KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

For such individuals, personal satisfaction remains the main source of motivation;
it is no secret that the number of donor-funded projects is now decreasing, and NGO
funding is becoming increasingly problematic. This is why those who joined the NGO
sector in search of well-paid positions soon left for the business sector. Those who
remained are individuals who believe that they can be useful to the NGO sector and to
the country. Non-governmental organizations certainly provide people with jobs and are
a source of income, which (although sometimes unreliable) helps the NGO sector retain
some of its popularity as a place of employment, especially in the provinces. However,
people join an NGO not so much for the money it provides but rather for the idea that it
brings people together. Some leaders establish “family NGOs” to create additional jobs
for family members, while others see NGOs as a route to self-actualization or– even more
often– as a way to jumpstart their career. In other words, motivations for joining NGOs
are not as clear as they may seem initially, so this topic merits a separate discussion.
Expectations from NGO Leaders
Today’s world poses new challenges to NGO leaders. The qualities required of
an NGO leader include professionalism, managerial and teamwork skills, and the
ability to conduct a dialog with the government and with other non-governmental
organizations.
In addition to a proactive stance, NGO leaders of today must be competent, creative,
and capable of strategic thinking.
Importantly, today’s young NGO leaders face obstacles to obtaining additional
training in effective management skills, NGO personnel management, social marketing,
taxation and accounting for non-profits. This is related to the fact that very few programs,
if any, focus on supporting the institutional development of NGOs. Furthermore, few
donors offer assistance to the organizational development of Kyrgyzstan’s NGOs.
For this reason, new NGO leaders do not have the educational, methodological, and
advisory opportunities that were once available to their colleagues. This inevitably affects
the functioning of non-profit organizations. Therefore, the focus on improving NGOs’
institutional capacity and relevant earlier programs must be revived, at least in part.
A Charismatic NGO Leader: A Good Thing?
Now, just as during the emergence of the non-governmental sector, the nature of an
NGO and its focal areas are largely contingent on the personality of its leader. In other
words, the functioning of an NGO is in many ways linked to and is supported by the
efforts, skills, energies, and often the reputation of its leader. This gives rise to specific
associations in the public mind, such as “Edil Baisalov is the Coalition for Democracy
and Civil Society.”
Leaders often make the NGO recognizable, so it is especially important for nongovernmental
organizations to ensure that their activities are primarily linked to a high
level of professionalism, succession procedures, and institutional sustainability.
When a successful, charismatic leader leaves an NGO, since he or she has usually
been at the center of decision-making and coordination, this can transform the
organization, or even end the NGO’s operations. Everything that the charismatic leader
had accumulated–knowledge, skills, social networks, and organizational sustainability–
either dissipates completely or mean that the organization can barely survive, rather
than move forward.
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