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The virtuous spiral: a guide to sustainability for NGOs in international development
Habitat International 27 (2003) 159–161
Book review The virtuous spiral: a guide to sustainability for NGOs in international development Alan Fowler (Ed.); Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, 2000, xiii+225pp, price d14.95 Non-Government Development Organizations, or NGDOs, have become popular in the past decade for most donor agencies and now even financial institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank refer them as ‘‘partners’’. NGDOs are dedicated to the lofty ideals of ending poverty and injustice in developing countries. Responding to failures of government responses to poverty alleviation and free from stifling bureaucratic controls, NGDOs have been creative in many instances to develop innovative strategies to end poverty and injustice. But this is in a limited way. Of course governments, aid agencies and even financial institutions such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank have similar ideals concerning the elimination of poverty and injustice, but they are not doing something right. Bilateral aid agencies and financial agencies in the past few years have recognized the contributions that NGDOs have made to poverty reduction and increased their support to NGDOs, basically to enhance their capacity to deal with the problems on a wider scale. But the problems of poverty and injustice are huge and complex. Can NGDOs really eliminate poverty? Are they capable of delivering on such a lofty ideal? They have been innovative and often successful at the micro level? What about the macro level—what happens when they try to upscale their efforts to reach a wider coverage? Can they be sustainable? And what is the role of governments and the international community in eliminating poverty and injustice? Alan Fowler’s book The Virtuous Spiral: A Guide to Sustainability for NGOs in International Development examines these and many other questions relating to NGDOs and their sustainability. There is a growing body of knowledge that analyzes NGDOs and their efforts from different angles—program content and their impacts, management styles, resources, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, etc. Fowler’s contribution in this volume is that he has bought these issues into one volume and looked at them from a sustainability perspective. He has touched all the major issues that affect NGDOs and placed them in ‘‘a virtuous spiral that links three dimensions of sustainability—external impact; human and financial resources; and the invisible features that keep an organization healthy, relevant and viable’’. Fowler accepts that NGDOs are an essential part of the development game. It is assumed that governments have failed on poverty alleviation and delivering justice and therefore NGDOs are going to deliver on their lofty ideals. But the reality is that many NGDOs are not always the saviours that some assume they are. In fact they can become part of the international system that perpetuates injustices and poverty. And the book being a guide for NGOs in International Development is basically is about how to be better actors in the game.
160
Book review / Habitat International 27 (2003) 159–161
The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at what is sustainable development and what interventions promote sustainable local impacts. And the third chapter develops a framework in which indicators for sustainable development can be developed. The second part examines in depth the whole issue of how does an NGDO maintain its activities. What different strategies do NGDOs employ to secure their financial resource base? Fowler places much of this discussion in the context of resource dependency theory. On one hand there is an increasing amount of money available to NGDOs and there is danger of them being tied to official aid. This makes them vulnerable to policy changes and hence puts their program and sustainability at risk. So what do NGDOs do in order to survive? Do they open themselves up to their own government funding, when it is available? If they do so will this compromise their independence and autonomy? Will they be used for political expediency? How sustainable will this be? On the other hand should the NGDO become a commercial enterprise where its profits are used to sustain its development programmes? Fowler examines all these questions and the trade offs in the different strategies with many examples from the field. The third part looks at institutional sustainability in terms of regeneration and the viable organization. Here Fowler examines the most vital aspect of NGDOs—the institution itself. How do they keep themselves relevant, viable and agile? Learning is a key ingredient. Fowler examines learning in the NGDO context and how it happens and how it does not happen or fails to happen. Institutional sustainability depends a lot on its leadership and Fowler devotes a chapter to the quality of leader in an NGDO context and importantly how they prepare leaders to take over from them, to keep the organization relevant and agile. According to Fowler the objective of the book is straightforward. It is to share experiences and learning from within the NGDO community on sustainability. He goes much beyond the common misconception that many have of NGDOs sustainability and that is equating it with financial independence and organizational survival. But for this to happen, Fowler explains NGDOs sustainability is all about a particular type of organizational capacity identified as ‘‘insightful agility’’. This is defined as the ability to adapt and adjust in an increasingly unstable, unpredictable and chaotic world in a purposeful way. He labels organizational sustainability as ‘‘regeneration’’. The word is deliberately chosen because it is a dynamic and active concept that ensures relevance and viability. The whole book is peppered with examples of a wide variety of well-known and not so well known NGDOs and how they deal with sustainable development issues. He examines what NGDOs across the world are thinking and doing in terms of sustainability. I found the subtitle of the book, which states: ‘‘A Guide to Sustainability for NGOs in International Development’’, quite confusing. The examples Fowler uses are local organizations, generally large ones such as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which has over 20,000 people employed. No doubt these NGDOs are linked to international development agencies and aid, it is their interventions, management styles, strategies and methodologies that Fowler examines from a sustainability perspective. Did Fowler choose this subtitle to target donor and aid agencies and others in the international development field, knowing fully well that they wield enormous power in the development game? Often it is the Western or Northern aid and donor agencies that set the development agenda for NGDOs in the South. Fowler’s book is important to all development practitioners, both local NGDOs as well as those in donor and aid agencies. The book is written in an easy to read style that has a summary at
Book review / Habitat International 27 (2003) 159–161
161
the end of each chapter. Fowler hopes that the book serves as material for study programmes, training courses and internal reflections that help the NGDO community. It certainly should. Ken Fernandes 28 Wantirna Road Ringwood Victoria 3134 Melbourne, Australia E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 1 9 7 - 3 9 7 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 3 2 - 2
Book review The virtuous spiral: a guide to sustainability for NGOs in international development Alan Fowler (Ed.); Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, 2000, xiii+225pp, price d14.95 Non-Government Development Organizations, or NGDOs, have become popular in the past decade for most donor agencies and now even financial institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank refer them as ‘‘partners’’. NGDOs are dedicated to the lofty ideals of ending poverty and injustice in developing countries. Responding to failures of government responses to poverty alleviation and free from stifling bureaucratic controls, NGDOs have been creative in many instances to develop innovative strategies to end poverty and injustice. But this is in a limited way. Of course governments, aid agencies and even financial institutions such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank have similar ideals concerning the elimination of poverty and injustice, but they are not doing something right. Bilateral aid agencies and financial agencies in the past few years have recognized the contributions that NGDOs have made to poverty reduction and increased their support to NGDOs, basically to enhance their capacity to deal with the problems on a wider scale. But the problems of poverty and injustice are huge and complex. Can NGDOs really eliminate poverty? Are they capable of delivering on such a lofty ideal? They have been innovative and often successful at the micro level? What about the macro level—what happens when they try to upscale their efforts to reach a wider coverage? Can they be sustainable? And what is the role of governments and the international community in eliminating poverty and injustice? Alan Fowler’s book The Virtuous Spiral: A Guide to Sustainability for NGOs in International Development examines these and many other questions relating to NGDOs and their sustainability. There is a growing body of knowledge that analyzes NGDOs and their efforts from different angles—program content and their impacts, management styles, resources, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, etc. Fowler’s contribution in this volume is that he has bought these issues into one volume and looked at them from a sustainability perspective. He has touched all the major issues that affect NGDOs and placed them in ‘‘a virtuous spiral that links three dimensions of sustainability—external impact; human and financial resources; and the invisible features that keep an organization healthy, relevant and viable’’. Fowler accepts that NGDOs are an essential part of the development game. It is assumed that governments have failed on poverty alleviation and delivering justice and therefore NGDOs are going to deliver on their lofty ideals. But the reality is that many NGDOs are not always the saviours that some assume they are. In fact they can become part of the international system that perpetuates injustices and poverty. And the book being a guide for NGOs in International Development is basically is about how to be better actors in the game.
160
Book review / Habitat International 27 (2003) 159–161
The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at what is sustainable development and what interventions promote sustainable local impacts. And the third chapter develops a framework in which indicators for sustainable development can be developed. The second part examines in depth the whole issue of how does an NGDO maintain its activities. What different strategies do NGDOs employ to secure their financial resource base? Fowler places much of this discussion in the context of resource dependency theory. On one hand there is an increasing amount of money available to NGDOs and there is danger of them being tied to official aid. This makes them vulnerable to policy changes and hence puts their program and sustainability at risk. So what do NGDOs do in order to survive? Do they open themselves up to their own government funding, when it is available? If they do so will this compromise their independence and autonomy? Will they be used for political expediency? How sustainable will this be? On the other hand should the NGDO become a commercial enterprise where its profits are used to sustain its development programmes? Fowler examines all these questions and the trade offs in the different strategies with many examples from the field. The third part looks at institutional sustainability in terms of regeneration and the viable organization. Here Fowler examines the most vital aspect of NGDOs—the institution itself. How do they keep themselves relevant, viable and agile? Learning is a key ingredient. Fowler examines learning in the NGDO context and how it happens and how it does not happen or fails to happen. Institutional sustainability depends a lot on its leadership and Fowler devotes a chapter to the quality of leader in an NGDO context and importantly how they prepare leaders to take over from them, to keep the organization relevant and agile. According to Fowler the objective of the book is straightforward. It is to share experiences and learning from within the NGDO community on sustainability. He goes much beyond the common misconception that many have of NGDOs sustainability and that is equating it with financial independence and organizational survival. But for this to happen, Fowler explains NGDOs sustainability is all about a particular type of organizational capacity identified as ‘‘insightful agility’’. This is defined as the ability to adapt and adjust in an increasingly unstable, unpredictable and chaotic world in a purposeful way. He labels organizational sustainability as ‘‘regeneration’’. The word is deliberately chosen because it is a dynamic and active concept that ensures relevance and viability. The whole book is peppered with examples of a wide variety of well-known and not so well known NGDOs and how they deal with sustainable development issues. He examines what NGDOs across the world are thinking and doing in terms of sustainability. I found the subtitle of the book, which states: ‘‘A Guide to Sustainability for NGOs in International Development’’, quite confusing. The examples Fowler uses are local organizations, generally large ones such as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which has over 20,000 people employed. No doubt these NGDOs are linked to international development agencies and aid, it is their interventions, management styles, strategies and methodologies that Fowler examines from a sustainability perspective. Did Fowler choose this subtitle to target donor and aid agencies and others in the international development field, knowing fully well that they wield enormous power in the development game? Often it is the Western or Northern aid and donor agencies that set the development agenda for NGDOs in the South. Fowler’s book is important to all development practitioners, both local NGDOs as well as those in donor and aid agencies. The book is written in an easy to read style that has a summary at
Book review / Habitat International 27 (2003) 159–161
161
the end of each chapter. Fowler hopes that the book serves as material for study programmes, training courses and internal reflections that help the NGDO community. It certainly should. Ken Fernandes 28 Wantirna Road Ringwood Victoria 3134 Melbourne, Australia E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 1 9 7 - 3 9 7 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 3 2 - 2