When NGOs Collaborate: Progress and Challenges

Posted on 06 September 2010

By Sherine Jayawickrama

The lively exchange on NGO collaboration on this blog has me thinking about the variety of ways in which NGOs collaborate and coordinate, what drives them to do so, and what keeps them from collaborating more systematically.

NGOs (especially large humanitarian NGOs) and other actors in the international humanitarian system took a lot of flak in the 1990s for failures to coordinate. The past 10-15 years have seen an upsurge in collective efforts (from setting shared standards to developing advocacy coalitions and from establishing issue-based programmatic partnerships to engaging in joint fundraising).  I’m thinking of the following examples.

The Sphere Project was established in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement to define and then uphold standards to guide emergency response. The articulation of shared principles and standards was a complex, collaborative process.  The process of putting these standards into action and continuously updating the Sphere Handbook has shown real commitment to collective accountability. Other NGO initiatives like the Humanitarian Accountability Parnership (HAP International) and ALNAP have complemented Sphere by building mechanisms for increasing learning, accountability and self-regulation.

NGOs also collaborate to advocate for policy change and to build public support for global causes. The Global Campaign for Climate Action brings together environmental and development NGOs to campaign for actions to prevent catastrophic climate change. The ONE Campaign, which has mobilized broad public support, was preceded by the Better, Safer World Campaign which was founded by a handful of relief and development NGOs.  The Global Campaign for Education raises awareness and influences policy to increase access to education.  The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network advocates for more effective U.S. foreign assistance.

In the United Kingdom and some other countries (but not in the United States), NGOs have come together to consistently engage in joint fundraising through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

Donors like the Bill & Melinda Foundation have encouraged collaboration by investing in collaborative NGO efforts like the Hope for African Children Initiative and the Emergency Capacity Building project – and many institutional donors fund NGO consortia.

ANSO (the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office) was established by NGOs who combined their efforts to confront a complex and unstable security environment. This has served as a model in other insecure contexts.

That sounds like a lot of collaboration (and it is just the handful of examples that comes to mind) in a sector that is perceived to be uncoordinated and filled with organizations whose independent missions and governance structures allow them to march to their own tunes. What drives them to come together in so many different configurations?  I believe it is a combination of reasons, including:

• (in the advocacy arena) the recognition that unifying around specific issues and messages can draw more visibility, attention, access and influence
• (in standard setting) the understanding that NGOs are often painted with a broad brush and that a shared system of self-regulation and accountability benefits all concerned
• (in programs) the knowledge that organizations with complementary capacities, specializations and geographic reach working together can have deeper impact – and is an appealing proposition to donors

Broadly, collaboration stems from the recognition of shared mission and goals among various NGOs (as well as shared vulnerabilities) and the desire to find efficient ways to exploit these opportunities and mitigate these vulnerabilities.

I don’t mean the above examples of NGO collaboration to paint too rosy a picture, however. The reality of the “business models” of most NGOs is that they compete with each other for funding, and this competitive environment leads them to focus a lot of energy on work for which they can claim credit and brand as their own. 

The reality of short-term, project-based funding is that it puts the focus on “just getting things done” rather than on working collaboratively in each given context.  Add to that the reality of organizational culture in many NGOs, where staff are already over-stretched by their organization’s needs and priorities, and scarcely have time to think about collaborating and coordinating within a broader landscape.

Most NGOs have an explicit commitment to work in partnership, but how to do this genuinely, systematically and effectively (especially at the field level) remains a challenge for many NGOs.  Despite all the collaboration that does take place, I would argue that true advancement of the missions of these organizations requires much greater coordination and collaboration.

What more should be done to maximize collaboration? Are there realistic limits of collaboration? I would love to hear your perspectives. Guest posts are welcome! 

Sherine Jayawickrama manages the Humanitarian & Development NGOs domain of practice at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University and manages this blog. Contact her at sherine_jayawickrama@harvard.edu.