How can the impact of non-governmental organisation (NGO) activities be increased? What are the limitations on strategies to increase NGO impact? What lessons can we learn from previous experiments with increasing NGO impact? The NGO sector is increasing in size and sophistication. However, the impact of NGO activities remains largely localised and transitory.
This chapter of ‘Development NGOs and Civil Society’ reflects on a workshop held at the University of Manchester in January 1992, devoted to addressing issues related to the enhancement of NGO impact. The future role and effectiveness of NGOs may be related on their ability to increase, or ‘scale up’ the impact of their development work. The strategies considered in this chapter are: Increasing impact via co-operation with government; ‘scaling up’ by operational expansion (the direct approach); ‘scaling up’ via lobbying and advocacy, and supporting community-level initiatives. These strategies are not mutually exclusive. Their effects in combination may be greater than any one strategy alone, depending on the individual context. Generalisations are very difficult, and limitations of strategies widespread. Other key findings include:
- While it is critically important to encourage government to be responsive to grassroots needs, operating simultaneously with government and as an agent of social and political change may be problematic
- Operational expansion may decrease the traditional competitive advantage of NGOs. Their proximity to beneficiaries, capacity to experiment, and flexibility may be compromised with expansion
- It is difficult to assess the impact of lobbying and advocacy at the development project level, as action is also needed at the national and international level. Some ‘softer’ issues such as health, education and child care may be easier to lobby on, and all lobbying must be carefully formulated – the NGO needs to demonstrate they represent grassroots interests.
- NGOs can stimulate the formation of self-governing grassroots organisations and popular organisations. Established NGOs can assist small, local, independent groups to form partnerships nationally and internationally. This strategy can be very slow to implement and dependent on context.
The different capacities of individual NGOs and context-specific factors are crucial in determining the efficacy of individual strategies. All strategies for ‘scaling up’ NGO impact can be challenged by critical counter-arguments. There is no ‘optimal’ strategy, however key issues to be considered can be drawn from previous experience. Lessons learned relating to each suggested ‘scaling up’ strategy are listed, although the chapter does not claim to be a definitive source. These lessons include:
- NGOs must work within the constraints of government. Personal relationships with key staff are crucial.
- Operational expansion will have a dramatic impact on organisational culture and structure and so must be carefully planned.
- The practical experience NGOs bring to lobbying and advocacy can greatly enhance the impact of advocacy.
- The potential to support local initiatives can be very dependent on the attitude of the state.
