a networked organization

The sessions of the ToT today focused on social culture, simplicity, transparency,  listening and what does it mean for the organization to work with free agents.

The topics of the sessions were thought provoking, especially organization transparency and working with free agent. Thinking of adapting those concepts to  NGOs  in Yemen, I can see that though it may be difficult for some NGOs to be transparent specially on financial issues, they can benefit from free agent if they are made to understand what free agents can do and how can they work along side the organization to advance its mission and vision.   

The concept of “a networked organization” compared to a fortress one spoke to me more than anything else, not because I have seen in my work with many NGOs and CSOs how difficult for organizations to share information and work with others, but also it made me realize how this “ cultural behavior” is holding them back and undermining their work.   

The questions that are remain in my mind are:

1.       What are the best practices for moving a fortress organization to a networked one, specifically in the Arab countries context?

2.       How can we identify “ free agents” and involve them in our work?

3.       Transparency and “ Arab NGOs” can they go together? Is there away that could make NGOs in the Arab World more transparent?

A few years ago, many funding agencies were raising the flag about the importance of financial transparency and how can the funding distributed to NGOs, whether national or international, be audited and how can they track that the funding has been put into a good use. Yes, some international donors conduct auditing, but many major international donors don’t care much if the funding is small. Are they contributing, without knowing, to the misuse of these funds and thus making these organization less transparent because they don’t want to be found out? I wonder….   

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