Walk Before You Run

It hasn’t all been fun and games since we arrived in Buenos Aires over 6 weeks ago. Final iterations of interviews are complete and things are getting interesting. As we begin to comb through the data gathered it’s clear that the priorities of the developing community are not highly correlated with the opportunities that exist. Yes, there is strategic interest in investing in infrastructure, shared development resources or streamlined processes! However, the general population places higher importance on training field staff to send emails, or even better, train them to send that email in English. There continues to be focus on rudimentary issues causing a tremendous sense of helplessness in their ability to manage day-to-day functions/operations. Implementing a strategy that changes the nature of basic functions like finance and procurement is overwhelming. The ‘misalignment’ is additionally complicated when leadership learns that the typical investment necessary to implement shared services is relatively large. In a perfect world, a corporation’s decision to realign strategies is uncomplicated – there is the initial estimated investment, expected returns/savings are calculated and benefits are immediately quantifiable over a payback period – this of course is a gross oversimplification. However, when dealing in the world of non-profit, this task becomes exponentially complicated. Donations instead of revenue are used for operations and special projects. Investment attractiveness is typically based on 2 key priorities 1) the immediate impact to the beneficiaries 2) the interests of the foundations and donators who fund the NGO. It is a quandary for our project team – will keep you all abreast of the progress and thinking here.