THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE MEASURES ON NGOs
There are many consequences for the NGOs. There are no real studies available yet aimed at NGOs in Ghana. The consequences for NGOs in Ghana are mainly the result of conversations with the inhabitants of Ghana who have shared this from their own perspective. The other studies that are shown are also aimed at other countries.
The consequences that have emerged from various studies carried out on different countries:
Two important findings that emerged from the survey:
- Key Finding 5: Smaller organizations seem relatively more likely to experience budget cuts and less likely to receive additional funding.
- Key Finding 6: Most organizations have stopped programs.
A large majority of the respondents (78 percent) report that some or all of their programs have been stopped. Examples of stopped programs include:
- School-based activities including exams and testing, and support to school management committees and head teachers (24 percent);
- Field-based programs including data collection, community outreach, parental engagement activities, vaccination programs, and fundraising efforts (29 percent);
- All training programs such as teacher training and certifications, sexual/reproductive health training, and volunteer training (24 percent) (Akmal, Hares, & O'Donnell, 2020, p. 11).
- Income is dropping:
31% of international NGOs' income comes from individual giving (donations and legacies). A further 10% of funding comes from earned charitable activities and public fundraising activities. This includes fundraising events, marathons, bake sales and charity drives, which NGOs have cancelled over the next few months.
- NGOs are scaling back operations overseas:
86% of members are cutting back or considering cutting back in-country programs. This includes postponing program implementation, closing country offices and limiting income to global programs.
NGOs are taking these measures for several reasons: contractual constraints prohibiting INGOs to continue to pay staff despite being unable to fulfil program proposals, health risks to frontline staff and escalating inflation causing in-country costs to rise.
14% of NGOs haven't cut back on programming, but many of these are waiting to hear whether donors will continue to cover salary costs if programs are suspended.
- Staff are being cut back:
60% of NGOs have already cut back on staff in the UK and overseas. A further 25% will likely be doing so soon. Measures taken included furloughing staff, compulsory paid annual leave, moving staff to part-time hours and letting staff go.
- Many NGOs won't survive without funding changes:
While most organizations said they would survive the next three months; their financial positions after three months were tenuous and uncertain. Only 37% said they could survive longer than six months without additional funding.
Because of their reliance on restricted grants, organizations won't be able to cover core running costs or won't be able to divert funding to their Covid-19 responses. Some organizations are being forced to use up their cash reserves to weather the next three months, leaving them in a precarious financial position (Bond, 2020).
