Marketing & Media trends
Industry trends
Sponsors
Trends
4 trends set to continue or be re-interpreted in the NGO sector
Innocent MasayiraStrengthening NPO skills and processes
Nazeema Mohamed, Feryal Domingo and Soraya JoonasSustainability is key for social investment in 2021
Keri-Leigh PaschalA bright horizon for South Africa's energy landscape
Barry BredenkampAchieving developmental goals through construction
Cyril Vuyani GamedeDigital solutions need small steps to succeed
Xanthe AdamsMining looks ahead to more Covid risk
Ralf HenneckeMining's year ahead will demand deep innovation
Frederick CawoodThe 4 themes for the new year
Andrew Duvenage,3 wealth management trends to watch in 2021
Maarten Ackerman4 strategies to rethink investing in SMEs
Kuhle MnisiMicroinsurance ready to reach new heights
Marius BothaFinding alpha in the age of Covid-19
Nema Ramkhelawan-BhanaPurpose or profit. It's not a choice
Mike MiddletonShifting towards a digital - but still human - approach
Henry van DeventerHealthcare innovation in 2021 and beyond
Reynhardt UysAre day hospitals the new trend?
Lee Callakoppen3 emerging medical scheme membership patterns
Nerine BrinkHealthcare innovations to look out for
Moshe LichtensteinWine in the wake of corona
Kristen Duff and Gosia Young7 prospects and necessary shifts for the arts
Rucera SeethalTech democratisation will set the tone for 2021
Andrew Smit and Johan WaltersAuction industry survival depends on going virtual
Joff van ReenenCovid-19 drives new trends in local property market
Marcél du ToitA bold year for beverages
Alex GlendayThe rise of D2C
Michael SmollanAcceleration of digital payments
Jonathan SmitSafety vs sustainability - the packaging industry's key conundrum
Nthabiseng MotsoenengThe evolving e-tail landscape
Vilo TrskaThe path forward for retail in 2021
Matthew Leighton
CSI & Sustainability jobs
- Office/Finance Administrator Cape Town
- Programme Evaluation Consultant Cape Town
- Programme Evaluation Consultant Cape Town
- Direct Sales Representative - Solar Cape Town
- Fundraising Manager Cape Town
- Strategy Consultant Cape Town
- Learnership Vereeniging
Advertise your job ad on Bizcommunity
Covid-19
#BizTrends2021: 4 trends set to continue or be re-interpreted in the NGO sector
This year, the NGO sector has by and large demonstrated its agility in response to the Covid-19 pandemic by pivoting quickly and assertively to developing needs among beneficiaries, while at the same time coping with lockdown requirements and new social norms associated with the pandemic, such as social distancing.
Innocent Masayira, senior sustainability officer, Salesian Life Choices |
Organisations that survived at the height of the strict lockdown regulations earlier this year demonstrated flexibility as the parameters and cost structures of how organisations worked began to shift. For example, many organisations consolidated their activities and the size of their workforce, which resulted in salary cuts and job cuts.
Meanwhile, organisations' ability to project a long-term view have been compromised by the uncertainty that the pandemic presents and instead organisations have had to orient their approach towards emergent strategies as a means of survival and relevance to the beneficiaries that they serve.
Courageous conversations
This kind of orientation requires that courageous conversations take place in the NGO sector, especially those organisations who will have survived the turbulent waters of 2020. Leaders and teams will have to open up to individual and collective vulnerability in order to get the insights and feedback that they need so that their sustainability and productive impact in society can be achieved. In other words, old ways of mechanistic measurement and evaluation that may have been the default prior to 2020 will need to be honestly interrogated by organisations in the context of the pandemic, which is expected to continue in 2021. Patterns of leadership that no longer serve and outmoded organisational structures can be expected to be challenged and even re-imagined because NGOs will be expected to make the transition from thinking about providing services efficiently, to thinking about and planning for organisational resilience so that services can reliably be provided.
However, NGOs are still mostly reliant on funding to keep going and the funding landscape in 2020 had been precarious and all indications are that funding pipelines are running dry. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the country’s economy and things will get worse before they get better, increasing the financial pressure that NGOs are under. As funds continue to deplete, major decisions will have to be made about who stays and who gets retrenched and programme managers may find themselves with the short end of the stick because they may be viewed as too costly than programme implementors. It is expected that organisations will continue to work with a skeleton staff and trim at the top because that’s within the organisational language of cost containment.
For example, the Covid-19 pandemic has proven that people are working productively from home and many organisations who have the means will be downsizing to support employees working from home, which will in turn increase productivity.
#BizTrends2021: Strengthening NPO skills and processes
As an important contributor of skills and research to the non-profit, higher education and philanthropy sectors, Inyathelo shares trends towards ensuring NPO sustainability in 2021...
Nazeema Mohamed, Feryal Domingo and Soraya Joonas 8 Jan 2021
Reduced activities
A further reduction in the number of NGOs operating in 2021 can be expected and it is anticipated that activities will be reduced and consolidated in order to sail through the worst of times.
It can be expected that some funders in the short to medium term will still channel their funds to their existing NGO partners, but they will reduce their contributions in the long term. The question that inevitably arises is, what about the continued survival of under-resourced NGOs who have always struggled to pay their employees on a month-to-month basis even before 2020? These NGOs are likely to close their doors in the new year and for good, if they have not done so already. When NGOs begin to close their doors, the beneficiaries they served will be left vulnerable. It is worth remembering that civil society, otherwise known as the third sector, has a significant presence in South African society, with over 220,000 NPOs registered with the Department of Social Development. During the pandemic, mission-driven NPOs served communities which government and businesses were unable to reach. NPOs are accessible to beneficiaries and have proven to be adaptable in response to the needs on the ground. When NGOs shut down, the invisible will become starkly visible - that is, the true reality of inequality of South Africa will become more visible. Many of those in need that NGOs have been providing services to will overburden already strained government resources.
Civil society’s role in building stability and growth cannot be underestimated and the sector has come up with novel ways to contribute to solving society’s issues. Donor efforts to keep the sector going should be intensified as the pandemic persists.
#BizTrends2021: Sustainability is key for social investment in 2021
Every year around this time, I write a blog that looks at the trends in the social investment space for the coming year. This year, that's a real challenge: in a world turned upside down by Covid-19...
Keri-Leigh Paschal 6 Jan 2021
Therefore, trends in the NGO sector that may well continue or be re-interpreted in 2021 includes:
- Providing employees with varied, adaptive and flexible roles so that they can be trained in new skills, thus increasing organisational resilience.
- Adapting organisational work culture to be more fluid and agile.
- Increase in remote working for employees to support productivity and cost containment.
- Organisational optimism in the face of uncertainty, including having courageous conversations about new ways of doing things, located in emergent strategies.
About the author
Innocent Masayira, senior sustainability officer, Salesian Life Choices
Don't miss BizTrends2021 - 8 keynote speakers forecast trends shaping business in our region! Register now!