The role of stakeholder dialogue in the sustainable management of HIV/Aids non-profit organisations

Abstract

The global impact of HIV/Aids on children is ever-increasing. In an emerging country, such as South Africa, the number of orphans and vulnerable children due to HIV/Aids has caused the increased need of Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) to cater for these children. NPOs play a vital role in educating people about the prevention, spread and treatment of HIV/Aids, however many NPOs are unable to continue their work due to the lack of funding, the incorrect utilisation of the funds and even the mismanagement of the NPOs. Many NPOs are volunteer-run and most grassroots NPOs are born from an individual or group of individuals that have a passion to help a certain cause. Due to many grassroots NPOs relying on one individual who is available to manage it on a daily basis, it can lead to the miscommunication within the NPOs and between the donors and stakeholders of the NPOs. Relationships between stakeholders are built around trust and mutually beneficial outcomes for all the stakeholders involved. If distrust, the perceived mismanagement of funds or miscommunication occurs, the relationship with the same sponsor/donor can be negatively affected. This can cause NPOs to not receive continuous sponsorship or support. The establishment of good relationships with sponsors/donors and the other stakeholders within the environment is very important in the long-term sustainability of a NPO. One of the main problems facing the grassroots NPOs is longevity. In Gauteng alone there are over 20 000 NPOs all competing for funding, sponsorship and stakeholders to invest long term in their cause and to allow for their survival. Very few NPOs are able to exist for long periods of time due the lack of strategic communication between stakeholders and the NPOs. Many NPOs are not trained in the valued skills of communication and relationship building with their stakeholders. The research aim of the study was to investigate the role of stakeholder dialogue in the sustainable management of an HIV/Aids grassroots NPO in Gauteng. The study aimed at illustrating the complex system of dialogue from Freire's participatory perspective and the impact that dialogue can have on the sustainable strategic management of a NPO. It illustrates the importance that the communication boundaries between the various stakeholders should be permeable boundaries allowing for bi-directional communication and dialogue as well as feedback between these individual elements to ensure proper strategic communication. The study is comprised a comparative case study analysis. The empirical stage of the study was developed based on the literature which provided the theoretical questions that were addressed. The research methodology followed was email questionnaires, in-depth interviews and documentation and website reviews. A detailed comparative case study analysis with representatives from five business sectors, namely the Clothing industry, Ministry industry; NPO (community), Financial Industry and FMCG industry was undertaken. The study was qualitative in nature to allow for the expansion and exploration of the dialogue processes with the different stakeholders. Due to time constraints from the mostly volunteer-run NPOs email questionnaires were preferred. The questionnaires were filled out by the respondents after which the researcher had follow-up discussions with respondents where further clarification was needed. The two NPOs who could avail themselves for in-depth face-to-face discussions greatly assisted the researcher to gain insight into all the challenges, unsustainable management processes and lack of dialogue between the NPOs and their stakeholders. The Morse and Field approach was used to analyse the data allowing for comprehending synthesising, theorising and re-contextualisation in order to do comparisons and interpretations of the various data collected from the grassroots NPOs, their stakeholders and management. The research findings have revealed that due to grassroots NPOs being volunteer-run, sponsors/donors were not always participating in dialogue and the lack of central management stakeholders or teams within the grassroots NPOs caused for some NPOs to be unable to communicate and manage themselves effectively thereby resulting in an inability to maintain a status of sustainability. In order to increase the sustainability and effectiveness of communication within grassroots NPOs, the stakeholders and grassroots NPOs are to continuously encourage dialogue, focus on communication, feedback, adaptation and continuous relationship management which can be established through building long term communication processes and relationships. The more involved the stakeholders become and feel, the more likely they are to remain loyal to the cause that the grassroots NPO is working toward bettering in the community, especially in the vulnerable HIV/AIDS orphan grassroots sector. Through communication, the NPO is able to maintain dialogical processes whereby they can continuously adapt to suit the stakeholder's needs as well as the community it is serving. The relationship between the stakeholders shifts from being a parent-child relationship, to that of a partnership with equal vested interested. This partnership allows for stronger relationships to be established, better communication channels to be created and long term sustainability as all the partners are investing financially and intellectually to create change within a community that needs assistance.