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NGOs (non-governmental organizations) sometimes see management as belonging in the corporate world, with little relevance to their organizations, be they citizens' groups, peace groups, environmental organizations or other interest groups. However, management is not about expensive consultants, buzzwords or the latest in corporate management chic. It is about making best use of resources, creating a good working environment and being the most effective NGO that you can. Most of it is just common sense.

NGOConnect Africa provides a social workspace for NGOs and everyone that wants to engage with them. Our focus is on how ICT can act as an enabler to assist NGOs with their work.

A new series of articles for non-technical decision makers of NGOs, to help them in making strategic ICT decisions for their organisations. The series will try to explain main strategic groups of ICT technology uses for NGOs in simple terms and provide some examples.The series is part of a new guide book that will be published on NGOPedia.org as wiki.

"This wiki is being developed into a resource for non-profit organisations in South Africa, giving insight into social media tools, and giving local examples of how these tools are being applied within this sector. The majority of this information stems from discussions and panels from the Sangonet '09 Conference held in Johannesburg and Cape Town in October. This wiki stems from workshops held in 2009 run by The African Commons Project in collaboration with Sangonet, providing training to NGOs on how to use social media to have conversations with their constituents and stakeholders. Thus, this wiki space includes the outline of the workshop, content, resources, and practical sessions attached to each workshop. "

This toolkit written by J.Shapiro and published by CIVICUS shows how to plan, research and write a funding proposal and the follow-up required once it is written and sent off. It has been written for those of us who doesn't have much experience and confidence in proposal writing. It provides advice on: (1) knowing about donors such as their goals and concerns and details of the application process, (2) knowing your own organisation,its identity is and track record, (3) identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, (4) what to put into your proposal and how to write one, (5) following up your application, and (6) maintaining a donor relationship once funds have been granted. PDF Document is available from CIVICUS

"Online collaborative knowledge tool for and by non-governmental organisations in Africa. "

Many organizations have approached the social web and new technologies from different angles during the last years. Large organisations have engaged in one or another way, in social media. But did they fully embrace the participatory web? This post takes a look at how development organisations have approached the social web and where the status quo stands.

The Internet has opened up many possibilities for rights advocates. In order to make the best use of the online world for their campaigns, however, advocates need to know what services are available, how they can be used in an advocacy campaign, who owns them and their hidden dangers. The Quick 'n Easy Guide to Online Advocacy developed by Tactical Tech, aims to expose advocates to online services that are quick to use and easy to understand. The guide provides descriptions of online services including social networking sites, image and video hosting services, and services that enhance an organisations web presence. The guide also offers advice on where and when to use these services. Case studies, security concerns as well as the advantages and disadvantages of various web services are discussed, with the aim of improving advocates ability to conduct online advocacy campaigns. The internet services listed in the guide covers four main areas in which advocates operate: informing and communicating; documenting and visualising; mobilising and coordinating; and bypassing and accessing. (Source: Sangonet)

Akshaya Patra offers many fundraise with us options and the opportunity to come up with unique ideas for fundraising. Several kinds of communication materials and collaterals are readily available to enable the process.

"Mobile technologies helped people or organisations to jump into information technology bandwagon especially in rural Africa where there was little or no previous infrastructure. As mobile phones and related technologies are gaining more and more popularity, innovative people are finding more ways to benefit from them. There are so many applications in this area that are worth to mention that this article wouldn't be enough to cover. So we are going to look into a few common mobile application examples that are utilised by non-profit organisations only. "

"This report looks at innovation in the use of technology along the timeline of crisis response, from emergency preparedness and alerts to recovery and rebuilding. It profiles organizations whose work is advancing the frontlines of innovation, offers an overview of international efforts to increase sophistication in the use of IT and social networks during emergencies, and provides recommendations for how governments, aid groups, and international organizations can leverage this innovation to improve community resilience. "

Online project management tools enhance productivity and transparency. Project management can easily become chaotic and not very efficient whether you are part of a team or of an organization. If you were planning to enhance remote collaboration, an Intranet or document management system was so far a good choice. Online project management tools go beyond that and allow decentralized collaboration between co-workers, thus project planning and implementation get more transparent and productive.

"Access to and the strategic use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) have been shown to have the potential to help bring about economic development, poverty reduction, and democratisation. This report examines the potential of ICTs for advancing democracy and empowerment. "

"This innovative programme is a foundational course on economic and social policies to promote equity and child rights. The topics covered include: the human rights-based approach to development; equitable macroeconomic and sector policies; public finance and social budgeting; multidimensional poverty; social protection, migration and climate change. "