The Trust for Social Achievement Foundation carried out an express survey among its partner organizations as well as other non-governmental organizations across the country, in order to get acquainted with the level of preparedness and challenges faced by the NGO sector during the difficult extraordinary situation which has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The questions and answers of the survey provide the opportunity to evaluate their planning skills, flexibility, organizational and financial stability. In order to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the issues which could arise from this situation, a representative and methodologically precise study would have to be carried out.
The study took place in the second half of March. The total number of respondents was 23, and 5 of the questionnaires were invalid as the questions were answered by individuals.
The results show that all organizations have followed the recommendations of the government and the National Operational Headquarters related to physical distancing and working from home. Almost 90% of the organizations have suspended their office work and have been performing their activities from home. The rest have made their working schedules flexible or have introduced a rota system for the office attendance of their teams.
Two thirds of the participants said that they have a plan for the next three months. This includes a reorganization of their current project activities, with a focus on administrative and other tasks which do not require physical contact or the hosting of events with big groups of beneficiaries or partners. A third of the organizations, however, have not devised such a plan and are unsure of how to structure their work.
60% of the respondents shared that they have information about students and children from economically poor communities who are facing difficulties in participating in the online educational process or cannot do so altogether. The main reasons behind this are lack of technical devices, lack of Internet access, the inability of parents to accommodate their children’s needs. More than half of the organization representatives who were interviewed confirm that they do not need training related to the use of on-line platforms or other kinds of technologies in order to improve or complete their organizational activities. This could either mean that in the last few years the level of technical skills of organizations working with communities has improved or that there is still a lack of awareness of this being a necessity.
The conclusion we can clearly draw from this is that even in the circumstances of crisis, NGOs maintain their active role as a pillar of society. Despite the present constraints to showing the necessary and sought support to the people whom they help, through their projects they have been managing to devise flexible approaches and to continue with their activities.
More than half of the interviewees share that even though they are facing difficulties, they are following through with their work on the ground. What’s more, they are looking for solutions for the beneficiaries who are facing serious difficulties such as lack of food, technical devices for the students and/or personal protective equipment. The organizations have been affirming their positions as a bridge between institutions on a local, regional and national level, as well as the importance of what they do, even if they often have to do so with limited resources.
What’s impressive is that two thirds of the respondents have a plan for action for the next three months and do not intend to halt any of their current projects. This testifies to the good structure of their internal decision-making processes.
The current situation will inevitably have serious effects on organizations’ financial stability in the next six to eight months. This is an effect whose average timespan cannot be measured with precision, as a large part of the organizations’ teams are financed on a project basis, and for particular time periods. This invariably imposes the necessity to be even more flexible in decision-making and conversing with the organizations which fund them.