Today celebrates World NGO Day, dedicated to recognise and honor the work of all non-governmental (NGO) and non-profit (NPO) organisations around the globe, as well as the people behind them.
The day, celebrated in more than 89 countries and across six continents, aims to inspire people to collaborate and become more actively involved within these organisations and encourage a greater symbiosis between NGOs and both the public and private sectors.
Globally, NPOs and NGOs have increasingly been filling an important gap to provide basic services in communities.
The fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of climate change and growing numbers of war refugees are blurring the lines between development and humanitarian response and have put the needs and trajectories of local development organisations at risk.
Several macro-economic factors furthermore translated into a decline in government spending, and we see NGOs and NPOs operating in the cracks of the current system, progressively stepping in where government support is either limited or non-existent.
In most instances, this is representative of the failure of the state, impacting the real and critical mandate of these organisations to act as advocates of social change and transformation.
According to the Department of Social Development (DSD), there are currently over 167 000 registered NPOs operating in South Africa, while in 2020 there were around 200 000 registered NGOs in our country.
This number represents an increase of over 200% over the last ten years, as highlighted in a Kagiso Trust review of this sector.
“The growing number of organisations contributes towards increased competition for funding, and we concur with the Systems Innovation team at UCT’s Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship that this limits the social impact within the sector,” states Mara Glennie, the CEO and founder of the TEARS Foundation.
NGOs are placed under significant pressure to deal with expectations from funders, whilst delivering high social impact and positive outcomes.
“The current state of affairs leads to silo behaviour; low levels of collaboration; and increasingly we have to work within the confines of restricted and often very inadequate funding,” says Glennie.
Data from 2022 "esearch conducted by Humentum, a global organization focused on improving how non-profit organisations operate, revealed how some funders trap their grantees in a “starvation cycle”.
This is done by explicitly only covering programmatic costs and not the indirect yet critical administrative or so-called overhead costs such as financial systems, skills training and human capital associated with delivering a programme and can, in some instances, lead to the mismanagement of organisations.
When asked about the main impact of restricted cost coverage, two-thirds of respondents participating in the Humentum research said they were unable to attract or retain quality staff with adequate knowledge and experience to implement and fulfil their mission.
“Hence, there rests a great responsibility on funders to use their relative power to shift towards more equitable and less objective funding practices. Funders also need to do more to break this “starvation cycle”, by covering the actual indirect costs of grantees according to an agreed-upon methodology, thereby enabling them to become more financially resilient. I believe funders also have a role to play in strengthening the financial management, negotiation and fundraising skills of their grantees through training and coaching. This will drive internal accountability and will go a long way to building mutual trust and making an impact,” says Glennie.
On this World NGO Day, Glennie urges local non-profit and non-governmental organisations to break down the silos and start collaborating.
“We need to shine a light on the need for better collaboration to find more effective and sustainable solutions to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls,” Glennie says.
She also urges organisations to register with DSD in compliance with the NPO Act, 1997 (Act No 71 of 1997).
This is done to ensure that the involvement of non-state actors is well structured and coordinated. Unregistered organisations can make use of NPO Assist, a free platform that’s been created to connect NPOs with accountants and tax practitioners.
Glennie recalls how she started TEARS from her dining-room table, after she healed from many years of intimate partner violence, with only a phonebook and 2 university students to help her.
“I soon realised that to become sustainable, I had to comply with DSD’s registration requirements and adhere to relevant international financial reporting standards and protocols. While registration is voluntary, it is worth remembering that donors often ask to see a registration certificate, even if you are a small NPO like TEARS. It provides some confidence that the organisation has been properly set up and that compliant management structures and outcome and impact measurements have been put in place.”
Since its humble beginnings in 2012, TEARS has helped more than half-a-million victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, rape and child sexual abuse across South Africa, and has reached some 44-million people through its public service education campaigns and initiatives. Glennie and her team have won several awards, including an MTN Award for Social Change; a Gold Stevie Award for Women in Business; and a Silver Award for Service Excellence in the Social Transformation and Social Development category in the Gauteng Premier’s Service Excellence Awards.
TEARS also recently launched Speak Up, a digitally driven, age-appropriate, and free education platform that’s available 24/7 to educate adolescents, , about teenage pregnancy, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the occurrence of rape and sexual abuse. Speak Up recently received recognition as a successful innovation concept at the annual tt100 Business Innovation Awards ceremony.
“The greatest reward remains simply knowing that young women and girls in South Africa have somewhere to turn to, someone to talk to, someone to share the pain and lead the way towards healing,” she concludes.
If you, or someone you know has been raped or abused, dial *134*7355#, it’s free, 24/7.
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