What came first the policy or the funding proposal?

Article for local newspaper:


Whilst we all talk about good governance, how many of us are actually practising what we preach.
Does every person in your organisation know what your gender policy is and what it means to your everyday work or does it just sit on a shelf waiting to be pulled out for the next funding proposal?

Volunteers, who volunteer for Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), are often faced with difficult decisions when it comes to supporting their assigned organisations. The role of the (VSO) volunteer is to act as an organisational development advisor, building the capacity of the organisation through skill sharing and support.

Many volunteers have experienced their organisation jumping through the obligatory hoops to obtain funding, for example to satisfy the funder you must have a gender policy, administration policy etc. Whilst both are valuable, they are not worth the paper they are written on if they have been copied and pasted from another organisation, they are meaningless.

I am hopeful though that the completion of policies to satisfy funders would be the starting point of the policy to come, that later the policy would be implemented in a meaningful way. The process of completing a funding proposal is definitely an effective way for organisations to highlight weaker areas for improvement.
Whilst the UK is full to the brim of policies on every small detail, at least in Nepal you have the opportunity to decide what is and isn’t relevant to support your organisation to grow and improve. What is written in your policies should give enough leeway to support creative thinking and provide people working in your organisation with a framework for action that helps them get on with the job they need to do.
So instead of your policies sitting on the shelf collecting dust, pull them out implement them and see if you can practise what you preach.