ngos

2012 has been a tough year for civil society. Those funding cuts that we’d been warned of since the crash in 2008, were keenly felt. The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) wrapped up its second five year programme, the Europeans curtailed their investments, the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DIFID) restructured. The retraction in international funding was exacerbated by instability in local funding as the National Lottery in trying to get its house in order, struggled to deliver on its grant mandate. Government too continued to frustrate rather than support, being slow to pay and with large underspends on its welfare budgets. Business plodded along, on hold as it waited for the new BBBEE Draft Codes to be published.

The result is that the country may not be in recession, but it feels as if the non-profit sector is. The reality of this picture was brought to life by a recent survey by consultancy Greater Good, which interviewed over 600-plus organisations. Eighty percent of those surveyed have lost significant funding this past year, 20 percent have enough money to last another month, 17 percent have no operating cash at all. Published late last year, the report confirms my instincts - that the tough times are real, and life for civil society isn’t going to improve in the near future.

But I’ve had a forced rethink, after attending the ‘Looking Back, Looking Forward’ forum at GIBS, which hosted visionaries whose crystal balls are a whole lot more informed than mine, strategist, Clem Sunter, constitutional expert, Roelf Meyer, City Press editor, Ferial Haffajee, civil society’s Neville Gabrielle, economist, Adrian Saville and Rand Merchant Bank Chair, Sizwe Nxasana.

Hosted at the business school - the home of sharp suits, expensive cars and lengthy debates on profit and loss, the forum took an a-typical turn when the panel from their various areas of expertise agreed that the area of positive growth for 2013 wasn’t financial services, or mining, or media.

But civil society.

This is exciting, as it means that the work being done in social development is finally integrating into mainstream thinking. The commentary was fascinating: that civil society’s cross cultural mobilisation of citizenry is connecting people more than anything (think of anti-toll group, OUTA). That the nonprofit sector is where real change lies - for employment, skills development, entrepreneurship and of course, social development. That government and business have to engage if they want to move forward and civil society is the key to that action.

To hear development debates making their way onto business school panels marks a significant change in thinking. It is an opportunity we cannot miss.

Although I believe that 2013 will be tougher than 2012, I am heartened by the way the work of nonprofits and activists is being viewed. Jim Collins writes about the importance of gaining momentum to achieve change. I like to think that the years of consistent and persistent pushing are starting to gain traction. We don’t have momentum yet, but we’re starting to see the extra spin. And that’s heartening.

So rather than predictions for 2013, I have written instead a few survival tips to ensure that your organisation comes out fitter, stronger and more focused by 2014.

These six steps to surviving 2013 create a well-connected approach that will strengthen your relevance and contribution to social development, creating a solid foundation for the more stable years that sit tantalisingly close on the 2014 horizon.

1. Look beyond the of jobs jobs jobs mantra

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. It was the mantra of 2012 which resulted in a flurry of activity because it came with access to sizeable sums of money, and is a neatly measurable indicator.

I hope that we have learnt from the HIV-years, when everyone ended up with an HIV project regardless of whether it was relevant to their work or not. And in chasing the easy funding, non-profits neglected the local options which is part of why we’re facing financial difficulties today.

My advice for 2013 is then      let’s not focus on jobs, but rather on the more sustainable approach of building business. It’s the entrepreneurs who will create work for those in their communities. We have to move away from the thinking that institutions will create more work. They won’t – the financial pressure that we are already under means that many of us are cutting not creating employment. So it is common sense to think away from the traditional institutional framework. We need to broaden the base of people in employment. We need to focus on improving the systems they work in. And we need to make instill a strong sense of social focus in our entrepreneurship, so that they are a contact point of positive development.

For more on this, refer to www.ngopulse.org/article/milking-profits-tale-cows-kenya.

2. Accountability – getting our house in order

With 80 percent of nonprofits not submitting their annual financial statements and narrative reports to the Department of Social Development, we have no foundation for criticising the other sectors of democracy, business and government.

2013 must be a year where nonprofits commit to Codes of Good Practice and then follow them.

Only with an accountable, robust civil society can we attain the moral high ground and hold others to account.

Business and government are making concerted efforts to improve their accountability as evidenced in King III, and the work of the Public Protector, Auditor-General and legislative framework of the Public Finance Management Act.

We cannot afford to cruise along with a misplaced arrogance that because we do good, we are good.

If anyone is to survive 2013, accountability and transparency has to be central to their ethos.

For more on this, refer to www.ngopulse.org/article/herculean-task-good-governance.

3.Monitoring and Evaluation

If you don’t have monitoring and evaluation in place, 2013 is your year to get it going.
If you fail to get basic measurement in place, chances are your organisation will be obsolete by 2015.

Not only is measurement an important part of being more accountable, but it enables nonprofit leaders can challenge their assumptions of what works and what doesn’t.

I believe that as we all focus on monitoring and evaluation, partnerships will become easier to manage leading to a natural consolidation in the sector. When you realise your areas of expertise you begin to share knowledge and so begins a positive cycle that leads to improved more professional services.   

For more on this, refer to www.ngopulse.org/article/completing-circle-some-thoughts-why-measurement....

4. From Programmes to Activism

There is a growing voice that is calling for a move away from programme funding to donor support of activism and rights-based movements. The argument is that civil society’s role is not to provide services that government should be delivering (e.g. like HIV care), but rather to hold government to account to provide these services.

It’s a good argument, and even better because it is rattling our rather traditional approach to development. I think that 2013 will see more money being available in building accountability and growing the rights-driven voice of civil society. The success of SECTION27, the Right2Know Campaign, even the Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) in Gauteng, adds credence to this movement. This is moving the flywheel significantly and I like it.  Watch out for more activism in 2013 and even more for 2014.

5. Rise of the CBO
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We can’t keep ignoring community-based organisations (CBO). Just because they don’t have the institutional structures that our funding models demand, doesn’t mean that they are irrelevant. We cannot continue channeling funding for communities via national organisations just because they comply structurally to the needs of the donor.

I would like to see a concerted effort by the larger nonprofits to bring in CBOs, and to help them build up their institutional structures, securing accreditation, developing financial statements and creating annual narratives.

I think that national organisations will find that the role they can play as mentor and guide is part of their survival strategy as it is through the CBOs that they will maintain their relevance.

6. Making Profits out of Nonprofits

A key survival strategy for 2013 is to grow the profit base of your nonprofit. Usually a sacrilegious word in social organisations it is important that we start to professionalise the work that we do by increasing the surplus of funding. And this doesn’t mean going out to raise more grant funding, but rather taking a longer term view on what type of funding you need to survive. Research by the Stanford Innovation Review shows that America’s top nonprofits have funding stability as their common denominator. This is difficult in South Africa where government and donor funding is erratic. But what must happen is a focus on building a surplus into the organisation, by doing what you do well. Whether that funding stream is grant, or entrepreneurial it must be a surplus and it must provide the type of funds that you need to grow.

In the past few weeks the role of NGOs in South Africa received much attention. Various events and initiatives focussed on the funding challenges facing the sector, the need for improved governance, the relationship with government, the involvement of civil society in deepening our democracy, and the broader role and relevance of the sector in relation to various challenges facing South Africa.

Key examples in this regard include "People’s Power, People’s Parliament: A Civil Society Conference on South Africa’s Legislatures" which was held from 13-15 August 2012 in Cape Town, the launch of the "Voluntary Code of Governance and Values for Nonprofits in South Africa", the release of a report on “Critical Perspectives on the Sustainability of the South African Civil Society Sector”, and the National NPO Summit that was hosted by the National Department of Social Development from 15-17 August 2012 in Johannesburg.

It is no secret that many NGOs are confronted with serious financial and capacity challenges. Many have already closed down or had to scale back their activities. At the same time, South Africa is faced with overwhelming development challenges – education, health, poverty, etc. Increasingly, government departments and agencies are incapable of responding to these challenges – lack of capacity and leadership, corruption, etc., resulting in slow or no service delivery, and an alarming increase in social unrest in many parts of the country.

Finding solutions to these challenges will require the unique contributions of all development stakeholders throughout the country, driven by a common vision as captured in the National Development Plan 2030.

However, what is of great concern is the lack of meaningful support by government and others for the work of NGOs, and the conflicting views of people in government about the role of NGOs in South Africa.

Given the size of the NGO sector, and the broad scope of NGOs’ services and activities, it is a common fact that NGOs more often than not are the ones that fill the “delivery gap” in our society. Where else can people turn to for assistance and support regarding basic social needs? But if NGOs continue to close their doors or serve less people because of funding constraints, what will be the long-term consequences for many South Africans? What will happen to abused women in Cape Town if Rape Crisis closes down or why are organisations such as Project Literacy not getting more support given the adult basic education challenges facing millions of adult South Africans? Furthermore, what will happen to advocacy work and keeping government accountable if NGOs such as Treatment Action Campaign, Section 27 or the Right2Know Campaign don’t secure enough external support for their work? Whose interest will it serve if any of these organisations disappear from the scene?

The bottom-line is – why are NGOs not receiving more support and recognition for the role they play in South Africa?

President Zuma made a number of very encouraging remarks about NGOs at the recent NPO Summit. Media headlines in this regard included “Zuma unhappy over lack of financial support for NGO's”, “President Zuma praises non-profit orgs for sterling work”, and “NPOs remain indispensable partner for government: Zuma”. He even stated that the “doors and windows” of government must be permanently open for NGOs given their role in support of the poor in society.

But these comments are not consistent with the experiences of many NGOs when dealing with government departments and agencies. Even those agencies mentioned in the President’s speech – the National Lotteries Board and National Development Agency – have a problematic history and track record in terms of their relationship with NGOs. Recent comments by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande that some NGOs are part of an "ideological third force" are also not helpful in strengthening cooperation between NGOs and government.

So, what happens next? How do we ensure that the role of NGOs is properly acknowledged and supported in future? Finding answers to these questions are not simple, but also not impossible.

The recent focus on the NGO sector as highlighted above is definitely encouraging. It is in everyone’s interest if we know more about the internal and external challenges facing the sector, if the sector takes more responsibility for its governance practices, if more issues about the sector are discussed in national fora such as the NPO Summit and if the President of the country repeats his recent comments about NGOs on a regular basis.

But more needs to be done. NGOs have a critical role to play in this regard through the relevance and impact of their work. But government – on all three tiers and through its associated agencies – has an obligation to utilise the skills and experience of NGOs in confronting the development challenges facing our country, while also respecting the critical role of NGOs and broader civil society in deepening our democracy.

If government fails to act accordingly, the President’s comments will be seen as more empty promises, development efforts will be further delayed, and more people will be frustrated with the lack of service delivery.

Sadly, more NGOs will also close down.