The third level organizations comprise of organizations that are often referred to as “Umbrella Organizations” or “Network/s” or “Federations”. The umbrella and federations are characterised by: a) they are made up of groups of organizations called members that agree to work together and collaborate along thematic or geographical lines; b) they operate at national level with their
headquarters located in urban areas; and c) they are formally organised, in that they are licensed to operate within the laws of the country. In addition, these umbrella organizations provide services to support and strengthen the management and institutional capacities of member NGOs (The Commonwealth Foundation 1995;
Wong et al 2012).
i. Characteristics of third level category organizations.
About networks, although they share some of the characteristics of third level entities, Bhose (2003) differentiates them from the other types within the group by suggesting that, they are largely informal groupings with limited purpose and time bound groups of NGOs working together to achieve a common concern.
These organizations operate as a forum or platform for: i) Bringing together experiences from different contexts to address concerns or issues that are more successful when tackled collectively and from a wider perspective; ii) Mobilizing fundraising activities jointly, under a single name, i.e. that of the umbrella
organization and share the funds accordingly based on the agreed ‘redistribution key’; iii) Collaborate and exchange information on know‐hows; iv) Easy consultation and communication on familiar terms between and amongst member organizations;
and v) Coordinating interventions on the ground to avoid duplication (Endo 1996;
Similon 2015).
Examples of prominent organizations under the third level category include:
the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), whose members are NGOs involved in poverty reduction activities; the Non‐Governmental Organizations Coordinating Committee (NGOCC), whose members are women‐led NGOs working together to promote gender equality and equity; Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA), whose members promote secure access to and control of land resources for marginalised and disadvantaged groups (Corella et al 2006; CIVICUS 2010).
ii. The strengths and weakness of third level organizations.
The positive features of umbrella organizations include:
a) Positive relations with the government and donors: In her research on the CSOs in Zambia, Fiedler‐Conradi (2003) established that most umbrella organizations have a memorandum of understanding with the government and donors, an important feature that has increased their credibility, recognition and public confidence. Experience from elsewhere, shows that positive relations with the government and donors enables, particularly newly established and smaller NGOs to have greater visibility for them to raise public awareness and increases their opportunity to secure funding, which they would otherwise be unable to raise on their own, due to rigorous application requirements and strong competition for funding (Wong et al 2012).
b) Widespread and diverse membership mobilised on thematic basis: The umbrella framework gathers together a diverse membership from different environments and projects that are spread across the country, which is suitable for cross‐
fertilization of ideas and information exchange, and is particularly important during coordinated appeals (Similon 2015).
c) Strength in collective action and geographical distribution: Umbrella
organizations have the ability to mobilize their large membership that is spread national‐wide, to construct a strong and coherent fight against, for example, gender inequality, violence against women and girls, and increased poverty, amongst others (NORAD 2014). Further, the umbrella organizations can use the strength of numbers of their membership to pressure government to act, on for example, some governance issues affecting the country, such as revision of the constitution and the incorporation of relevant international laws on promoting gender equality, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) gender protocol.
d) Joint fundraising under one name: Similon (2015) identifies the rise in the number of NGOs as contributing to increased competition for funding. She further states that in many cases, competition for funds often becomes harmful and wasteful due to increased advertising campaigns that in turn negatively affect collaboration and coordination (Similon 2015, citing Rose‐Ackerman 1982).
Hence, she suggests coordination and joint fundraising under a single name, that of the umbrella organization, as a solution.
iii. Weaknesses of third level organizations
However, despite these strengths, umbrella s do have loopholes and lacunae that include: organization:
a) Large membership competing for funds from donors: Although increased membership is a strength, it is also a weakness, especially amongst women‐
led NGOs in Zambia. Corella et al (2006) established that umbrella
organizations often have difficulties sharing the received donor funds among a variety of organizations, comprising larger and smaller NGOs; experienced and inexperienced; rural and urban based NGOs. This challenge is what weakens members’ long‐term solidarity (Corella et al 2006).
b) Lack of ownership by the members and grassroots: Since umbrella
organizations consist of groups of NGOs organized under a single name, it is difficult for the grassroots to hold the umbrella organization accountable. In addition, some coalition members still prefer to maintain their own
organizational labels rather than assume the collective group identities when working together, especially in, as much as, the umbrella organization often fails to completely eliminate competition between and amongst the
membership.
c) Quality and quantity of services: The fact that most umbrella organizations do not have a limit on the number of insitutions they can accept as members, means that some are over subscribed i.e. have too many members against their capacity to manage them. Such a situation affects the quality and quantity of services to their members. In addition, provision of services is usually weakened by the umbrella organization’s lack of systems and
procedures for managing a variety of organizations working together towards a common purpose.
d) Difficult to mobilize rapid action and common priorities: Experience in literature shows that during emergencies such as disasters, umbrella organizations have difficulties to organise rapid action on urgent
humanitarian crises. Although this example does not reflect the Zambian situation, it provides one of the common challenges of umbrella
organizations as illustrated by Similon. Similon (2015:98) illustrates this point by highlighting that in 2006 Red Cross‐Belgium and Flanders withdrew
membership from the ‘ Belgium Consortium for Emergency Relief’21 after experiencing difficulties working together to promptly respond to urgent emergency relief actions during, for example, the 2004‐2005 Asian tsunami and the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Further, she asserts that, although each of the five organizations had specific actions and programmes, together they lacked shared priorities and common skills and knowledge to deliver programmes in unison. However, McEntire (1998) and Similon (2015) document that the continuous rise in numbers of NGOs is increasing competition for donor funding, thereby creating the need for coordination, transparency and accountability.
iv. Discussion on umbrella organizations
Umbrella organizations are thus formed with the objective of pulling together several NGOs along thematic lines to, for example, fund‐raise under one name and to provide a platform for coordination. However, experience shows that, because of the scale at which they operate and diversity in membership, umbrella organizations have strengths, as well as, weaknesses. The scale at which umbrella organizations work, is what enables different member organizations to fundraise together, allowing donors to have a single face and to reduce administrative costs (NORAD 2014). Members, in particular, new and small NGOs, also benefit from collaboration with those that are large and more experienced through, which they can share expertise and exchange information. Furthermore, collaboration is more important, especially when they have to unite to form a formidable front to tackle issues of common concern or when launching national appeals. In contrast, the scale at, which umbrella organizations operates, also creates a number of lacunae such as
21 The Belgium Consortium for Emergency Relief was a union of five organizations namely:
UNICEF Belgium, OXFAM Solidarity, Handicap International Belgium, Red Cross (Belgium and Flanders) and Caritas International Belgium. Although these five organizations has their own individual areas of activity together they worked in cooperation and emergency aid where the endeavoured to share similar ideals of increasing efficiency on the ground and greater visibility when fundraising (Similon 2015).
difficulties in establishing common priorities, since some members sometimes prefer to maintain their own identities and interests, at the expense of common aims.
3.9. CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this Chapter, I have explored the concept of NGOs in order to understand context of their historical development and how they ascended to prominence during the late 1980 and early 1990, becoming the most preferred conduit for international development aid, thereby substituting the centralized government’s role in public social service provisioning.
The strengths and challenges of NGOs are explained. Examples of strengths include their innovation, flexibility and ability to reach poor people cost effectively and efficiently, while challenges are related to their dependence on donor funding, and lack of coordination resulting in duplication of efforts. The other weakness is the fact that their impact is usually small and localized.
Acknowledging the diverse types and mandates of NGOs that exist, for the purpose of this Thesis, I have concentrated on development‐orientated
organizations‐ such as those that promote community development. NGOs have been defined as having characteristics such as being independent from government control, benevolence in purpose and non‐profit orientation. It is such
characteristics that enabled the NGO understudy to implement community
development activities in harsh environments such as those found in the Gwembe Valley as will be explained in detail in Chapter Eight.
After reviewing the general literature on NGO, I have then, reviewed Zambia’s political and economic development before and after independence, to understand and explain the context through which NGOs have evolved in Zambia.
The composition and purpose of three categories of NGO strata being the grassroots, intermediary (where local NGOs such as the type under study are located) and the federation or umbrellas are explained. The study on NGOs in this Chapter is aimed
at providing a foundation for understanding the influence of NGOs, through the case study of HHZ, upon the long term outcomes of involuntary community resettlement in Zambia, ethnography of which, is provided in detail in Chapter Eight of this Thesis.