Strategy Workshop

Defining ICT Strategy
for decision makers of NGOs
a workshop by Potential Africa

(download PDF brochure)

“Excellent, well planned, relevant, action packed! Great presenters, great team… Well done and THANK YOU - exceeded my expectations and hugely valuable to AIDS Consortium and our work.”
Denise Hunt
AIDS Consortium

Every year more and more non-profit organisations are utilising Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to help them achieve their goals because:

  • ICTs are more readily available and cost less – increased supply
  • NGOs play a bigger dimension in a more complex, connected world – greater demand
  • Internet is a major driver,

However, there are some challenges:

  • NGOs don’t view ICT as directly related to the social actions and programmes – so they get lesser priority
  • NGOs have difficulty identifying appropriate ICT solutions for the sector
  • NGOs have trouble evaluating the resources allocated to ICT since the financial measures won’t generally work.

These challenging views are also shared by the funders and donors of NGO programmes and make them reluctant to fund these investments. The main problem for the decision maker is to link the ICT investments to their mission rather than financial gain. Non-profit organizations need evaluation systems specific to them, to facilitate analysis and decision making, as well as to understand and improve ICT utilisation.

In Defining ICT Strategy for Decision Makers of NGOs Workshop you will be able to work on a strategic approach to ICT, identify appropriate ICT objectives and solutions and link them to your organisation’s mission.

Your three day journey with us begins with an approach combining presentation, extensive workshops and discussions

Day1

“I’ve attended strategy workshops before, but never have I had a workshop that aligns IT to the organization strategy. This approach makes sense to me.”

Utilising proven strategy development methodologies modified to the non-profit context, the first part of DAY 1 focuses on the processes used by the workshop revolving around the strategic objectives of the attendee’s organizations. There is a deliberate focus on Aligning ICT to your Organization’s Mission, not the other way around. Only after the mission is clear, does the workshop move into discussions of technology, beginning with a simplified overview of ICT as part of the afternoon discussions.

Day 2

 

“As a technophobe, I was loath to attend this day’s session. But, the approach was so open, relevant, and respectful; I finally saw the benefit of technology in my work. I’m now enthusiastic to jump in.”
With organizational mission and a basic ICT framework in hand, DAY 2 introduces attendees to technologies designed specifically to help non-profits achieve their goals. The focus of DAY 2 is to open the minds of the attendees to the possibilities while focusing on Doing Work Better, Doing Better Work. The day builds upon the work done in DAY 1, and allows attendees to focus on how technologies can enable achievement of goals.

 

Day 3

 

“Today’s session did bring it all together, and thanks so much for the discussions on Governance, Risk Management, Security, etc. No one ever talks about this and it is important.”
Pulling it all together to create the framework for a Technology Plan is the objective of DAY 3. The Strategy Workshop Approach continues utilizing a modified balanced scorecard methodology. The workshop focuses on choosing the most impactful interventions designed to achieve measurable objectives. DAY 3 focuses on defining the clear causal link between IT and achieving the organization’s objectives. Most IT proposals fail because NGOs are not able to clearly measure and document the benefits of the intervention: Tools and methodologies to address this are discussed. DAY 3 closes with discussions often neglected – addressing the often un-anticipated consequences of ICT implementation.

 

Potential Africa For more information on this workshop or others by Potential Africa contact via form or:
Email: info@potentialafrica.com>
Telephone: +27 (21) 8519446
Postal Address: Postnet Suite, #167,Private Bag X15, Somerset West, 7129, South Africa