helping hands helping hands charity helping hands: About NGO

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

About NGO

What is NGO Manager?

NGO Manager aspires to provide a comprehensive range of nonprofit management services to managers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including training courses and consultancy, and research on how to improve management capacity building. As of now, the NGO Manager website provides a selection of the best management tools and key articles which are available on the internet free of charge.The website is in response to the fact that NGOs often lack the means to provide adequate management knowledge and training to their managers. In addition, there are relatively few nonprofit support organisations that focus on management capacity building for NGOs, particularly in the South. As a result, the capacity and skills needed for the successful planning and implementation of projects are often insufficient, which can translate into an unsatisfactory impact and overall performance of the NGO.

NGO Manager helps managers of NGO to find practical solutions to the following challenges:

How to develop an organisational strategy, aims and objectives
How to create, promote and manage projects successfully
How to obtain funding and to use funds properly
How to manage human resources well
How to communicate an organisational aims internally and externally and how to plan and carry out a marketing strategy

What is an NGO?

NGOs: an NGO is best defined by describing what it is not:

· Non governmental:As the term indicates, an NGO is not a governmental organisation, therefore basically independant from governmental control; their governing boards are usually constituted by members of civil society who serve in a personal capacity.

· Non profit:The objectives of NGOs are non-profit. NGOs can generate revenues from their activities, but these go towards forwarding the organisation's goals. Essentially, an NGO does not belong to shareholders but to society at large.

In our view, non governmental (NGO) and nonprofit refer to the same organisations: the difference is more a question of geography. "NGO" is used by the United Nations, and generally used in the South. Nonprofit is generally used in the United States.

What is NGO management?

NGOs are active in a large number of fields: humanitarian, human rights, development, education, health, environment protection to name just a few. Yet despite this large diversity, many NGOs face common management challenges, such as:

· How to ensure best impact for beneficiaries

· How to obtain funding

· How to lobby governments for social change

· How to coordinate, cooperate and network with other NGOs

· How to plan, implement, monitor, evaluate, learn

· How to structure themselves, how to govern themselves

· How to work according to values and principles

· How to recruit and motivate volunteers

These common challenges are, in our opinion, what constitutes NGO management.

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CNN Hero: Pushpa Basnet

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- Pushpa Basnet doesn't need an alarm clock. Every morning, the sounds of 40 children wake her up in the two-story home she shares with them. As she helps the children dress for school, Basnet might appear to be a housemother of sorts. But the real story is more complicated. All of these children once lived in Nepal's prisons. This 28-year-old woman has saved every one of them from a life behind bars. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world -- according to UNICEF, 55% of the population lives below the international poverty line -- so it lacks the social safety net that exists in most Western nations. Space is extremely limited in the few children's homes affiliated with the government. So when no local guardian is available, an arrested parent often must choose between bringing their children to jail with them or letting them live on the streets. Nepal's Department of Prison Management estimates 80 children live in the nation's prisons. "It's not fair for (these) children to live in the prison because they haven't done anything wrong," said Basnet, who started a nongovernmental organization to help. "My mission is to make sure no child grows up behind prison walls." Basnet is one of several in Nepal who have started groups to get children out of prison. Since 2005, she has assisted more than 100 children of incarcerated parents. She runs a day care program for children under 6 and a residential home where mostly older children receive education, food, medical care and a chance to live a more normal life. Since 2005, Pushpa Basnet has assisted more than 100 children of incarcerated parents. "I had a very fortunate life, with a good education," Basnet said. "I should give it to somebody else." Basnet was just 21 when she discovered her calling, she said. While her family ran a successful business, she was studying social work in college. As part of her studies, she visited a women's prison and was appalled by the dire conditions. She also was shocked to discover children living behind bars. One baby girl grabbed Basnet's shawl and gave her a big smile. "I felt she was calling me," Basnet said. "I went back home and told my parents about it. They told me it was a normal thing and that in a couple of days I'd forget it. But I couldn't forget." Basnet decided to start a day care to get incarcerated children out from behind the prison walls. While her parents were against the idea at first -- she had no job or way to sustain it financially -- eventually they helped support her. But prison officials, government workers and even some of the imprisoned mothers she approached doubted that someone her age could handle such a project. "When I started, nobody believed in me," Basnet said. "People thought I was crazy. They laughed at me." But Basnet was undaunted. She got friends to donate money, and she rented a building in Kathmandu to house her new organization, the Early Childhood Development Center. She furnished it largely by convincing her parents that they needed a new refrigerator or kitchen table; when her parents' replacement would arrive, she'd whisk the old one to her center. Saved from a life behind bars Just two months after she first visited the prison, Basnet began to care for five children. She picked them up at the prison every weekday morning, brought them to her center and then returned them in the afternoon. Basnet's program was the first of its kind in Kathmandu; when she started, some of the children in her care had never been outside a prison. Two years later, Basnet established the Butterfly Home, a children's home where she herself has lived for the past five years. While she now has a few staff members who help her, Basnet is still very hands on. "We do cooking, washing, shopping," she said. "It's amazing, I never get tired. (The children) give me the energy. ... The smiles of my children keep me motivated." Coordinating all of this is no easy task. But at the Butterfly Home, the older kids help care for the younger ones and everyone pitches in with household chores. The atmosphere feels like an extremely large family, a feeling that's fostered by Basnet, who smothers the children with love. The children reciprocate by calling her "Mamu," which means "Mommy." "I don't ever get a day off, but if I [didn't] have the children around me, it would be hard," she said. "When I'm with them, I'm happy." Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2013 CNN Heroes All the children are at the Butterfly Home with the consent of the imprisoned parent. When Basnet hears about an imprisoned child, she'll visit the prison -- even in remote areas of the country -- and tell the parent what she can provide. If the parent agrees, Basnet brings the child back. She is still eager, however, for the children to maintain relationships with their parents. During school holidays, she sends the younger children to the prisons to visit, and she brings them food, clothing and fresh water during their stay. Ultimately, Basnet wants the families to reunite outside prison, and 60 of her children have been able to do just that. My life would have been dark without (Pushpa). I would've probably always had a sad life. Laxmi, 14 years old Parents like Kum Maya Tamang are grateful for Basnet's efforts. Tamang has spent the last seven years in a women's prison in Kathmandu. When she was convicted on drug charges, she had no other options for child care, so she brought her two daughters to jail with her. When she heard about Basnet's program, she decided to let them go live with her. "If Pushpa wasn't around, (they) could have never gotten an education ... (they) would have probably had to live on the streets," she said. "I feel she treats (them) the way I would." Tamang's oldest daughter, Laxmi, said she can't imagine life without Basnet. "My life would have been dark without her," said Laxmi, 14. "I would've probably always had a sad life. But now I won't, because of Pushpa." In 2009, Basnet started a program to teach the parents how to make handicrafts, which she sells to raise money for the children's care. Both mothers and fathers participate. It not only gives them skills that might help them support themselves when they're released, but it also helps them feel connected to their children. "Often, they think that they're useless because they're in prison," Basnet said. "I want to make them feel that they are contributing back to us." Making ends meet is always a struggle, though. The children help by making greeting cards that Basnet sells as part of her handicraft business. In the past, she has sold her own jewelry and possessions to keep the center going. Her biggest concern is trying to find ways to do more to give the children a better future. She recently set up a bank account to save for their higher educations, and one day she hopes to buy or build a house so they'll always have a place to call home. Their happiness is always foremost in her thoughts. "This is what I want to do with my life," she said. "It makes me feel (good) when I see that they are happy, but it makes me want to work harder. ... I want to fulfill all their dreams." Want to get involved? Check out the Early Childhood Development Center website at www.ecdcnepal.org and see how to help.