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Good Practice in International Development

What makes international development ‘good or effective development’? Exploring a shared understanding of good practice is a key part of NIDOS’s work.

Bond's 'Learning in Partnerships' guidance notes
This paper from British Overseas NGOs for Development aims to help development practitioners to become more confident and promote learning as organisations and as partnerships between North and South.

Building the Evidence to Reduce Poverty
The UK Department for International Development's policy on evaluation for international development. Published June 2009.

Code of Conduct for Trustees
The Trustee Network has provided model codes of conduct for charity trustees and guidance on their use.

Confidentiality Policy
Sets out an organisation's approach to handling different types of information in its possession.

Disciplinary Procedure
A formal procedure designed to help employees maintain the required standards of conduct and performance.

Disclosure of Malpractice in the Workplace
Policies for dealing with whistleblowing or disclosure of malpractice within the workplace.

Enhancing Learning in Development Partnerships by Rob Vincent and Ailish Byrne
Informed by the practical experience of the authors, this article considers ways to enhance learning, particularly in North-South partnerships.

Environmental Policy
Policies to help organisations reduce the impact of their own operations on the environment.

Equal Opportunities Policy
A formal policy is not required by law but is a good way to ensure an organisation complies with equalities legislation.

Evaluation Support Scotland (ESS)
ESS provides practical support to voluntary organisations and funders to help them evaluate their work. Resources and tools are available on their website.

Expenses Policy
Sets out an organisation's rules and procedures for reimbursing volunteers, staff and trustees who incur expenses whilst carrying out their duties.

Finance Procedures
Examples of basic financial procedures including roles and responsibilities to be taken on by staff and committee members.

Grievance Procedure
A formal procedure through which staff can raise and resolve problems.

Health and Safety Policy
Examples of health and safety policies covering the minimum requirements.

International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC)
INTRAC helps to strengthen the management and organisational effectiveness of NGOs and civil society organisations around the world through providing consultancy, research and training.

Join the Keystone partner survey!
NGOs: get data on how your partners think you can support them better and how your partnership working compares to other NGOs.

Learning and Development Policy
Provides a structure for continuous development of staff.

Monitoring & Evaluation Training Resources
Here you'll find resources from NIDOS workshops on monitoring & evaluation.

Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS
This site focuses on monitoring and evaluating development aid programmes - both big and small. It is possible to subscribe to their e-mail news service through the website.

NIDOS Social Capital Report
In early 2007, Edinburgh based charity Assist Social Capital undertook an evaluation of the NIDOS network, looking in particular at the network's social capital - the relationships, links and bonds between member organisations.

Partnership Toolkit - Partnering to Achieve Economic Impact in HIV and AIDS-Impacted Communities
This Partnership Toolkit for Microenterprise Development was developed by SEEP, a member-driven network of microenterprise practitioners.

Performance Assessment Resource Centre (PARC)
PARC is a resource centre which aims to improve performance assessment within the international development sector. PARC has worked with NIDOS in the past, particularly on the NIDOS workshop programme.

Reserves Policy
Sets out the level of funds that an organisation will keep in reserve and how this is calculated.

Retention of Information Guidelines
Sets out the requirements for retaining different types of information.

Risk Assessment and Security Procedures
Outline of some basic risk assessment and security procedures for organisations sending volunteers abroad with a recent example from NIDOS member VSO.

The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique - Rick Davies and Jess Dart
This guide to the use of the MSC technique is aimed at organisations, community groups, students and academics who wish to monitor and evaluate their social change programs. It is especially applicable to development programmes.

Volunteer Policy
Recruitment and management of volunteers.

WWF UK Partnership Toolbox
This toolbox from WWF UK's organisation development unit was developed as a result of a series of workshops that aimed to capture the learning and experience gained from WWF UK's work with partners.

WWF UK Partnership Toolbox
This toolbox from WWF UK's organisation development unit was developed as a result of a series of workshops that aimed to capture the learning and experience gained from WWF UK's work with partners.

Introduction to Effectiveness & Good Practice
An introduction to Effectiveness and Good Practice in international development, what NIDOS is doing and why.

Good Practice News from around the World
The latest news feeds from websites focusing on effectiveness, governance, accountability and good practice in international development.

Introduction
An introduction to the NIDOS Effectiveness Tool - a guide for self assessment on good practice in international development.

Examples of Codes of Good Practice
Examples of established codes of good practice for international development including specific codes for emergencies, responding to HIV/AIDS, managing aid staff and communicating with the public.

Guidance from The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
OSCR produces a vast array of publications - links to some of their guidance documents, plus materials from training courses, are available here.

NIDOS Effectiveness Tool
The online version of the tool - you can read it online, comment and provide feedback. View other organisations' case studies or upload your own.

Partnerships - Introduction
Many UK-based organisations, including NIDOS members, work in collaboration with organisations overseas; this is often referred to as a partnership relationship.

NIDOS Effectiveness Tool - PDF version
Download the whole tool as a PDF document.

NIDOS Effectiveness Tool - Microsoft Word version
Download the whole tool as a Word document

Examples of Codes of Good Practice from NIDOS Members
Written policies developed and used by NIDOS members; there are examples that cover organisations' ethics and commitments as well as specific policies on, for example, children or gender.

Jean Claude Ngendandumwe speaks on north-south partnership at the NIDOS AGM 2009
In this inspiring paper presented by videolink from Rwanda, Jean Claude Ngendandumwe argues that good development "requires the principle of collective autonomy, the changing of structures, mentalities and attitudes".

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)
The SCVO website has a wealth of information aimed at helping organisations develop internal policies.

What might some of the big questions be when thinking about partnerships?
As part of NIDOS' work on good practice in international development, members identified Southern Partnerships as a key area to consider.

What ‘Good Practice’ means to Global Concerns India
In her paper for the 2009 NIDOS AGM workshops Brinda Adige talks about what good practice means to her organisation in India.

Good Practice in Health: Focus on HIV/AIDS
Report and resources from NIDOS's Good Practice in Health Networking Event held on 29th January 2009, which focused on HIV/AIDS.

Good Practice in Health: Focus on Malnutrition and Children's Health
Report and resources from NIDOS's Good Practice in Health Networking Event held on 22nd January 2009, which focused on malnutrition and children's health.

Building the Evidence to Reduce Poverty
The UK Department for International Development's policy on evaluation for international development. Published June 2009.

Financial management, fundraising and good practice
Here you'll find a list of sources of information on good management practice for the voluntary sector, and good practice in fundraising.

Good Practice in International Development - Quick Links
A few of the main organisations working on good practice in international development, plus links to further information on this website.

Have you considered the legal issues?
In this section you can find information on the legal implications of partnerships.

Power, Mutual Accountability and Responsibility in the Practice of International Aid
A 2008 paper by Rosalind Eyben for the Institute of Development Studies, argues for a shift from mutual accountability to mutual responsibility in aid relations.

Transforming Power: From Zero-Sum to Win-Win?
In this 2006 article for the Institute of Development Studies, Robert Chambers argues that top-down power in development is not necessarily a bad thing...

Aided development is a language industry
Professor Alan Fowler argues on the HIVOS website that the term 'partnership' masks the reality in which power dynamics prevent equality and fairness being achieved.

Monitoring & Evaluation with Partners
It may be difficult to bear in mind the reality of partner relationships when planning learning, which according to BOND, is 'integral' to an understanding of partnership.

NIDOS Effectiveness Tool
The online version of NIDOS' guide for self-assessment on good practice in international development. You can also download it in word or pdf format from this link.

VolResource - Checklist for policies and procedures
A library of up-to-date information on policies and procedures for voluntary organisations in the UK, with examples.

Power Relationships in North-South Partnerships
Many international development organisations based in the UK work in collaboration with organisations overseas. Their relationship may be affected by the balance of power - this section contains thoughts on power in international development.

Sources of Legal Advice for the Voluntary Sector
Starting points for accessing free legal advice aimed at the international development and voluntary sector.

Database of Civil Society Self-regulatory Initiatives
Database developed by the One World Trust that contains links to codes of practice, standards and other regulatory initiatives in use by UK organisations.

NIDOS Governance Documents
By making documents such as annual accounts, reviews and AGM minutes available online, NIDOS hopes to make its own processes transparent. We encourage members to get involved in decision making and the development of the network.

Brinda Adige on what good north-south partnership means to Global Concerns India
Brinda argued at the 2009 NIDOS AGM that organisations in partnerships must relate as equals; northern organisations too often see themselves as the agenda setters whilst southern organisations see themselves as implementers.

Interview with Brinda Adige on north-south partnership
Global Concerns India's Brinda Adige is seen here in conversation with Gillian Wilson of NIDOS and Alastair Christie of Global Concerns Trust. She argues that northern NGOs still have an important role to play.

Partnership Toolkit - Partnering to Achieve Economic Impact in HIV and AIDS-Impacted Communities
This Partnership Toolkit for Microenterprise Development was developed by SEEP, a member-driven network of microenterprise practitioners.

Relationships matter
Writing for Capacity.org, Alan Fowler sees the defining features of effective partnerships as "equality and negotiation on the rules and terms of engagement, with risks and rewards fairly distributed"

Models of Inter-Organizational Collaboration in Development
'Partnership' has to some extent lost its meaning as it is used to describe such a diverse array of relationships.

Comas: Community development in Scotland and Sri Lanka
NIDOS member, Comas, is rising to the challenge of shared learning in partnership with NGOs in Sri Lanka.

 

Who Works Where?

NIDOS members are currently working in all parts of the world. To find out details of who is working where, click on the map above, use our searchable database, or just browse our Member Directory.