The role of non-financial support in locally led development

Launched in 2022 by the Ford Foundation, Weaving Resilience is an $80 million initiative for social justice civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Global South. The work addresses three core areas: institutional resilience, strategic relevance, and holistic well-being.

“Beyond funding, we believe if we provide non-financial support around particular areas, we create a more resilient civil society that can then address issues of inequality and injustice,” said Senior Program Officer Nicky LeRoux. “That’s what Weaving Resilience is about – the non-financial support our partners need for sustainable success.”

That approach – strengthening organizations by building skills and providing knowledge – exactly fits with Humentum’s approach, as well as their expertise.

“We heard from our larger partners — our quintessential recipient, if you will — that they needed help with how to manage finances professionally. Many have also grown, so they need additional skills, structure, and processes,” said Nicky. “We knew this was something Humentum had expertise with.”

Participants and process

As of early 2024, with two years left in the initiative, the “Weaving Resilience Resource Hub” had collaborated with 43 organizations: South Africa (20), Zimbabwe (11), Zambia (6), and Malawi (6). (Another 75 organizations are being onboarded to start the process from the beginning.)

The areas of focus are governance, financial management, and financial sustainability. To qualify, organizations complete a detailed profile and participate in an interview to assess capacity gaps and specific needs. (Those who needed help but didn’t qualify in 2022 were offered webinars on how to strengthen capacity.)

Humentum worked with each participant on:

• Individual skill-building 
  Using Humentum’s existing course catalog, each organization chose two participants to take financial management and financial sustainability courses.
• Complex problem-solving support  
  Consultants delivered comprehensive assessments of each NGO ’s unique needs, a customized action plan, and dedicated support over three months.
• Real-time resources  
  Humentum provided access to an online support desk and resource library, as well as complimentary one-hour coaching sessions with a consultant.
• Collaborative Community  
  CEOs and senior leaders from participating organizations engaged in a monthly community of practice webinar to facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges of insights and cultivate strategies for enhancing resilience.

Reasons for participating

Financial sustainability and financial management skills and processes topped the list for most participants to join the program, plus goals to:

• Enhance governance systems and board effectiveness
• Improve financial manuals to remove loopholes and create a comprehensive reference document
• Build donor confidence
• Scale and grow appropriately
• Strengthen internal controls

Organizational benefits

The list of benefits was long and individual, given each NGOs’ different pace and stage of growth. Some of the common themes around the benefits of being part of the Hub include:

• Board and staff input into the process to own it
• Improved financial skills, from budgets to reporting to monitoring
• Stronger board processes, from sub-committees to policies
• Access to a resource library of tools and templates to quickly create organization-specific policies

A different future

When looking to the future, even with continuing resource challenges, each NGO saw a clear path to progress.
In some cases, the work will involve updating policies (around fraud and anti-bribery, for example), while in others it’s a change in processes (how to work with the board and how to do due diligence on partners and potential funders).

For others, the changes involve a mindset shift as well. In future they will negotiate with donors, versus just taking what the donor offers, and put financial sustainability plans in motion to generate reserves.

Measuring results

Throughout the project, Humentum is monitoring progress and satisfaction. Organizations also reconvene with the lead consultant three months after concluding the online training or consultancy. For consultancy engagements, an action plan was developed at the project’s outset, with subsequent assessments gauging the tangible impact on each participating organization.

The ripple effect of weaving resilience

Given the positive results, what can the sector learn from initiatives like Weaving Resilience?
“This kind of hub has become very popular,” said Nicky LeRoux of Ford Foundation. “Funders can see that a blend of financial and non-financial support is needed to move the sector forward. Core support is critical. People cannot do the work if you just support project work all the time. It’s not just the funding, but how you’re funding.”

From Humentum’s perspective, they frequently see this tension between funding the project work versus funding the organization.

“We are constantly working with NGOs and CSOs on both the current situation – managing budgets, understanding costs, applying for funding like USAID – and building the future resilience they need,” said Moulaye Camara, project leader and Technical Director, Funding and Financial Systems at Humentum.

“We are happy to partner with funders like Ford who are looking at the larger system issues, and helping individual organizations build the skills and access the tools they need for sustained growth. It’s impossible to deliver on your mission when you’re living from donation to donation. That’s why we focus on operational systems.”

Download this flyer for an overview of the program.

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