A study on organizational building of Cambodian development-oriented NGOs: A focus on determinants of capacity-building and project success

Abstract

Based on the analysis of empirical results of a questionnaire survey conducted with thirty Cambodian development-oriented NGOs engaging in diverse program activities, this paper identifies that success and effectiveness of grassroots projects of Cambodian developmentoriented NGOs essentially relies on adequate financial resources and competent human resources, plus strong organizational leadership and networking with other NGOs. Moreover, organizations that concentrate on a small number of program areas and projects prove to be effective and capacitated. These findings indicate that Cambodian developmentoriented NGOs place a heavy emphasis on financial and human resources, leadership and networking rather than on other components which also enumerate project success（i.e. organizational structure, commitment of project staff, and other integral elements of external environment）. However, a review of the weakest determinants of project success and capacity indicates there are the least prioritized areas for improvement, mirroring the typical organizational limitations of Cambodian development-oriented NGOs: strong male domination, weak knowledge and application of gender and participation concepts and analysis, imprecise organizational philosophy, and leader-driven and hierarchical management. The analysis additionally unveils that to increase grassroots project success, Cambodian development NGOs need to improve not only the budget base and human capacities but organizational structure（i.e. an organizational vision, mission and strategies; gender allocation in staffing; and decision-making processes）and beneficiary involvement as well. In this sense, it is emphasized that the most-needed-to-improve capacities for Cambodian development-oriented NGOs are in the area of eradicating these weak aspects of organizational characteristics. The paper therefore concludes that Cambodian NGOs’ capacity-building must be based on development of their organizations, in addition to two fundamental conditions for their capacity-building: financial and human resource improvements.