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Last Thursday, December 2nd, saw the first of SQR’s grassroots NGO capacity-building sessions take place at Di Kang Le Community Centre in Guangji. Nine local groups took part in a day of workshop activities coordinated by SQR Board of Directors Vice-Chair (Organisational Development), Catherine Platt.
For this inaugural session we were honoured to have in attendance Mr Gao Guizi, coordinator of the renowned 512 Centre. Mr Gao is a hugely-respected figure in China’s burgeoning NGO sector, and his opening address on the subject of what makes an NGO, what civil society means, and the importance of cooperatives, was both informative and engaging to an audience made up primarily of senior citizen support groups and farming cooperatives that may not have previously considered themselves to be an NGO. Mr Gao reassured them of the need for groups such as theirs.
At our invitation, we were also pleased to welcome Mr Chen Jingjing of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, and Ms Tu Qiuju of the NGO Disaster Preparedness Centre, both of whom are experienced in the professional NGO work arena.
A formal introduction to the capacity-building project was given by Catherine, community centre manager Jia Yongheng and SQR assistant Sabrina Zou, outlining how the project and the centre itself can help groups such as those in attendance in developing their own projects and effectiveness. The participants then divided into three groups, led by Mr Gao, Mr Chen and Ms Tu, to discuss their own organisations in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, introducing them to the concept of SWOT analysis.
The groups took to the unfamiliar activity with great enthusiasm, and the results were encouraging in a number of different ways. Initially, weaknesses and threats were easier for the participants to identify, but with positive guidance from each group leader, they each came to hone in on their respective strengths and opportunities.
Broadly speaking, the groups felt that their immediate strengths were rooted in the fact that they were made up of local residents, combining a familiarity with the region with a vested interest in making a difference to their community. The personal investments they had already made in their organisations — both emotionally and, in many cases, financially — were strong motivating factors for seeing real results in the short- and long-term. As far as weaknesses were concerned, some felt that they were hampered by traditional mindsets, affecting both their own abilities to develop projects, and the chances of reaching their potential beneficiaries.
The groups all agreed that there were plenty of opportunities for them to achieve their goals: for the senior citizens’ societies, the fast-increasing size and influence of China’s elderly population means that groups such as theirs are becoming more and more relevant and beneficial to society. For the agricultural cooperatives, their emphasis on environmentally-friendly farming methods suits the burgeoning market in green produce amongst China’s urban population. Among the issues that the groups counted as a threats were the ever-present difficulty in raising funds to support their projects, which is related to a lack of experience in developing projects and applying for relevant funding.
The exercise was important not only to help the participating grassroots organisations to clearly identify the SWOT aspects of their work, but — along with other direct suggestions from the participants — provided indicators as to which areas future sessions should focus on.