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GW-INGOT
INGOT: The GWU International NGO Team
Coordinated by Prof. Jennifer Brinkerhoff (994-3598), Prof.
Stephen Smith (994-8086) and Prof. Hildy Teegen (994-1758)
GW-INGOT announces
a roundtable for Friday, April 8:
The Effectiveness of Multiplex vs. Specialized Approaches
to
Micro-Enterprise Development for Poverty Alleviation:
A GW International NGO Team (INGOT) Roundtable
Friday, April 8, 2005, 4-6 p.m.
Lindner Commons, 601 1957 E St. NW (ESIA Building)
Panel:
Moderator: Jennifer Brinkerhoff, GWU
Participants:
John Hatch, FINCA
Jay Banjade, Save the Children
Dan Norell, World Vision
Kelly Hattel, Microfinance Network
Discussants:
Stephen C. Smith, GWU
Hildy Teegen, GWU
The purpose of this roundtable is to
explore the question: what is the most appropriate organization
of NGOs, and their poverty programs, to maximize effectiveness
in terms of cost, reach, and scalability, specifically in
the area of microenterprise development? Three broad options
are to be explored:
- Integrated,
multiplex organizations and programs. Arguments in favor of
organizational or programmatic integration include taking
advantage of complementarities across activities, making
fuller use of organizations’ managerial capacity,
leveraging NGOs’ reputations as signals/screens for
donors, economies of contiguity, demand side effects (client
preference for single source providers; building on participant
trust of particular NGOs), barriers to information flow
across organizational boundaries, and flexibility to respond
to changing needs of program participants.
- Specialized,
limited focused organizations and programs. Arguments in favor of
organizational or programmatic specialization include: utilization
of comparative advantage, focusing on services that participants
most need, matching with donor specialization, and facilitation
of impact evaluation, and finally that while outcomes
such as credit and health may be complementarity, their
production may not be.
- Accessing
complementary services through partnership with other organizations
and programs.
This approach argues that effective partnerships
across specialist NGOs enables each to utilize their comparative
advantages while still accessing the complementary services
that may be needed by participants for sustainable poverty
alleviation.
In sum,
given the inherently multidimensional nature of poverty traps
(but the inherent limitations of organizations), under what
conditions should NGOs, and their development programs, in
particular, be specialized, under what conditions should they
be integrated, under one roof, and when should they pursue
partnerships? This roundtable focuses on microenterprise support
strategies, but in doing so hopes to also raise and begin
to address broader issues in NGO organizational strategy.
Participation
from the Washington area NGO/PVO community is encouraged.
Ample time will be set aside for general audience discussion.
INGOT Conference May 12-13, 2004 and June 7, 2004
On May 12-13, INGOT sponsored a conference on "The role of NGOs in attaining the Millennium Development Goals."
On June 7, INGOT presented the last part of the conference,
addressing the gender MDGs.
The program featured:
Paper Presenter: Caren Grown, Director, Poverty Reduction
and Economic Governance, International Center for Research
on Women
NGO Discussant (Southern Perspective): Kek Galabru, Founder
and President, LICADHO; Founder and Chair, Committee for Free
and Fair Elections in Cambodia; Founder and Chair, Cambodian
Committee for Women
NGO Discussant (Northern Perspective): Yolanda Richardson,
President and CEO, Centre for Development and Population Activities
(CEDPA)
Academic Discussant: Sharon Wolchik, Director of the Russian
and East European Studies Program, George Washington University
For the May 12-13 conference program, click here.
To see the conference schedule and related materials, you
may link to the INGOT conference
resource site; note that you have to follow the login instructions
carefully.
For the concept paper, click here.
Seminar Series.
GW NGO Working Group
February 9 Anthony Gambino and Naomi Cahn. “Towards a Typology of Corporate Responsibility in Different Governance Contexts.”
February 23 Larry Cooley and Richard Kohl, Management Systems International. “Scaling Up Successful Pilot Programs – a Framework for Analysis and Action.”
March 23 Derick and Jennifer Brinkerhoff, “International Development Management: Definitions, Debates, and Dilemmas”
March 30 Manuel Orozco, Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University.
April 8 INGOT Roundtable on Approaches to Effective Small and Microenterprise Support. Evening program, 1957 E Street, Room 602.
April
13
Manzoor Ahmed, BRAC, "BRAC as a Link between
Communities and Government in Bangladesh - The
Case of Education."
Seminars Fall 2004
GW NGO Working Group
September 22 William Cummings, “The NGO edge in providing basic education.”
William Cummings will discuss his recent review of the World Bank portfolio for basic education (1963-2004) and the findings related to NGOs.
November 10 Alnoor Ebrahim (Virginia Tech), “Linking Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations.”
Alnoor Ebrahim will present his recent research on the linkages between information systems and accountability in non-governmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs). The information systems in four NGOs are introduced: two Indian NGOs engaged in natural resource management and rural development, an education-focused nonprofit in urban Washington, D.C., and a rights-based transnational organization operating in over thirty countries. Despite the differences among these NGOs, they all face closely related challenges in developing information and accountability systems. The cases suggest that, for information systems to be useful for purposes of long-term social change, NGOs require indicators that are manageable in number and meaningful in content, information systems and technologies that are reflective of mission and values, and regular opportunities for innovation. This work also challenges conventional characterizations of NGOs as being dependent on donors for money. It argues that there is an interdependence in which funders rely on NGOs for information that builds their reputations. This interdependence provides an opening for NGOs to contest the nature of reporting and accountability to their donors.
November 17 Steve Commins, “The Role of NGOs in post-conflict service delivery.”
Steve Commins will discuss a framework he's developed for examining service delivery in post-conflict situations, particularly with respect to using sub-contracts with local NGOs and CBOs.
December 2 Charles Lusthaus (McGill University).
Dr. Lusthaus has just completed a review (evaluation) of a major environmental consortium which is starting a longer term program looking at how international agencies are creating, managing and evaluating partnerships. He will present his evaluation framework and its use in a wide assortment of organizations, as well as talk about this recent work. For more information on that framework see: www.universalia.com.
Seminars Spring 2004
GW NGO Working Group
Seminars take place on Wednesdays, 12:30-2 pm, in the ESIA building (1957 E Street, Room 303A), unless otherwise noted.
This series brings together GW faculty, researchers, and doctoral students to discuss research in progress related to international development NGOs, from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives. The series was founded by Stephen C. Smith, Economics; Hildy Teegen, International Business; and Jennifer Brinkerhoff, Public Administration. The GW International NGO Working Group is supported by the Elliott School for International Affairs, Institute of International Studies.
February 4. Hildy Teegen, “NGO Power and Influence in Intra- and Inter-Organizational Networks”
February 18. Kevin Healy, “Revitalizing Indigenous Cultural Heritage as a Development Resource in Bolivia: NGO Contributions Toward Changing the Development Paradigm”
March 3 Amitai Etzioni, “The Promise and Limits of
the Global Society.”
*NOTE: Room change for this seminar, 1957 E Street, Room 503.
March 24. Scott Holliday and Clyde Croswell, “The Paradox of Memory: Transforming Perspectives Through Awareness.”
April 7. Jim Williams, “Sustainability and Innovation in Basic Education Reform: The (Ongoing) Problem of Scale”
April 21, 12:30-2:00. Muhiuddin Haider will discuss, "Basic
Primary Health Service in Afghanistan: The Role of NGOs."
*MEETING IN MPA 603 (Media and Public Affairs building, 805
21st Street)
Wednesday, May 26. Johnston Birchall, University of Stirling
(Scotland), "The Role of Cooperatives in Achieving the Millennium
Development Goals."
*MEETING IN 1957 E Street Room 303A
GW NGO Working Group
Seminars Fall 2003
Tuesday, Oct. 14, Deborah Avant, GWU, "Conserving Nature in the State of Nature: Tragic Choices for INGO Policy Implementers"
Thurs., Oct. 23, 1-2:30pm, Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, BRAC University,
"BRAC Programs and Strategies: Poverty Alleviation and
Empowerment of the Poor,"
Commons, 6th Floor, 1957 E St.
Tuesday, October 28. Jennifer Brinkerhoff, Stephen Smith,
and Hildy Teegen (GW), "On the Role and Efficacy of
NGOs in Achieving the Millennium
Development Goals: A Framework for Analysis and Assessment,"
MPA building (805 21st Street, NW) in Room 601A
November 11 Lori Brainard and Jennifer Brinkerhoff. Digital Diasporas, Identity, and International Policy Processes – Findings from four papers. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Globalization. Location TBA. 12:30-2:00.
December 2 Darcy Ashman, TBA. Location: MPA 601A, 12:30-2:00
GW NGO Working Group
Calendar 2002-2003
October 24 Liesl Riddle, Export-Promotion Organizations in the Turkish Clothing Industry
November 14 Stephen Smith, “Blooming Together or Wilting Alone? Network Externalities, and the Mondragon and La Lega Cooperative Networks”
January 23 Lori Brainard and Jennifer Brinkerhoff, “Lost in Cyberspace: Shedding Light on the Dark Matter of Grassroots Organizations”
March 6 Rani Parker, Multinational corporation-local community relations for development. Dissertation proposal.
April 17 Stephen Commins, World Bank 2004 World Development Report