Your NGO Has a Strategy. But Is It Still Making Sense?

What UNGA 81 can teach Nigerian NGOs about staying relevant in a changing development landscape.

Let us be honest. Some NGOs have strategic plans that are so beautifully written that you would think the organisation is about to solve half of Nigeria's problems before the end of the year.

The vision is inspiring. The mission is powerful. The objectives are well arranged. Everybody clapped when the document was presented, and copies were shared with the board.

Fast forward six months, and the document is somewhere inside a laptop folder, probably resting peacefully beside last year's annual report.

Meanwhile, the community the organisation serves has new challenges, funding priorities have shifted, and the programme team is still implementing activities because, well, they are in the work plan.

Sound familiar?

This is exactly why conversations around global development should matter to NGOs, especially those working on the ground in Nigeria.

The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA 81, brought world leaders together to discuss global challenges, international cooperation and the work required to advance sustainable development. Its central theme, “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All,” raises an important question for organisations beyond the walls of the United Nations headquarters: are we actually delivering for the people we claim to serve?

Because it is one thing to have a development agenda. It is another thing to make that agenda work in a community where a school has no functional toilets, women struggle to access economic opportunities, young people are searching for jobs, or persons with disabilities are excluded from services that should be accessible to everyone.

And that is where the real conversation begins.

The world is changing. Your programmes should not be living in 2019.

Think about it. The challenges facing communities today are not necessarily the same as they were five years ago. The cost of living has changed household priorities. Technology is changing how people learn, work and access information. Climate pressures affect livelihoods, while insecurity continues to disrupt communities in different parts of the country.

Yet some organisations continue to implement projects as though nothing has changed since the proposal was approved.

A needs assessment was conducted three years ago, so the organisation is still using it. A programme worked well in one community, so the same approach is copied into another community with completely different circumstances. The project has always been done this way, so nobody wants to ask difficult questions.

But development work is not a case of “what we did last year must be what we do this year.”

Your organisation needs to ask whether its interventions still address the problems people are experiencing today. Sometimes, the answer will be yes. Other times, the evidence may suggest that the approach needs to change.

And please, changing your approach does not mean admitting failure. Sometimes, it simply means you have learned something new.

Please, do not force every SDG into your proposal.

If you have worked in the NGO space for a while, you have probably seen proposals that connect one small project to almost every Sustainable Development Goal.

A two-day digital literacy training suddenly contributes to quality education, gender equality, decent work, reduced inequalities, innovation, economic growth, and possibly world peace.

Okay, maybe not world peace. 😂

But you understand the point.

The Sustainable Development Goals are important because they provide a shared framework for addressing global challenges. Nigerian NGOs can use them to understand how their work contributes to wider development priorities and communicate that contribution to partners and donors.

However, your organisation does not need to claim responsibility for solving every global problem.

If you provide vocational training for young women, explain how the programme builds relevant skills, improves access to employment opportunities or supports economic independence. If your organisation works on disability inclusion, show how your interventions address barriers to participation and access.

Make the connection clear. Explain the change you want to achieve and show how your activities contribute to it.

A proposal becomes more convincing when the connection between the problem, the intervention, and the expected outcome makes sense. Adding more SDG icons will not automatically make it stronger.

The community is not just the beneficiary. They should have a say.

Here is another question worth asking: when was the last time your organisation genuinely listened to the people it serves?

Not when the project team arrived with a questionnaire that had already decided what the problem was. Not when participants were invited to a meeting simply to take attendance and appear in photographs. And not when feedback was collected but never used.

I mean listening in a way that can actually influence decisions.

Imagine an organisation planning an empowerment programme for women in a rural community. The team decides that distributing sewing machines is the best intervention. The proposal is approved, the budget is prepared, and the launch date is announced.

But what if the women need access to markets, business capital, electricity, or training in financial management more urgently than they need sewing machines?

The organisation may complete every planned activity, submit an impressive report and still miss the opportunity to address the real problem.

This is why community participation matters. People understand their own circumstances in ways that an external organisation may not. Their experiences should inform programme design, implementation and evaluation.

And inclusion must go beyond inviting people into a room. If persons with disabilities cannot access the venue, if women cannot participate because meeting times conflict with their responsibilities, or if young people have no opportunity to express their views, then the process needs to be reconsidered.

Good intentions are important. But good intentions become meaningful when people can actually benefit from them.

Your report says 500 people were reached. Wonderful. What changed?

Let us talk about one of the most interesting parts of NGO work: reporting.

At the end of a project, the report comes in. There were 10 workshops, 500 participants, 20 community meetings, and 15 awareness campaigns. The pictures are beautiful, the attendance sheets are complete, and everybody is ready to submit.

But there is one small question: what happened after all these activities?

Did participants use the knowledge they gained? Did access to services improve? Did the community become better equipped to address the problem? Did the intervention make a measurable difference in people's lives?

These are the questions that help us move from counting activities to understanding impact.

Of course, the number of people reached matters. Organisations need to know whether they delivered what they promised. But reach is not the same as change.

An NGO that trains 100 young people should be able to explain what the training was intended to achieve and how it will assess progress towards that goal. An organisation conducting a peacebuilding programme should look beyond the number of dialogue sessions held to examine whether relationships, trust or conflict-resolution practices have improved.

This does not mean every project must produce dramatic results overnight. Development takes time, and some changes are difficult to measure. It means organisations should be honest about what they have achieved, what remains uncertain and what they need to improve.

Because an impressive report is good. An honest report that helps an organisation learn and improve is even better.

So, what should your NGO do after UNGA 81?

Please, nobody should rush into the office on Monday morning and announce that the organisation is changing its entire strategy because of a meeting in New York.

That is not the lesson.

The lesson is to pay attention to the bigger development picture while remaining grounded in the realities of the communities you serve.

Review your strategy. Examine your assumptions. Listen to the people your programmes are designed to support. Understand where your work connects to the Sustainable Development Goals. And, most importantly, gather evidence that helps you determine whether your interventions are working.

Sometimes, the result of that review will be a new programme. Sometimes, it will be a stronger partnership. Sometimes, it may simply mean stopping an activity that consumes resources but produces little value.

Whatever the decision, let it be informed by evidence rather than habit.

Global conversations matter, but their value is not in how many times we mention them in our proposals, reports, or social media posts. Their value is in what we learn from them and how we apply that learning.

Because the goal is not to have the most impressive strategic plan in the NGO sector. The goal is to build an organisation that understands the problem, responds to the people affected, and can demonstrate that its work is making a difference.

Now, over to you. When did your organisation last review its strategy to make sure it still reflects the needs of the communities it serves?

At Skill Hub Consulting, we believe that meaningful change begins with informed decisions, effective strategies and the willingness to keep learning.

Skill Hub Consulting | We Empower Change