'It gave us the stories to tell' A grounded ethnographic case study of a development NGO embarking on a humanitarian project

Abstract

Abstract Organisational capacity development in an international Non-Government Organisation (NG0) is a complex process of change going beyond accomplishing technical skills. NGOs are important actors in global efforts for development and humanitarian interventions, yet their internal operations are inadequately understood. The study aimed to generate contextualised understanding of the organisational outcomes of combining development and humanitarian sexual and reproductive health and rights practice in an international NGO. The exploration is a grounded case study built on a cross-disciplinary approach which begins with a personal journey to better understand and manage NGO capacity development and change. The data, comprising predominantly of 129 interviews, observations and hundreds of documents was gathered during 36 months of fieldwork, explored the implementation of of a humanitarian project as it was conceptualised, housed and implemented by a development NGO. The original focus was on organisational capacity development and change; seeking to understand how the organisation dealt with integrating the new humanitarian practice. However the research based on the unique insight gained from the in-depth study revealed much about the inner operations and negotiation processes within NGOs. The findings indicate a need for refining and contextualising our understanding of organisational capacity development and organisational change in development NGOs. This research contributes to building an appreciation of the political aspects of development work and humanitarian interventions that takes into account the ability of the organisation to commit, engage and create internal legitimacy for the new practice.