other grass-roots NGOs and
development initiatives.
Box 2
7
A
Technical Assistance in India and Pakistan
Action for Food Production (APPRO) is a technical assistance organization in India with
specialization in livestock, agriculture, water and alternative energy. It was initially focused
primarily on food projects, but it has expanded to a wide range of appropriate technologies.
Recently, for example, it has played a key role in the development and dissemination of small
biogas plants that can serve families and village groups in rural settings.
The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in Karachi, Pakistan is a successful experiment in urban
rehabilitation that now offers technical assistance in areas like low-cost sanitation systems and
low-cost housing construction. They are developing several programmes that will constitute an
integrated model for upgrading the physical, social and economic conditions of low income
settlements.
Box 3
more appropriate to the concerns of poor
people. Areas on which technical assistanceis sought include health, income-generation,
reforestation, alternative energy, appropriate
rural technology etc.
workers in voluntary organisations has
become critical as many of them experience
the phenomena of stress, burn-out and
individual dejection and cynicism (Box 4).
The fourth, another widespread role of
support organisations is training. In recent
years, training has become almost a fashion.
Training has undoubtedly become more
important as the work of voluntary
development organisations becomes more
widespread and complex. Staff and field
workers need to be trained in a wide variety
of new skills, competencies and perspectives.
Orientation to development and the vision of
a new society are also areas for reflection
and learning for the people working in
voluntary organisations. A new area of work
that has gained importance in recent years is
self-development or human resource
development. Personal growth of leaders and
Similarly, many voluntary development
NGOs are engaged in a wide variety of
training interventions with the poor and
deprived sections of the population with
whom they work. Yet, their own staff have
very little training in how to design, prepare
and conduct training interventions. Thus
training as a learning and educational
intervention is not fully conceptualised or
developed in the work of many voluntary
development organisations. It is in this context
that some interventions of the Training of
Trainers variety have also been carried out in
different countries of Asia by support
organisations. This has helped to
conceptualise the broader and central
meaning of training as an educational
Training and Human Resource Development in Bangladesh
Technical Assistance for Rural Development (TARD) provides training and advisory support to a
variety of national and international NGOs working on rural development projects in Bangladesh, it
has developed a training approach that focuses on the experiences and perceived problems of
trainees rather than curriculums designed by trainers, and focusses on developing the capacity of
NGO staffs to solve the problems they identify.
Box 4
8
Organisational Capacity-Building in India
The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) developed a number of successful training
programmes, but increasingly found that their NGO partners wanted support in developing the
capacity of the organisation as well as its staff members. Over the last several years PRIA has
developed programmes in Organisational Mission, Strategy and Structure that help NGO teams plan
for the future. PRIA follow-up consultations help these NGOs develop and implement new strategies
and organisational arrangements to fit changing conditions and organisational capacities.
Box 5
NGO sector as a whole now requires such
interventions as well.
learning process for the poor and the
marginalised.
As more development NGOs emerge to
take on development activities in a country,
the importance of the function of networking
among NGOs becomes clearer. The existence
of NGO networks facilitates many other
support functions, such as the sharing of
information or the identification of needed
human resource development activities. More
importantly, network organisations (and the
discussions they enable) can help NGOs
develop a shared understanding of national
development problems and coordinated
strategies for attacking those problems (see
Box 6). NGO networks offer a way to develop
both a perspectives on and an influence with
other major constituencies, such as
government agencies or large donors, that is
difficult for single NGOs to obtain on their
own. As Networks working on issues of
common concern. Support Organisations
tend to strengthen the voice of the poor and
the marginalized on issues that affect them.
Support Organisations that begin with
human resource development sometimes
move on to provide support for organisational
capacity building. For NGOs involved in rapid
growth or operations in a rapidly changing
political and economic environment, thinking
through missions, strategies, organisational
alternatives, and leadership development
challenges may require support beyond that
available in training programmes. Increasingly
Support Organisations are experimenting with
leadership development workshops,
organisations and strategy consultations, and
other approaches to building the capacities
of organisations as well as of their people (see
Box 5). This role requires increased
competence on matters of strategy and
organisation as well as skills in participatory
evaluation and consultation. Such support is
increasingly necessary as NGOs and NGO
sectors become larger, more complex, and
undergo rapid change. The future
sustainability and longevity of NGOs and the
Networking among NGOs in Bangladesh
The Association of Development Agencies of Bangladesh (ADAB) is a national network of
development NGOs. Among other activities, it has recently brought together many of the largest
NGOs to develop a common analysis of development issues in Bangladesh. As a consequence of
their shared analysis, network members agreed to experiment with alliances to support federations
of landless people's organisations in several regions as an approach to building local political
influence. This decision represents a substantial innovation for Bangladeshi NGOs, who in the past
have often found themselves competing for scarce resources.
Box 6
9
Networks on women, drugs, environment etc.
hove become very active in many of our
countries.
As many grass-roots and small NGOs
continue to require resources and funds to
carry out their programmes and activities,
many support orgnisations have begun to
play the role of a linkage to donors. Some
support organisations provide information to
grass-roots NGOs and help build their
capacities to prepare proposals and other
documents needed to get funds from donor
agencies (Box 7).
Some other support organisations have
also begun to act as reference for a set of
donor agencies and their endorsement and
review of a particular proposal brings funds to
that NGO. Some support organisations hae
also acquired small amounts of funds to be
distributed to small projects on behalf of a
single or a consortium of donor agencies from
the North. While the requirements for small
and newer NGO initiatives in any of our
countries for resources and funds continues to
increase, support organisations playing
‘‘conduit' and funding roles have serious
implications about their effectiveness.
Another critical role played by Support
Organisations, and especially NGO, networks
is to influence policy and advocacy with
government and other agencies. It is
increasingly clear to many NGOs that
expanding and sustaining development
impacts will require increased influence on
national and international policies. Advocacy
activities demand competencies in policy
research, access to and influence with
decision makers, ability to educate and
influence public opinion, and a variety of
other capacities (see Box 8). These capacities
are not common or even particularly
appropriate for small rural NGOs, but the
sector as a whole needs such resources if it is
to play a major role in shaping government
policy and behaviour. Many Support
Organisations have begun to specialise in
sector-specific (health, literacy, women, etc.)
advocacy activities. Some Network agencies
are also emerging to play advocacy roles on
behalf of the entire sector of voluntary
development NGOs.
The above eight roles are not necessarily
exhaustive. Many of these roles are not
played in isolation; several of these roles are
combined by many support organisations. For
example, the information dissemination and
research and documentation roles many a
times go hand-in-hand; the training and
organisational development, evaluation and
technical assistance functions are also often
combined by a single support organisation.
The important thing is to recognise that each
of these roles has emerged out of specific
requirements of grass-roots NGOs and other
voluntary development initiatives in each of
our countries. Equally important is the fact
that these functions can serve those
requirements within the broader framework of
support that we have discussed earlier, and
that each of these support functions requires
Donor Linkage in the Philippines
The Philippines Partnership or the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PHIIDHRRA)
is a network of 55 NGOs. Among other activities, PHIIDHRRA has a resource accessing programme
through which it links its NGO members to donor agencies that might support their projects. The
programme also provides training and technical assistance to NGOs to ensure that programmes
are properly implemented. It also provides monitoring, evaluation, and endorsement services to
donors concerned with identifying appropriate NGO partners.
Box 7
C
10
Advocacy with Policy-Makers in Indonesia and Thailand
The Indonesian Consumers Organisation (YLKI) has focuse many of its resources on increasing
consumer awareness through education and distribution of information, and on advocacy
activities on behalf of poor consumers, especially in urban areas. In the last 15 years, they have
achieved a number of changes in government policies, good access to the public media, growth
in regional consumers' groups, and some improvements in public services.
The Thai Development Support Committee (TDSC) disseminates information on development
problems and work to local and overseas populations and coordinates links to the media for Thai
development NGOs. It publishes a newsletter and provides translation and writing support to
clarify issues of development NGOs to larger publics that may exert influence over policy matters.
Box 8
key question is whether support organisations
will continue to have the capacity to evolve,
to play those emerging support functions,
and to respond to the demands and
requirements of grass-roots voluntary
development NGOs in the future.
specialised competencies and mechanisms
within such support organisations. It is
important to keep in mind that with the
development of the initiatives, activities and
the sector of voluntary development NGOs in
our countries and region, many new functions
and roles may also emerge in the future. The
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—
THE EVOLUTION OF SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS
The evolution of the roles and functions of
Support Organisations, their characteristics
and contributions within a country can only
be understood in the context of the evolution
of the voluntary development sector in that
country or region. Voluntary development
NGOs evolve in different ways in different
countries. This evolution is itself a complex
process and relates to a wide variety of
parameters. The socio-political context of a
given country or region places important
opportunities and constraints on the growth
of the voluntary development sector. The
existence of dictatorships, emergencies,
freedom struggles in liberation-wars provides
room for the growth of a particular type of
voluntary development initiative. The culture
and values of a country or region also have
significant influence; some cultures inspire
charity and giving for others. The emergence
of the leadership of voluntary development
NGOs owes much to its own experience in
socio-political movements, and students
movements. Activism is a common platform
from which the leadership of voluntary
development NGOs emerges in many
countries of Asia.
development initiatives in our countries.
Particularly in the 70s and the 80s, voluntary
development initiatives and NGOs came into
being in response to the failure of the State to
be the single most effective and important
factor on the development scene. State
policies, programmes and schemes related to
development have failed to deliver the goods
and this in itself has become the basis for the
creation of alternative initiatives, experiments
and NGO programmes.
TRENDS
The evolution of the voluntary sector is
grounded in the culture and values of the
country concerned. The values for which
people will voluntarily invest time and energy
and talent vary across cultures. In some
countries the tradition of voluntary action for
development has a long history. In India, for
example, voluntary organisations have been
at work for more than a hundred years. But
there is also tremendous cultural and linguistic
diversity in India. Thus some regions have
many active NGOs and others have few or
none. In other countries, such as Bangladesh,
a homogeneous culture and high population
densities make it possible to serve large
groups with programmed services. This
encourages the growth of very large NGOs
rather than a wide range of small, locallyadapted NGOs which are common in more
heterogeneous settings. This pattern is
reflected in the growth of Support
Organisations as well.
The economic situation and the
continued dis-functionality of development
policies and programmes in a given country
create the historical context for the growth of
voluntary development organisations. This is
where continued impoverishment of the poor
and the displacement of tribals due to
initiatives of development policies and
schemes create conditions for the rise of
voluntary development initiatives. Historical
crisis or catastrophies (like floods) or man
made disasters (like wars, partitions and
displacements) also encourage voluntary
The pace of growth of NGOs in a country
or region may affect the evolution of Support
Organisations. Support Organisations in
countries characterised by slow growth may
12
Sector Evolution and Support Organisation in India
In India social reform movements in the 1800s provided education, charity, welfare, relief and
rehabilitation services to "backward groups." During the first half of the Twentieth Century the
Freedom Movement mobilized voluntary energies in the service of self-reliance and independence.
During the fifteen years following Independence much of the nation's voluntary energies were
absorbed in nation-building, and many idealists went to work for government agencies.
e
In the 1960s disillusionment with the political system, a serious drought in Bihar, and the failure of
government community development programmes led to more student activism and local
organising with an emphasis on development rather than relief. The role of NGOs as development
actors was increasingly recognised in the 1970s and the early 80s by the Government and by
international agencies, and NGOs placed more emphasis on professionalism and special issueoriented concerns. In the 1980s the Government sought more control over NGOs, especially those
engaged in "politicar organising.
Initial support functions for NGOs were undertaken by individuals experienced in the sector. They
offered advice and counsel. In the last twenty years the government has sponsored Support
Organisations to provide research, training, and information to the NGO community. More recently
professional Support Organisations have emerged to offer information, training, advocacy,
networking, and organisational capacity-building support to the sector. Those Support Organisations
have included federations, self-mandated Support Organisations and support units of implementing
NGOs.
Box 9
Military dictatorships and single-party States,
on the other hand, are likely to see NGOs as
a political threat and act to constrain the
evolution of the sector. The impact of
"democratic space" on the evolution of the
sector and its Support Organisations is
particularly obvious when there are abrupt
changes in space available (as in the
constraints induced by the Emergency in
India or the space created by the overthrow
of Marcos in the Philippines). Political space
for NGO activity is a key variable in the
evolution of the sector. Since Support
Organisations are often highly visible as
national agencies or as representatives of
NGOs concerns, through advocacy or
representation of their interests to
governments and international donors, they
are often particularly sensitive to, and
affected by, changes in political space.
first take the form of "sages," who give wise
\ counsel on the basis of many years of
experience. India, for example, has many
senior leaders willing to provide individual
support to newcomers. As NGOs get larger
and problems get more complicated,
however, organisations with new kinds of
technical expertise may be required. Many
years of experience at the village level is not
necessarily good preparation for the
specialised demands of, for example, policy
research. As NGO sectors grow, Support
Organisations that can provide specialised
expertise in training, research, technical
assistance and capacity-building may be
required.
The evolution of the voluntary
development sector has been strongly
affected by the political space provided to
NGOs by the Asian political context.
Multiparty democratic regimes (like India)
allow the growth of a highly diverse and
contentious voluntary development sector.
The evolution of the sector is also
influenced by the economic context within
which it grows. In countries where absolute
13
Support Organisation Evolution in the Philippines
The first indigenous NGOs, such as Philippines Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM),
emerged in the 1950s. They mobilized student activists to work in the urban barrios and to do rural
community development work. This period also saw the initial rise of farmers' movements. Martial
law in the 70s and 80s pressed a number of grass-roots groups to go underground or to take cover
under the protection of the Catholic Church. Others became more ideologically polarized or
aligned with armed resistance to the Marcos regime. The development of cooperatives and
more specialised networks (in community organising, primary health care, and appropriate
technology) was expanded during this period.
After the overthrow of Marcos, the NGO sector expanded dramatically. Existing networks
grew and others were created to link together hundreds of grass-roots NGOs and peoples'
organisations that sprang up in the wake of the "people power" termination of martial law. Many
of these networks soon became concerned with influencing national and international policies,
and coalition-building across the ideological chasms separating NGOs began in earnest in the
late 1980s. Coalitions that unite NGOs and people's organisations across a wide spectrum began
to play an important role, and NGOs and peoples' organisations were explicitly recognized as
9
major contributors to development in the 1987 Constitution.
Support Organisations began to emerge from the specialised networks formed in the 50s and
60s. In the 1970s networks formed around ideological commonalities began to proliferate their
own Support Organisations. In the 1980s these informal networks became more formalized, and
they began to support their members through information-sharing, policy analysis, training and
capacity building, and representation to foreign funders.
Box 10
Support Organisation Evolution in Thailand
The NGO sector in Thailand has evolved from a rural reconstruction movement that began grass
roots work and political activism in the 1970s. During the 1980s two kinds of NGOs developed: issue
and target group oriented NGOs in urban areas, and grass-roots NGOs working in villages. These
NGOs focused more on disparities and problems caused by all-out economic growth rather than
absolute poverty. In the 1980s there was political space at the national level for campaigns and
policy influence, but it remained risky to challenge government authorities and elites in villages.
Support Organisations were started by urban groups, but shifted their work to serve rural NGOs.
They took the initiative to build the goverment-sponsored NGO coordinating network (NGO-CORD)
into an effective national coalition. Thai Support Organisations are now more concerned with
supporting networks/movements than with individual NGOs; more interested in coilaboration with
rural NGOs (re-training, studying issues, reconducting campaigns) than in "giving" support; more
concerned with programmes and processes than with discrete events; more engaged in
strengthening strategies than in building institutions; emphasizing collective work more than
individual efforts. Regional Support Organisations are emerging to replace Bangkok - based Support
Organisations, but both still depend on outside funding. Support Organisations are firmly rooted in
grassroots; they share capabilities and resources among Support Organisations and grass-roots
organisations; they are active in learning together. But they still lack the status to influence major
national decisions; they are short of resources; they have high personnel turnover; and they have
"big brains but small hands and feet," so they cannot implement all the things they want to do.
I
\_
Box 11
14
Support Organisation Evolution in Bangladesh
Although there have been voluntary agencies in Bangladesh for many years, existing
charitable and social welfare activities disappeared under martial law. The government saw the
provision of social services to be its own repsonsibility, and brooked no competition.
>
After the war of Liberation, the country was in a disastrous state. Foreign NGOs brought in desperately needed resources for relief and rehabilitation. During the next several years national
NGOs became active in relief and welfare activities and also in community development work.
During the latter part of the 1970s, NGOs focused on working with the landless and very poor
populations. The larger NGOs began to develop sub-units to provide support services within the
organisation and later to other NGOs in the sector. Since 1980, there has been rapid growth of
small NGOs and more activity by national networks in the face of increased regulation and
sometimes harassment by government agencies.
Support Organisations originated inside the larger NGOs, to serve their own internal needs.
Increasingly, however, the smaller NGOs need support and external donors are willing to finance
those services. Continued threats and harassment from government agencies are also helping to
build more cohesion among NGOs and encourage them to seek influence over policy issues.
While there have been substantial external resources available to NGOs, many suspect that these
funds will not be available for much longer.
W
poverty is a centra! issue, like Bangladesh and
India, the character of NGO evolution may
emphasize services and work with the very
poor. In other countries where basic
economic needs are less in question, the role
of NGOs may focus on other matters of
concern at the grass-roots. In Thailand, for
example, NGOs seek to deal with the present
and future challenges of a newlyindustrialising country and the consequences
of an all-out drive for economic growth that
may destroy irreplaceable cultural and
environmental resources. Support
Organisations in Thailand, therefore, do
Advocacy on reforestation policies of the
State.
The evolution of the NGO sector and
Support Organisations also appears to owe a
good deal to the impact of catalytic events.
For many countries, major crises or
catastrophes play an important part in the
growth (or decline) of the NGO sector.
Sometimes individuals play key roles in
launching NGO movements (like Gandhi and
J.P. Narayan in India). In other cases.
Box 12
catastrophes like the war of Liberation or
floods in Bangladesh spark national and
international movements for voluntary action.
An important aspect of such events is their
ability to mobilise resources, such as
commitment by key leaders or the
deployment of resources by multilateral aid
agencies or international PVOs. Leadership
and financial resources can accelerate the
development of an NGO sector dramatically.
Support Organisations may evolve to
strengthen the capacities of such rapidly
growing NGOs, their programmes and staff.
PATTERNS
What are the ways in which Support
Organisations emerge ? This question was
addressed by the consultation and different
trends were identified. In many situations,
support functions emerged from an
individual's own initiatives and remained a
personalised support function for a long time.
As an organised activity in the form of a
support organisation, broadly four types of
patterns became visible. The first is where a
15
CHALLENGES
Discussions on the evolution of NGO
sectors and Support Organisations in different
countries provided the base for a more
general reflection on the problems and
challenges faced by Support organisations.
Discussions in the plenary generated a dozen
problem areas, and then small groups
composed of participants, across countries
generated their own lists and chose high
priority problems for analysis and identification
of coping strategies.
governments and to outsiders in the areas in
which they claim special competence. Thus
they often become highly visible and
vulnerable to challenges by outsiders.
1.
Legitimacy is often a key issue for
Support Organisations. This is truer still
when the concept of "support" does not
have a long and well-developed history
in the sector. NGOs and POs do not
automatically recognise the roles and
contributions of Support Organisations.
They may be understandably suspicious
of organisations whose leaders do
not have a great deal of experience in
the sector and/or those who come with
high professional training to show NGOs
"the error of their ways." Developing
acceptance and credibility with grass
roots NGOs requires commitment,
effective action, and considerable time.
This section describes the most common
problems identified. We will discuss these
problems under three headings:
1) Relations with external constitutencies,
2) Support Organisations and activities,
and
3) Support Organisation strategic
perspectives.
A.
Acceptance and Legitimacy
Problems with External Constituents
Similarly, acceptance and legitimacy in
the eyes of actors like the State or donors
can be critical for getting resources. It is
often easier to find support for specific
grass-roots projects and services to poor
populations than to get resources for the
activities of Suport Organisations, even
though the latter may greatly increase
the ability of the former to carry out
projects and offer services. There is a
general feeling of primacy to grass-roots
work, as opposed to support functions.
Support Organisations, like other NGOs,
must work effectively with many different
constituencies in the larger environment. They
must work with the NGOs and POs they seek
to support; they must deal with government
agencies and regulators concerned with their
activities; they must develop relations with
international donors and government
agencies that fund their activities; they must
deal with other NGOs or SOs that seek to
promote the interests of grass-roots groups.
Unlike other NGOs, Support Organisations
inevitably tend to serve a larger area. To be
visible on a larger scale than the NGOs they
serve, given the fact that they tend to serve
regional and national roles, they are often
called to represent the sector as a whole to
Problems of acceptance and legitimacy
may make it easier for many Support
Organisations to start out as sub units of
implementing NGOs or NGO networks.
The parent organisations offer some
18
*
o-
41
w
activities like training, information sharing
or research may be seen as cause for
suspicion or harassment by the State,
especially when the areas of concern
are politically sensitive (such as land
reform) or when the government is
concerned about social and political
"stability". Support Organisations serve
to strengthen the capacities of the NGO
sector, and so are perhaps realistically
seen as a threat by governments who
seek to limit those capacities.
Consequently, Support Organisations
may unintentionally become the
"bellwethers' of relations between the
State and the NGO sector as a whole.
legitimacy and provide immediate work
with other parts of the organisation or
linked groups that need SO services. This
solution to the acceptance and
legitimacy problem, however, contains
the seeds of later dilemmas that will be
discussed below.
2.
Relations with the State
Relations with the State is widely
recognised as a problem area by
Support Organisations from many
countries. In part this may flow from the
fact that the NGO sector in many
countries is subject to regulation and
harassment by the agents of the State,
especially in one-party States or military
dictatorships where NGOs are regarded
as competitors for power and allegiance
at the grass-roots. But there are also
aspects of the Support Organisation role
that make relations with the State of
special importance.
Relations with state agencies involve
conflict and collaboration, sometimes
both in the same relationship. Support
Organisations tend to challenge State
activities that are inconsistent with
sustainable development. The
emergence of the Voluntary Action
Network India (VANI) to challenge
proposed legislations that would
undermine NGO participation in
development is an example. But it is
possible to fall into a permanent
adversary role that is unproductive in the
long run. It was argued that in some
circumstances Support Organisations
should be prepared to collaborate with
state agencies, when joint action can
better serve shared development
objectives. The emerging experiments
with government-NGO partnerships in
the Philippines may be an example of
constructive collaboration. Too much
collaboration, on the other hand, may
result in long-term coopting of the
Support Organisation by the
government.
Because of their role. Support
Organisations are likely to be
headquartered at regional and national
centres where they can easily serve
large numbers of NGOs. Just by location
they are often quite visible to state
agencies. If they grow out of the
organisational base of a large
implementing NGO or an NGO
association, that history may also
increase their visibility.
Support Organisation activities may also
be visible and controversial from the
State perspective. Support Organisation
policy research and advocacy are easily
seen as a challenge by state agencies,
particularly if they encourage large scale
popular campaigns and critiques of
government policies. Support
Organisations that act as liaisons
between the NGO community and
foreign donors may also be seen as
threats or as operating "under foreign
control." Even apparently innocuous
3.
Support Organisations and Organisations
in the Field
Support Organisations seek to support
NGOs and POs doing development work
at the grass-roots, and many Support
19
Organisations encounter dilemmas in
trying to work with those field
organisations. A critical issue in this
relationship is the nature of the support
offered, and the ways in which the
Support Organisation can work to
empower the field organisations.
support. It is the same dilemma that
confronts NGOs who must balance the
demands of funders and "beneficiaries",
when the latter are often less organised
and less able to make clear and explicit
demands.
Support Organisations gain legitimacy
from their services to field organisations,
in the eyes of both those organisations
and themselves. They are consequently
strongly affected by challenges from
field organisations. Many Support
Organisation staff identify with grass-roots
NGOs and POs, and find it difficult to
recognise or accept the idea that
Support Organisations may best serve
the development process when they
challenge as well as cooperate with
grass-roots organisations. The position "in
the middle" - - as intermediaries between
grass-roots organisations, state agencies,
donors, and other actors - - gives
Support Organisations a perspective on
the larger picture of development that is
often not available to grass-roots
organisations. Support Organisations
may have to support grass-roots
organisations in some circumstances by
confronting them and challenging them
to deal more effectively with difficult
realities.
On one hand, field organisations
sometimes complain that the Support
Organisation staff do not have
adequate field experience to provide
credible support. At the extreme,
veterans of years of grass-roots struggle
may find it difflpult to accept the
"advice" of a young person with high
technical qualifications but little grass
roots experience. This problem may be
particularly common among Support
Organisations that provide technical
support (new agriculture, irrigations,
afforestation technology, etc.). Such
Support Organisations have to be
careful about tt)e relevance and limits of
the support they can offer to the field.
On the othef hand. Support Organisation
staff with much grass-roots experience
may be tempted to provide "too much"
support. Support Organisations staff may
get too involved in implementation , and
field organisations may become too
dependent on Support Organisation
advice. This problems may be
particularly common in situations where
Support Organisations that have grown
out of implementing organisations assign
staff with vast experience to provide
support to new organisations.
4.
Support Organisations and Donors
Donors, like field organisations and state
agencies, are often unclear about the
roles to be played by Support
Organisations. They often seek to coopt
Support Organisations to serve their own
purposes. Many donors have invited
Support Organisations with research
and management capacities to
conduct research and evaluation on
operating NGOs. If Support
Organisations are not careful about such
contracts, their support function may be
transformed to serve donors' interests
rather than those of the field
Another aspect of relations with the field
is the problem of preserving Support
Organisation accountability to the NGOs
and the peoples' organisations they
serve. When Support Organisations are
subject to pressure from donor agencies
and government organisations, they
may lose sight of the long-term interests
of the organisations they intend to
20
organisations. Other donors have
enthusiastically subscribed to the
concept of Support Organisations, and
invited Support Organisations to take
over the task of giving out funds to
NGOs. This role can transform relations
between Support Organisations and the
seekers of funds, for funding can distort
the relationships between Support
Organisations and the organisations they
seek to support.
Existing patterns of donor allocation of
funds favour easily bounded projects
and activities that provide direct services
to poor populations at the grass-roots.
These patterns do not favour Support
Organisations, who would prefer to
develop long-term programmes of
support that benefit the poor indirectly
through the field organisations
supported. If donors are going to
provide the external support that most
Support Organisations require to carry
out their activities, substantigl donor
education by Support Organisations is
required. Again, the Support
Organisations position "in the middle* is
at once the source of many of their
dilemmas and the basis for their potential
contributions.
B. Internal Problems of Support Organisations
NGOs in general are often confused
about the systems and structures that govern
their day-to-day activities. Many NGOs start
as tiny organisations in which many decisions
are made by a single individual or a small
group. They then have great difficulty
coping with coordination problems created
by growth and expansion. Support
Organisationxs often take on many
characteristics of their parents: SOs that are
sub units of implementing NGOs organise
themselves for implementation, and Support
Organisations that grow out of NGO
associations organise themselves for
networking. There are several patterns of
internal problems that appear quite common
among Support Organisations.
1.
Specialist vs. Generalist
Many Support Organisations find it
difficult to balance generalist and
specialist support roles. Generalist
Support Organisations respond to many
needs defined by the field organisations,
emphasizing responsive support to
concerns raised by their partners. They
are willing to forego the focus and
development of expertise in some areas
in order to be responsive to a relatively
wide range of needs.
Specialist Support Organisations
emphasize sectorally specialised
responses (e.g., health, environment,
literacy, women, etc.) to the needs of
field organisations. They focus their
resources on providing services in limited
areas, sacrificing more general
responsiveness in order to clarify their
goals and avoid spreading themselves
too thin. Thus APPRO in India, for
example, is predominantly an agency
that specialises in technical assistance in
areas of agriculture, watershed and
biogas. Specialisation around roles is
also possible - - training, research,
documentation, etc. Generalist
SO's may provide organisation
strengthening and capacity-building
support: specialists give technical
expertise and advice.
There is no simple answer to this
dilemma. It seems clear that narrow
specialisation risks the solidarity and
commitment to a shared vision that is
inherent in the concept of a "support
organisation.* On the other hand,
vague generalisation may dissipate
scarce resources in ways that contribute
relatively little to strengthening the
NGO sector as a development actor.
Probably specific decisions about the
21
COMMUNITY HEALTH CEU
A/iStO'/OO
326. V Main, I Block
Koramongala
Bangalore-560034
Indie
degree of general or speciaiist focus
need to be made in the context of a
careful analysis of the needs of the
sector, the capacities of the Support
Organisation, and the nature of the
development problems that the secor
seeks to solve. It is possible to have
specialised competence in one area,
but a generalised responsiveness to the
needs of the partners.
2.
proactive support function demanding
specific influencing and futuristic
interventions. The character of the
membership of that association (within
the national NGO sector) also limits their
scope.
Many Support Organisations have been
offered opportunities to administer (or
act as a conduits) the funds of donor
agencies, and so become miniature
donors themselves. NGOs often need
financial support, and SupportOrganisations that administer funds can
often provide that support in ways that
are more appropriate than the foreign
or government donors that initially
provided the funds. But there are
important side-effects to fundgiving that
may undermine the Support
Organisations' ability to provide other
kinds of support. When Support
Organisations become donors, they also
risk changing their relationships to the
NGOs they serve. Financial
dependence often produces guarded
relationships and caution by donees in
discussing problem areas. If NGOs
cannot feel free to discuss problem
areas with Support Organisations, can
the Support Organisations continue to
provide useful support ? While
fundgiving is an important activity, it
may be incompatible in the longer term
with other kinds of support functions.
Dilemmas of Multiple Approaches
Many support organisations undertake
several activities. Some mix support
activities with implementation; some
combine support work with networking
and information sharing; some work
both as funders and as support
organisations. While these combinations
often have historical roots (as in Support
Organisations that began as
implementing NGOs or as NGO
networks), they also may introduce
contradictions with the support roles.
Support Organisations that started as
implementing agencies, for example,
may find themselves facing difficult
decisions about priorities between
support and implementation. How
should the different demands of support
(e.g., more resources into technical
expertise) and implementation (e.g.,
more resources into grass-roots work) be
balanced ? How can the demands of
the parent organisation (e.g., more
training for its staff) be balanced against
the needs of other NGOs (e.g., more
training for wider populations)? How will
tensions between implementing and
support priorities be resolved ?
3.
“Professionaiisation” and Staff
Development
The demand for more highly trained
human resources is felt in many NGOs,
particularly those involved in rapid
growth and increasingly complex
activities. For Support Organisations the
concern with professionaiisation is
particularly acute, since they seek to
provide services that implementing
NGOs and POs cannot provide for
themselves. Those services typically
Support Organisations that emerge as
part of a membership association face
another set of challenges too. These
relate to the tension between being a
secretariat (doing what members tell
them to do) on the one hand, and
22
require a level of expertise - - in training,
research, technical assistance, and so
on - - that is not available from the
average staff members of an NGO.
There has been much debate about
whether "professional* training should
be valued over "commitment* to NGO
values and beliefs. Ideally, of course.
Support Organisations will recruit
"committed professionals* who embody
both. But highly trained professionals
willing to forego all the rewards
associated with their skills are not
common. Some Support Organisations
have been quite successful in recruiting
volunteer professionals in specific areas,
and much can be done if Support
Organisations are willing to accept
limited commitments from highly skilled
individuals.
More generally. Support Organisations
face the general issue of human
resource development of their own
staffs as well as for the voluntary
development sector as a whole. How
can Support Organisations ensure that
individuals who commit their lives to
support work are not making a choice
with catastrophic long-term impli
cations ? Can Support Organisations
enable continued personal growth for
their staffs ? Are there ways in which
their children can be assured of an
adequate education ? Can their staffs
have adequate pensions when they
retire? These questions are important for
the NGO sector as a whole, but they are
particularly pressing for Support Organi
sations as potential catalysts of sector
development and as agencies depen
dent on attracting staff with qualifica
tions and expertise that allow them
many different employment options.
C. Maintaining a Strategic Focus
Support Organisations face pulls and tugs
from many important external constituents - -
the NGOs they support, agencies of the
state, donors, and others. They also must
cope with a variety of internal pressures - multiple priorities, competing activities,
demands from human resources, and so on.
It is often easy to take on another activity and
another responsibility, to the detriment of work
that is more important in the larger context.
Maintaining a focus that will have the
greatest strategic impact on development
is difficult for most NGOs, and the visible
position of Support Organisations makes
maintaining such a focus particularly difficult
forthem.
Support Organisation strategies serve at
least two functions: (1) they guide choices in
responding to immediate external and
internal pressures, and (2) they enable .
Support Organisations to identify activities that
will strengthen the development contributions
of the NGO sector in the long term. Initially
Support Organisations tend to emphasize their
resources for supporting NGOs in the short
term, especially as they seek to establish the
legitimacy of their role. As they become
more accepted, however, they are
increasingly subject to multiple demands and
opportunities. Coping with those pressures in
ways that lead to increasing NGOs' impact
on development requires a longer-term
perspective on the social change and
development process that enables strategic
choices among activities for the sector as a
whole.
As the NGO sector evolves. Support
Organisations may play critical roles in the
evolution of sectoral strategies that guide the
activities of many NGOs. It was noted in the
seminar that NGO communities in many
countries are beginning to discuss shared
strategies for influencing state agencies and
international donors. Associations and
coalitions of NGOs in India, Bangladesh, and
the Philippines are beginning to articulate
and advocate the interests of their members
in national and international ford. Such joint
campaigns require sector-wide analyses and
23
linkages, and Support Organisations in those
countries are playing catalytic roles in sectoral
strategy formulation. The problem of
formulating and implementing strategic
interventions is increasingly critical both to
Support Organisations as institutions and to
their role as catalysts for strengthening the
NGO sector.
24
FUTURE TRENDS AND DEMANDS
donors, given the scarcity of resources
and donor disillusionment with the
efficacy of past programmes. These
pressures may take the form of more
donor interference with NGO activities,
increased donor pressure on
government agencies that influence
NGOs, more demands for early
withdrawal from grass-roots organising
activities, and even outright withdrawal
of financial support.
Participants met in South and Southeast
Asian groups to discuss the trends they saw
emerging in the future in their regions and the
implications of those trends for Support
Organisations. The trends will be identified
briefly here to set the context for the
capacities that the participating Support
Organisations need to respond effectively to
these demands.
A. Future Trends
To deal with these pressures NGOs may
need to learn more about the forces
that shape the actions and policies of
international donors, to build North
South NGO alliances to balance the
power of donors, to ‘'educate* donors
in the realities of work at the grass-roots,
to build coalitions with governments to
influence donor decisions, and to find
alternative resources to replace the
reduced flows from international donors.
Several trends were anticipated and
discussed during the seminar. Some of these
are briefly elaborated here.
1.
Many participants were concerned
about growing involvement with
government organisations for NGOs in
their regions. In some cases,
governments are seen as threats to
NGO contributions to development,
harassing NGOs and seeking to control
their activities. In other cases, work with
government organisations was viewed
as an opportunity. Such NGOs felt
(through collaboration with appropriate
agencies) their innovations and solutions
could be spread to a wider area.
3.
More NGO engagements with
government organisations will require a
better understanding of political and
bureaucratic perspectives, more
sophistication with regard to policy
alternatives and implications, more
ability to advocate and negotiate for
desired alternatives, and more capacity
In many countries there is increasing
concern with building networks and
associations of NGOs that can share
information and ideas, cooperate to
solve problems that they cannot handle
to both confront and cooperate with
government officials.
2.
Many NGOs are concerned about
increasing the impact of the NGO
sector. NGOs have been more
successful at grass-roots work than at
influencing national policies or in
wscaling-up' local successes to influence
larger populations. They tend to remain
small and fiercely independent, even
when some issues can only be
influenced by larger organisations or
networks of many small organisations
that can act cohesively on shared
concerns.
Seminar participants also expected
more pressures from international
25
as individuals, represent the interests of
the NGO community at large both to
government regulators and to donor
agencies. There is also concern about
the development of sector-wide
mechanisms that can support the
development of new leaderships,
provide satisfying and secure careers to
large numbers of voluntary workers, and
increase the sector's capacity to attract
and hold technical and professional
staffs needed for increasingly complex
development activities.
4.
now. NGOs are all too aware of the
consequences of centralisation of
power and resources in either state or
corporate agencies. Some of them
have developed innovative
approaches to development at the
grass-roots, but clear alternative
development models that deal with
large scale economic and political
dynamics still need to be articulated.
B.
What are the implications of these
regional trends for support organisations ?
What kinds of capacities will Support
Organisations have to develop if they are to
provide support that is relevant to NGOs trying
to deal with such trends ? The capacities
described below are required in part by
emerging trends and in part by the
characteristic Support Organisation dilemmas
described earlier. The seven capacities are
often additions to the kinds of roles and
functions already played by Support
Organisations — training, research, technical
assistance, and so on. We believe that more
Support Organisations will have to develop
such capacities in the immediate future.
Most of the seminar participants also
foresaw serious challenges to the
organisational sustainability of individual
NGOs in the immediate future. Some of
those problems have to do with relations
with key external agencies, such as
governments and donors (as suggested
above). Many are also concerned with
how to position themselves and their
work to have a more strategic impact
on the development problems they seek
to solve.
Many NGOs are also concerned with
problems of their own development as
organisations. Aging leaderships that
have not developed successors,
problems with growth and
"institutionalisations," demands for
higher technical competence and
"professionalisation" of staff, as well as
ongoing struggles over values and
beliefs within NGOs may all threaten
their long-term viability. These problems
may become especially acute at times
of resource scarcity and political
turbulence foreseen by participants
from many countries.
5.
Implications for capacity building
1.
Strategic Thinking
The proliferation of demands on Support
Organisations requires them to think
strategically about their own allocations
of resources if they are to have a wide
impact on the basis of severely limited
resources. The development of Support
Organisation capacity for helping other
NGOs think strategically about effective
use of their resources is also important to
the effectiveness of individual NGOs and
the NGO development sector as a
whole. At a time of shrinking resources
and expanding problems, organisations
committed to voluntary action have no
substitute for strategic interventions if
they are to make a real difference.
Some participants also expressed
concern about the bankruptcy of
existing development models. Models
that focus on either the market or the
State as the institutional leaders of
development have become irrelevant
26
Strategic thinking suggests paying
attention to larger scales and longer
time frames than tactical thinking.
Support Organisations that provide
opportunities to NGOs for thinking
strategically, can have a big impact on
how they influence the world in the
larger social context.
2.
systems and structures appropriate to
the dilemmas posed by their multiple
constituencies and approaches. The
more Support Organisations understand
the possibilities of organisation
development and capacity-building,
the more likely it is that they can
organise their own scarce resources in
an effective way.
Leadership Development
For NGOs and NGO sectors, the
organisational demands of expanding
and taking on new tasks can be
crippling if resources to help them
conceive and manage change and
capacity-building are not available. If
Support Organisations can provide
consulting, training, and other forms of
support to organisational capacity
building, the likelihood of NGOs playing
significant roles in the next decade may
increase.
If the NGO sector is going to play a
larger role in development, it will need a
larger and more diverse cadre of
leaders. Leadership development is a
problem within NGOs, as older leaders
become ready to move on. It is also an
issue for the sector as a whole,
especially when the requirements for
NGO roles and activities is growing more
rapidly than existing organisations can
respond. Leadership at the sectoral
level may call for skills and perspectives
that are quite different from those in
leading single organisations.
4.
This capacity involves the analytical and
conceptual abilities to examine and
understand policy alternatives, to
articulate alternatives that serve the
NGO sector and its goals, and to
influence the policy-making process.
Many NGOs are beginning to recognize
that sustaining and expanding their
development impacts is impossible
without ensuring that appropriate policy
contexts are established.
Support Organisations that can facilitate
the emergence of new leadership will
make such a crucial contribution. It is
not very clear under what sort of
circumstances such leadership
develops. It may involve, for example,
individual consultations, workshops with
other leaders, or team building activities
that involve leaders and their
subordinates and peers. The need for
new leadership suggests that Support
Organisation capacities for leadership
development will be a critical resource
over the next decade.
3.
Policy Analysis and Advocacy
Few topics at the seminar evoked such
widespread interest as that of advocacy
and policy strategies that could
strengthen grass-roots voices in the
policy-making process. Increased
Support Organisation capacity to
promote NGO policy research and
advocacy might help NGOs deal with
their growing involvement with
governments as well as with interference
or pressure from donor agencies. While
many NGOs have relatively little
Organisation Development and
Capacity-Building
Individual NGOs need to build better
systems and organisations if they are to
cope with the demands of expanding
programmes and impacts. Support
Organisations themselves need to build
27
actors, creating a social setting in which
they can share perspectives and
expertise, and catalyzing a joint process
of reflection that uses their experiences
to generate new understanding and
action plans. Ideally such learning
process can develop perspectives and
paradigms beyond anything the
participants could create by themselves
as well as agreements for joint action
that would not be considered if the
parties had not been part of the process
that produced them.
experience with policy advpcacy, some
(in areas like human rights, consumer
protection, environmental protection)
have extensive histories and welldeveloped capacities for influencing
public policy.
5.
Alliance and Coalition Building
Coalition-building involves bringing
together organisations and groups that
have many diverse interests but at least
one concern in common around which
the coalition is organised. Coalitions
bring together "strange bedfellows' for
the sake of mobilizing more political and
economic power on some issue.
Negotiations involve working out
agreements among parties that share
some interests (but not all). Historically
many NGOs have been reluctant to
work with agencies and groups from
other sectors (e.g., government
organisations, political parties, trade
unions, corporations, etc.) because of
such differences. It is increasingly clear
that some problems can only be solved
by coalitions.
Alliance and coalition-building skills may
seem quite alien to many NGOs. If
Support Organisations develop the
capacity to help NGOs learn to build
coalitions and alliance mbre effectively,
they may be able to consolidate and
collectivise the work of the NGO sector
and make larger and more substantial
impact on a larger scale.
6.
Reflection and Learning
The capacity to facilitate reflection and
learning is increasingly a critical one. It
involves skills in bringing together key
Support Organisations that develop and
share capacities for facilitating reflection
and learning processes can play
catalytic roles in the emergence of
networks and coalitions among NGOs
that can enhance the sector's
contributions to influencing macro
trends. They may also improve the
potential for collaborative problem
solving among organisations from many
sectors; NGOs, government
organisations, peoples' organisations.
Perhaps most important, it is out of such
reflection and learning processes that
new perspectives on social change and
new models of political and economic
transformation may emerge.
These then are the issues and challenges
of Support Organisations. Though the analysis
outlined above emered from the experiences
of Asian Support Organisations, it may
perhaps be relevant to other contexts. We
hope that this reflection will stimulate
additional discussion and analysis elsewhere,
Support Organisations need to rise to the
challenges discussed here, in a manner that
can strenthen the contibutions of grass-roots
NGOs in the future.
28
P.O. Box 870, M-C. P.O. Malcati
Metro Manila - 1200
PHILIPPINES
710 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston
Massachuselts 02215,
U.S.A.
Khanpur
New Delhi-110 062 (INDIA)
Society for Participatory Research in Asia,
45, Sainik Farm, Khanpur,
New Delhi - 110 062
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