NGO Soul + Strategy

Summary

What does it Busara's tagline mean: 'transformational leadership, from the inside out'?

To what extent are there truly different global south-normed leadership models?

Does personality still play an important role as well, in addition to national or regional cultural differences in leadership approaches?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Taaka Awori, Founder & CEO of Busara Africa, a leadership development services company, on redefining leadership in Africa.

Taaka's Bio:

• Founder and CEO of Busara Africa, a pan-African leadership development firm based in Accra, Ghana
• Author of the book Leadership Redefined: Untold Stories
• Associate Certified Coach with International Coaching Federation (ICF)
• Podcast host of Leadership Redefined: Untold Stories
• Member of the editorial board of Coaching Perspectives
• Chair of the board of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF)
• Former Country Director of AAI
• Assistant Social Development Adviser, DFID (now called FCDO)
• Degrees from Harvard and Columbia Universities

We discuss: 

• Taaka started specializing in leadership development and organizational development, after discovering as a Country Director at ActionAid that what was most needed from her was good leadership – not any technical specialization
• Busara’s tagline is - transformational leadership from the inside out – signals that leadership starts with self-awareness and self-regulation
• Equally, good leadership is a combination of not just intellect or analytical capabilities, but also innate and learned wisdom, and the heart
• Other premises of Busara: let’s build on the examples of excellent leadership in Africa (not the negative examples); and feminist leadership
• 70% of Busara’s clients are NGOs; the rest are private sector and government agencies
• How are African leadership models distinct, if in any way, from global North-formed models? 
• Another distinct element is the explicit inclusion of politization and thus the need for leaders to be aware of this, and to navigate it in a mission focused manner 
• Busara is also interested to learn more about what’s to be learned from leaders of informal, non-registered organizations: informal worker associations, social movements and networks
• Interesting sub-continental dimensions of leadership within the African continent

Resources:

Taaka’s LinkedIn Profile

Taaka’s Website

Taaka’s book: Leadership Redefined: Untold Stories

Leadership in Africa Redefined Podcast

Busara Africa Website

YouTube video 

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Summary

How should INGOs discern what roles are still relevant, legitimate, and needed, at this moment in civil society history?­­ 

And which roles they therefore  should *stop* playing?

Is there more here, over and beyond stopping service delivery? (Which on its own is quite the shift)

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Dylan Mathews, Chief Executive Officer at Peace Direct. Peace Direct has been quite vocal, and has acted as a thought leader on this role question -- which I consider fundamental, and which I don't see INGOs facing head-on sufficiently yet.

Dylan's Bio:

• Chief Executive Officer of Peace Direct 
• Director of International Programs at Y Care International
• Program Manager at CARE
• Worked on conflict countries and issues with Landmine Action, Oxford Research Group, and the British Red Cross

We discuss: 

• While the sector is changing, once again, on several fronts (in terms of programming approaches, shifting authority/decision rights to the place of program impact representation, biz models, operating models etc.), what seems to get less attention is whether the organization should go through a fundamental role shift
• Common sense would say role and function, as well as strategy, should come before the other types of changes mentioned above
• One organization that is advocating that NGOs need to tackle the fundamental question of role shift is PeaceDirect, with Dylan Mathews as its leader. 
• So what roles are still appropriate, especially for global North-founded INGOs?
• Dylan explains the nine roles that Peace Direct thinks are still appropriate for INGOs 
• What are, importantly, the implications of a change in role and function for, for instance, board competencies and mindsets, organizational size, staff competency profiles, and culture?
• Dylan shares what gives him hope as INGOs traverse this journey, but also what makes him skeptical that the role shifts Peace Direct points to will actually take hold among INGOs,

Resources:

Peace Direct Website

Dylan’s LinkedIn Profile

Peace Direct reading resources: Link1, Link2, Link3

YouTube video of this podcast

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Summary

Conflict management and mediation are skills that come up frequently as a weak area in many of our social sector organizations.

And these days, more than ever conflict is on the rise within our organizations.

So how can we work through our conflicts more skillfully and effectively?

Nathalie has answers for us. She's a trainer conflict mediator (as well as a Corentus, Inc. team coach) who helps teams and organizations develop better conflict management capabilities. 

And she's a valued colleague in a broader team I am a part of. Which means I get to learn from her!

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Nathalie Thompson, Owner of 5 Fold Consulting, on conflict mediation.

Erica's Bio:

• Owner of ‘5 Fold Consulting’, a consulting and coaching firm focused on conflict management skill building and mediation
• Core Practitioner and Faculty at the Corentus team coaching company
• In short: mediator, facilitator, and coach

We discuss: 

• It is often useful to work on task-related conflicts as a precursor to working on relationship-based conflicts.
• There are cross-national cultural differences in how humans deal with conflict. As a mediator, it is important to first build relationship, to inquire what makes for a good conversation for the person, and how to structure the conflict mediation process
• There are also gendered dimensions to conflict expression and management. Society tends to ascribe the term ‘aggressive’ to women (negative framing), for instance, when they engage in conflict, while men tend to be labeled as ‘assertive’ in the same context (positive or neutral framing)
• One way of minimizing interpersonal conflicts within organizations is to clarify expectations, styles, and preferences. Similarly, to clarify goals and parameters, and how to do the work. 
• Also, to agree to tackle breakdowns in relationships by agreeing upfront how difficulties will be raised, and to work through the Corentus ‘6 question framework’ for dealing with breakdowns.
• Nathalie is among others an ombuds. This is an originally Swedish term that literally means: ‘representative of the people’, and is an independent, neutral person to whom staff in an organization can go for confidential advice, feedback on policy, procedure, or when they seek accommodation. Ombuds are independent from HR and can offer mediation, and raise sensitive issues such as harassment and performance issues with those in authority.
• The apparent rise in intra-organizational strife in civil society organisations is an extension of the external polarization in society: a tendency to think in terms of ‘one true way’ instead of accepting there are many different ways

Quotes:

“In the nonprofit sphere, people tend to be expected to be ‘so nice’; this makes it harder to exert accountability, and to say what needs to be said”

Resources:

Nathalie’s LinkedIn Profile

Nathalie’s Email

5 Fold Consulting Website

YouTube video of this podcast

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Summary

What constitutes a culture of philanthropy within nonprofits and NGOs? It's a term easily bandied around, but how do I see when it's in place?

How has the field of direct giving by small donors, and monthly giving as one donor practice in particular changed in the last 10-20 years?

Are there hurdles to be overcome in persuading donors to adopt monthly giving? 

Finally, there is a lot of discussion about the need for a shift towards ethical storytelling, with local program participants in the driver's seat, and while focusing on the local person's agency. The raison d'etre for this is clear; however, is this aligned with what motivates donors (at least in traditional fundraising 'markets') to give?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Erica Waasdorp, President of A Direct Solution, a consulting agency with expertise in direct giving and monthly giving, on trends in direct fundraising.

Erica's Bio:

• Author and Speaker, and a Master Trainer affiliated with the Association for Fundraising Professionals
• Expertise in Direct Marketing, Monthly Giving, International Fundraising
• US Ambassador for the International Fundraising Congress (IFC)
• Before launching A Direct Solution, she held several consulting, coaching and direct marketing roles in various consulting agencies, nonprofits, and in the publishing industry.

We discuss - particularly with regard to the US donor arena: 

• Online donations have blossomed since 2011, to the point where people now have access to many online payment platforms, donation-by-text, etc.
• Religious people are more generous than non-religious people; and so are low to mid-income people (in relative terms, as a proportion of their income), as compared to wealthy people
• Monthly giving is an important strategy to underpin financial sustainability since it guarantees nonprofits potentially significant levels of dependable unrestricted revenue; this in turn allows the agency to do long-term planning.
• In the short term, when setting up monthly giving as one avenue, it is more capacity and resource-intensive for an agency
• Monthly giving as one donation strategy has been around for decades, but many nonprofits have only started focusing on it in a serious way in the last 10 or so years
• There is some tension between the NGO sector’s aspired direction of ethical, authentic storytelling – what Erica calls ‘the complete story’ --, that starts from a program participant’s strengths and assets and the opportunities they have rather than from a deficit perspective, and the need of donors to feel that they contribute to a clear need. This tension is not yet fully acknowledged.
• Intermediary nonprofit ranking and rating sites (e.g. Guidestar, Charity Navigator, Give Well, etc in a US context) fulfill a donor’s felt need for transparency and the ability to trust an agency, but such data is unlikely to shape  donation behavior of new donors in a major way. 
• Child sponsorships are likely to continue as a vehicle for fundraising, but at a lower level than before. Many nonprofits’ donor pools are aging (a lot), and this will remain the case till current day Millenials and subsequent generations age themselves.

Resources:

Erica’s LinkedIn Profile

A Direct Solution consulting agency, founded by Erica (the site provides lots of free resources on direct fundraising)

YouTube vid

Summary

What does the name Taimaka mean?

To what extent are there challenges, as an organization, when you aim for evidence-based decision-making?

What kind of culture is needed to truly live the aspiration of being evidence-based?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Dr. Umar Abubakar and Justin Graham, co-founders and co-directors of The Taimaka Project -- an NGO working in Gombe state, Nigeria, on what happens when a start-up nonprofit wants to nurture an evidence-based culture.

Umar Abubakar's Bio:

• Co-founder and director, Taimaka Project, an NGO working on child malnutrition in Gombe state, Nigeria
• Medical doctor, Ministry of Health, Nigeria
• Umar has degrees in clinical medicine as well as public health
• He runs the medical side of Taimaka’s malnutrition program
• Umar manages Taimaka’s team of nutrition care specialists, oversees hospital partners, and ensures that  patients receive the best possible standard of care

Justin's Bio:

• Co-founder and director, Taimaka Project
• Worked in the past for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
• Former intern at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Justin oversees technology, finance, and innovation at Taimaka
• He handles Taimaka’s tech portfolio and manages in-house digital case management database

We discuss: 

• Taimaka Project is a start-up NGO working on child malnutrition in Gombe state in N-W Nigeria.
• Taimaka Project stands out in how much attention it gives to rigorous evaluation of its program treatment methods (in this case with regard to child malnutrition related interventions). 
• Using this approach entails the following question: what is the most amount of impact we can ‘produce’ or contribute to, per dollar spent? 
• This can come across as utilitarian to some, and  a vigorous discussion about the ethical trade-offs of such an approach is always a good thing
• If you want to promote an evidence-based culture, what does this entail? One facet: when you are told you are wrong, whether you are a leader or staff, you should take this personally. 
• Taimaka regularly collaborates with academics on rigorous program evaluation. What are the ins and outs of working with academics, as a practitioner organization?
• Taimaka is also shifting from a start-up into a ramp-up phase and is currently experiencing fast growth. What does this imply for policies, systems, and processes that now need to be built or adapted, and how do we preserve what is precious about the org's culture? 

Quotes:

·       “We go a layer deeper in our measurement and evaluation”

Resources:

Dr. Abubakar’s LinkedIn Profile

Justin’s LinkedIn Profile

Justin’s Email

The Taimaka Project (sign up for their email newsletter if you want insight into their evaluation and (cost) effective measurement approaches)

Tamaika LinkedIn Business Page

YouTube video 

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Summary

Quite a few smaller size social sector organizations assume that program evaluation is too complex or demanding an undertaking for them. Is that the case, though?

If we want to introduce program evaluation to staff, leadership, and boards who have not yet been inducted into the importance of program evaluation: what are the most effective questions to generate genuine interest in and motivation to engage in such program evaluation?

How can we build a more evaluation-friendly culture all around?

Chari Smith, President and Founder of the consulting company Evaluation into Action has written a book that gives clear answers to these questions: Nonprofit Program Evaluation Made Simple (2021). She explains her core argument in this podcast episode.

Chari's Bio:

• Program Evaluation enthusiast: Author, Speaker, Consultant, and Trainer
• President/Founder of Evaluation into Action, a consulting company
• Program Evaluation Associate at Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

We discuss: 

• Chari’s book is meant for small to midsize nonprofits who have not yet taken up program evaluation, to make it achievable to them. The book is also meant for entry-stage evaluators
• Chari values Beth Kanter's and Aliza Sherman’s definition of organizational culture  – “Organizational culture is a complex tapestry made up of attitudes, values, behaviors, and artifacts of the people who work for your nonprofit.”
• If you apply a collaborative, inclusive, participatory, and non-siloed approach to introducing program evaluation, your chances of increasing buy-in grow considerably
• Only collect data that you will actually analyze and synthesize into actionable data and that is likely to influence decision-making
• A program evaluation-friendly culture cannot be ‘mandated’, on the one hand
• On the other hand, the role of culture ambassadors – people who already are in favor of program evaluation – is important in instilling an evaluation-friendly culture
• What's also important is the role of organizational ‘heroes’, and the use of stories, images, and narratives, while organizational artifacts (tangible objects that can be seen around the organization) can be used to signal a desired culture.

Quote:

•  “By gathering data, nonprofits can pivot from a reactive stance to a proactive one, by acting on the data gathered”

Resources:

• Chari’s LinkedIn Profile
• Website of ‘Evaluation into Action’
• Book ‘Nonprofit Program Evaluation Made Simple’

Summary

What are the main benefits of a network structure, where power, authority, and leadership are dispersed and shared across regions, from an effectiveness perspective? 

What are the most important enabling habits, practices and behaviors that go with that, as a change leader?

And what are the most valuable network-related frameworks, concepts, resources, and tools at work in moving towards this structure?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Anu Kumar, President and CEO at Ipas, on the why, the what, and the how of changing an organization from a hub and spoke to a horizontal NGO model.

Anu's Bio:

• President and CEO at Ipas
• Former Chief Strategy and Development Officer as well as Executive Vice President at Ipas
• Senior Program Officer, Program on Global Security and Sustainability, Population and Reproductive Rights, MacArthur Foundation
• Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation
• Social Scientist in Human Reproduction, WHO

We discuss: 

• Ipas is the leading technical org that advocates for access to contraception and abortion services, globally
• Traditionally, Ipas has had a hub-and-spoke organizational model, like many traditional NGOs
• A strategy change – for Ipas to contribute to a sustainable global contraception and abortion access ecosystem – demanded that countries would take over much of the lead in Ipas. So form followed function
• Ipas started its change towards a network model by defining what decentralization meant for itself
• It then defined shared leadership as its management model, and articulated change behaviors, practices, and management set-up as required next steps
• Subsequently, it changed its structure to that of a network in which the US no longer was the primary member, and a Network Leadership Group, a Staff Community Council, and a NetCare group were formed -- the latter nurtures the network
• Ipas explicitly chose not to become a (con)federated organization and to remain a corporate hierarchical structure
• As a next step, it adopted horizontal decision-making for some of its decision-making on budget aspects and recruitment
• Adopting a horizontal management approach does *not* mean there is no hierarchy anymore: the CEO, CFO, and a few other executive leaders still have some positional power, but their  realm of decision-making is now reduced
• Decentralized decision-making means faster decision-making; more cross-country collaboration is also happening that's not involving the US.
• Role clarity is still an issue to be improved upon. On the other hand, global coherence was facilitated through a codified collaboration agreement
• Ipas' board, still based in the US, retains fiduciary responsibilities, so compliance continues to be important

Resources:

• Anu's LinkedIn Profile
• Ipas Website
• LinkedIn article on Ipas change approach by Anu Kumar
• Bridgespan consulting group article on Re-imagining Multi-Country NGO Operating Models
• Samantha Slade’s book was informative for Ipas's change journey: Going Horizontal

YouTube 

Summary

Conflict within our organizations: we often don't really want to face them, but they are very much there. The result? Plenty of passive aggression to go around. 

What are the implications of such forms of conflict avoidance?

In other NGOs on the other hand -- especially in the last few years it seems -- internal strife has come out into the open - sometimes spilling into the media in an unwanted fashion.

On another note: is interest-based problem-solving still a helpful approach to conflict management skill building, or not?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Daniel Genberg, one of the foremost consultants on NGO governance matters, on how conflict mediation can come to the rescue when nonprofits deal with internal strife.

Daniel's Bio:

• Independent advisor on governance issues; Daniel is one of the premier INGO governance advisers in fact
• Special Advisor for Not-For-Profit Organisations at Morrow Sodali (formerly Nestor Advisors), a consulting company on governance and sustainability
• Director of Governance, Amnesty International
• Head of Governance Development, ActionAid International
• Head of Governance and Accreditation at the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
• Anthropologist by training

We discuss: 

• Even though Daniel is called in to consult on governance issues -- both their structural and process dimensions --, behind these governance issues one often finds people, relationship, and power issues that truly drive the difficulties
• Thus, conflict mediation skills need to be part of the toolbox of a governance adviser
• Conflicts tend to revolve around 1/ resource distributions and who holds the (financial) resources; 2/ differences in view about strategic directions; and 3/ divergent understandings of the roles and authority of management vs. boards 
• In resource-scarce environments, conflicts tend to abound
• Important steps in mediation: 1/ abandon a win-loss attitude; 2/ it’s not always about compromise (i.e. mini-win, mini-loss); 3/ how can we grow the pie for everybody?; 4/ the importance of feelings; 5/ the need to be able to try out ideas without committing to them as yet; 6/ it is not the role of the mediator to create solutions; 7/ confidentiality; 8/ the use of a structured process with an outcome that prevents loss of face
• Do we see a rise in recent years of intra-organizational strife in civil society? Yes, there are more areas of tension, due to the gloomy financial prospects of many organizations, and power and authority structures that have been in place for decades.

Quotes

"Conflict mediation is not so much about getting out of conflict but about restoring relationships, listening skills, and learning and understanding how a situation looks like from the other side"

Resources:

Daniel's LinkedIn Profile

Morrow Sodali (former name Nestor Advisors)

Center for Effective Dispute Resolution

CIVICUS Essay Tosca on NGO sector scandals about abuse of power and the role of cultural issues

SSIR: The Upside of Conflict, with Joseph McMahon, Allen Fowler and Elizabeth Field

&nbs

Summary

What are some structural things that are wrong in development aid and in civil society?

Which mindsets most need to be decolonized when it comes to the relationship between global South civil society organizations (CSOs) and INGOs?

Global North-founded INGOs need to be reimagined. How, in turn, do global South-founded NGOs have to change to take over many roles that INGOs currently still fulfill? And how do they need to recalibrate their power relationships with INGOs?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Charles Kojo Vandyck, a development practitioner based in Ghana, a leader at the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), and a thinker on alternatives to development and alternatives to  INGO models.

Charles’ Bio:

• Development practitioner, based in Ghana, who is on a mission to drive transformative change within civil society
• Head of the Capacity Development Unit at the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI)
• Core team member, RINGO project – Reimagining International NGOs 
• Founding Member of the International Consortium on Closing Civic Space (iCon)
• Trustee of INTRAC and an Advisory Board Member of Disrupt Development
• Host of the podcast Alternative Convos, which focuses on social cohesion as well as social change in Africa. You can find Alternative Convos on Spotify

We discuss: 

• The West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI), based in Accra/Ghana, is a regional organization focused on civil society support and institutional strengthening
• RINGO project: the Reimaging the INGO project is a collaborative global project among civil society leaders to prototype new models of INGOs that shift power to the global South and equalize relationships between global South and global North NGOs as well as funders
• According to Charles, here are some of the problems with current models of development and aid architecture: a projectized approach to development;  local expertise of people is insufficiently recognized in project design; the ad-hoc and short-term nature of money flows; the presence of dependency cultures; lack of asset-based models to development (instead of  deficit-based ones)
• The policies and ways of working of INGOs have to be part of what needs to shift
• The RINGO project helps to identify areas of stuckness and develop prototypes for alternatives
• The hardest nuts to crack within the RINGO project are related to structural racism
• Global South NGOs also need to change their models: they need to invest more in talent development and succession planning, to help generational shift from founders to successors; develop their skills in intersectoral as well as intersectional approaches to development; and invest in technology skills.

Resources:

Charles’ LinkedIn Profile

Podcast Alternative Convos – on Spotify

WACSI Website

Reimagining the INGO Website

YouTube video of this podcast

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Summary

Leadership transitions are tricky -- and potentially risky -- moments in a nonprofit's life. What are the most common pitfalls or aspects that get overlooked when nonprofits -- and outgoing leaders themselves -- tackle such leadership transitions?

What key strategies and tactics are essential to ensure a smooth leadership transition and maintain organizational stability?

What are the habits, practices, and behaviors that are most aligned with a successful exit of an Executive Director?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Ignacio Saiz,  who transitioned out of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) some 2 years ago, on the right way to do this.

Ignacio’s Bio:

• Senior Advisor on Human Rights, Economic Justice, and Strategic Leadership
• Former Executive Director at the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
• Ignacio also held various managerial and leadership roles at Amnesty International, including Director of Policy Programs, Deputy Director for the Americas, and other roles

We discuss: 

• How planned transitions should be seen as an opportunity
• Written transition plans help in avoiding miscommunication, and in allocating clear roles and responsibilities for how to deal with the transition, while clarifying the timeline as well
• A comprehensive communication strategy is vital: outwards (towards donors/funders, peers/partners), as well as inwards (towards staff, board, advisory councils, volunteers etc.)
• Participation of staff is vital. One mechanism can be representation of 1-2 staff in the Board recruitment committee, as long as the organization is  very clear though about staff's decision rights vis-a-vis  the selection of the successor 
• Outgoing leaders often underestimate the anxiety that may occur among staff and some board members -- especially if their  tenure has been long
• Whether the outgoing leader plays any role in the organization beyond their tenure is a very tricky and highly contextualized  decision, and needs to be carefully negotiated between the outgoing and incoming leaders. Most importantly, this must be completely steered by the needs and preferences of the incoming leader.

Quotes:

• “Boards need to realize top leadership transition involves more than a recruitment”
• “Planned leadership transitions should be seen as a shared opportunity, not a cause for concern”
• “Transition takes at least two years, and has to include the transition-in period when the incoming leader needs active support”

Resources:

Ignacio’s LinkedIn Profile

Ignacio's blog post on the matter (note links at the end to two good additional resources)

YouTube video of this podcast

Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.

Or email Tosca at [email protected] if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities.

You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: 

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