Knowledge, Skills and Strategies
for Professionals

Essentials of NGO Management (5 days)

How to manage and lead an NGO

Courses in 2010

22-26 February, Geneva: Early bird fee available until 11 January; registration and payment deadline: 1 February
31 May-6 June, Bohol Island, Philippines: Early bird fee available until 19 April; registration and payment deadline: 10 May. Click here for the description of this seven-day course
29 November-3 December, Geneva: Early bird fee available until 18 October; registration and payment deadline: 8 November.

Course fee and registration

Early bird fee/full fee (course fee is calculated in Swiss Francs CHF, more information):
- Non-OECD: CHF 1450/1700, approx. USD 1250/1500
- OECD: CHF 1950/2200, or approx. USD 1750/2000

To register, please fill in this form and send it to us by email. For further enquiries, please contact us.

Overview

Successful NGOs provide high quality services to beneficiaries. Competition among NGOs in the delivery of services and in the acquisition of donor funding is rising. To achieve success, NGOs have to continually improve and professionalize their work, which puts more and more demands on the management and leadership of an organization.

This comprehensive introductory course provides you with core knowledge, practical skills and tools to manage and lead effectively a nonprofit organization. All course modules are presented by experienced specialists with both field and headquarter experience with many organisations in numerous countries. On day one, you first learn about the history and principal types of development cooperation and humanitarian aid, the main actors involved and their different approaches to development. You will then discuss perspectives and challenges of sustainable development. On days two and three, the focus is on Results-Based Management, which is the dominant management approach of most organisations and donors, and on the project cycle. You learn the basics of how to make a needs assessment, how to design and plan a project, and how to assess whether the project is on track and what is has achieved. Day four introduces you on how to prepare successful fundraising approaches and grant proposals. Day five is dedicated to fostering good communication, skilful leadership and professional human resource management - management is, in the end, "the art of getting things done through people" (Mary Parker Follet).

This course includes short lectures, many exercises, group work on case studies and facilitated discussions.

Click here to download the course leaflet (PDF format).

Who should attend

The course will benefit in particular:
  • Project and programme managers
  • Team leaders
  • Newcomers to the nonprofit sector
  • Consultants who carry out assignments for NGOs.
How you and your organisation will benefit - Learning Objectives

On this course, participants will be able to:
  • Become familiar with the history of development cooperation and humanitarian aid, learn about current international trends and challenges
  • Describe the principal types and instruments in international development cooperation
  • Understand the role and challenges of NGOs vis-a-vis the development concerns of the community
  • Become familiar with Results-Based Management
  • Learn the basics of project mangement: How to make a needs assessment, how to design and plan a project, and how to integrate monitoring into the project plan
  • Learn about the process of internal assessments and about the use of and main criteria for external evaluations
  • Understand how to select marketing tools for fundraising
  • Describe the different criteria of donor agencies in supporting a project
  • Learn how to structure and prepare a grant proposal
  • Become familiar with the principles of good communication and negotiations
  • Learn the basics of how to develop and lead a team and how to resolve conflicts
  • Gain insight into key criteria for successful human resource management.

Course programme

Day 1 Sustainable Development: Concepts and Perspectives
  • Development cooperation: From the Second World War to today
  • Principal types and instruments in international development cooperation: development aid, humanitarian aid, grants/donations, loans, budget support
  • Main actors in cooperation: States, UN, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral organisations, business companies
  • Current trends and challenges
Day 2 Results-Based Management and Project Cycle Management
  • Introduction and concept of Results-Based Management
  • Results-Based Management in programme and project planning
  • The project cycle
Needs Assessments
  • Aim of an assessment
  • Process of an assessment before, during and after a field visit
Day 3 Designing and Planning a Project
  • Step 1: Identifying and analyzing problems
  • Step 2: Deciding the overall strategy
  • Step 3: Defining the response
Project Monitoring and Evaluation
  • Monitoring: The three types of monitoring and their use
  • Internal Evaluations: The process
  • External Evaluations: When to proceed
Day 4 Fundraising and Grant Proposals

Institutional Readiness
  • Defining appropriate marketing tools
  • Developping a coherent fundraising mix
Grant Proposals
  • Identification of budget lines and donor expectations
  • Structure of grant proposals
  • Elaboration of a grant proposal, with good examples and exercises
Day 5 Communication, Leadership Development and Human Resource Management

Communication
  • Principles of good communication
  • Successful negotiations
Leadership Development
  • Building and leading a team
  • Conflict resolution
Human Resource Management
  • Human resources policy, staffing and salaries
  • Staff development

Individual consultation

As a participant, you can obtain an individual consultation from one of the trainers during the course on how to further develop a project of your own.

Course venue

If there are no management courses for NGOs in your country yet, please read about our partnership approach, the benefits for partner organisations and three simple steps to organize the training courses for NGOs in your community.

NGO Management School   Switzerland  Copyright 2009: Some rights reserved