Have tweeted: Lessons from international NGOs #ngos #nonprofits - tensions are inherent

Some lessons from recent work with international NGOs that will also apply to national and local NGOs

Mutual Value - How valuable are the international/national aspects of organization affiliation to your national/local affiliates? What is being obtained via the affiliation to the parent organization that cannot be obtained/accomplished on its own locally? The more value → the more commitment; HQ ↔ local partnerships leads to more commitment to the whole.

Need to compromise - If the value in affiliation with the larger group is strong enough, when disagreements arise, affiliates can reach a point of consensus where people want to agree and move on.

Communication: The more stakeholders involved and the more diverse (including geographically spread) they are, the more effort that must be put into effective communication vehicles to avoid misunderstandings. Remember that communication is two ways - a message must be sent, received and understood (not necessarily agreed with, but understood!).

HumilityA little humility goes a long way. Some individuals and nationalities are better at this than others. Those who work in the international arena, find out that to be effective it is important to put one's ego aside as much as possible and to listen to others as much (if not more than) one talks. It is part of the glue that can help to bind organizations together.

Allocating responsibilities: There needs to be mutual respect for decision-making at each level in the organization. Certain responsibilities should be clearly allocated to each level of national and international organizations, while respecting the appropriateness of international/national governance and action where there is collective interest. This is a challenging balance - international/national have to be seen as not extracting too much, and there needs to be ample benefit nationally/locally to international/national priorities for resentment not to be created.

Accountability variances: National or local entities may be held to higher standards by their local bodies than the international or national organization. The international/national board should recognize this and make adjustments as needed.

Inherent tensions: Some tensions are inherent in the nature of INGOs: center/HQ vis a vis affiliates/members, donors vis a vis grantees, etc..Their interests will often be different. It is important to recognize this and work through how to minimize the tensions.

Politics: The more people and cultures involved, the more complex the internal politics can be, but they exist in every organization and should be taken into consideration.

Donors: Although donors generally do not have the right of control, they should have the right to be informed.

Bonnie Koenig

April 2010