Why does the tension seems so thick around UN agencies, bi-lateral aid agencies and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) these days?
It seems like everyone I work with feels stretched to their limits -- and beyond. In the last two weeks, I've been yelled at over the phone and email by more people than have ever done that in the rest of my life combined. And on Monday afternoon, I found myself blowing up at IISD's chief financial officer. Considering that I hardly ever get angry, I surprised even myself with that one.
So, I started thinking.... There's something systemic going on. This isn't about any one of us. But, what's behind the stress, the constant concern over money, the seeming inability to create long-term plans, the multi-tasking to the point of exhaustion?
Somewhere during my bike ride, it occurred to me that we are all being impacted by globalization, but we haven't realized it yet. For the last few years, we've all sat around discussing globalization and its effects as something happening to other people - largely in the private sector - but we didn't stop to see what was happening in our own sector.
Globalized systems of communication, technology and investment have fundamentally changed the international environment and development community - simultaneously pushing power to both higher and to more local levels.
UN and bi-lateral aid agencies are getting closer to being able to identify and support interesting projects and social entrepreneurs around the world in their particular areas of interest. They do not need INGOs to do this for them. And many have updated their grant-making guidelines to be able to provide funding directly to any country without the need for a Northern "sponsor" organization.
Simultaneously, southern INGOs have emerged with an incredible capacity to work at both the grassroots and international policy levels. With access to ICTs and funding, they have formed both civil society networks and multi-stakeholder partnerships to tackle pressing issues. They have also created entirely new forms of social enterprises that have challenged northern conceptions of what "development work" looks and feels like.
Over the last ten years, courtesy of globalization, UN agencies and bi-lateral aid agencies have seen their budgets slashed. Like most private sector companies, they've turned to technology to try to maintain/increase productivity per unit of labour. Many of them have done this very well. But, they've still had to downsize and lay off staff at a time when the demands on them to listen and communicate and learn and partner have skyrocketed. Their response has been to outsource project management and research/writing tasks to consultants and INGOs in the north. However, the topics of books, workshops, projects are largely determined by the agencies paying for them (in response to what they hear from their partners in the south). But they are a bit terrified because now they have to rely on people in other organizations to achieve their objectives… and they know that INGOs are juggling multiple contracts at any given moment in time.
Northern INGOs have had 2 choices:
a) Learn to oversee large-scale on the ground projects in the South in order to secure stable flow-throughs of funds and on-the-ground impact; this requires a solid understanding of (and collaboration with) local organizations and partners.
b) Become de facto adjunct staff of the aid agencies in order to influence the evolution of agendas on key sustainable development themes. It's easier, cheaper, and (often) more effective to hire INGOs as needed than to try to employ more staff in the aid agencies. It's easier to complete a project contract than to fire a staff member.
This has meant that northern NGO staff and consultants have become, in many cases, indistinguishable from UN and bi-lateral aid agency staff. They will continue to exist as independent entities as long as their project management costs are less than large aid agencies and that they can continue to be more flexible and risk-taking than the donors.
So far, so good. But where is the stress coming from? According to globalization theories - everywhere and nowhere. It’s the sense that no one is in control (e.g. the multilaterals certainly don’t feel secure with the increased pressures for public accountability and transparency in their operations). There is also a looming fear that doing well today doesn't mean you are going to survive tomorrow because you are now in direct competition with people EVERYWHERE around the world.
For the first time in my life, I realized that if I couldn't deliver on 6 projects simultaneously - both large and small, both ones I manage and ones I contribute to - someone else out there in the world would. It doesn't matter how long you've been working; it doesn't matter if you've kept your internal boss happy. The only thing that matters in a globalized world is to what degree are able to fulfill your promises each and every day to your external clients -- the people with the money and the people accessing your services. Slip for 1 week and you can lose your credibility. Slip for 2 weeks and there is a new niche organization that has cropped up and scooped the entire area of work from you.
Choose a very clear niche for your efforts because it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with the pace of change and new projects in multiple areas. Work as locally as possible. Partner broadly for impact. And keep every promise you make.
